Last weekend was the Mid Atlantic Actor/Models Expo held in Timonium, MD. It was extremely busy and well-attended. I – along with Leanna Chamish – was there to help out at Les Bradley’s table. Bradley is a seasoned veteran of video production and was there to promote his services for creating affordable, professional demo reels for actors. If you are an actor that needs a DVD or an uploadable file of your best work to show casting directors, Les is the man to go to. He can be contacted at the link below:

Now I was there to collect headshots and resumes. I have a few projects coming up that I am writing scripts for. Being that I am still very new to Maryland (I moved here from Los Angeles three years ago) I needed to find out what the talent pool is like in the three-state area. I had makeup artists, costume designers, voice over artists, and union and non-union actors stop by to chat and network. If I have one good piece of advice to all those people I met that visit the sit, it would be to read in detail the interviews I have posted from various performers and filmmakers. Why? Because they really get to the meat of what it takes to make it in the business, the mistakes they have made along the way, and sound advise on how to land that next production job or acting gig.

Besides demo reels by Les Bradly, if you need professional headshots taken, you can’t do much better than to go with one of these two sources. The first being Joe Ripple of Timewarp Films. Joe has been a professional photographer for a few years now and has taken some incredible pictures for people in the entertainment industry, and his rates are very fair. Samples of his work and contact information can be found HERE.

Frederick Bianco of the Mount Royal Printing Company (Baltimore) does up excellent headshot and comp cards for actors and models as well. Go to the Mount Royal Printing website to contact him about their reasonable rates.

Filmmaker Kevin Kangas (Hunting Humans, Fear of Clowns, Bounty) is going public with his blog diaries from his film shoots. Sometimes funny, sometimes sobering, but always intriguing – these journals offer a fascinating insight into life on a low budget production. They can be found HERE.

If you are in the Fargo, ND area during October 16 through the 18, go check out Valley Con 35. Filmmaker Edward L. Plumb of Hollywood will be doing a special showing of his anthology film THE BONEYARD COLLECTION. This humorous horror movie has a bevy of stars in it from George Kennedy to Ken Foree. Plus actress Leanna Chamish is a knock out as the leather-clad vampiress, and I play an overly ripe corpse on a table during a dinner feast. How can you miss? Details can be found HERE.

Leanna Chamish did a great job interviewing Kim Moir, a Baltimore, MD based independent filmmaker about the lessons he learned shooting his first feature SINSITIVITY. Click on the image to go to the interview!

A few years back Leanna Chamish and I interviewed filmmaker John Bowker in Los Angeles. Due to the the website taking awhile to get up to speed, I am only NOW getting it posted. My apologies to John as he has done a heck of a lot more since then – in fact his new movie PLATOON OF THE DEAD came out this year. It was a great interview with a very prolific writer and director on the lessons he has learned over the years of running a low-budget production company. Check it out – you won’t be dissapointed! Click on the animated banner below to go straight to it:

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:

The Horror/Comedy SWARM OF THE SNAKEHEAD (starring Frank Lama) gets reviewed in the At The Movies department. Check it out now!

Smash or Trash wants to wish veteran character actor George Stover a very happy birthday this July 3rd! George has been in John Water’s movies, Don Dohler’s movies, and can be seen on such hit series as HOMICIDE. His latest movie projects include DUST AND DEATH, ONE-EYED HORSE, and TERROR IN THE PHARAOH’S TOMB. To celebrate his birthday I will be posting an extensive interview on his career in the very near future. Leave George a note here wishing him a great birthday!

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!

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!

http://smashortrashindiefilmmaking.com/?page_id=98

The next interview to go up will be with Hollywood producer Edward L. Plumb. This week I am going to focus on more links, the store, and the how-to articles. Drop me a comment and let me know how I’m doing!