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Do Not Disturb: Getting Picked Up… by the WB

Mali Elfman — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:56:20 +0000

I don’t know how many people read that title and realize the magnitude of it. For those who have been following my Making of Do Not Disturb Blog, I started with an idea and decided I was sick of waiting on people to do things — I was going to make my own movie. Soon I’ll have the official announcement up on the site, on a press release and out to who ever will read it, but before the next ball starts rolling, I think you should know what it took to get here, because it’s been a fucking journey…

Directly after screening Do Not Disturb for friends and family, while everyone was patting me on the back for finishing the damn thing, one wise-drunk person said to me “well have you sold it? Is it being distributed?” to which I said, “no” and he said, “well then you’re only half-way done.” Immediately two thoughts came to mind, two thoughts which may seem similar but actually have two VERY different meanings. The first was “fuck you!” Simple enough I feel. The second came like a wave of soul-shattering panic over me, “oh fuck.”

Since June of 2010 I have been stuck in between those two thoughts, and it’s only now that I realize how important they both are.

After the screening, after the praise (be it real or just because they were saying it to my face) the reality sunk in. He was wrong, I wasn’t half of the way there, I was less than that. Problems in outputting, re-doing sound, re-doing music, contracts not holding up, another round of color (why not!), problems with screenings, problems with submitting to festivals… I see how people get stuck in post-production, but fuck you I wasn’t going to let my work die there, I was going to concur!

Oh fuck. There’s nothing like going to a screening of your film at a festival (after not being accepted to many and not being able to afford to enter the rest) and having 10 people show up, 4 of which you brought with you. Talk about a lesson in humility. There are the many “we loved it but…”, “we really think you’ve done something amazing, but…” Why is it that every “No” in the film industry starts with a “but”?

No. Sorry, no. Maybe later. We regret to. Sorry. No. No!

And just when the “oh fuck” seems to have gotten the best of you, there’s that “fuck you” side that comes back into play. Sometimes it comes from being accepted into a film festival, sometimes it’s from getting kind words from someone you admire, sometimes it’s seeing another indie make it, sometimes it’s when you’re sitting there, by yourself, when there’s no one left, no more fixes, no more help, nothing there except for you and a stack of one sheets (and in my case a friend willing to work insane hours). Fuck you, I’m doing this.

So you keep going, keep banging on and that’s when the old saying came true, one my father reminded me of but only hit home when it was real to me — “it only takes one yes.”

The fact is I had always assumed that the film would be too weird, too short (for a feature), too indie, too whatever to ever be distributed. If the festivals said no, who would say yes? But fuck you let’s try it anyway. And how do you do that? As opposed to what some people think, the route I chose was not calling any family members, I turned to IMDBpro. That’s where Gravitas came into the picture (along with a number of others that we won’t worry about now, snooze you lose).

I got a friendly e-mail from a man over at Gravitas saying that he was interested in the film and would like to see it. Oh fuck. “They want to screen the film? They’re interested?” I sent in the film expecting a 50/50 chance of never hearing back (seemed to be the odds). But then another e-mail. “Oh… they liked it! And want to have a meeting? First they have to go to their parent company WB?” Fuck yeah! But I was quickly reminded, “don’t get your hopes up.”

Then nothing. Silence. Something I had become used to. Then, yet another e-mail…

“Congrats, DO NOT DISTURB has been picked up by WB for VOD distribution in May 2011!”

Fuck YEAH! For about an hour I was elated, I could fly, nothing could stop me, I had done it, fuck you! Then the blood came back to my head and I read the rest of the e-mail and saw what was next. Oh Fuck… it’s still not over…

The rest of the story coming soon and until then….

The film was directed by Eric Balfour, Petro Papahadjopoulos, Laura Henry, Jon Mann-Krieger and Brandon Nicholas and stars Diva Zappa along with Eric Balfour (24, Six Feet Under ), Lindsay Pulsipher (True Blood), Maureen Flannigan (90210, 7th Heaven), Harris Goldberg (Numb, Deuce Bigalow), Jason Alan Smith (The Big Valley) and Troy Garity (Kerosene Cowboys)… oh and me.

Also, check out our website DNDthemovie.com for more information and updates on the film!

In case you’ve missed any of the the making of DND, here’s a little something to help you catch up…

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Do Not Disturb Trailer Premiere

Mali Elfman — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:00:30 +0000

It’s finally time for Do Not Disturb to start heading out into the world! After all of the blood, sweat and tears it’s ready to be judged, loved, ridiculed, who knows!

We’ve officially screened the film for cast and crew and hopefully in the near future Do Not Disturb will make it’s way out into the world via festivals and/or some other kind of release for people to enjoy.

In celebration, we have for you the premiere of the official trailer below… Enjoy!

If the trailer didn’t spell it out for you – Do Not Disturb is actually five films, by five different directors, with five different crews, and five different editors that are all tied together into one giant whole. All the individual films work as complete shorts but also tie into something greater to form one feature with one storyline.

Since this is a giant lego project, there is a strong possibility of it popping up at festivals as either individual pieces and/or one feature. Only time will tell!

Also, check out our website DNDthemovie.com for more information and updates on the film!

In case you’ve missed any of the the making of DND, here’s a little something to help you catch up…

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Do Not Disturb – And Then it Was Finished

Mali Elfman — Thu, 06 May 2010 05:15:17 +0000

Wow… I never though — especially after the past few days, weeks, hours, not sure, time is lost on me — that I would ever be able to say “I’m done”. Technically it’s still rendering, but in all intents and purposes, it’s done! Do Not Disturb, my first film, the thing that I’ve put my everything into, my heart, soul, my savings account, and the last 9ish months of my life… is over. Well this stage at least. It’s yet to be copied onto a bunch DVDs and sent off to festivals and god forbid SEEN by anyone… but that’s it. The making of the film, all of my “work” in creating it is done.

And the oddest part is that I feel very little about it. Here I thought I would be ecstatic, jumping off the walls, possibly even shed a tear, but either because of the serious lack of sleep that I’ve had for… I don’t remember how long or the fear of the question “What’s next?”…. I just feel rather blaise, almost numb… definitely tired. I guess this is a common feeling. I asked someone about it and they said, “yeah, and here come the post blues.” Great!

I understand why so many films are shelved, shot but never scene, or are perpetually on hold, post-production is by far the most stressful, grueling, and exhausting part of a film. Pre-production is filled with so much hope and stress combined that you can make miracles happen. Production is by far my favorite, everything is in motion and everyone is there to make it happen and there’s so much energy in the room that you couldn’t stop it if you tried and most importantly you know one big thing, you can always fix it in post…

Then there’s post, when you’re trying your best to fix any mistakes, cut what isn’t 100% necessary, and sit very patiently while every computer in the world will crash mid-render and lose whatever you just did. While in post-production, you spend most of your time with one other person in a room, maybe two analyzing the difference in a cut, a beat, or a sound 2 frames earlier or later, you make HUGE decisions on what one little thing should do and it all feels so important and so final…

Then there’s the music… For those who don’t know my father is a well-known composer. I’ve grown up listening to him in the studio, watching him work, and seeing him make something amazing out of nothing, but never before have I respected him as much as I do now after trying to score my own film, or rather take his extras from his past films/projects and some new pieces make and them work with my film…. I sat with our music editor Alistair South who had to take what I had and remix it, place it, watch it fail, watch it fit perfectly but not be quiet right, massage it into place, watch it be cut due to a sound design, have a composer re-write something brilliant, have the director hate it and start over again… Luckily Mike Einziger and Oliver Hecks both came in to save the day with some extra music, but trust me only to strong survive music.

The hardest part about post-production is that….

You can only work with what you have – you can remix it all you want but what’s there is there.
The stress of knowing that every tiny little choice will effect the way your film is taken in by its viewers.

I can tell you for a fact I can play this movie with different music/sound options, ones we highly considered and you will watch a different movie. You can have a big music cue or you can hope that the drama between the actors is enough – neither is “wrong” but what’s best? You go with your gut and you don’t look back because… well aside from the fact there’s no time or money… you just can’t, it will eat at your soul and hold you back from ever pushing forward.

I showed my Grandma some clips last night of the film and aside from being rather upset that she couldn’t see how certain scenes played out (how awesome is that?) and telling me how amazing I am (she’s my grandma, it’s an easy audience), she asked me an important question, “how are you going to handle people watching it and receiving it.” I know that this isn’t a film that will be loved by everyone, it’s for a certain specific audience, people who like odd, weird, entertaining things.

I will say this, I’ve seen nothing else like it. I go to festivals, see almost every film that comes out and I have nothing to really compare it to. I think the only thing I care about at this moment is that people can sit back for the short 72 minutes that it is and enjoy it. And although there is no “meaning” to the film, it will not make you re-evaluate your life or learn something new, there is something to it. It’s fun to sit through and even I after seeing certain scenes a 1,000 times, knowing what’s going to happen, knowing what shot I WISH I could have got and knowing all the problems in my head, I still squirm or laugh at the appropriate moments (I hope others will too!).

So that’s it. I’m done with pre-production, production, and post-production on Do Not Disturb. What will happen next? I’m not sure yet. Stay tuned and in the meantime check out some photos from the many computers we all sat behind, sound booths we all found ourselves in and photo shoots…

In case you’ve missed any of the the making of DND, here’s a little something to help you catch up…

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Do Not Disturb: Photos from Fundraiser and Prizes Online Now

Mali Elfman — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:20:30 +0000

Last Friday, the cast and crew behind Do Not Disturb got together with friends and family to try and do what every film has to do at some point… RAISE MORE MONEY. Although we’re done shooting, nearly done editing, and quite honestly, nearly done all around, we needed help getting through color correction, sound design, and some other important steps. We threw a fundraiser extravaganza at amazing YADA (Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts) studios. It may seem odd that we brought blood, sex, and quite a bit of adult content to a Youth Academy, but it was the perfect venue! We had two rooms, one with a lounge area and another for the screening - and don’t worry, no children were scared in the raising of our funds.

We also gave away ton of amazing prizes (some of which are online now and you can bid on below) including a four day trip to Tahoe, two days in a sound studio with professional Sound Designer Lisle Engle, and premiered the first ever Do Not Disturb trailer to the crowd. We will be premiering the trailer online once we get a small music issue sorted.

What I learned is the key to every good fundraiser, good booze, and plenty of it! Barefoot Wines gave us an entire crate of Pinot Noir and Bubbly (that was very much needed all around) and Prestige Wine Group gave us 4 crates of Opulent Vodka ( I even got to take a bottle home with me – its been a good week!).

Overall the night was a success. We raised nearly $4,000 out of the $7,000 needed and still have some items online that you can bid on now. If you’re interested, here are the links:

Alice in Wonderland Poster Signed by Burton and Elfman
Nightmare Before Christmas CD Signed by Elfman & Burton
Corpse Bride CD Signed by Tim Burton & Danny Elfman
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory CD Signed by Tim Burton
Big Fish Soundtrack Signed by Tim Burton & Danny Elfman
Nightmare Revisited CD Signed by Burton & Elfman

Producer Maureen Flannigan and I were needless to say a bit over our heads putting together an event of this size, luckily Deidra Edwards’ stepped up to the plate and helped us organize the event and help us get everything running smoothly! We also had Alison Segura and Emilee Annine, two members of our cast show up in costume to help sell some raffle tickets along with cast member Jason Alan Smith and his lovely girlfriend Molly. And without getting to “thank you speech-y” without Sahib Dhanjal, Ashley Hillard, Jon Mann-Krieger, Travis Weir, Brent DeGraff, Craig DeGraff, Brandon Nicholas and Laura Aguirre (who also made the visuals) we would have been sunk! Thank you guys!

And none of this could have happened without the help and donations from all the following. Thank you!

Lani Shipman and Kim Harrigan – owners of YADA
Michael Albanese – Owner of Element
Lisle Engle – Sound Designer who donated 2 Days with TFK Studios!
Brent Degraff – Condo in Tahoe and Office Tune-up!
Jose Vasquez – MUVAS, airport transport – donated a free ride to the airport!
Witold Szmanda – Personal Trainer who gave 3 lessons for free!
Jason Hooper – Artist who painted a painting just for this event!
Krissy’s Couture Vegan Cookies! (Wow these are good! I suggest the chocolate chip)
Staci Sarkisian – Donated Ladybug Cosmetics!
Jenna Busch – Donated Beauty Make-Up
Lexx Staats – Donated Special Effects Make-Up
Sahib Dhanjal – Donated a Horseback Riding Lesson for two!
Jennifer Gonzales – Donated a free pilates for 10 people!
Maya Adrabi – Donated headshots for free!
Blake Russ – Donated a Tennis Lesson for two!

Check out some photos taken by Tim Norman from the event…

We still have another $3,000 to go, support Do Not Disturb in whatever way you can! Every dollar makes a difference! DONATE HERE!

Do Not Disturb: Pickup Shoot Photos

Mali Elfman — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:36:22 +0000

After as brief hiatus for the holidays, Do Not Disturb is almost fully edited with music, Foley, and an awesome animation by Andy Windak on it’s way. After looking through all five films, although I loved what we shot, I wanted a little bit more of a set up for the film as a whole and each story individually soooo… welcome to the underbelly of our currently unnamed hotel! Maureen and I grabbed Death Takes a Holiday Inn director Brandon Nicholas, a small crew of Zach Voytas (DP), Tyler Harrison (AC), Drew Aiello (Gaffer), Sahib Dhanjal (AD), Brent DeGraff (DIT), and Edan Mason (Sound) and some equipment from Indie Rentals (yet again, the best place to rent from in LA for indie filmmakers) and put everyone in the two tinniest shooting spaces we could find and shot 14 more pages written by yours truly in two days!

The first day was the hardest because we had a lot of equipment and props in one tiny basement. There are very few basements in LA to choose from, luckily my dad and step-mom were kind enough to clear out their basement to let us shoot in but it was still a tight squeeze (as you can see from the pictures below). The second day we shot in an actual laundry room. The space was not huge, but after the previous day, we were grateful for whatever movement we had.

We got our maid fleet (Diva Zappa, Emilee Annine, Summer Harlow and Alison Segura), bell boy (Clay Dzygun) and hotel manager (Richard Nason) ready and shot some great footage! Check out some photos from behind the scenes…

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Do Not Disturb: Making of Death Takes a Holiday Inn

Mali Elfman — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:01:42 +0000

***Updated: New Video made by Laura Aguirre Added***

Our fifth and final film of Do Not Disturb, entitled Death Takes a Holiday Inn, written and directed by Brandon Nicholas, starring Diva Zappa, Jason Alan Smith, and myself, Mali Elfman, was wrapped a couple of weeks ago and we finally have a little behind the scenes look for you to watch!

All the films are currently being edited and are headed towards picture lock by the 30th of December. After we raise a bit more money they’ll all be on their way to being scored (we’ll announce who is doing that soon, we’ve got some really talented people in the works) and color corrected.

Enjoy…

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Photo by Brendan Holmes

Do Not Disturb: Stepping Back and Looking In

Mali Elfman — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:06:06 +0000

Last Wednesday I wrapped my first film Do Not Disturb. Last Thursday and Friday we tore down our beautiful beige set which took so much time to build. We returned all of our set decorations and almost all of our props (our PA Brent even managed to return the snickers bars we used on set!). I did keep some of the props for myself, our “Do Not Disturb” sign is hanging proudly from my office door at the moment.

Saturday was a hard day for me because all the adrenaline I’ve been running off of for weeks died out and all I wanted to do was get back on the set and shoot more. Sunday, we began post production and by that night, one of our directors had a rough cut of his film and I was re-invigorated. It looks fantastic and it gave me the push I needed to move forward into post production!

So far post has been the most stressful part of the film for me. Everything is in the can, it’s just a matter of finding out “does it work? Did we get what we needed?” Knowing that one out of five of the films looks amazing is a GREAT start, but I’m extremely anxious to see more.

I just looked back at my first post where I talked about why I was doing this, a “blogger to the movies.” For some reason that feels like such a long time ago, but looking at a calendar it was less than a month ago.

Taking a moment to look back, I’ve realized one very simple thing: I love making movies. Despite the stress of it, I love building the sets, I love casting the roles, I love the scripts, I love acting, and most of all I love being on a set filled with so many amazing and talented people all working towards one goal.

A few people have asked me what I have learned from all of this. If I’m honest, everything is still washing over me. I’ve realized that if at any point I would have stopped and thought about what I was trying to do, I might not have been able to do it. That being said, we did do it, and as of right now, this is what I’ve learned…

If you’re name is “Mali” people don’t know if you’re a boy or a girl and will have odd responses when they walk on set and see you for the first time.
Unions are a pain in the ass for a small, indie film. From the amount of dead trees they cause to the time it takes to get them what they need, it’s a killer.
12 hours on a movie set feels like 10 minutes anywhere else.
You will never have enough money, make it work.
Attitude is key. A crew with a good attitude can make miracles happen.
Sound stages are not 100% soundproof and people who ride Harley Davidson’s should stay the fuck away
When you’re on the actual set you can hear EVERYTHING everyone else is saying off the set. Beware!
You can answer 5 questions at a time, just not well. Even when things are going a million a minute, stay focused on one thing at a time.
Things WILL go wrong and things WILL go right – go with it. Don’t bother getting stressed when things unravel and be grateful when they come together.
And my biggest lesson: As long as you think it’s possible, it is!

I’m setting forth into new territory: Foley, color correction, special effects, learning how to submit a films to a festival, and a whole lot more. Wish us luck! Hopefully you’ll be seeing us soon!

Check out all of our older posts on making the film

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Do Not Disturb: The Making of Intrinsic

Mali Elfman — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:50:28 +0000

We’re getting close to the end of our “making of” videos for Do Not Disturb. Below we have some behind the scenes footage of Jon Mann-Krieger‘s Intrinsic starring Jason Alan Smith, Diva Zappa, Troy Garity and myself, Mali Elfman. All the films are currently being edited, I saw a rough cut of one of them last night (won’t tell you which) and to my delight it was amazing. I can’t even begin to explain how excited I was to see that it’s coming together so well. More on that later, for now check out the making of Intrinsic below…

Check out everything else we have up so far…

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Do Not Disturb: Photos from Final Two Films

Mali Elfman — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:18:35 +0000

We just wrapped Do Not Disturb two days ago and while on a major come-down and tearing apart our set, I received a few stills from our grand finale taken by photographer Brendan Holmes. Our final two films, Intrinsic by Jon Mann-Krieger and Death Takes a Holiday Inn by Brandon Nicholas both use the same cast in two very different stories that interlace with one another. Both directors had one day to shoot their film and another cross over day in which they shared the set. It was probably one of the most difficult ways of doing things but somehow it managed to work!

Below are photos of our two directors along with cast members Jason Alan Smith, Diva Zappa, Troy Garity and myself…

Do Not Disturb: The Making of Prom

Krystal Clark — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:25:10 +0000

The production of Do Not Disturb has come to an end, and we’ve managed to keep you updated every step of the way. One of the last shorts the crew worked on was entitled Prom, which was directed by Laura Henry. The cast included John Reese, Diva Zappa, Jonathan Majors, Lucinda Rogers, Adela Guzman, and Lissette Schuster. They shot a behind the scenes featurette that gives you a detailed look at all the work that went into making this portion of the film.

Check out the video below…

After a long day of clean up and striking the set, Mali will be back to give you a complete rundown of the past week’s events. Check back here for more updates and an official Do Not Disturb wrap up post for an overview of the shoot.

Stay tuned…

***Update: Check out all our other posts recently added***

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Do Not Disturb: It’s a Wrap!

Mali Elfman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:26:52 +0000

Above you have Diva Zappa, Jason Alan Smith, and myself, from Brandon Nicholas’ Death Takes a Holiday Inn and Jon Mann-Krieger’s Intrinsic!

It got rather sticky towards the end… literally, Diva and I were stuck onto almost everything we touched due to the massive amounts of fake blood poured (and squirted) all over. I managed to stain my computer and walk into a bar looking more bloody than I am in the above picture, she some how managed to stain (almost) nothing and clean herself off before appearing in public (apparently, I still have a lot of learning to do).

Aside from having to sit in make-up chair for 5 hours today, we had an amazing shoot. We wrapped Death Takes a Holiday Inn, our grand finale for Do Not Disturb and the entire film series. We posted some bloody photos earlier but here are a few proper photos taken by our set photographer Brendan Holmes for ya….

Sadly, I only have a few of Brendan Holmes photos at the moment, but I’ll have more for you up soon!

Have to pass out now and strike the set tomorrow. Be back soon!

Check out all our other posts recently added…

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Do Night Disturb: Tough Day on Set

Krystal Clark — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:09:20 +0000

The other day we brought you a photo that featured Mali and co-star Jason Alan Smith on the set of Intrinsic. The short is one of the many features that’s included in the mega film, Do Not Disturb. We hinted that the next time you saw Mali she would look battered and bruised, and we’ve delivered!

Check out the damage below…

This is all we have for you right now, but more disturbing photos and footage will soon follow, so stay tuned!

Check out all our other posts recently added…

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ScreenCrave.com » do not disturb

Do Not Disturb: Getting Picked Up… by the WB

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