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The real deal about the Tampa indie film industry by Tampa film expert C. A. Passinault
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Sunday, March 2, 2008 - 9:00 AM - Tampa Indie Film Log for Filmmaker Chris Passinault
The Future Starts Now!
Welcome to
my first post on the Tampa Film Blog! My official C. A. Passinault Blog
and the new Tampa Photography Blog have been really successful, so it
was about time that I got this one up and running. I took some things
that were developed for the Tampa Photography Blog and have adapted them
for this blog.
As I am still in coding, my computers are being used to update web sites,
and I have an hour or so of break time to write this entry. I am not using
my main computer to write this, as they are busy updating and transferring
online files. I am using my Palm TX PDA with a pocket keyboard at a desk
near downtown Tampa, where the traffic is bad due to the Gasparilla arts
festival. After I am finished writing this, I will simply fold my keyboard
up, place it in its slip case, and put it in my suit pocket. I will also
put my PDA in its armored case and slide it in my other pocket. No one
knows that I have basically a computer in my pocket. God, I love being
able to write wherever I am.
I would also like to formally announce that I will be posting as my professional
name, C. A. Passinault, and not Chris Passinault, as I'm known on the
Tampa photography blog. It was decided that I'd be know as Chris in the
world of photography because I work closely with my photography services
clients. Here, I can be more formal and more distant. My professional
pen name, C. A. Passinault, is how I will post here. There are other reasons
for this that I cannot go into here, and no, I am not a coward and I am
not hiding behind different aliases. I'm no coward, and the proof is in
the fact that I will tell it how it is and call them as I see them, unlike
other bloggers who try to turn this into a popularity contest by kissing
the ass of those who they feel will benefit their careers. Not that I
am risking much, however, as there are few in the Tampa indie film scene
who I have a negative opinion about who are in any position to benefit
my career. They are useless to me, and to most others.
The Tampa Film Blog is a part of my Tampa Bay Film web site, which is
just over a year old now and has been more successful than I ever dreamed.
It has run a self-serving Tampa online film festival / competition, which
was run by a couple of no-talent filmmakers, out of business. It has become
the largest online film festival in Florida and the professional voice
of indie film for indie film in Tampa Bay and the rest of Florida. Tampa
Bay Film is also working on a monthly film festival with my event planning
/ stage production company Eventi Events. This upcoming monthly film festival,
which is actually a lot more than a film festival, as it will include
genuine professional networking, will help to change the Tampa Bay market
and will facilitate the formation of a real professional Tampa indie film
community. When will it debut? As of now, I can't give a target date,
as I am concentrating on other things, but it could be sometime in late
2008 or early 2009. The professional monthly film festival and networking
event is called the Tampa Film Showcase, and what I really want is to
time it so it will pull out the red carpet from beneath the feet of a
certain overblown annual film festival. Yes, my monthly film festival
event series is designed to compete with the big annual film festivals,
and it will give them all a run for their money. For feature indie films,
I have a larger annual film festival in the works, too. More is coming
on the annual Tampa film festival, soon. For now, I have to update the
Tampa Film Showcase site with some new information later today.
Ah, where to begin? I suppose that I will tell you all that I hate being
unnecessarily tactful and polite when I have opinions to share. I find
such false respect to be, well, fake. Will I tread softly? No. I would
do you all a disservice if I were to hold back. I intend to tell you how
it is, and I can because I am writing from a position of strength. Most
of those who would be offended are insignificant in the Tampa indie film
scene, which I will not label a community, as presently no professional
Tampa indie film community exists. I am here to tell you today that there
really isn't much of a professional, or legitimate, Tampa indie film community.
What we have today is a small, biased Tampa indie film clique masquerading
as an indie film community, and they get away with their games because
they are presently the only game in town. This is going to change. One
of my goals is to help establish a legitimate, professional Tampa indie
film community, and we are well on our way to making changes which will
benefit all filmmakers.
Why aren't filmmakers benefitting now? Because the people in the Tampa
indie film clique are insincere. They claim that they want to help other
filmmakers, but the facts are that they are only out for themselves. The
charity only goes as far as buttering up aspiring filmmakers so that they
can sell them film workshops and indie filmmaking classes. Sure, if they
do not see you as a threat or as a serious competitor, they will humor
you and take your money. If they see you as a potential competitor, however,
they will take your money and then try to blackball you with slanderous
rumors and by ganging up on you.
The Tampa indie film clique, who is now trying to do some film workshop
filmmaking class scheme, is once again promoting collaborative projects.
Here we go again. Didn't that fail with the indie horror film short "The
Quiet Place"?
I'll tell you what happened there. I helped them out as a photographer
so that they could have professional production stills, and did it as
a courtesy at no charge. I didn't do anything wrong, behaved as a professional,
and kept my opinions to myself when I saw the mistakes that were made
on set. What did I get in return?
1. Complete lack of cooperation.
I was set up to fail. I talked to the director several times over the two day filming so I would have opportunities to photograph the scenes as they were being filmed. He told me yes, but ignored me once the filming was underway. I had to use every trick in my book as a professional photographer to do my job, as the lighting on the sets was flawed and downright horrible, and since I was not in the loop I had to take pictures when I could get them. My hard work paid off, and the photographs came out better than the film footage did!
2. A filmmaker stole one of my ideas.
In between
takes on the second day, I was talking to one of my filmmaker friends
about online films and online film festivals. I told him that I was working
on an online film festival. Within earshot, another filmmaker, who I will
refer to as the bipedal land-roving Guppy, was quietly listening
to our conversation.
To my surprise, a few months later as I was about to launch Tampa Bay
Film and its online film festival, Guppy announced his own online film
festival and an online film competition. Several people, including a self-important
indie film blogger by the name of Lisa, then proceeded to imply or blatantly
accuse me of stealing the idea from Guppy! We all know the rest. The truth
came out, everyone found out that it was originally my idea, and Tampa
Bay Film's online film festival went on to put the opposing online film
festival out of business. In this case, the good guy, which was me, won.
Guppy and his Tampa indie film clique openly slander me to this day, trying
to tell others that I am insane and such, but they know what the real
deal is. They are afraid of me because I am an indie film professional
who knows more about the business than they do, and they are terrified
of competing with me. They will reap what they have sown. I will either
make them professionally insignificant or will outright put them out of
business, and they will deserve it.
3. I was slandered.
Once they
saw my photographs, and the quality of those photographs made their film
footage look bad in comparison, they knew that their attempt to make me
fail failed miserably. They proceeded to slander me by making up terrible
rumors.
I had no idea that the rumors were going around in the indie film clique
until several months after the indie film, The Quiet Place, debuted (I
remember the debut getting mixed reviews and watching everyone blame each
other and fight, thinking that I was glad that I emerged unscathed. Boy,
was I mistaken). I was debating online on a public message board with
Guppy, and he lost his temper with me when he kept losing the debate and
avoided answering the questions. He threw it in my face. At first, I didn't
have any idea what he was talking about, and it was only when one of my
filmmaker friends filled me in did I find out. So, they set me up to fail,
and when that failed they resorted to spreading lies about me? How professional
of them!
I should have billed them.
4. A photographer tried to rip me off twice.
On the set
of the Quiet Place, I ran into an aspiring photographer who was a recent
graduate of a photography school, International Academy of Art and Design
here in Tampa. He would be one of many photographers who would steal ideas
from me and try to learn the photography business by studying my articles.
I should teach at IADT. I would get paid to teach the aspiring photographers,
and it is obvious that their present instructors are not getting the job
done. Hey IADT, how about courses in business ethics and professionalism?
If IADT can't teach them about the photography business and how to take
good pictures, where their so-called graduates have to resort to learning
from other photographers, they shouldn't be in business at all. No respect
from me.
Then again, maybe the photographer was one of their short-bus students.
He does seem kind of slow compared to the general population.
So begins a long line of unprofessional leeches that collaborating with
the indie film production cursed me with. Over half of the bastards involved
are unprofessional pretenders who cannot be trusted at all.
My problems with Mr. professional IADT graduate photographer began shortly
after the film wrapped production.
The aspiring photographer in question tried to move in on one of my client
prospects after a Tampa Film Network meeting where several people referred
the aspiring model to me and she made her way to through the crowd. I
was talking to her and the aspiring photographer came over and eavesdropped
on us. He then interrupted and used some of my information (which he had
overheard) to springboard an introduction to her. He gave her a card,
but later, when we met privately for a photography session consultation,
she told me that she was not impressed with his unprofessional conduct,
and that was one of many reasons that she discarded his card and she contacted
me. Another reason that she did so was that he was a terrible photographer
who had a portfolio of low quality photographs.
Who do you think that she booked? Who do you think made money?
It wasn't over with this guy, however. My affliction continued when he
stole one of my online marketing ads and changed it around to promote
his photography business. I found it because it still contained tracer
code from my original ad, although he neutered the effectiveness of the
ad because he couldn't figure out the mechanics behind it. That's when
my attorney got involved. Maybe IADT should have taught him that stealing
from others is wrong.
Oh, how I regret collaborating with those idiots on the Quiet Place. Well,
at least I know who I can't trust, now, and I figured it out before I
gave away any of my great ideas.
5. I was supposedly thrown off the set, which never happened.
This came as
a complete surprise to me. Supposedly, I was kicked off of the set of
the Quiet Place. The director took me aside and told me to leave because
of my unprofessional conduct. Well, that's the way the slander goes.
It never happened.
I didn't do anything wrong. I worked my ass off to do a good job and succeeded
despite the total lack of cooperation.
They didn't succeed in setting me up to fail, as they underestimated my
abilities and experience as a professional photographer. My production
stills turned out way better than the way that the film footage looked,
and when it came out my good work made theirs look bad. It backfired!
That's when they shrugged and began spreading malicious lies and rumors
about me. I didn't know about it until Guppy threw it in my face months
later. I remember having to leave early one day on set because I was working
night and day and had to go home to get sleep, and it is obvious that
they used my early departure as "proof" that I had been kicked
off the set. What makes me mad is that is was not easy going to a film
set and working all day doing photography in hostile conditions after
working all night.
My sacrifice was not appreciated. No one cared. My hard work and sacrifice
was repaid by slander and discrimination.
I should have charged them. Even then, it would not have been worth it.
This is what I have come to expect from the Tampa indie film clique.
I certainly
hope that everyone reading this will heed the account of my horrible experience
with the Tampa indie film clique and avoid working with them. If you don't
believe me, go ahead and get involved with these unprofessional, self-serving
fakes. You'll find out the hard way.
Oh, yes, and if Guppy or the others in the Tampa indie film clique wish
to make a legal matter of what I am writing about, go ahead and try to
sue me. I have proof that everything that I am writing about is true,
and you can't back up any of the slander that you are spreading about
me. Not only will you lose when I sue you back, but I will be sure to
publicize the legal action and make your unprofessionalism known to all
of the world. I have more web sites, more web traffic, more readers, and
a louder voice than all of you combined. Real professionals also respect
me and listen to what I have to say. You all messed up, and some of you
may end up paying with your "careers".
The unprofessionalism of the Tampa indie film clique has inspired me.
It has inspired me to assist genuine professionals with forming the first
Tampa indie film community. We need a professional film community here
in Tampa, and we are going to get it.
Well, everyone except for the Tampa indie film clique. This small group
of insecure amateur hobbyists will find themselves on the outside, weeping
as they are forced to watch it all happen, and grow, without them.
It's what they deserve.
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