Some call me Dan Glaser. I'm a Fargo, North Dakota native who currently lives in Los Angeles, California and while I dabble in both writing and producing, I am hopefully more well-versed in both film directing and editing.
Welcome to my first blog.
This is a somewhat erroneous statement, as I once partook in an embarrassingly trite Xanga account in high school, where (if one was so inclined*) you can find all kinds of adorably hackneyed snatches of song lyrics and book passages that my teenage idealism once tried to pass off as profundity. Don't judge me too harshly, if you will. I probably thought I was being insightful at the time. And in ten years I'll undoubtedly say the same of this blog.
In the meantime, let's share some thoughts. Or rather, I'll share some thoughts with you and hopefully you'll find some useful information or entertainment throughout. If nothing else, I'll do my darndest to keep y'all abreast of what's up next for the PINCHING PENNY filmmaking team.
Huh? "What's Pinching Penny," you ask? Let me take a moment to bring everyone up to speed.
Pinching Penny is our debut feature film, which I wrote/produced/directed/edited. It was shot in August 2009, partially in my hometown of Fargo, North Dakota and partially in both Moorhead and Ada, Minnesota on a shoestring budget of $4,000. We had very little money, very few crew members, a cast of unknowns and absolutely no permission to shoot anywhere at all.
And yet of October 11th, 2011 (and after raising an additional $46,000 through a combination of the online fundraising site Kickstarter.com and private investors), Penny received a national multi-platform release and is currently entertaining distribution offers worldwide. The film has since sold out on Amazon.com within its first month, has been a Top Rental at Blockbuster Video Stores for nearly two months straight and more! The ever-amazing Steven Molony also won the Award of Merit for Leading Actor in a Feature Film at the 2011 Indie Fest for his portrayal of the character Alex in Pinching Penny.
So we're all very proud of our "little-indie-that-could" and if you'd like more about the film, check us out on Facebook and Twitter. You can also check out our exciting red band trailer below!
So that's an extremely brief overview of what we've been up to since August 7th, 2009--when we began filming Penny--and December 13th, 2011 when we had our LA Premiere of the film.** And now it's 2012. What's next?
Well, thanks for being so damned interested. I'll tell ya.
When I previously said we (and I try to always say "we" and "our" when discussing the aspects of filmmaking, as all movies are a collaborative effort), I more specifically mean Steven Molony and Timothy J. Meyer (although where Penny is concerned, there's a whole HEAP of people to include and thank, but they know who they are and that I love 'em dearly). But both of the rascally vagabonds mentioned above have not only become as brothers to me, but we love working together as a creative trio as well.
I direct. Timothy writes. Steven acts.
It's a nice assortment of trades, to say the least. And hopefully you'll dig what we put out. Speaking of, I should answer my blasted question. What's next for 2012?
Well, individually:
1) I'm currently storyboarding for our next collective feature-length film effort, Safety (more info posted below), as well as working on a secret screenplay (we'll just refer to it as Project X for the time being) and a revenge flick script entitled Salty Dog.
2) Having already rounded out a terrific fifth draft of the aforementioned Safety (again, more info after this digression), Timothy is currently gearing up to self-publish his debut novel Hull Damage and has already started work on the book's sequel Galactic Menace. Having read almost 2/3 of the former already, I can tell you it's a page-turning thrill-ride to look out for. More info on that soon (as Steven, Timothy and I will also be shooting a short scene adapted from Hull Damage in late January... why? You'll find out soon!).
3) Steven is attached to a handful of projects in both pre and post-production (including Safety) and he has recently completed the second draft of a feature film entitled Efficiency, which he also stars in and is slated to film this year. Steven has also started to shoot for Series II of the smash-hit webseries The Joker Blogs, where his character Dr. Jeremiah Arkham will be getting not only more face-time, but a villainous twist as well. Check out the lead-up video (Further Evidence, Episode 2: "Pull the Plug") here. He'll also be marrying the lovely Courtney Jensen in late December.
That being said, the three of us (which I'm sure you could glean from all the name-dropping above) are swiftly moving toward production on our next feature-length film effort. What's the title you ask? SAFETY (as if you couldn't guess, you cheeky monkeys).
The film is a crime thriller which revolves around an aging ex-hitman, whose violent past threatens to tear his family apart when his daughter-in-law accidentally stumbles into his former career as a contract killer.
Want to know more? I'll be sure to keep you all astride of any and all further developments as we enter deeper into the pre-production phase. For now, check us out on Facebook and Twitter, and feast your eyes on this nifty "proof of concept" demo that we shot for just $100 over the summer to aid in our fundraising efforts.
Well, that about does 'er for now. Thanks for bearing with me for this incredibly lengthy first entry. If that's too much reading for you, I'd caution for you to back out now. I'm a bit of a rambler. But I'll do my best to apply more brevity in future posts. And again, check Steven Molony, Timothy J. Meyer and myself out online for additional information on us, as well as on our respective projects. And stay posted for further developments on Safety to come soon!
Hope you all had a Happy New Year and I'll be back with you shortly,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dan Glaser
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*Interested? Let the embarrassment ensue: Dan Glaser's High School Xanga Page From Hell... On Ice! Have fun.
**Previously, as mentioned, Pinching Penny was released nationally through DVD/VOD and more. It also had a worldwide online community screening and Q&A talkback through Ustream.tv, which drew over 9,000 live views. A Blu-ray special edition, as well as the international distribution discussed earlier, is in the works as well.
I am extremely excited to continue to read this blog. I will be an avid participant and you should know that some of my days will be made by said blog so you already have some pressure. You're welcome.
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