U.S.A./O1996 & 87 minutes & 16mm Color & 1/1:33 Mono
DOLLY BY CHAPMAN/LEONARD
PRINTS & PROCESSING BY FOTO-KEM/FOTO-TRONICS
PRODUCTION SERVICES BY NICHOL MOON ENTERTAINMENT
ALL STILLS PROCESSED AND PRINTED BY PARAMOUNT PHOTO LAB
SALLIE SELTZER (WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/ACTRESS)
Sallie earned her M.A. in filmmaking from the University of Southern California, taking classes at night and working at Paramount Pictures during the day as a legal secretary. At U.S.C., she wrote, directed, photographed and edited 7 short films, produced an advanced film project and completed two feature-length sceenplays. She also holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in Russian studies. Sallie's screen adaptation of the Russian, 19th century novel, Eugene Onegin, won the Gold Award for "Best Screenplay Adaptation" at the 1995 WorldFest Houston. Some of her other screenplays have reached the finals rounds of prestigious international competitions such at the Nicholl Fellowships.
Sallie enjoys writing for actors and collaborating with them actively throughout the creative process; she finds the theatre as much of an inspiration for her work as the cinema, and grew up outside of Philadelphia with two great actors/storytellers for parents. "THE MAGAZINE" marks her debut as a feature filmmaker and she co-stars as "DENISE", the meddling sister.
LYNN MAUDLIN (PRODUCER/U.P.M.)
Lynn made her official "cross-over" with `THE MAGAZINE", from the recording industry to the film industry. She came to the production with over 20 years of experience as a studio musician/vocalist and songwriter, as well as extensive experience in international money marketing and conference planning. Lynn has also been active on the board of the Costumer's Guild, West. She has studied Assistant Directing and Line Producing at U.C.L.A.. Lynn is currently developing and packaging two other independent feature projects.
S. CRICKET PETERS (DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY)
Cricket received her Master's degree from U.S.C. in Cinematography after completing a B.A. in Lighting Design in U.S.C.'s Theatre Department. Over the past two years, she has worked her way up through the ranks in a variety of capacities in the grip, electric, camera and lighting departments on numerous low budget features. Cricket most recently supervised the visual effects lighting for "THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS". This is her first feature credit as a Director of Photography.
JACK TUCKER, A.C.E. (EDITOR/PRODUCER)
Jack was an invaluable mentor and teacher to all involved with "THE MAGAZINE". He got his start in filmmaking back in the sixties, shooting and editing footage for the U.S. Air Force, and he eventually served in Viet Nam. Along the way, Jack also earned a B.A. degree in English from Portland State University. Over the past 30 years, he has worked as both a studio and an independent editor on a vast array of films. Most notably, he edited the mini-series SHOGUN" and "THE WINDS OF WAR", for which he received an Emmy nomination. Jack is the treasurer of the American Cinema Editor's society and the editor of their monthly publication, the "Cinemeditor".
MAGGIE DANIELAK (ASSOCIATE PRODUCER)
Maggie completed the American Film Institute producing program in 1989. She also holds a B.A. in History from U.C. Berkeley. Over the past seven years, Maggie has worked on many studio films, served as personal assistant to various Hollywood producers, and a celebrity; she has line produced a number of short films and music videos, and developed several scripts for independent production.
In writing the script for "THE MAGAZINE", I was directly inspired by Wayne Wang's "BLUE IN THE FACE" for its general subject matter (talking about sex until you're "blue in the face"), and by Ed Burns' "THE BROTHER'S McMULLEN", which proved to me that a good feature film could be shot for $27,000 and reminded me that I had 10 unused credit cards stuffed in a desk drawer for a rainy day. I had waited long enough for it to rain, so I decided to stop talking about making a film and put my credit where my mouth was.
The story outline for "THE MAGAZINE" was first conceived at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, after seeing a wonderful sampling of indie features, many of them from first-time directors. I wanted to write a comedy focusing on the conflicting messages about sex that our society is exposed to, from the media, family, friends, religious institutions, and the effect these messages have on our relationships. (I admittedly avoided the "religious institutions" angle altogether -- maybe in the sequel... just kidding). All that was needed was a simple story -- a premise and a prop -- that I could build a low budget film around. I decided on a "dirty" magazine to bring out a family's worst, funniest and most unexpected behaviors and phobias about sex.
The script was finished at the end of April 1996. Preston Maybank and Deborah Strang were called immediately for the parts of "Jake" and "Linda". I had worked with them, and other members of the talented "A Noise Within" theatre group, on a staged reading of my "EUGENE ONEGIN" script back in 1995. Luckily, both actors were available and eager to participate in the project.
Cricket Peters, a fellow U.S.C. grad, was recommended and brought on immediately, followed by Lynn Maudlin and pre-production was in full swing. We only had 6 weeks (5 weeks with Lynn) to prep the film. Lynn juggled the budget and shooting schedule and recruited people to go out and beg for free food and other items for the production, while Cricket and I focused on locations and plotting out the shot list. I kept on polishing the script and casting for the young kids' roles.
We conducted our own photo shoot for the "PLAY THING" and "HERSELF" magazine covers and the centerfold parody. Lynn and I designed and created the covers using computer-generated lettering on transparencies and laying them over the 8x10 photos. Multiple color copies were then run off and attached to the covers of real magazines.
Heather, whom I wrote the part of "PENNY" for, flew in from Boston on June 4th and we did a read-through of the script with an almost-complete cast present. We managed to sneak in four or five days of rehearsals with the four leads, all this while I was still working my day job and Cricket was putting in 12 to 14 hour days lighting the effects on "THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS". I called in my good friend and fellow U.S.C. alumna, Paula DiSante, to take the helm as second unit director when I had to be in front of the camera as "DENISE".
I strategically planned to take my two weeks vacation from Paramount between June 15 and June 30th. It was the only way I could afford to shoot this film. I left my job on Friday, June 14th and shooting began on the morning of the 15th. Aside from losing 200 feet of footage the first day, because of a pressure-plate problem in the camera, and a horrendously stressful day on a Valencia soundstage, all went pretty much according to plan. And the director even drove the 3-ton grip truck -- yes, it's true, I am now eligible to be a teamster. Our longest day was 13 hours and our shortest was 8. I spent the early morning of July 1st returning lighting equipment and costumes and was at my desk job by 10:00AM. I still feel as if it were the longest two weeks of my life -- and the most productive vacation I have ever experienced.
Our editor, Jack Tucker, was hired a week before the shoot started and proved invaluable as a source of ideas and inspiration. And for our two week shoot, he was the only one of us getting any sleep -- this came in handy for screening dailies: we needed at least one coherent person who could still open their eyes to look at the footage!
I made the decision to cut on film to save money. Paramount graciously offered (after we pleaded, of course) to transfer our sound onto 35mm mag and provide us with the mag stock as well. We were a bit of a "mutant child" in post, editing 16mm picture and 35mm track, but, luckily, Jack had worked this way before and was able to handle the situation and still do a beautiful job cutting the film.
I continue to bake batches of brownies (Jack handles the lemon bar "department") as "payment" for all of the generous people who helped me make this film happen. My friend Linda's pecan pie even scored us a FREE telecine session.
Is this "guerilla filmmaking" or what?!
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