Mike Browne’s Blog

First Happy Canada Day all. It’s Canada’s birthday! I worked all day. Following are some pictures of some behind the scenes stuff of the past two days. Making movies is fun stuff. Sometimes the action the camera doesn’t catch is just as entertaining.

On Thursday, as well as more helicopter stuff we had a visitor to set…

Me and Loki the parrot

He meows and talks a blue streak but was shy and didn’t say a word around all the new folks, but he went from person to person with out any argument and was very friendly and gentle. I’m not sure why my hair looks so stupid. It must have been the wind at the end of the runway…

More pictures after the jump.
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CBC News: Judge denies plea for media ban in Homolka case
Background: She and ex-hubby Paul Bernardo raped and killed girls (including her own sister for which she’s never been charged) in Ontario in the early 90’s. In what’s been called ‘a deal with the devil’ She spilled the beans in a plea deal that pissed a lot of people off when it turned out she had far more involvement than first thought. She was sentenceed to 12 years in jail for ‘manslaughter’ for which she served the full term. Now, fearing for her life, and rightly so, she wants special treatment an to be left alone.

Whatever. You’re a sex offender. Perhaps you should have thought of consequences when you over-anesthetized and killed your sister so Paul could rape her. Or considered your future while helping hubby dismember Leslie Mahaffy and encase her in concrete to toss her unceremoniously into Lake Gibson. It should have entered your head that you had messed up when cutting off Kristin French’s hair to hide her identity after another video taped rape/murder session.

I don’t believe anyone, regardless of gender, should get any kind of a break for crimes as heinous as these unless there’s obvious rehabilitation in the way of taking responsibilities for one’s actions. The fact that this murderer has the gall to request privacy is completely irksome and shows there’s not much rehabilitation here. According to some (not all) recent psychiatric testimony she still shows no remorse for what she has done and that she is at risk to reoffend. Pretty scary. I personally would like to know if this creep was in my neighbourhood.

Karla Homolka was lucky to have gotten away with only 12 years in prison and long life of guilt (if she’s even capable of that). I’ve read a lot about this case and the evidence I’ve seen and heard (that which we’ve been allowed thanks to Canadian publication bans) all points to her being as culpable as Paul Bernardo. As I don’t believe in the death penalty I don’t think she deserves to die. However, karma works in that she might just live every day of the rest of her life in fear. She has a life to live. There are three who don’t have lives to live as a result of her actions…

/end rant

Look who it is! It’s nerdboy me, Mike Browne TAD/PA (sneaky producer type), on the set of the BBC 1 docu-drama about the 1980 Mount St Helens eruption called “Fire Mountain”. What’s that beside me? Why a helicopter of course. No they didn’t let me fly it although I did yell the Arnie-esque lines, “If you want to live, run to the choppah now!” many times throughout the day. Fire Mountain was written by, produced by, and being directed by up and comer, Matthew Wortman. This is his first big foray into the world of directing drama and he seems to be having a good time. He takes his tea – Earl Grey, milk, no sugar in case you’re wondering.

I have more pics and video from yesterday after the jump.
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Boffins create zombie dogs…
Yikes! Thanks for the link Kellie.

TAD yesterday… PA for locations today… TAD tomorrow and Tuesday. PA for locations everyday until July 4th. Headache… bad sunburn… ugh …still having fun. 🙂 BBC show… can’t type much… dying for sleep. Will blog more tomorrow.

Some people may be wondering (or not) the reasons I’m posting far less on my blog since I stopped working at my old gig. I think it’s because I’m far busier now than I ever have been. Making movies happen, a.k.a. producing, as I’m finding out, is no small task. However stressful and sometimes frustrating I am having a ton of fun doing it. I’m learning lots and meeting oodles of creative folks in the meantime who I have a lot in common with, namely a love of film and the biz.

Here’s how things have been going lately:

I’m networking like mad and sending out resumes for work in the film industry to help me pay the bills while working on my own projects.

I’ve joined the IFA, the Independent Filmmakers Alliance of Canada, an organization founded by Andrew van Slee of, among other things, Extraordinary Films. The IFA is “dedicated to encouraging indigenous filmmaking in Canada”. The organization is headquartered out of Lions Gate Studios just ten minutes from here on the North Shore. I recently attended the seminar on “making a feature film for $50,000” and came away with renewed hope of things happening sooner rather than later. Van Slee, who lives in LA but travels back and forth to BC regularly, seems a rarity here in Vancouver as a very organized individual and producer with a track record who is willing to assist up and comers like myself. Just walking on to the Lions Gate lot gave me quite a boost, but it was after hearing Andrew speak I truly felt inspired.

Starting tomorrow I am working as TAD or Trainee Assistant Director (yes, a paid gig and DGC I presume if I’m to be a TAD) a few days on an MoW, movie of the week, called Fire Mountain. It chornicles, documentary style the Mount St Helens eruption of 1980. And before you ask, yes, the old man, Harry Truman, who refused to leave is in the film. Although its a few positions below what I’ve already done It’s a step in the right direction for a number of reasons namely its paid, and I will get days toward possible union membership. Also, as I was offered 3rd AD and turned it down as I would be offset and would prefer to see how the film is shot as the style is one I’m hoping will work for my first film. I got the call to work from John Penhall, the 1st AD from Daingerfield, and am happy to work with him again. What will I be doing?

TRAINEE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (TAD): A candidate who has entered the Assistant Director Department to be trained as an Assistant Director. The work functions of a TAD shall be assigned to him/her and performed under the immediate coordination, direction, and supervision of the 1AD. – DGC TAD job description. So I’ll be working directly with John again.

Just today alone I’ve written a to-do list for the day and am crossing things off as I go. Here’s what I have completed of the list:

• I watched and wrote analysis of a film similar to the one I am going to shoot (I don’t want to give too much away just yet)
• I am rewatching the first disk in HFI‘s DVD Filmschool. Dov rules!
• I watched the full footage of the hoaxy alien autopsy video for research
• Finishing the reading of the Fire Mountain script in prep for tomorrow’s shoot
• Researching funding options through HRDC for self-employment programs. UGH!
• Tweaking the tagline and synopsis of my feature, Zone 63
• Filling out copyright forms, and sending tagline and synopsis, with a money order (that means going to the bank and post office), to the department of congress in the US

As you can see I’m too busy to heavily blog, but I’ll keep y’all in the loop and blog as often as I can.

I’m reading Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. This book is speaking to me directly as I am still a pretty fearful guy, especially when it comes to making moves toward shaping my own destiny. This quotation, mentioned in the book, sums up my fear nicely:

“Fatalism is born of the fear of failure, for we all believe that we carry success in our own hands, and we suspect that our hands are weak.”
Joseph Conrad, in chapter 4 of An Outcast of the Islands

Shit. The cat’s out of the bag. Get back in there cat…

Holy shit! I got a phone call from Paula Murrin at the Nova Scotia Community Services Adoption Disclosure branch two days ago. I called back, left a message and finally got another call this morning. It was good news! Paula has been in contact with my birth mother and she is very positive about exchanging information with the hope of that leading to a reunion of some kind. I got pretty misty hearing what Paula had to say about the phone call especially that I have two younger (I presume) half-brothers who also know I exist. Also interesting is that I was not a ‘secret’ as my birth mother’s ex-husband also knew of me. I’m not sure if he is my birth father or not, but I assume not. My birth mother told Paula that she had worried a lot about where I was and how things were for me (Pretty damned good actaully!) and that she had waited for more than 35 years ‘for this day’.

The next step is to await a letter and picture from my birth mother along with a consent form for direct contact and the exchange of identifying information from NS Community Services. I’m so excited the waiting is going to kill me. However, the length of the process is good as it is easing everyone involved toward a resloution slowly rather than at blazing speed, which is my tendancy. I’ve waited almost 36 years, what’s another few weeks?

Already I’m feeling relieved a) that contact is coming b) that the experience is so far positive and c) I have some concrete information namely the fact that there’s more family to meet! I think I’m a little in shock that things are actually happening too. I honestly didn’t expect to hear anything this soon. I am so glad its been good news to this point. I guess the glass really is half full.

Being the creative and dark individual that I am I had every crazy scenario possible about my genetic relatives worked out in my head over the years. I think being adopted has helped me to become the imaginative nut bag I am. I’ve always had to wonder about who I look like, walk like and talk like etc. My birth family is has been merely guesswork in my noodle until this point. Now that they are becoming a firm reality I can put that wonderful speculative tool I’ve developed over the years to work doing something else. Watch out world. Here I come!

I’m a subscriber to Fangoria magazine and get online newsletters and promotions from them. This morning they sent me a promo for a product I would buy instantly:

Zombie Outbreak Survival Kit (you know why I want this)

However, as I live in Canada I can’t get it. That’s just stupid. I’d pay the extra shipping and handling to have it in my hot little hands. Perhaps one of my readers/family/friends in the U.S. would be so kind as to be the middle man/woman and I will pay all costs for two of these kits.

I know Americans love to be helpful. This isn’t rescuing Europe from the nazis but I’ll wave a flag on July 4th if I get some assistance.

Please email me using the ‘contact me’ link to the left if you can help and before you pay for anything.

UPDATE: Thanks Bull. Friends rock.