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Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 8:30 AM - Tampa Indie Film Log for Filmmaker C. A. Passinault

Preparing Tampa Bay Film for renewed war in indie film

It has been 10 months since I’ve posted on the Tampa Film Blog.
This was intended.
In those 10 months, I have done very little on Tampa Bay Film, or even on the online film festival, mainly because I have been too busy. I did buy, and launch, two simple domain names and web sites, CoffeehouseFilmReview.Com and TheCoffeehouseFilmReview.Com, on August 26, 2011, because the Coffeehouse Film Review was “back”, or so it was claimed. Paul Guzzo, as far as I know, married some woman and went into a coffeehouse café business with her (They were interviewed in a TBT article about traffic issues in downtown Tampa. I know this because I am a news junkie. Why the media bothers to interview Paul Guzzo or Joe Davison about anything, especially independent film in Tampa Bay, is beyond me; I suppose that they settle for them until something better, and real, comes along. It will happen. Anyway, I recently saw Joe Davison on the news about an Indian film festival, where Joe was pitching workshops (I do not know how Joe became connected with the Indian film festival, and I wish that these people would do their research before enabling Joe to siphon off of their credibility. Joe Davison will NEVER be allowed anywhere near my film festivals, which will be the standard, and the best, in the Tampa Bay market in the coming years, at which time Joe will have to move and do whatever he tries to do in some other market. Davison, in my opinion, takes advantage of weak indie film markets, and with my events and support helping to put Tampa indie film on the map and making the market strong, I don’t see how Joe can continue to operate in this market regardless of if he is around my projects or not. When someone tastes steak, they will no longer be content to eat moldy peanut butter sandwiches; they will not tolerate the B.S. of no-talents and longer, because there will finally be professional alternatives ), and TBT also interviewed Paul Guzzo about that same film festival, as if Paul really knows what he is talking about when asked about that film festival. I was greatly amused by all of these stories, because knowing the_truth, and the sources, as well as the story behind them, it was more of a parody than anything else, and I could not take it seriously). I caught wind that Paul Guzzo was resurrecting the his original Coffeehouse Film Review, and seeing that neither he nor his brilliant brother Pete Guzzo (yes, I am being sarcastic, here) did not have the foresight to cover the branding with domain names, I bought the domain names, as a good gesture, to protect them from their mistake, to cover the Coffeehouse Film Review as best as I could, and to hold TheCoffeehouseFilmReview.Com for them when they wanted it. I would have also given it to them, free of charge, with no strings attached.
Well, that offer has expired, and I will tell you why.
In the time since I have launched the CoffeehouseFilmReview.Com, it has risen to the top of the search engines for the Coffeehouse Film Review and anything to do with Paul Guzzo and independent film in Tampa Bay. It’s as it should be, but the story gets even better.
Several months ago, after the domain names had risen to the top of the search engines for the relevant terms, Paul Guzzo, who had been promoting his renewed film festival on Facebook, found out that I had invested in the domain names. So, Paul hastily changed his Facebook group from “Coffeehouse Film Review” to “Coffeehouse Films”, not bothering to check to see if the branding was being used by someone else. It was, and an independent film production company was already operating under CoffeehouseFilms.Com .
I noticed this, and not wanting Paul to throw away his good brand, went through a mutual friend to offer him BOTH domain names because I had no way of directly contacting him (Paul Guzzo and I are no longer on speaking terms, but I do have a sincere interest in the future of Tampa independent film, which Paul insists on being involved with, which is the only reason that I obtained the domain names. I put the interests of Tampa indie film above my own). Through the friend, I offered him both domain names free of charge with no strings attached, and with no obligation to mention me or interact with me in any way. This was a no-brainer, too, as the main domain name was already number one on Google for his film festival, and he was more than welcome to retain those search engine rankings and the content which promoted his film festivals.
So, what happened?
I was told that Paul Guzzo was not interested.
It became obvious to me, soon, why he was not interested. In my opinion, and from what I can see from the cessation in promotion, that, after four events (September 2011 to December 2011), that Paul Guzzo had apparently given up on his monthly film festival. Again.
I was not surprised.
Did he fix what was wrong with the earlier versions of both the Coffeehouse Film Review and The Tampa Film Review? Could it be that he has rebooted the Coffeehouse Film Review as a marketing ploy to get customers into his business, which was hurting because of work being done to a bridge in downtown Tampa, and not necessarily to promote or support independent filmmakers in the Tampa indie film scene?
Showing complete and total garbage such as Mondo Socko (which I do not even consider to be a short indie film- It is a poorly shot video of a skit of no redeeming value written and directed by a no-talent idiot, in my opinion; Mondo Socko, in my opinion, is the worst project ever done under the guise of indie filmmaking in Tampa Bay, and it is an insult to indie filmmaking in Tampa Bay. It is even worse than A Grave Matter. Chris Woods should be ashamed of having his name on the credits on BOTH of those films, although I must strongly stress and point out that these were not Chris Woods films, and that he only helped), I do not think so. I actually would not be surprised if people walked out of Mondo Socko. Badly made “films” such as Mondo Socko, as well as reruns of short films, were some of the main issues with the previous Coffeehouse Film Review and Tampa Film Review film festivals. That is one of the things that my upcoming Tampa Film Showcase monthly film festival will address, as we will have standards in the films that we show because we actually respect the people who attend, and will not insult them by humoring them and making them endure awful indie films. There will be no Survivors Club in my film festivals, because I will not put anyone in the position where they are forced to watch amateur films to begin with.
He did show a few good ones in those four film festival events, though. He showed his own Caged Dreams, which I hear (I have not seen it) is a great film, and his brother’s film Combination Lock, which I also hear is good. He showed The Trap, by Marcus Kempton, which is a decent short film (I liked it). He also showed Spaventare, by Chris Woods, which is probably the best short film ever produced in the Tampa Bay area to date (I wonder what he said when he saw my name in the credits? I referred the lead actress, Sarah Bray, who is my friend, to the film project, did the still photography, and drove Sarah to and from the set. I also wonder what Chris Woods and other filmmakers will do, now, that I will no longer refer good actresses to them; a recent short film that I saw from Woods had an actress playing a vampire in her underwear jumping on the back of a character, and she was TERRIBLE. She looked attractive, though, so I’m thinking that they are now casting on the looks of an actress- although my actress friends are even more attractive, and most importantly, they can act! My friend Harmony Oswald, who I referred to The Quiet Place, looks like Megan Fox, and both Roxanne Kowalska and Lowie Narvaez, who found their way in the cast of The Pledge ten years ago through me, were both models who worked with me, as well as friends. As a matter of fact, because both girls were minors at the time, their parents wanted to give me power of attorney over them and have me hang out on the set so that I could pull them out if I saw a problem. Seeing a conflict with that, I declined, and never came near the film set, but after seeing the film, I would not have pulled the girls, as the film was innocuous).
It could also be that, with the economy the way that it is, and with few independent films of any kind being produced in the Tampa Bay area, as well as worldwide, that there are simply not enough short films, even badly made ones, to support Paul Guzzo’s film festival.
So, it seems that Paul Guzzo, once again, has ended his monthly film festival, in my opinion. Well, at the very least, it is not being promoted well, so I’m going to assume that he ended it. At any rate, my opinion is that Paul is letting his ego get the best of him, and he is being petty about not accepting the domain names. It’s his loss.
It really is going to be his loss, too!
The offer is now rescinded. I am now going to use BOTH domain names.
It’s for the best, at any rate. After all, the names will not get any better use than what I can give them, because I know what I am doing, as well as believe in what I am doing. I will use CoffeehouseFilmReview.Com as a general online guide to all incarnations of the monthly film festival, with articles about the film festival and links to reviews, as well as references to other film festivals in the Tampa Bay area. TheCoffeehouseFilmReview.Com will strictly be about the film festival itself, past, present (if it still exists), and future (if that is possible, because I will never use the name, myself, in any film festival).
Although I was more than willing to give Paul Guzzo and Pete Guzzo a chance to redeem themselves with their renewed Coffeehouse Film Review, I will now ensure that everyone out there will have a more realistic view on the success of those film festivals. They need to see all of the sides, and all of the opinions, and not just the propaganda, in my opinion, the Guzzo brothers put out there. They will know my opinions about them, and they will read my reviews, so that others will not repeat their mistakes. In my opinion, hardly the success and the “mission accomplished” that the Guzzo brothers made it out to be when they gave up on The Tampa Film Review in January 2009, I believe that the Coffeehouse Film Review and The Tampa Film Review FAILED, and history will reflect that, if I have anything to do with it. I’m not gullible like so many others were, and are. The Emperor truly has no clothes on, despite his claim of invisible cloth.
Enough about Guzzo and Davision, has-been’s (or never-was’s, in my opinion, as I do not believe that they ever succeeded in much, if anything, especially with my opinion being that The Tampa Film Review and The Tampa Film Network failed..... and here I was, hoping for a comeback!) in the indie film scene, in my opinion, and not what Tampa Bay Film is about to address. I’m moving on to bigger issues.
On September 8, 2011, I began buying Tampa Bay Film support domain names. The first of those, purchased that day, was Tampa Film Slam, TampaFilmSlam.Com, which will be a Tampa Bay Film site (and, judging from the name, it will not be a friendly site to anyone who is not an asset in Tampa indie film. It will evaluate, review, and, if needed, mock the so-called “players” in Tampa indie film; a dedicated critique site). I have another site in the works, too, which will temporarily replace, and then supplement, this Tampa Film Blog. This new site, which will launch in April 2012, will be an advanced indie film blog for Tampa Bay, as well as a dedicated site for the future of independent film in Tampa Bay. I have plans on buying an additional five domain names for five web sites, which will all be Tampa Bay Film sites, too.
Why the build-up of web sites?
Because, for those of you who have been monitoring my perpetual war in Tampa indie film, you haven’t seen anything yet. The war will be far more intense, and longer, that originally anticipated when it began in 2008. I will be slugging it out with self-serving amateurs, unethical people, and elements in the Tampa indie film scene which are not good for the advancement of Tampa indie film. They will be accountable for all that they say and do. This new phase in the Tampa indie film war, which is not a threat to anyone or anything illegal, but a fight for the rights of filmmakers and the future of independent film in this market, will be the strongest in history.
This conflict will ramp up to speed by the summer of 2012, and is expected to last until the summer of 2014, although it could last a lot longer than that.
With that announced, I have some more news. This is my game plan for the next few years (and I have posted more on Tampa Bay Film itself, on the main page) for Tampa indie film. It will change everything!

1. Tampa Bay Film sites.
Will double from just over 8 to just over 16 web sites, to perhaps as many as 19 to 20, by the end of 2012 (the only network of sites which will be larger will be my network of photography marketing and support sites, of which there could be as many as 40 for two separate companies by 2014). Tampa Bay Film will be addressing the large film festivals, poor films, and other things that, in our opinion, is holding back independent filmmaking in Tampa Bay. Expect large expose articles, articles, career tools, indie film reviews, and more in the coming months.
Tampa Bay Film will be launching a new web site in April 2012, a web site which will be the official online “magazine” of Tampa Bay Film (as well as a super blog which will replace the Tampa Film Blog for a while, and then supplement the Tampa Film Blog once this site gets to where it needs to be). It will use a Pioneer Class web site like the one that Frontier Pop uses, although this online publication will be updated more like a blog, with subject-based issues and segmented sections for the most advanced SEO ever done by me, or done with any of my sites (I will absolutely dominate search engine results for anything independent film or film festival in Tampa Bay soon, no matter how much work that I have to do toward this, and those who are familiar with what I have done with my other sites in other markets know that this is not a matter of if, but rather when. It will be achieved! A lot of people are not going to be happy, because what they do is going to be questioned and scrutinized). This new site will take point for Tampa Bay Film, and even the Tampa Film Blog, for at least a year, until I can get all of the Tampa Bay Film sites to where they need to be, and even then it will augment the Tampa Bay Film sites. This means, of course, that there will be very few updates and posts here on the Tampa Film Blog, which already has more than enough organized content, and most of the work done here will have to be using the site as an online reference for a while. I will resume more regular posts here on the Tampa Film Blog when this site is where it needs to be, although I will post here as-needed, so until then you can see more of my updates on the new site (and, I must say, that I was planning on using this site as a reference archive for a while, until I noticed that someone, who I will not name, had bought the domain name that I would have used for a new film blog, purposely cybersquatting on me so that I could not use the name. This new site will do double duty there, for now.)
I will be dedicating the next two, or three, issues of Frontier Pop to Tampa indie film, and those issues will publish over half of their content on the Tampa Bay Film sites, exactly as the site was designed to work. This will enable me to add a ton of content to the Tampa Bay Film sites without taking away from my other web site or business work (expect a LOT of indie film reviews that I've been working on for the past couple of years to finally be published, including reviews for A Grave Matter, Experiment 7, 99, 100 Tears, The Quiet Place, Spaventare, Bleed, Mondo Socko, Brainjacked, and several more). Also, Frontier Pop will also be heavily interconnected with the new Tampa Bay Film online publication site, as will the site be interconnected with the upcoming Advanced Model site (which may also launch in April 2012); all three sites will be interconnected with each other. Again, unlike Frontier Pop and Advanced Model, which are mostly published in monthly issues, the new Tampa Bay Film online publication will be published more like a super blog, with no set schedule, and it will use all of the Tampa Bay Film sites, and especially this Tampa Film Blog, as a reference, as well as link to updates on all of the Tampa Bay Film sites as they happen (Update 04/22/12: That new site, Tampa Film Revolution, launched on April 4, 2012, and it is already doing well..... So well, in fact, that it is placing the future of Tampa Film Slam in doubt right now).
The Tampa Bay Film Online Film Festival will continue on as the dominant film festival in the Tampa Bay market, as well as Florida, especially because our film festival events will be delayed for several years, as the indie film war would conflict with them.

2. Independent film production.
My Dream Nine Studios indie film production company, which will include an independent film company under another brand, will be producing my first short indie films this fall (with some work starting the coming weeks), as I finally have the equipment that I will need. I plan on producing at least six short films a year. These short films will create a portfolio under a wide range of independent film genres, and will also serve to demonstrate that good films can be made with basic equipment (although Chris Woods has already demonstrated this, and he has been making some rather excellent films over the past decade), for the first few films, at least (all films made will be documented on Tampa Bay Film, with all equipment, resources used, and costs listed, as well as details of the production process; the how, why, and where. I will be stepping up to better equipment after the first few films, gradually, over time). This proven value in independent filmmaking will become very critical to the future of Tampa indie film, especially as it will also, by default, undermine the overpriced film schools and indie film workshops that others try to use in this market to take advantage of aspiring filmmakers. These films will be made with minimal cast and crew, too, demonstrating to aspiring filmmakers that they can start making films, too, if they wish, and work their way up to better equipment and more ambitious films. These film production projects will be comprehensively covered on Tampa Bay Film, and will be used as references for tutorials in filmmaking; free tutorials on the site which are better than any film school or workshop (can you tell that I want to cripple film schools and workshops here in the Tampa Bay area? The are all overpriced, and prey on the dreams of aspiring filmmakers, in my opinion. They must be stopped, and they will be stopped).
Because my film festival and indie film events will be delayed, primarily because of the renewed, extensive indie film war in the market, I will debut my first short films on my Tampa Bay Film Online Film Festival, which is the best film festival platform for the promotion and marketing of independent films, anyway, in my opinion (as well as the opinion of my stats and feedback).
My short indie films will make other independent films done in this market look like poorly written, overpriced dinosaurs, and will make investors think twice about backing those other films (and the same will go for film festivals). We need new standards in filmmaking here, with innovative, well-made, cost-effective films, as that is the only way that Tampa indie film will ever be on the map, and I intend to show everyone the way. My work and efforts will serve to devalue what has been going on in Tampa indie film, from independent filmmaking to film festivals themselves. A lot of people will be forced to re evaluate what indie film means in this market, and will be forced to go back to the drawing boards.
I expect that I will be doing my first feature independent films, underwritten with investors and made with high-end, state of the art equipment, by 2015. I intend to be one of the top independent filmmakers in Florida.

3. Underground film festivals
Although my public film festival events will be delayed because of the heavy web site assault on the Tampa indie film market, I will still be holding my private underground film festivals, starting this year. These film festivals will show independent films, and we will review them. These underground film festivals will be covered like we would a large, public film festival.
At long last, too, I may finally get to do that first Halloween Drive-In underground film festival this year, which is the horror film festival in a car (on March 16, 2012, I bought a new car, too, and I've already tested my film festival gear in the new car; it is even better than my 2005 Mazda 3 2.3 Liter 5 door would have been at the film festival in a car concept. I did try to keep my old car, but the new car made more sense in every way, and, it is brand new, a 2012. Although I loved that Mazda 3, which I have had since December of 2006, my high payments and other issues, coupled with the economy, had paralyzed my progress in my own filmmaking efforts, as over half of the money that I made went into that car. If I had not bought that car back in 2006, which was a bad deal in at least four different ways, I would have already been making indie films! These issues have now been resolved with a new car and a new, easily affordable budget. Additionally, my businesses will now finally ramp up to full speed, further boosting my resources that I can invest into Tampa indie film in the coming weeks and months; ironically also making my old financial issues moot by default, as it looks like I may be in the position where I would not be as dependent upon investors as other filmmakers are when I finally begin making ambitious feature-length independent films with state-of-the-art-equipment). I’ve had problems the past few years from people bailing on me at the last minute, to scheduling conflicts. Well, it looks like October 18, 2012, may be the day. Of course, that would not be the first underground film festival, however. More will be announced, soon.
One more thing. These underground film festivals will make the largest film festivals look like poor investments, and bloated, outdated dinosaurs, and that's before I even begin deploying my large film festival events, which should prove to be the final nail in the coffin for most current Tampa film festivals.

4. Indie Filmmaking Workshops
These Tampa Bay indie filmmaking workshops will be the best value in workshops for film production in Tampa Bay and Florida, and will undermine other workshops and film schools in this market. Our film workshops will make other workshops and film schools look overpriced and less relevant to what aspiring filmmakers really need for this market. Our workshops will be less expensive than other workshops, too, with superior content and instruction.
I plan of having at least four indie film workshops a year starting in 2013. The workshops will be marketed on TampaWorkshops.Com, the new Tampa Bay Film online publication and web site, and at least one other marketing site. My short films, coverage on Tampa Bay Film, and my other work will also support, and lead-in, to these workshops.
These workshops will make up the support infrastructure for my other events, as well as sow the first seeds of the upcoming first Tampa indie film community.
More on this, later.

5. Film festivals and indie film events
Well, a delay was warranted. With an increase in web site development and deployment to step up the ongoing Tampa indie film war, a poor economy, fewer indie films being made in the Tampa Bay area right now (I do want to put an emphasis on Tampa indie films, after all, unlike those other large film festivals!), and resources needed elsewhere, we are looking at 2015, at the earliest, before I can even attempt my first public film festival event, 2016 before the Tampa Film Showcase begins its monthly run, and 2017 before I can debut my first Tampa indie film event, the Tampa Film Conference (which will be very, very important for indie filmmaking in Tampa Bay, and, to date, the only event series of its kind in this market).
These dates are highly tentative, however, and not at all official. Just know that all of these events will happen, eventually, once support resources and infrastructure are in place.

With that, this concludes this long-overdue blog post on the Tampa Film Blog. Although I will be posting on the Tampa Film Blog from time to time, as needed, I will not be using this blog that much for a while, and will primarily use it to post announcements that are sent to me. Most of the updates will be done to the Tampa Bay Film sites and the soon-to-be-launched Tampa Bay Film publication, and most of the new blog-type posts will be done on that new site, until we can get the Tampa Film Blog up to speed where I need it to be (Update 04/22/12 - Start reading now at Tampa Film Revolution). One thing to note, however, and one thing that is really sad is that the slogan for the Tampa Film Blog is "Where Tampa Filmmakers Unite", and I formatted the Tampa Film Blog to be a place where other filmmakers could post blog posts and even debate if they desired; this blog was not only just for me. In the years that it has been up, however, no other filmmaker has bothered to take me up on my invitation (other than to post announcements, that is, but it is not the same), including Tampa filmmaker Andy Lalino, who is the best filmmaker in this market, in my opinion. This either means that no one cares about independent filmmaking in this market, or that they agree with everything that I have posted. I hope that this changes in the future, and that other filmmakers start posting and debating on here (well, hope would be a weak word.... It will happen, eventually!). That said, the Tampa Film Blog will continue to be the main, and official, blog of the Tampa Bay Film sites, and I will return one day to resume heavy posting on here. For now, however, most of my work will be needed elsewhere as Tampa Bay Film fights harder and longer for a future Tampa indie film market where independent filmmakers will finally be respected and supported, as well as the first real Tampa indie film community.
I’ll see you there!

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UPDATED 04/22/12

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