First up: I’m looking for two African American actresses to help me shoot a spec trailer for a project  called, “Legend of Black Lotus.” It’s a BIG project: and epic martial arts fantasy. The biggest I’ve ever attempted. See the details here: http://www.AngeloBell.com/black-lotus/

I’ve decided to diversity and delegate. I’m now looking for guest directors for my upcoming web series, “Broken Hearts Club: On the Couch.” Interested parties in the LA area should hit me up. Since I’m doing On the Couch I’ve decided to push back Shadowkeeper for a while.

Speaking of “Broken Hearts Club” — I’m streaming the first episode of the series on the official website. Watch the 22-minute episode here: http://www.brokenheartsclubfilm.com/watch-first-episode/

“Resurrection of Serious Rogers” is going strong in post. Watch a 15-minute sneak peek here. Leave a comment and you might get an even bigger sneak peak… Watch the sneak peek here: http://www.angelobell.com/sneak-peek/

So subscribe to my blog if you haven’t already. I’ll keep you up to date with all the glorious madness

The workshop is broadcast live, so at least I can see my work performed by the talented folks in NYC.  In fact, if you tune in to DirectingActors.tv you might hear me call in live from LA. The scene, “Verbal Tea” is a scene from my sci-fi script, Renascence Odyssey.

If you’re in NYC , register, attend and watch.

Directing Actors TV Featuring New York’s talented and emerging Actors and Writers for stage and screen, Directing Actors TV is an episodic scene series at the National Comedy Theatre in Midtown Manhattan. Each event is videotaped in front of a live audience of casting Agents, Producers, Directors, Writers and Actors–then broadcast on Directing Actors TV (http://www.directingactors.tv), Directing Act…
	Directing Actors Gym — Sunday, March 21, 2010 Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 2:00PM The Directing Actors Gym features New York’s talented and emerging Actors and Writers for stage and screen in a scene performance workshop every third week at the National Comedy Theatre in Midtown Manhattan. Each event is broadcast LIVE on the Internet and to mobile devices at http://www.livestream.com/directingactors Performing Actors select a role of from one of three scripts–then perform with random scene partners for a live audience of industry peers. Audience members are welcome to attend this event to support local talent, network with like-minds and join the burgeoning independent community of Artists in New York City. $10.00 for ALL! *** PERFORMING ACTOR SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN UNTIL MONDAY, MARCH 8th, 2010 *** SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (MUST follow!): 1) Choose your SCRIPT: MARCH 21st SCENES: “Verbal Tea” Written by Angelo Bell Available on Meetup Files “Character Driven” Written by Seth Ruffer (revised by Miles Maker) Available on Meetup Files “War Games” Written by DL Sams Available on Meetup Files 2) Attach your best headshot to your e-mail and indicate the sce… Price: $10.00 See the full event details, including location, at http://www.meetup.com/DirectingActors/calendar/12797063/.
Check out what members are saying about Directing Actors TV: “wonderful learning experience.” – shaun “A great place to perform the craft they love and get great feedback!” – Keesha Nieda Ford “It’s a chance to interact with People of all different levels of experience in every part of the industry, including casting, writers, actors, & more.” – MarcosLuis “Great networking, feedback and direction” – Tiffany C. Williams “So many reasons…you get to improve in your craft, you get to meet and work with other actors, and some of the industry exposure.” – Nancy Vazquez

Why No Business Should Be Involved With Social Networking

Take a look at these four scenarios.

1. A teenaged boy is sharing strategy secrets on a Playstation 3 Facebook group.
2. A father is posting photos of his family’s day at the beach to Flickr.
3. A mother is uploading a video of her daughter’s  recital to You Tube.
4. An HR consultant is twittering about recent changes in employment law.

Which one of these people stands out as being unique from the others in the way they are using social networking?

[Read more...]

It’s not a woman. Not an African American. Not someone who has the ability to buy ads in Ebony or Essence magazine.

It’s an actor, someone I once wanted to work with, but whose professionalism worried me. Then he exhibited behavior that forced me to no longer consider him. I moved on. I guess he never got over it even though this was over 2 1/2 years ago.

Even if I don’t consider the fact that I took this guy to lunch (and paid) and loaned him money, the deed is dastardly. Let’s call it what it is: it’s fucked up.

But now that I know who and what I’m looking for, there’s peace in the Bell spirit once again.

I was asked by a friend to submit a scene to a Directing Actors group. In the processof trying to decide what script to make I became reacquainted with my sci-fi script, Renascence Odyssey. I’d completely forgotten about the script –stoopid me! I grabbed a scene, the first time the main characters meet  — did a quick edit because the performing actors in the workshop wouldn’t be privy to the back story, and emailed it. I was concerned because it’s sci-fi and I wasn’t sure if the scene was what he needed. And as a writer, I’m never 100% satisfied with my work.

Thirty minutes later my friend called me. My heart raced. Shit, he hated it, I thought. To the contrary, he thought it was perfect. Most of the actors in the group are African American and don’t often get to practice/perform sci-fi scenes. There’s a surrealism in sci-fi that is similar to and different from contemporary drama.

Whew. I was happy. Even better: I’ll get to see the actors perform my scene during a live UStream. Nice.

Checked my email again and one of the performers from Resurrection of Serious Rogers sent me a note. She was excited about the sneak peek of this web series and had mentioned it to her acting class. The instructor then asked her to invite me in to discuss my casting methods, what I look for, and how I work and network with people in the industry. Nice.

Last time I spoke in front of a group it was the Long Beach College’s newly formed film society. The attendees were all folks who wanted to make a film, but hadn’t yet. The film class will be a group of working actors. Should be fun

Like most films from first-time filmmakers, Get Spielberg was a satire about –what else — the entertainment industry! In the film Vis Brown played a militant African American writer who prefers writing romantic comedies, unfortunately everyone expects hims to be the angry black man we often see in movies.

Vis saw me when I was green. I was a newbie. I’d never directed a film before. I’d never produced a film before. In fact, I’d only been on set once, for a UCLA student film production.

Vis called me after he’d watched the 15-minute sneak-peek video for Resurrection of Serious Rogers.  His compliments were mind blowing and inspiring. He said, “As far as you’ve come, you better not stop writing and making films.”

It’s good to look back. It’s good to measure your results by looking at your humble beginnings and then taking stock of all your accomplishments, both large and small. You might be surprised by what you’ve done.

I place articles and news releases on various press release web sites. The following message is from someone who thought that hitting the contact button would allow them to post message alongside the news release. Instead, the message was delivered to my email address.

Evidently I’ve pissed someone off. I have no idea who it is. However, unknown to them, Wordpress logs the IP address of the originating server. I did a trace back to…and this is hilarious…The Tropicana Resort & Casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 2831 Boardwalk, Atlantic City. WTF?

The following is the message in its entirety. I edited nothing. I just did a simple copy and paste. Turns out that the person also tried to post a comment on this blog post using a cut&paste too.

ATTN ALL MEMBERS OF BROKEN HEART AND FOLLOWERS OF THESE PROJECTS AND MOVIES.  DO NOT PURCHASE OR ENTERTAIN YOUR INTELLIGENCE BY SUBSCRIBING TO ANGELO JEROME BELL AND HIS ASSOCIATES ESPECIALLY HIS PRODUCTION COMPANY SIMPLY BECAUSE HE IS A CROOK AND THE ENTIRE PRODUCTION COMPANY IS A SCAM. ANGELO BELL IS A CON ARTIST AND OUT TO GET YOUR MONEY THAT WILL NOT OFFER NOTHING IN RETURN.  HE IS SIMPLY FULL OF HIMSELF AND HIS IDEAS ARE FROM PAST AND PREVIOUS ASSOCIATES HE SOCIALIZED WITH FROM HIS PAST.  ALL OF HIS IDEAS HAVE BEEN STOLEN FROM ACQUAINTANCES.

IF YOU WANT TO THROW YOUR GOOD MONEY AWAY, CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THIS WANNA TO BE PRODUCER WRITING THEFT AND CHUMP ON THE RUN.   YOU BE BETTER OFF BUYING A MR. SOFTEE ICE CREAM AT LEAST YOU CAN HAVE MORE SATISFACTION IN A SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME.

MR. BELL IS NOTHING BUT A SCAM ARTIST.  THE EMAILS YOU ALL HAVE RECEIVED FROM NIGERIA (WHICH ARE CONFIRMED SCAMS) ARE MORE LEGIT THAN ANGELO BELL.

STAY TUNED AND READ MY FULL PAGE ADS IN UP AND COMING ESSENCE AND EBONY MAGAZINES ON THIS SCAM ARTIST.

So apparently this person who writes in all caps and with the grammar level of a second-grader is going to write about me in Essence and Ebony magazines. Hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, huh?

Here’s what my Sherlock Holmes thinking has deduced:

1. This person is an African American (i.e. they reference Essence and Ebony magazines)
2. This person is either over sixty, African American, or white trash (they’re in frickin’ Atlantic City for chrissakes!)
3. This person is fairly Internet-dumb. (who doesn’t know IP addresses are logged?)
4. They’re pissed at me.
5. This person is stupid. If my ideas aren’t mine, who the hell made the 13 films my name is on? My doppleganger?
6. It’s a woman. A guy would simply punch me in the mouth (or try to — but you really don’t want to be around me when I lose my temper. Trust me)
7. It’s possible this person is someone I knew in New York (but I haven’t been back to NY in over 7 years)
8. This person is really pissed at me.
9. This person is named Christine Platt.  At least that’s what the bogus email to a Hotmail account said.
10. I don’t know a Christine Platt from Adam. Especially not one from LPHS.ADMIN.HARRIETTE??? (Again, I must put the blame on my doppleganger who’s been hanging out with undesirables lately)
11. This person isn’t really going to write an article about me in Ebony magazine. (ooo, can I be the centerfold?!)

All things considered, I’ve lived a fairly mundane and uneventful life for the past year and I try to be a good person. But fuck with me and there’s a whole other side that even scares me.

So stalker beware.  Bruce Banner said it best, “Don’t make me angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry.”

I’m waiting for you.

Leave a comment, get an advanced peek…

I was chatting on Facebook with my UK filmmaker friend, David Baker after reading his article about having thick skin. As of this blog post, David is 10-15 days away from knowing if he’s going to get the money to make his next film, Death Movie.  He wrote a blog about his state of mind titled, Counting Chickens. In a nutshell, David isn’t assuming a damn thing about the money. As he put it, the only time the answer is yes is when the cash ends up in your bank account.

Life is a beautiful maze

This got me thinking about the challenges I mentioned above. I have resigned to expect, deal with and ultimately get over every disappointment that happens on this filmmaking journey. Sure, I’ll bump my head, piss someone off, miss an opportunity — but that’s all a part of the process. When you choose a direction I believe you’ve got to see it through. It how you learn. There’s no point in looking back, because either you’ve learned a lesson or you haven’t. My goal is to learn from every misstep and mistake.

However, there is one thing I won’t deal with. Empty Promises. I’ve been promised lots and lots of things. From money, to equipment, to introductions to millionaire investors — someone along the way has told me they would perform and provide in a way I had never asked them to perform and provide. Unfortunately, they were full of shit.

So like David, I don’t count my chickens before they’re hatched. I wait.

I don't really mean it

The bigger problem here is that quite often people offer to do things knowing full well they have no intention (or no ability) to follow through. Why? Why put me through it? Why put us through it? Not long ago a dood responded to my craigslist ad. I was selling something to raise money for my film. He responded and insinuated that he had some ideas about distribution and could possible help me get money. I contacted him, followed up, and did my due diligence to make sure I wasn’t missing an opportunity. However, in the back of my head I felt this was too good to be true. It was. When I pressed him to make a firm statement as to what service he was offering he feigned insult and dashed away.

The same thing goes for folks who offer services then pull out without a word. I had a guy recently who contacted me on Facebook about a composing opportunity. He told me all these wonderful things about what he could do. He never asked what the budget was. When I told him the payment arrangement I had in place and asked to hear samples of his work he never responded to my email. Naturally I assumed that he did not want to work for the specific payment arrangement. That’s cool. But why behave in such a manner? All he had to do was decline and offer to stay in touch for future assignments.

"I promise..."

I’m pretty straightforward. Particularly when I’m making a film I try to lay it all out: what I can do, can afford, will try to do, etc. Too many people talk and talk and talk. All their sound and fury signifies nothing because they haven’t asked for what they need or haven’t clearly stated what they can do.

So, every time some awesome new opportunity presents itself I put my tongue in my cheek and think, “Let’s see how this plays out.” Then I smile and say, “”Sure, let’s talk.”