I Love L.A.?

Heading to Chicago today for a company pow-wow, and then leaving for L.A. tomorrow to promote/pitch Reality Check at the 3rd Annual ITVFest. I'm not even fully packed yet as I don't think I'm going to be able to cram 10 days of clothing into a carry-on, so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay to check luggage. (boo!)

We finally got our website up and going too. (click here)

Interesting thing happened at CSz this weekend - we were short players both nights (for whatever reasons) and the teams broke down to being 2-on-2 w/a DJ as opposed to it normally being 3-on-3 or 4-on-4. They were the best shows we've had in months. Seriously. I don't know if everyone's adrenaline kicked on or what, but being short-staffed actually helped make the shows even better. Our manager was there both nights to witness this and, with a new months schedule looming, I wonder if we may see some format changes...

Later.

The Dells, Chi-town CSz, and The Dark Knight

Back from Wisconsin Dells & Chicago and waiting to hear the results from the Chicago Comedy TV Pilot Competition, but also focusing on the eminent trip to Los Angeles in support of Reality Check, and still waiting to hear if we made it into the New York competition - so keep those fingers crossed!

The CSz trip to the Dells for the WELS Youth Rally was fun, as always, but it was shocking to see Lake Denton completely drained due to the Midwest flooding. The famed Ducks had no water to drive through and it was a little sad. The weather was very overcast and we were unable to hit any of the many water parks. However, we did make it to what has become a CSz tradition - breakfast at Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty. If you've never been there, they serve family style and just keep bringing food to the table until you can't move...for only $10! It's awesome! We got to initiate Corey & Mo into our little tradition this year and they were pretty happy, as evidenced below:

Keeping the tradition alive of refusing to pay outrageous prices for movies, I saw The Dark Knight and snuck (is that the past-tense of 'sneak'?) into Wanted last night.

The Dark Knight was an awesome film, but I thought it got a touch to 'super-heroey' at the end after pounding home a very realistic feel throughout 98% of the film. There's an old graphic novel called Batman: The Killing Joke that I purchased when I was little and it always stuck with me in the way that it presented the Joker as a normal person that was driven to the madman he'd become, and I thought this film really hit on that - whether intending to or not.

Yes, Heath Ledger was amazing - there's enough glowing reviews out there that I'm not going to turn this into another one. Not to be overlooked, however, should be Aaron Eckhardt as an awesome Harvey Dent/Two Face.

Wanted was a nice surprise as I knew very little about it except it was about assassins and had Angelina Jolie in it - I'm sold. It's also based on a graphic novel, which I actually purchased at Borders after seeing the movie. It's definitely not a movie for everyone & quite a departure from the Mark Millar book, but reminded me a lot of Shoot 'Em Up from last year with it's fantastic action sequences and graphic dialogue. There's a cool story twist in the film that I won't ruin, but it's definitely worth a NetFlix rental. at the very least.

Next post should come from L.A. Take care!

Wow.

Thank you to everyone that attended the Chicago competition. We could not have asked for a better turn out and seeing our work up there on the big screen was intimidating to say the least. The ovation the pilot received at the end the screening was humbling.

On behalf of Dogsbreath, thank you all so much again for the support. We'll let you know how we do in the Chicago competition and how things go in L.A.

Wow. Just wow.

"Check" it out.

My friend, his brother, and myself decided to do a little project this summer as we wrote and produced a pilot based on an idea about spoofing a reality show. This summer, we wrote it, cast it, filmed it, and edited it in the DePaul digital media center in a night that seemed like it could've fallen out of any script from the 80's (contact me in person and I'll regale you with it sometime) as we had to get it completed that night. We entitled it Reality Check.

Our need for that expediency was because our plan was to enter it into the Chicago Comedy Pilot Competition and it was due the next day. My friend's brother also turned it in for a grade and his professor was so impressed with not just the concept, but the editing as well that he told him we should enter it in as many festivals and competitions as we could. About a month later, we found out we were an official selection to the competition and were ecstatic. We're hoping for a solid turnout, so if you're in Chicago, please feel free to attend our public screening:
* The Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave.)
* Friday, July 18th @ 8:45 p.m.
* Admission: $10

With the apparent success of the show doing so well, we discussed it & decided to test the waters by submitting it to the Independent Television Festival (ITVFest) in Los Angeles. It was a wild shot in the dark, but we figured it couldn't hurt to at least try. And we found out last week that we are an official selection. Needless to say, we're pretty happy about that too. So we're heading out to L.A. in early August for the festival (which includes getting to hear Mr. Show's Bob Odenkirk speak) & should you find yourself in L.A., please feel free to attend either (or both) screenings as well:
* Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theater (8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood)
* Saturday, August 2nd @ 9 p.m. & Tuesday, August 5th @ 6 p.m.
* Admission: $10

So now, riding an obvious natural high, we're going for the big bad trifecta and have submitted it to the New York Television Festival - so keep those fingers crossed! We're hunting for any more festivals or competitions that may be out there that we aren't aware of yet & just enjoying this amazing experience as it unfolds.

It's pretty mind-blowing how our little, "thing we'll do for fun," has turned into something bigger than any of us had ever anticipated.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support!