( childhood experiments, early gross flicks with Charles Schneider, Other Collaborations, animations and other high school films, my first real movies, ANDY and other student films in college, IT TOOK GUTS and other punk flicks, life after film school, LA Movies, Film’s I Star In )
Growing up, my father was a writer/director for independent film and educational television. He later became a producer as well and grew to become the top religious film maker in the country. His crowning achievement as far as money and Hollywood goes was THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH, a top ten grosser for 1978. Artistically his fame came from a 1964 film called PARABLE which depicted Christ as a clown and led to such phenomenon as GODSPELL and the rise of born-again Christianity. In fact, even though he was a staunch Buddhist, my father’s films were a major tool of conversion prior to the advent of Televangelism. His films had impact and depth. I suppose if my father had been a Colonel in the US Army I would have been a soldier, but he was a filmmaker so that became my goal.
Surprisingly it was my divorced mother who bought me my first camera at the age of 7 (in fact it was a super 8mm and she used it more than me). I practiced with it and made a few abstract art films that would actually get some attention today (but back then there was little or no support for talented children). At the age of ten I moved in with my father’s new family in suburban Los Angeles. There I learned how to type a script, edit 16mm film & sound tape, do make-up and be on a crew. I loved books, especially “the Hobbit”, so when I was twelve I began writing a screenplay (actually more of a shooting script) for the fantasy novel. It was my life long dream to make the works of J.R.R. Tolkien into a movie. I ran out of gas at around 100 pages. But it did inspire me to jot down simpler scripts and shoot them. I set up my shot list the same way that my father set up his. It was a hard going at times but I managed to grind out a good number of films by the time I left California at 14.
THE SPIDER (in collaboration with Scott Brown)
THE AL FILM
THE THOR FILM
THE BALLOON
I moved back to Chicago to live with my mother and go to High School. I attended Francis W Parker, where I fell in with fellow student, Charles Steven Schneider, the local artist prodigy. After many fights we became best friends and serious collaborators. Charles made films too, but his weren’t hampered by scripts and lights and set ups. He made his movies free style, in a single afternoon. With him I began making better films and more of them. Our first series of real films were inspired by John Waters. They were meant to shock and sicken the audience. We used our substantial skills as makeup artists and actors who would stop at nothing to make this happen.
Highlights (flicks with Chuck)
BLOOD BATH 1
BLOOD BATH2
PINK MOSQUITOES
THE ULTIMATE
Within three months of meeting one another we formed a company called NEMEDIAN FILMS and began to develop a script based on Lin Carter’s “Thongor and the Wizard of Lemruia”. I used all of the professional skills that I had learned in California to do it right. We got a business license. We designed stationary. We printed return address envelopes, purchased a company stamp and built an entire office. We even cast the title role with an actor named Ted Pitsis. But, in the end we were only 14 and we couldn’t keep up the pace. We went back to the free style shoot, and didn’t attempt another more sophisticated project until the whopping age of 17.
Highlights (more flicks with Chuck)
THE MARTIAN
THE ELF
THE SORCERER
JEW/ARAB
DOGGIE DEATH
PSYCHO
I also made quite a few flicks on my own or with people other than Chucky.
ANIMATED PORNO
ELLIPSOID FUNGUS (in Collaboration with Scott Brown)
TEA FOR TWO
DA ZIP
SNOW WOMAN
HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING (in collaboration with Jeff Michelski)
THE EXORCIST AGAIN
ANIMATED MAKE UP 1 & 2 (in collaboration with Ralph Saunders)
REN FAIRE DOCUMENTARY
KLOONIE, THE POSSESSION (in collaboration with Scott Brown)
ORGY GIRLS
GODS II (in collaboration with Ralph & Ken Saunders)
We had our first big film showcase as Juniors. The allowed us to use a small auditorium. Actually it caused quite a stir and some people wrote letters of protest (fellow student Darryl Hannah being the most opposed to our work).
During junior year things began to change. We had a number of public and private screenings and thus a demanding audience. So we breathed life into Nemedian films again with a project titled PEOPLE LITTLE PEOPLE. For this one we focused less on the office an d the company, and more on writing a solid script, getting a cast and securing locations. Our stars were adult actors. There was female nudity. We used shot lists and slates and a full compliment of lights and make up. After prepping for two months and shooting for two days we ran out of money and out of gas. But it was our best film yet. From that point on we defined ourselves as “film makers”. Our future projects had props, costumes, crews and most importantly, a solid and achievable plot.
Highlights (more serious flicks with Chuck)
PEOPLE LITTLE PEOPLE
PSICKO
GODS
SCAVENGERS
TWISTED FAMILIES
Beginning in our Senior year of High School and going on into the first two years of college my favorite collaborator, Charles Schneider wrote and directed a number of good films in which I was a key performer, and occasionally the star.
Films Directed by Charles Schneider starring me
H-CHASE
H-CHASE II
FEMME FATALE
THE UNBORN
NEW YORK PSYCHOPATH
NEW YORK ECCENTRIC
BLOOD MONEY
MIDWESTERN MYTH
During my senior year I began to see myself as a young literary figure. I began to write poetry and plays. I did very well with both and I was published and produced very early in life. My film making took a back seat until college. I went to TUFTS UNIVERSITY in Boston, joining their BFA program which took place at THE SCHOOL FOR THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS. I entered the school not on my film making but on my paintings and sculptures which were impressive. After a few months of looking at nude models I longed to make films again. So I switched double majors to film and music. Aside from dozens of assignments I made some very well received student films including one feature.
Highlights (student films at College)
ROMANCE
A FANTASY
ANDY (story by me and David LaTerre)
FACE
WAGNER ARCHITECTURE
DIOS
A SELECTION OF ANIMATIONS
VICTORIAN DETECTIVE
THE DOCTOR
PARK BENCH
Of these films Andy, and my animations got a lot of attention and showed often. In fact, the animations won the coveted “off the wall prize for animated film.
During my time a Tufts, Charles Schneider was going to film school in New York city so we got together often. During his visits to Boston we made a series of shorts. It’s no surprise that they were gory.
Highlights (college flicks with Charles)
GOTCHA
JESUS FLICK
IT TOOK GUTS
Little did we guess what an impact It Took Guts would have. It became a small time cult film in Boston, playing at every showing that I had anything to do with. It became a bigger cult film in Chicago where every Thursday it played at EXIT, chi-towns premiere punk/industrial club. In New York it grew to become a huge cult film, playing every Wednesday night at Max’s Kansas City to crowds of fans screaming “Guts! Guts!”
Finally the film was picked up by a Japanese punk band called THE MAD, with lead singer SCREAMING MAD GEORGE. The film played behind the group during one of their most foul songs. The Mad went on tour across the globe, showing our film to repulsed audiences around the world. A Japanese publishing company recently put out an alternative coffee table book with a number of color plates from our movie.
After college I returned to Chicago and began writing and directing for the stage. At first I tried to make movies as well as do theatre.
Highlights (life after film school)
NOT AT HOME
INITIATION IN THE PALACE OF DELIGHTS
PATTY HORVATH, AMERICAN POET
MANIKINS
DICK AND JANE
My last serious film was Dick and Jane, a play by Jules Fiffer. I decided to produce the work on film instead of on stage, but other than that it had the feeling of a play (in the style of Plaza Suite and The Odd Couple). So my films looked like plays and my plays felt like movies (according to a number of news papers).
For the next few years I focused completely on the theatre. Every once in a while I did a special presentation of one of my plays for local television (mostly WGN), but other than writing two screenplays and a couple of animations, I did not attempt a move into film until I came to California in 1997. Since then I have written and directed one short titled STIMULI, and I was hired as the director and DP on an adventure pilot for cable. At this moment I have a deal pending with a small production company to direct a feature that I wrote last year.
Highlights (made/directed in LA)
STIMULI
SACRED JOURNEY DIARIES
ALIEN ABDUCTION
SNAKES ON A TRAIN
NIGHT OF THE LEBEN TOD
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Last revised: November 27, 2006
