It’s giveaway time again! Hollywood producer Edward L. Plumb of Irena Belle Films has donated a Dexter Bobble-Head, based on the lead character of the popular television series.  The rules for entering are simple: Send us an email with your name and address and it will be printed out and put into the big giveaway jar for the drawing. The actual drawing will take place on February 13th for this item. And yes, just like the last giveaway I will have to charge the minimum for shipping this item: $3.00 for US, and $7.00 for anywhere else in the world. This will be through my paypal account. It’s unfortunate that I cannot do the postage but times are really lean right now. Make sure you check out our great sponsor’s movies by clicking on the banner below!

Are you on Facebook? Well, Smash or Trash WILL be getting a page up there soon. In the meantime, Four-Fingered Films LLC wants to hear from you! They have their general information page HERE, Their movie Roulette HERE, and their other production The Devil’s Playthings HERE. Check them out and give them a holler!

The anniversary of the site is just around the corner and we are closing in on 8,000 hits! Not bad for having been up just short of two years. I’ve tried to keep this as a non-profit site but may have to go to using banner ads to keep it up and running, if you like the site and want to donate a dollar or two to keep it going strong, please press the Paypal donation button on the left – it will be appreciated! Thanks for all your support.

The About This Site section has been filled in more detail, and you can check that out by  clicking HERE. Coming up in February I have an article on affordable green-screening coming up, as well as some new interviews. Stay tuned…

I’m currently talking to filmmaker Erik Kristopher Myers of Four-Fingered Films, LLC recently about  cutting a retro 80s trailer for my cult slasher movie AS DARKNESS SETS IN. It is a typical whodunit slasher from that era that starred Tami S. Marshall, Anthony Chilla, Ann Ehlers, David Bretag, Kelly Clark, Tim Reed, Michael Gerischer, and Cliff McFerren. It was seen by 1,000s of people at various conventions, and I have hopes of eventually releasing it on DVD.

Long story short: there was a preference turned on that should NOT have been turned on – which basically made this site invisible to the web! It is a very strange feeling to be both completely relieved and totally ticked off at the same time when I found this out. So without further ado, welcome back to the site and have fun getting to know it again!

INTERVIEWS!

Stunt Performer Mark Bedell: Part One of a fantastic interview with professional stunt performer Mark Bedell is now up. He talks about his career as well as the DOs and the DON’Ts of stunts – regardless of what the budget of the movie is. Make sure to follow the updates for this in-depth interview.

Filmmaker Ted A. Bohus: Independent Filmmaker Ted A. Bohus has done several movie productions. In his expansive career behind the camera, he has had to deal with his fair share of distribution hell in order to get his films released. Here at Smash or Trash, Bohus has kindly let us into some of his insights on film distribution; things to prepare yourself for and things to watch out for. His sage advice can save the indie filmmaker a lot of heartache and give them a better chance at a successful release of their project. The interview can be found HERE.

Actress Leanna Chamish: Actress and Scream Queen Leanna Chamish gets interviewed about her illustrious career. Check out part one of the amazing in-depth article!

Filmmaker Don Dohler: Producer/Director Don Dohler’s 2005 interview is now up in the interview section of the site. Don had been a mentor to several people in the motion picture industry, and was an inspirational person to many, including myself. There will be more photos added to this interview as time allows. The link to the interview can be found here.

Filmmaker Donald F. Glut: My very first interview is up with legendary director Donald Glut. This gentleman inspired John Carpenter and also worked with George Lucas. This interview was so in-depth that I had to make a three-parter out of it. It makes for fascinating reading in the realm of low-budget movie-making.

Filmmaker Kevin Kangas: An interview with director/screenwriter Kevin Kangas has been posted. He goes into detail about his first two movies – HUNTING HUMANS and FEAR OF CLOWNS. An excellent read complete with photos so check it out!

Actress Lauren Pellegrino: A great in-depth interview that collaborator Leanna Chamish did with the talented actress/musician Lauren Pellegrino back in 2005 for my book. Among many national commercials and indie films, she is probably best known – acting wise – for her large supporting role in Kangas Kahn Films’ 2004 hit FEAR OF CLOWNS. This talented performer gives real insights on what she does to prepare and successfully land roles in top notch indie productions. To go to her interview click on the animated banner.

Filmmaker Edward L. Plumb: The charismatic Hollywood Producer Edward L. Plumb shares his secrets of how to produce an affordable independent movie – with big stars – in tinseltown! Click here for the first part of his interview.

Actress Jacky Reres: Smash or Trash contributor Leanna Chamish interviews the beautiful, talented star of the “Fear of Clowns” movie franchise about her career. If you are an aspiring actor or actress, you will want to pay close attention to her words of wisdom. You can get to it by clicking here.

Actor Daniel Ross: Leanna Chamish does a two part interview with actor Daniel Ross about his long and successful career (and this guy is still under 30!). Ross talks about how he broke into the business, what it takes to be a successful actor, and the prep work he does to get into character. Ross also discusses appearing in such movies as CRAWLER, MRS. AMSWORTH, VAMPIRE SISTERS, NINJAS VS ZOMBIES, and LADDER 49. He is also the voice of Starscream on the Transformers video game!!!! To check out part one of this superb interview click HERE.

Actor George Stover: Star of the small and large screen – veteran character actor George Stover – granted Smash or Trash an interview and we are happy to post in now complete with pics. Stover has appeared in countless movies (including ones for John Waters and Don Dohler), and gives a look into what it takes to become a successful actor. His interview can be found HERE.

Filmmaker Dan Zachary: The interview I did with Filmmaker Dan Zachary of Moviehouse Pictures. He goes into detail on some of the behind-the-scenes info, struggles, and antics he ran into when getting his indie slasher DARKEST HOUR off the ground and finished. He also gives the reader a glimpse into what is coming up next with his company. To check out the cool interview and photos go HERE.

Well folks, nobody is going to be interested in hearing this, but real life has been keeping me too busy to do much updating. Trust me, I feel bad about that and hope to rectify that in July. Of course the economy still sucks so I have been taking every freelance job and paying gig I can find. THAT’S what has kept me out of the loop. Some of these gigs are related to the industry, so I will be writing about those experiences in a few articles.

I worked on a recent music video for producer Lee Doll. Les Bradley was the director of photography on the shoot. I have seen a rough cut and it looks great!

Click on the image above and it will take you to a thread I have up about whodunit slasher films. I post regularly over at The Bodycount Continues. I go over everything old and new and big budget to low budget, and am updating it as I have time (which hasn’t been much lately). If you have done a whodunit slasher, you just may find a review of it there.

The guys over at Shock Marathons sent me in two of their latest movies to review which I hope to get to as soon as possible. Check out their fun site ahead of time by clicking on the image of Freaky Farley above!

I talked with contributor Mitch Klein this evening, and it looks like the site will be getting a lot more traffic in the near future. With the aid of updating the software and a few plug-ins, the site is going to get a MUCH wider audience AND that means more publicity and information for the indie films posted here. Most excellent news Mitch! If you haven’t done so, you owe it to yourself to check out his awesome independent film site TALES FROM THE CELLAR. To do so click on the link below:

BLOOD BOOBS & BEAST, the documentary on independent filmmaker Don Dohler (1946 to 2006) is now available. Besides fascinating interviews with Dohler, director Joe Ripple, and veteran actor George Stover there are several celebrity interviews with such people as Tom Savini (Friday the 13th), Tom Sullivan (Evil Dead), Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Films) and J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) on how Don Dohler inspired their lives and careers and their insights into what made this man tick. It is an incredible account of the life of a man that shot movies in his backyard that got shown all over the world. This is a two-disc set that is loaded with extras, including Dohler’s 1982 sci-fi/horror masterpiece NIGHTBEAST. Click on the image above to order yours today!

A happy birthday to independent filmmaker Donald F. Glüt! This man inspired many people with his “underground films” (including director John Carpenter) and has several movies, books, and soundtracks available. Click on his photo above to go to his website to see what new productions he has been busy on!

ROB, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE UPDATES? Oh boy. Well, the start of the year I am getting ready to do some serious updates. Unfortunately good intentions don’t count for much – actions do. What happened is January 19th some jackass on the seventh floor of my apartment building stupidly cut my phone line while having their cable installed. It took a month for Verizon and my building to track down where it happened and to get it fixed and up and running again. During that time I also got the flu that had been going around so I was out of it as far as getting anything done.

So I thank all of you for your patience. What is coming up is an article on affordable convincing green screen effects, and I will be adding more to the article on practical Poor Man’s Process. As to interviews I will be getting special effects artist Tom Sullivan’s (Evil Dead trilogy), filmmaker Jon Clark, filmmaker John Bowker, filmmaker Joe Sherlock, and actor Daniel Ross’ up (Dan, if you are reading this please send me the CD of your photos). I have many more interviews to go up and hope to be adding content over the next several weeks so keep checking back frequently.

Last week I got asked to help out with some art for an upcoming movie called NUDIST CAMP ZOMBIE MASSACRE. It is a horror comedy and details about it can be found HERE. Lastly, I have updated the page about myself. No, this is not a brag book. It occurred to me that some people might ask me, “Why the hell should I take indie movie advice from you?” This hopefully answers that question. It is by no means detailed or finished but I do have up some of the projects I have worked on. It will be an on-going update that will get filled in over time. Why not just post it on the IMDB? Because my page there sucks. There are so many Robert Long’s in the movie business that most of my entries get put to the wrong Robert Long or not at all. This helps rectify that problem and will hopefully show folks I do know a bit about what I am talking about! That page can be found HERE.

I wanted to wish a warm happy birthday to my good buddy Mitch Klein, whom is my web administrator on this site as well. Mitch is a big Green Lantern fan, so I did up some art of him as his favorite character. Happy birthday buddy!

Wow! Been too long since an update! Sorry about that, but I have been busy with preproduction of a movie for Timewarp Films. However, this week I hope to post an article on Poor Man’s Process, as well as the interview of character actor George Stover. Stay tuned!

I have posted a new movie review in the AT THE MOVIES link. It is for Vince Corkadel’s anthology of horror and mystery entitled DUST AND DEATH. Check out my thoughts about it here. Also, in the DVD Store, I have listed 14 independent movies at this point. More interviews and how-to articles to come as I have time.

Hello everyone,

I finished up my tour of duty for Horrorfind March 2008 and have to say that it was tremendous fun! I will go into more detail later in one of the columns about it, but there were great people to meet and good lessons to be learned. I helped man the Timewarp Films table and had a blast! Plus, some good money was raised for the charity “Scares That Care.” Kudos to Director Joe Ripple for that! I will have pictures of the event to post soon.

There are nearly 30 links up on the links page now – check em out! I am working on stuff for the advice column and getting a few more interviews up. Right now I have got to get up and start doing the boring side of stuff – like taxes. Stay tuned this week for more stuff going up, and remember to help get the word out about Smash or Trash Independent Filmmaking – where the advice of veterans will help other movie makers make better features!

Well, another week, another few things up. My overview of the movie “Terror in the Pharaoh’s Tomb can be found here: http://smashortrashindiefilmmaking.com/?page_id=124 Also I have listed a few more links in the links section as well as a few more DVDs in the DVD Store section. Hope to have some more meatier stuff up soon!

Well, the site has officially been up for a week. I don’t feel too bad about what I have been able to get posted so far. Not bad for a guy that has to hold down a 9 to 5 as well. I know I give many kudos to Leanna Chamish, but I would also like to give a tremendous thanks to Screenwriter Mitch Klein, who has been acting as my web administrator. Without him, I would still be at step one, stumped. Believe me when I say Mitch is a valued member of this site!

I have nine links up and active in the links section. More to come in the following days. The how-to stuff is coming, I just need a few graphics per article and I am working on that. I hope you have enjoyed what has been posted so far, and hey – help me get the word out to other filmmakers. Thanks!

03-11-08

THIS JUST IN: I have uploaded a movie review for “Fear of Clowns” by director Kevin Kangas. It is different in the form that about 15 Hollywood biz people commented on it and I took notes. Then, I let Director Kangas comment on the comments. Makes for interesting reading! Find out what Hollywood thought of actors Mark Lassise, Frank Lama, JP Barry, Jacky Reres, Lauren Pellegrino, and Rick Ganz!

Also, The first interview is up with legendary director Donald Glut. This interview was so in-depth that I had to make a three-parter out of it. It makes for fascinating reading in the realm of low-budget movie-making.