Category Archives: writer

FALLOUT ASYLUM: NIGHT SHOOTING

I’m no stranger to a long, cold night shoot. But, working with Nomadic Pictures, this is the first time I’ve had my characters lit by massive maxi-lights on two 80-foot condor cranes for key and kick light. And I’ve got to say it’s awesome.

Now, you don’t need this kind of light for every sort of night shoot –in Six Reasons Why, we sometimes worked with just firelight and a single kick light– but when you have an entire western town to illuminate, it sure does help move things along at a rapid pace while keeping every frame looking gorgeous.

Our warlock of a cinematographer, Neil Cervin, has conjured up some of the most stunning, beautiful, and terrifying images for Fallout Asylum, and I can’t wait for you to see just what I’m talking about when the first trailers and TV spots start to roll out in the fall!

In other news, my good friends in the Canadian band “Four Letter World”, will be providing the song for the ending credits of the film; I’ve heard it and it rocks all kinds.

Plenty more exciting news to come as we film with Ashanti this week, so keep an eye out for more goodies right here!

~M@

FALLOUT ASYLUM: PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

After nearly a week of principal photography on the new film I’ve written for the SyFy channel, I’m happy to report that we’re making something friggin’ cool.

So far, we’ve shot with an incredible cast including Spun Out’s Holly Deveaux and Heartland’s Amber Marshall, plus Jason Cermak, Lara Zaluski, Roger LeBlanc, Graham Littlefield and Megan Tracz as our heroes, getting into all kinds of nasty trouble at the end of the world. And some of them even live through it.

It’s been a pretty wild time, with weather giving us the gift of gorgeous snowfalls, and making us pay the price by having to shoot in -15 degrees. You can’t even pay for that kind of production value! Well, I guess James Cameron can…

Between doing some on-the-fly re-writes, running a camera, animating graphics, and supervising visual effects, I’ve actually had some time to do a bit of directing, if you believe it! And working with huge talents like the extraordinary DP Neil Cervin, and David Winning (he directed the Power Rangers sequel), it really is a dream team to have on board to bring this screenplay to life!

As of right now, IMDb is telling us that there’s a September 2014 release… so keep watching here, and keep your eyes peeled on Twitter for the #FalloutAsylum hashtag for updates from all of us!

~M@

SIX DAY ROAD

*2017 UPDATE: Six Day Road has a new life as a feature film, and it will be making some exciting moves very soon… so stay, tuned, and enjoy this sneak peek at this post-apocalyptic western drama.

“When two sworn enemies awaken in the snowy wreckage of an avalanche, their only hope for survival lies in reconciling their differences.”

This is a single episode of a 9-part Post-Apoclayptic Western series that plays in the same univierse as Six Reasons Why. I made it with some very talented folks: Melissa D’Agostino, Caden Douglas and Marco Timpano.

I hope you dig it!

~M@

CA$HI: 7 GRAINS… LYING TO YOU

Sometimes I get political. In the spring of 2012, investigations revealed that Kellogg was using GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) in some of the ‘natural’ products they sell under the brand name of Kashi.*

To be clear, I have nothing against G.M.O.’s themselves; I DO have something against trashy ethics in advertising.

And since the FDA does not regulate the word ‘natural’ in the way it does the word ‘organic’, Kellogg’s claim of Kashi being ‘natural’ is not illegal.

And a “Yes” vote on Prop 37 would make this more than unethical, it would make it illegal.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/toTGq4nXETs” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

I hope you dig it,

~M@

*USA Today, April 29, 2012

SIX REASONS WHY SELLS TO SOUTH AMERICA

*2016 UPDATE: You can also watch Six Reasons Why on Amazon Primehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N468HZ4/

My first western feature, Six Reasons Why, is now available in Argentina! Complete with a sexy new poster and a cool new translation!

And if you feel like scoping out some behind-the-scenes featurettes on Six Reasons Why, you can see some here.

~M@