MILESTONE Has Passed the Test!

After receiving high marks in the Downtown Short Film Festival's Audience Choice Screenings, we've made it through to the final round! Join us on Friday, April 30th at 8P for a screening of Milestone at the Duo Theater. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: Downtown Short Film Festival 2010.

Milestone to visit Durango, CO!

OTL's latest short comedy, "Milestone" is making its way across the country. Its next stop? Durango, CO. Alicia and I had the pleasure of attending this festival a few years ago and we had an amazing time! If you've ever wanted to visit Colorado, I highly recommend this festival. It takes place from March 3-7 but for more information, check out their site at: The Durango Independent Film Festival

Milestone Gets Into a Film Festival!

Milestone is an official selection of the Miami Short Film Festival! The festival is in it's 8th year and will be held this November. It's awesome!

Check it out at: The Miami Short Film Festival

Kung Pow Wow in the USA!

"Kung Pow Wow" is making its way across the USA! We're proud to announce that this short film is an official selection of the New Hampshire Film Festival and the Tallgrass Film Festival located in Wichita, Kansas. Both festivals take place in October so if you're in either region be sure to check them out!

Kung Pow Wow in the Windy City

Our super short film, KUNG POW WOW has been accepted into the Chicago International Reel Shorts Film Festival. This is On the Leesh Productions first film festival in Chicago and we couldn't be more excited about it. Baseball, thick crust pizza and OPRAH WINFREY! C'mon - it's awesome!

Thanks Chicago!

Milestone is DONE done!

Milestone is finished! The dvd has been burned, duplicated and put into fancy cases with artwork and everything! And to all of that I say... Phew!

Now we're onto the film festival world! I feel like I'm back applying to college again... will they like me? Will I fit in? Will I like my roommate (okay, maybe not so much that one, but the others definitely still apply). It's so hard to know what is going to excite someone about a short film - other than it not being awful. Granted I've been to a number of film festivals, but to tell you the truth, there's never really seemed to be any rhyme or reason to the films that were chosen. Sometimes they'll put the films into themes: like comedies, thrillers, experimental etc., but other than that, there was always a broad range in production value, story content and length.

So where will Milestone be seen? Who knows? But I can't wait to find out!

Thanks to everyone involved!

-jules

Berkshire Living Mag Review Kung Pow Wow

Check out this incredible review of our short ditty, Kung Pow Wow:

BERKSHIRE LIVING MAG
5.13.09
The only thing wrong with Kung Pow Wow, a short film that will be screened this weekend at the Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, Mass., is that it's only two minutes long. Then again, that's part of the film's genius. In just two short minutes, the filmmakers and actors give us essentially the entire lowdown on a relationship. In this case, the simple act of ordering Chinese takeout -- one of the most romantic cliches in film and in real life -- turns into a horror threatening the very foundations of what seemed like a perfectly fine relationship. How the filmmakers achieve this effect I won't say -- I will leave that to the joy of discovery -- but it's enough to say that it is through inventiveness and a willingness to disorient a viewer in the service of achieving the remarkable effect.

If this is a hint of what's in store this weekend from BIFF, it's going to be a great festival.

If you're in the Great Barrington area, check out this wonderful festival!

What Are the Odds? available on Indieroad

Our short film What Are the Odds? is available for purchase on Indieroad.net. That's right! If you'd like to see this romantic comedy that takes you all over Manhattan as two mathematicians fall in love, go to: indieroad.net. It was written by Justin Spitzer who now writes for NBC's "The Office" so it's a sure bet that it's a well written comedy.

It costs a whopping 80 cents for purchase, but believe me - it's worth your time and money!

Check it out!

Best Laid Plans: Milestone Part 3

Every writer says to write what they know. So this past year or so, that’s what I’ve been trying to do. Writing about what I know has certainly brought on Best Laid Plans, for example. It’s brought on my first effort at a novel and it also brought on Milestone. While the circumstances surrounding the plot in Milestone are certainly not autobiographical, the emotional place the story lives in is. So then, the question becomes, how do I direct a story that comes from such a familiar emotional place? Truth is, I had no idea.

In watching Becky's and Brian's audition, I realized that it was so helpful to see great actors interpret the script in their own personal way. They brought certain moments and ideas to their performance that struck me as both interesting and different. So while I was entering territory I’d never really been in before with regard to directing a film, the one thing I did know was that I wanted to hear from the actors. I wanted their ideas and thoughts about who they were playing. This could not only broaden the story in that three heads are better than one, but it could also move me further away personally from the story – which I thought was vital. Nobody wants a director that is too tied in emotionally to a story that they can’t see the forest for the trees, so talking to them – getting their point of view was amazingly helpful.

Rehearsals were a blast. Brian and Becky were so much fun to work with and I got lucky in that they were open to any and all ideas. Whenever you’re trying something new – and even sometimes when you’re doing something you’ve done a thousand times before, you’re always waiting for someone to call you out as a fraud. You’re always anticipating that someone will tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing. Thankfully, both Becky and Brian never looked at me sideways, never called me out as a first-time writer/director and always added on to my proposals. I realized I loved directing and the push and pull of knowing when to throw your two cents in and when to let the actors run with it.

I know that some film directors do very little rehearsal, but for me it was essential. Playing a new role on set meant that I wouldn't have the space in my wee brain to really give the actors my full attention once shooting began. I didn't want to be in the position of debating moments on set while the rest of the crew was waiting around. I knew that ideas would still be percolating but I wanted to make sure the actors had a solid foundation to work from (and me too for that matter). Although I can't speak for them, I think the actors were pretty keen on the rehearsal process as well - or - being good actors, they surely hid it very well! By the time the production dates approached, I felt pretty damn good about the performances and could make room in the 'ol noggin for everything else I needed to be thinking about... like say... the shot list.

Yikes.

Milestone

This was a pretty freaking busy weekend for On the Leesh and friends (which I realize sounds like a Muppet Movie title but please forgive me...)


DP, Alicia Arinella with writer/director, Julie Tortorici


The crew headed to Park Slope to film the short film, Milestone. It was a short I'd written in the fall and offered to Alicia for On the Leesh's repertoire. She read it and asked if I wanted to try my hand at directing. Me, direct? Uh, okay! She would serve as my director of photography so I knew I had some room for error because there she'd be, backing me up and covering for any mistakes I made along the way.

For the past year or so, I've been trying my hand at new things and new adventures and directing a short film for the first time I felt, absolutely qualified. So what better way to document said adventure, than by capturing it as part of my film, Best Laid Plans! That meant that basically, this weekend we shot two films in two days! A friend of On the Leesh and budding director, Chris Zecco came out to film for Best Laid Plans while Alicia and I shot the short.


Chris Zecco shoots Best Laid Plans


In the end this film will be between 7-9 minutes long. But to get to those golden 7-9 minutes, we required a lot of support and team work. We had a tremendous crew sitting patiently while we were shooting and moving quickly when we needed to set up a new shot.


Crew members, Colleen Slattery and Jessica Arinella about to get some breakfast...


Our very own, Alicia Arinella and Melissa Jernigan posing...

Our makeup artist, Natalie was always on hand to make our actors HD beautiful and, as usual, Alicia led the team seamlessly.


Becky reads over her script while hair and makeup artist, Natalie DiStefano readies her curling iron

Then, of course, there were our two actors, Rebecca White and Brian Patacca who truly did an outstanding job telling the story, trusting a first-time director and having fun within their circumstances.





Working with the actors...

Thank you to everyone involved. Can't wait to see the final product!

NYC Downtown Short Film Fest Loves Kung Pow Wow

After screening at the NYC Downtown Short Film Fest's Audience Choice Festival, we've just received word that Kung Pow Wow has made it into their Festival!

Thanks to all who came out and voted for our film!

Stay tuned for dates and festival information.

Kung Pow Wow will screen at BIFF

We are thrilled to announce that Kung Pow Wow, Phil Kain's hilarious story about the dangers of delivery while dating will screen at this year's Berkshire International Film Festival!

You might remember that in BIFF's 2008 Festival, OTL, along with writer/director Jeff Lycett got to screen the short film Denim. The producers and organizers of the fest, especially Kelley and Lauren couldn't have made Jeff or I feel more welcomed and appreciated. The community really came out for the movies and we had a great time.

We're so excited that we've made it in two years in a row!

Check out BIFF at www.biffma.com

Kung Pow Wow included in NYC Downtown Short Film Festival Audience Screenings March 19-21

Great news about our itty-bitty short film, Kung Pow Wow - we've just been informed that the NYC Downtown Film Fest is including this short in their Audience Choice Screenings on March 19th-21st. Tickets sell out fast so be sure to get yours as soon as possible so you can vote for this hilarious short film, written by Phil Kain. Buy your tickets at:

www.smarttix.com

Woohoo!!

Official Finalist: Las Vegas International Film Festival

We've just been notified that Denim has been chosen as an official finalist for the Las Vegas international Film Festival! Although it will not screen at the festival it is one of only 20 films chosen in each category to receive this honor!

We'd like to thank the Las Vegas Film Festival for this extraordinary honor!

Check them out at: www.lvfilmfest.com

New Short Film: Kung Pow Wow!

New to the festival circuit is On the Leesh Productions's short film Kung Pow Wow. To say it's a short film is not really letting on about just how short this film is... it comes in at just under 3 minutes. Our motto: get in, make 'em laugh, get out!

Here's the description:

Dating is difficult, especially when you order in. "Kung Pow Wow" is a comedic tale about an argument between a couple when the boyfriend isn't sensitive to the needs of his girlfriend's taste buds.

We Have Our Man

Yesterday's auditions for the short comedy, "Milestone" went fabulously well!

We saw some really great and talented actors. Ultimately though, a very friendly face won us over with an outstanding read of the role, Billy. We are happy to announce that Brian Patacca will be playing the role in the movie.



www.brianpatacca.com

More to come about who will be playing the female lead, Denise. Hopefully we'll have that news in just a couple of weeks.

We're halfway there though!

Milestone Auditions Today!

Today, we are headed to Ripley Grier Studios to hold auditions for the lead male role in our upcoming short comedy, "Milestone".

Hopefully we'll find our Billy today!

"What Are the Odds?" Helps You In Med School??

Ummmm....

So, as I do first thing every morning, I checked my OTL email. There, waiting for me, was a very nicely written request from a Professor at New Jersey's Medical School requesting that I allow him to show our short film, "What Are the Odds?" in his classes.

I'm sorry... what?

He discovered the film when he was perusing media about mathematics and found the movie here: kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/mfview.php?callnumber=mf694

Now, perhaps I'm overreacting, but I must say I think it's pretty freaking cool that this short movie will be shown as a TEACHING TOOL.

What a way to start off a Monday!

Milestone Auditions

We've begun auditioning for the 2 characters in the short comedy, "Milestone." Auditions are always so exciting because you (hopefully) get to see varied takes on the words on the page. You get to see the nuances that an actor puts on the script to make it truly their own. It's also interesting to see how many actors make similar choices. It makes the person who makes a different choice really stand out. That said, you'd never want to make a ridiculous choice simply because you figure nobody else will make it as well - that would likely be foolhardy. But it does make me think that as actors, we always have to go deeper than what's simply written on the page. What's underneath the most obvious choice? Or rather, what's the reason for the most obvious choice? Answer that and you might have the uniqueness you're looking for.

We were lucky that everyone came in prepared and with a great sense of play! What a difference it makes when an actor comes in prepared. When you have an actor who's prepared the sides well, you're taken on a ride into the story with them. But if the actor isn't prepared, you end up going on this puttered stop and start with them - into the character, then back into the page and so on...

Scripts are meant to be heard, not read, so hearing everything allowed was so exciting! We have no cast yet, but stay tuned... we're getting there!

DENIM is Headed to Colorado

Hot off the presses (or the internet equivalent of "the presses"), Jeff Lycett's short comedy, DENIM has been accepted to The Durango Independent Film Festival - better known as DIFF.

Some of you OTL followers may remember that this is not the first film from On the Leesh to be shown in Durango. WHAT ARE THE ODDS?, written by "The Office" writer, Justin Sptizer was shown in this popular film festival. Among all of the festivals that OTL attended with WHAT ARE THE ODDS?, Durango was absolutely one of our favorites. The town really comes out for this fest and the producers of DIFF really make the filmmakers feel welcomed and taken care of.

Be sure to check out this festival's website at: www.durangofilmfestival.com

Thanks Durango!!