James Christopher's blog

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: That's a Wrap

James Christopher — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:00:24 +0000

Austin filmmaker James Christopher is directing Twitchy Dolphin Flix's new mockumentary-style features The XXXX Saga: Rise of the Beaver Slayer and The Porn Movie Massacre (no, they're not pornos).

That's a wrap, folks.

It's always bittersweet to say goodbye to a film's cast and crew. For eight months we wrestled with scripts, dove into preproduction and finalized the movie. With over 160 pages and over 50 speaking roles, it was not just the most ambitious film(s) I've done, it's the most ambitious indie film done as our "level." And I'm proud to say that, as hard as it was at times, we pulled it off.

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: Week Six

James Christopher — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:00:04 +0000

This weekend was, in many ways, what Twitchy Dolphin is about. We shot a lot. And we did a lot of shots! (Not really.)

Twitchy has built a reputation of being a family -- and a team that puts the work first, that is working hard for each other not just for "making it." It's a team that has people traveling from all over to make movies with us. So for our second-to-last weekend, we had Mike Donis (Toronto), Marc Wasserman (LA), Dave Cohen (Florida) and Janet Mayson (Illinois) on set. It's always as much a family reunion as it is work. We've always prided ourselves in making the experience of being on set as much a reward as anything else. I think we did that this weekend.

We started with some XXXX and XXXX2 scenes on Wednesday evening. Andrea Dettling's character Chastity and Mike Donis's Bill England shot their romantic moments. Andrea also did her scenes with Vanessa Perry as Miss Prissy. These scenes dealt with Chastity training Miss Prissy to prepare for life on an adult film set. Yes, a popsicle was involved.

Thursday, we got Billy Kring threatening to use his Smith and Wesson to violate a guy and I took another turn as Mike Antonio, a rather prudish cop. The night was a lot of fun, playing on the police procedural tropes. Billy, one of the nicest guys I've ever known, just killed us as he went on his "I'm tired of defending your crap to the commissioner" rant.

Friday followed, a highly anticipated day. Hard Rocket landed. And Marc Wasserman, in the role, did not disappoint. He's been prepping for months, shredding his body to the point that he refused to take his shirt off at times. Dave Cohen stepped in, making his Twitchy debut as an unfortunate father of two porn star sisters. Not to be outdone, Clif Haley, Sarah England and Ben Tubbs rolled in to shoot their scenes as the writers for XXXX Films. The scene was live, ripe with improv ("Whora the Explorer?") and carrying on. Epic.

Friday followed with a couple of the bigger ensemble scenes, including the Quad X wedding scene. We then decided to have the wrap party. I know, I know. We still have three days left, but with so much of the cast here from out of town for the shoot, we figured what the heck.

And it was epic. We had new shots (Hard Rockets) and Aaron Gaudin's new microbrew imprint Montage Brew made a special brew for the occasion (Vagin-ale). Marc took his shirt off. Over and over again. Beer pong was played, behind-the-scenes pictures shared and we took a moment to thank everyone for all the work on the film so far. We're a family and that's what it felt like. And Marc Wasserman eventually did put a shirt on.

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: Week Five

James Christopher — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:00:42 +0000

Being an indie filmmaker can -- to put it nicely -- test you. It can throw wrenches into your plans, disrupt your routine. As they say, "Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it."

The crew behind the Quad X Saga has weathered their share of issues: lost locations, productions issues, revolving cast members. When I had to step in as a police detective due to a casting issue, the rest of the cast and crew rallied like a team and so far it's gone off without a hitch.

On this weekend, we rolled into three long days. I mean long. A parade of actors flew in from out of town to get some screen time. Mike Donis arrived from Toronto to play Detective Bill England, and we saw the return of Daniel Cano from Houston as documentary filmmaker Christopher Shearer. My old Army buddy Eric Adair rolled in from Maryland to play maniacal porn director Marcus and brought along Rebecca Meyer to join in the fun.

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: Week Four

James Christopher — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:00:10 +0000

Since variety is the spice of life, it was a blast on the Quad-X set this past weekend. Scenes dealing with the attempt to shut down the porn company and scenes dealing with some of the more "horror" aspects were shot during three days of crazy shooting.

We welcomed actress Allison Wood back on set. Allison, a fixture in Austin indie film, has been in Twitchy films since the very beginning. She and Twitchy owner Nathan Bybee took a turn as married senators bent on saving the world from non-Christians. Nothing like poking some fun at the politicians who are trying to push us in a more restrictive direction. That's the core of why were doing the movie.

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: Week Three

James Christopher — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:30:34 +0000

"Week Three: AKA You See Every Time He Gets a ... He Passes Out"

Yep, that's what we were doing this weekend! We were seven days into the movie now and the core of the story was starting to really be shaped. Can't say enough about all the hard work the actors have done getting this thing going. We're seeing some of the most fully formed characters from our actors that we've ever seen. For this film to be successful -- and by the reaction of the crew, it's well on its way to be that -- we need the cast to bring it. We need them to be these characters and be free to explore the scene so that it will feel more like a "doc" and not like a fictional narrative.

We started out on a Thursday by doing a bit of a send-up to one of my favorite horror flicks, Scream. Margaret Ann Garza and newcomer Trey Stapleton got to set the tone for the Quad-X sequel by recreating a portion of the Barrymore-Ghostface scene. For the slasher comedy to work, it needs to combine laughs, sexiness and over-the-top blood stuff. Check. Always fun to have Margaret on set. I could tell she was miserable at times. Being tackled and covered in Karo while in your undies will do that to you. But it was fun for another reason: Sacha Ryder was back on set. YAY!

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: Week Two

James Christopher — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:30:07 +0000

You see the indie world of making a movie. The truly indie world where you rely on the kindness of strangers and you're often subject to rapid changes of mind and focus on the part of those that are not truly invested in the project as you are. It's one of the hardest jobs of an indie director ... to keep people's internal motivation to work on the project high, knowing that some of the normal motivators of the film industry just aren't there.

We got everyone going this weekend, knowing it would be a fast shoot. Most of us were being pulled in a bunch of different directions for SXSW and we needed to be freed up for that.

The film's diversity of story dynamics is proving to be very interesting. First, we're shooting two films at once, with the sequel (The Porn Movie Massacre) being a very different film from Rise of the Beaver Slayer. The actors are really responding well to the challenge of shooting scenes with completely different tones and beats from one scene to the next. We're tying to do a horror comedy with a lot of gore, but keeping the laughs there. We've got a creepy killer design, some fun ways to dispatch some folks and are even making a joke by having a different actor play the killer in every seen. Still looking for more! So far it's coming together, even if the mask is a miserable thing to wear.

The challenge of Rise of the Beaver Slayer is a little different, in that we're trying to make an over-the-top mockumentary about porn stars, peppered with political commentary and still have some heart. Too often, films with these high-concept setups forget that movies connect to audiences when they are about people. We're doing that by having characters face real problems, challenges and facing human dilemmas, all through the context of making an adult film.

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: Week One

James Christopher — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:30:50 +0000

We jumped into the production with both feet ... and arms and other appendages. It is a mockumentary about the adult film industry, after all! I was tickled at how well oiled the crew already is. While we have been together for a long time, there is normally some period of adjustment that is needed to get cracking.

We jumped in and Elena Weinberg was our first actress playing both Daisy and Serenity. I can't thank her enough for taking on both parts. It's a huge strain on her and a huge relief for me to have a talented and a true professional taking on that double duty. Vanessa Perry and Terissa Kelton made their returns to the Twitchy screen as Miss Prissy and Ginger Snap, respectively. Vanessa plays a struggling teacher trying to make ends meet while Terissa struggles with the dual roles of mom and adult film star.

'The XXXX Saga' Production Diary: Day Zero

James Christopher — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:30:43 +0000

Tomorrow, I'll sit at the director's chair for my ninth and tenth features for Twitchy Dolphin (Littlefield was distributed by Twitchy, but shot before it existed). I'm trying to find some calm before the storm that will inevitably set in on my life. Shooting a movie is tough personally and on my wife, who must live with me being very distracted.

So what is The XXXX Saga? It's two movies at once ... both mockumentaries (think Spinal Tap and Best in Show) follow an adult film company. Both films will be shot at the same time, the second of which (The Porn Movie Massacre) adds the element of a slasher movie to the mix. The pre-production for these projects has been tough. A huge cast begets its own problems, the logistics of two very different setups has been tough to balance, and trying to juggle other commitments has left me feeling like I'm two steps behind. Thank God for the production staff!

So why keep doing it? We've done eight feature films on budgets that don't add up to one budget of some of the films we compete against. Why go through the headache? All I can say is, its worth it. It's worth it to create something totally unique that isn't tainted or watered down by a studio process. It's worth it to put something out there that is wholly yours. And the experience of going to battle alongside like-minded individuals is completely worth it. For as much as the lack of money really pains us at times (and it does) at least we're out there, doing our own thing. That freedom is priceless.

So, the question begs ... why this film? Why a film about porn stars? Again, it goes back to having a question to answer -- this one dealing with freedom of speech, and much like we did with Abram's Hand, we want to be as upfront as we could when asking this question. And it's been an interesting experiment. Our Indiegogo fundraiser has been a huge success -- we're past our goal with 17 days left. And we've had a lot of people wondering if we're making porn (we're not.) We've had actors leave the project due to familial pressure. But the ones who have stayed with us have reveled in the chance to do the film because they believe in the script and what it says about freedom, expression and society.

Scarlet Waters 5 Showcases Genre Films (and Musicians Too)

James Christopher — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:30:18 +0000

Austin genre showcase Scarlet Waters held its fifth iteration last weekend in Central Austin showcasing some great worldwide filmmaking and musical talent. The event served as the backdrop for the fifth birthday of Twitchy Dolphin Flix, Austin's prolific microbudget film company.

A few of the filmmakers, including Mike Donis from Toronto, spent part of the day talking to aspiring film students from a local middle school. Donis said he "loves talking to the kids." This was his second year visiting with Austin-area students. He enjoys the chance to let kids know that they can make movies, as long as they work hard.

Opening the weekend festivities, Twitchy Dolphin Flix held a music showcase of some of the talented artists who have helped make the Twitchy films so dynamic. Lauren Hayes, Clif Haley, Jon English and Brandon Whitlan took the Stompin' Ground Lounge's stage and entertained the energized crowd. The night featured more than just music however. A costume contest saw some great movie characters from the past (Quint, Pussy Galore and Tony Stark, to name a few). In addition, the cast of Twitchy Dolphin's new comedy about the adult film industry, XXXX, was revealed.

Starting early Saturday morning, the movies started screening and ran nonstop until 11:30 that night. Features, shorts and even a live performance delighted the audience. Filmmakers from around the world were in attendance, representing their films and enjoying the opportunity to interact with Austin filmgoers. Austin's reputation as a indie film-friendly town held true as all the screenings were well attended and the crowds enthusiastic.

UnderDogs Showcase Highlights Indies

James Christopher — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:00:24 +0000

On Saturday, September 15, a small film showcase was held by indie film distributor UnderDogs.com in San Marcos to help highlight some of the indie films being made across the country that might otherwise fly under the radar.

UnderDogs, a non-exclusive distribution startup based out of Huntsville, Texas, has spent the last year cultivating a catalog of various indie titles with the idea of helping these filmmakers to "four wall" their movies in a variety of locales.

This event featured four very different features all making their Texas debuts. Opening the show was a documentary, The Right to Love: An American Family, following the Lefew family as they fight to stop Prop 8 in California. The film follows this same-sex couple and their children through their daily lives as they try to convince voters that gay marriage should not be banned.