TRIP TO L.A.

Steph and I took our 4th trip to LA in the last 2 years since we are part of something I cannot discuss. But every time we go, I realize two things: 1) how much I would never want to live here and 2) how many friends I either already know or have made going there.

The other thing I noticed this last trip was how much freakin' movie advertisements there are... everywhere. Getting into the marketing part of THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT, I am looking at how much everything has got to cost and I can see millions of dollars in ads (buses, billboards, cabs). Tons of creative ways to let me know that the Smurfs are now on the big screen, or this new Harry Potter movie is "the end".

I went to a few events to promote THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT, and have drummed up enough grass-root support to justify a theater opening in LA. So we will officially open in SLC and LA. Dallas will have to wait, but will probably be the second or third week.

Speaking of Drumming, we got to see our old friend Alfonzo Rachel, who takes on a small role in TLES as a guard at a booth at the Mexican border. He is also a drummer, so he played in a band with Gary Graham, who we also have become friends with. I remember Gary in Star Trek playing a vulcan ambassador on the Enterprise series.

Another new friend we made was Lloyd, a friend of my colorist George. Lloyd just finished his independent feature, can't remember the name of it at this writing (sorry about that, Lloyd). But he held a showing in LA and supposedly got a good response. I wish him the best.

We also got to talk more with Bill Whittle, who is a producer with a new company Declaration Entertainment, a film company that is producing some new material with some similar patriotic themes at THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT. The first is called THE ARROYO. We wish him the best with his projects as well.

It was a little different since this was kind of like a "party", I did get a chance to hang a few 8 foot banners on TLES, pass out material and talk about the film on the microphone. I got a ton of good response after I talked. (I just hope the guys who were drunk remember me).

Trip To Dallas

I recently went to Dallas on a business trip for Blendtec. We are associated with a chef back in Utah named Todd Leonard. He is a big fan of Blendtec and he was going on a national championship with the ACF . So it was a perfect fit that we should sponsor him. He is an awesome chef!

I also took the opportunity to take my sweet wife. Stephanie had never been to Dallas, except for midway points flying to South Padre Island.

I have high school friends there, so my first choice was one of my best friends, Bob and his wife Lori. Bob is a drummer, I learned drumming from him. Bob has practiced his art for years and I would choose him first over anyone. So we had musical flash-backs of entire albums of Rush, The Police, Yes and The Cars. He says he would want to start a Cars tribute band because he feels they had a lot of music that had been under exposed. I agree.

Steph and I spent most of our time at the Gaylord Texan (love the name). We went to the Grapevine Historical district, and we also looked for a theater that would take The Last Eagle Scout, which is one of three cities I am opening in: Salt Lake, Dallas and LA.

Dallas also has some ghosts that I have had to conquer. The last time I was here, I was packing up things from a storage unit from a short-lived marriage that changed my life forever. Yet it was so short, I have since forgotten most of it's moments. I have attempted to write these down for the time when I will need to recall the events. But while here, I chose not to visit those ghostly locations, even though there was time to do so. I chose to look ahead and focus on the work at hand, namely my film, my friends, and watching my wife riding the mechanical bull at the Gaylord.

WILL IT BLEND - JUSTIN BIEBER

This was one we (I) wanted to do months ago. We sometimes are behind the curve on these videos. But as we are planning the next few months of WILL IT BLEND videos up till our 5th anniversary in November, we are getting a little better about looking ahead and seeing what is hot.

We have recently gotten comfortable blending a new Apple product or the latest video game, but we have had to be a little more creative. Just for a teaser we have a big one coming up in November, of which I can't talk about, but it is probably one of our most requested blends ever.

But back to the Justin Bieber video. I have a new assistant now at Blendtec, Kyle Jacobson. He is a 21 year old kid who is really looking to get into the film business. He came on board after I met him at the LDS Film Festival back in January and he insisted on helping me.

Finally, I gave him the challenge and he started working with me on the Green Smoothie Girl Makeover TV Pilot Blendtec had me producing. Then he just came and worked for free over a two month period. I try to tell him everything I know about the film business... like don't waste your money on film school. Just work with someone in the business for free for a while and you will figure out what you want to do.

Finally, my boss Julie just come up to me and said "why don't we just hire him". And so we did...

So as Kyle and I were purchasing the Justin Bieber crap at the various stores, Kyle would tell the cashier that I had been "waiting for this (video, CD, doll, etc) for a long time, making me look like a Justin Bieber fan. Then, each time I would just cringe and try and defend myself, as if I was accused of being gay, or wear pink or something like that.

So what is this hatred people have for Justin that makes things like blending him such a fascination? The same with hating Rebecca Black or Sarah Palin. I think there is more "hype" on the end of haters then the actual truth. I think there are good marketers that successfully create the "ew" aspect of hating people and things.

I actually saw Rebecca Black sing the National Anthem on Good Morning America and she actually did pretty good. Granted, the song was written poorly, but it wasn't intended for major release. It was an independent recording. I am sure it was just to get Rebecca to practice her art of recording (from what I understand).

Just like I read many of the comments on the WILL IT BLEND videos and laugh because of how far from the truth people make certain things of the show. I strive to be careful before I make judgment on people. It is too bad we are now in a society where people can create a poor image of someone in mere days or even hours.

NOMINATED FOR UTAH ENTERTAINMENT CHOICE AWARDS

Not very good at accepting awards. My main goal in life is to produce good material and get people to think (and make a living). But it has never been my goal to win awards.

But I received a message from someone on Facebook telling me congratulations for being nominated for the 2011 Utah Entertainment Choice Awards, I think mostly for my work on WILL IT BLEND. Between Blendtec and I, we have received many awards for WILL IT BLEND and I am glad for that. But I am hoping to move on and be known for something else. It's the old Leonard Nimoy is Spock syndrome.

But one thing I have accepted and that is that all film making is marketing, no matter what form it is. I am hoping that for the release of THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT that I will have learned a thing or two about marketing that I didn't learn on the other films I made, mostly from the things we did right on WILL IT BLEND.

The other thing I am not good at is schmoozing. I am very lucky to be in a better position then I have been in the past to where I don't need to pander to people for money for a movie or a my next video production job (knock on wood). Stephanie is way better at talking to people, getting to know them, and actually caring for them (not being fake).

In other news, the GREEN SMOOTHIE GIRL pilot Robyn and I have been shooting has been going well. As a reminder, we picked 3 women locally who chose to change their lives through healthy eating. Kind of a "makeover" show. At first, we were doing 3 episodes with each group of people, but as the drama has unfolded, we might make this a 2 hour pilot that won't be a traditional reality show. More on that in the future...

NEW ARTICLE ON TLES

As we get closer to release time for TLES, we will start our viral campaigning. Here is an article I wrote for Big Hollywood.

WILL IT BLEND - THE iPAD 2

We had fun with this one. I wrote around the keynote speech that is always given before the release of a great new Apple product. We hired my old friend Alan Peterson (who plays Ron Erassmessen in The Last Eagle Scout) to be Steve Jobs again (returning fresh from his appearance in the blending of the iPhone 4).

Then we went to the Scera Theater to film the speech in front of no audience and a fake screen in the background. I had just come back from Las Vegas by plane and was a little late. We had very little time and my new assistant, Kyle, was awesome in getting all the equipment there before I showed up.

Then Tom, being the engineer he is, had to make sure we could break and blend the thing. Luckily, we had done it before. We actually shot the blending back at the Will it Blend set in front of a black back drop because we only had the Scera Theater for 3 hours and we only got through the opening. So we filmed everything before and everything after the blend. But you will notice you never see the blending and Steve Jobs in the same shot.

The great thing is I am now mostly shooting with 2 cameras now (sometimes 3) all in High Definition. (thanks Blendtec).

Quickly, the reviews from everywhere have enjoyed something a little different from the normal Will it Blend. Mostly love the Steve Jobs appearance. Enjoy the madness.

PINE VALLEY, UTAH

It has been along since I have entered a post on this blog. I have spent most of my time on Facebook, mostly with business. I have many thoughts and hope to catch up on some.

This cabin is one of the things on my mind. My parents moved to Vegas a few years ago from Virginia to live near my sisters and call it quits. But my dad's brain continues to function like it's 35. He's always has something he wants to do. I imagine I might be the same. I hope.

Pine Valley is a place in Utah where even many long-time Utahn's might say "where is Pine Valley". Look it up on Google. It is down south between Cedar City and St George. I was surprised how green it was with all the pine trees and beautiful surroundings, being in a desert.

My parents got the tip from on old friend from Virginia who now lives in St. George and my dad moved on it quickly. First he bought a small house, about 5 bedrooms (if you think that is small). Ok, maybe I should say average size. Whatever.

I call it small, only because of what my dad did several months later. The picture you see here is a newer cabin he bought after the other house (keeping them both). Using the house for our family use and this cabin for rental. His thinking was that Pine Valley was a nice small get-away with the one country store and no stop light, and families coming up for family reunions... yet no place to rent or stay.

So he just closed on this cabin with a steal-of-a-deal. This 10 bedroom, 10 bathroom, 10,000 sq ft house was for only $650,000. The previous owner put more then 2 million in it and then toppled over. It still has work to do in it, but it is a beauty.

I just walked through it with my sister and my lovely wife and it was fun watching the ladies imaginarily decorate it. They had tons of magazines with pictures of homes, hoping to find some kind of match. It was definitely a dream-builder for Steph and I as we eye a new home in the coming years where we can call it for a long while.

It will be up for rental this summer, hoping to cater to families who are looking for a different kind of experience.