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Broke Sky Credits - PDF

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2002 Waco Trib Article - HTML

"Broke Sky" Original Score Composed By
Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion and Lolita Ritmanis
http://www.dynamicmusicpartners.com

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

BROKE SKY is a true labor of love for cinematographer/filmmaker Thomas Callaway. This totally independent film was initiated when Tom read the original screenplay (by his friends Scott Phillips and John Howard) and decided to “damn the torpedoes…full steam ahead” and make the film. Seed money was raised by Tom selling his Los Angeles house and shooting a variety of movies, including the most recent Project Greenlight film FEAST.

Tom honed the script over the course of many months, with contributions from FSU Film School dean Frank Patterson, acclaimed short-story writer Brian Muir and filmmaker Dan Golden. Locations were secured in Tom’s hometown of Waco, Texas and the surrounding towns of Valley Mills, Moody, Crawford and Speegleville. The whole area embraced the production, providing equipment, manpower and services above and beyond all expectations. And, like any good indie filmmaker, Tom enlisted the help and support of family and friends…shooting much of the movie in a makeshift movie studio on his brother-in-law’s goat farm. The spirit of Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney “”let’s put on a show in the barn” was alive and well on the shoot.

One thing that Tom insisted upon was shooting BROKE SKY in 35mm with Panavison cameras and Primo lenses. Being a long-working Director of Photography came in handy, as he was able to convince Panavision to help provide cameras for the main shoot and he procured film stock via the generosity of several producers and companies. He also enlisted a core group of film professionals from Los Angeles for producing and crew duties. The combination of the professionals with the enthusiastic corps of local talent proved to be a great alchemy…and that effect is felt in every frame of the finished film.

Shooting proceeded in the heat of the Texas summer, over a three-year period, whenever cash was available from Tom’s DP gigs. (Tom extends special thanks to the directors who hired him during this period, as they are defacto angels of the project!)

The producers of the film…Jeff Burr, Dan Golden, Eric Miller and Karchi Perlmann, were jacks of all trades, rolling up their sleeves for anything, including the task of “roadkill procurement”, which meant filling up the bed of Tom’s pick-up truck with various and sundry creatures found flattened on the highways and byways. All the producers vowed to never look at roadside animal casualties the same way again. Another duty was driving “Tweety”, a bright yellow converted 1973 International Harvester loader, which plays a supporting role in the film. Keeping that mechanical beast operational was regarded as a major achievement.

Visitors on the set included the Secret Service, as scenes were shot mere yards from George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford. The production saw the agents so often they became on a first name basis with them, eating in the same diners and trading the latest political jokes.

The method of production provided challenges to the cast as well as the producers. The main actors had to be ready to jump back into character several times over the course of three years. Will Wallace had lost weight to play an early American settler in THE NEW WORLD, and had to quickly regain some muscle and heft to play the blue-collar worker Bucky for additional shooting. Joe Unger’s greatest challenge was to “white-knuckle” three flights to Waco from Los Angeles, as he is deathly afraid to fly. The contrast between his tough character Earl and the gentle actor was extreme to say the least. Bruce Glover weathered the production with a Zen attitude acquired from almost 50 years experience in the business. Having worked with the volatile likes of Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson and Roman Polanski, his joy in the Texas experience was infectious to everyone.

As the production continued through the years, the available crew and volunteers dwindled. The last shoot, which comprised some major scenes in the finished film, was shot by a crew of six people. And the last of the inserts were completed in the actor’s Bruce Glover’s house, with Tom immersed in a bathtub with a super-8 underwater camera.

The post-production process was a challenge as well, as Tom served as editor for the film in addition to his other tasks. The editing room was the living room of his shared apartment in Los Angeles (remember he sold his house!) and the Avid was placed underneath a huge mounted longhorn cow head, for Texas inspiration.

Among Tom’s friends, jokes started to circulate…”you should retitle the movie BROKE!”…”Lawrence of Arabia and Apocalypse Now had shorter schedules”, etc etc. Tom’s roommate Jeff (his nephew) would come in from a location job and see Tom cutting away on his epic and say “Are you STILL working on that movie….crazy, man…that’s crazy.” But Tom persevered, kept honing, and finished the cut.

As vigilant as he was about the visual aspect, he extended that attention to the post sound work and the music. He was able to secure the composing team of Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter and Michael McCuistion and the sound services of Juniper Post (GEORGE WASHINGTON, SLAUGHTER RULE, GREAT WORLD OF SOUND), and he meticulously supervised the Dolby Digital design and mix.

Now, as the film is fast approaching its world premiere at the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival, Tom has a strange mix of feelings….elation at the completion of his labor of love, and nervous anticipation at how BROKE SKY will be received by audiences.

And, like any dedicated indie filmmaker, he is ready to dive in again…this time with a comedy set in boot camp, based on his experiences in the Navy reserve in the early 1980’s. Now, if only he can get a house again somewhere…any realtors with a great deal feel free to call.

Article published in the Waco Tribune Herald August 1, 2002

Indy filmmakers return to Waco

By CARL HOOVER Tribune-Herald entertainment editor

From the outside, it's a nondescript tan metal building with a black-and-white sign of a moose planted in a front yard of faded grass.

Inside the dimly lit building, film lighting gear and electric cords lie stacked on the floor, sharing space with a dust-covered bar upholstered in red leather, stacks of even dustier chairs and two framed sketches of nude women. A pool table stands in the next room, as does a newly constructed faux runway with silvery curtain meant to evoke a strip bar.

In its past life, this building on Randy Drive, near the intersection of State Highway 6 and Speegleville Road, housed a Moose Lodge. For the next month or so, it's headquarters for independent film makers.

The filmmakers, producer Karchi Perlmann and director Tom Callaway, are in town to film Broke Sky , a low-low budget film that Callaway describes as a "noir comedy."

It's a homecoming in several ways for Callaway. He's a Waco native and a 1978 Reicher Catholic High School grad, who always felt the Waco area had a lot to offer filmmakers. And the film project reunites him with two of the professionals who shot low-budget movies in Waco back in the 1980s, Frank Patterson ( Demon Warrior ) and Alan Stewart ( Action USA ). Singer-songwriter Walt Wilkins, another Waco homeboy and long-time friend of Callaway, also has agreed to write some of the film's music.

The film, from a script by Scott Phillips and John Howard with generous reworking by Patterson, concerns two close friends, Earl and Bucky, who work removing carcasses from roads and highways in a Texas county. Their relationship becomes strained when the county intends to buy new equipment that requires only one worker to operate.

The two pick up a hitchhiker, an orphan on her way to meet her grandmother, and drop her off short of her grandmother's home. The young woman turns up dead several days later, deposited in the well of one of the county's most disliked citizens. Fearing the town will retaliate against the man once this news gets out, the two men take the corpse to their dead pit. Their action, however, starts to unravel long-buried family secrets with fatal consequences.

"It sounds dark, but it's presented in a way that there's a lot of comic irony. It's like (the Coen Brothers') Fargo ," Perlmann explained, a light accent hinting at his Hungarian roots.

The 41-year-old producer emigrated from Hungary to Canada in 1981, then moved south to Florida a decade later. In Florida, he cut his teeth on commercials and music videos and met Patterson, Callaway and Stewart, who were active in the film scene there. All eventually made their way to Southern California, but came back in 1999 to shoot Rose's in Tallahassee. Patterson directed the film with Callaway as cinematographer and Perlmann as producer.

Labors of love

That positive experience — strong community support and favorable response at the film festivals at which Rose's was screened — led Perlmann to another indy project. Although the occasional independent film hits the jackpot and finds mainstream success in theaters or video release, most remain labors of love and art.

"We keep wanting to prove you can make a quality film . . . " said Perlmann.

". . . Without a Tom Cruise in your cast," Callaway said, completing Perlmann's thought.

Callaway, 42, returns to Waco with more than two dozen cinematography credits under his belt, as well as a handful of producing and directing credits. Patterson, who taught at Baylor University in the 1980s, now teaches in the Chapman Film School in Orange, Ca., while Stewart works with Avid, creators of one of the industry's most popular film editing systems.

The filmmakers anticipate starting shooting Aug. 20, with about three to four weeks' worth of filming to follow in the Speegleville area, Moody, Bellmead and possibly in Waco. Broke Sky , with a budget under $100,000, will feature about eight principal actors with approximately 10 extras rounding out the cast.

Perlmann's and Callaway's days are increasingly hectic, spent lining up permissions and understandings with local officials, setting up shooting schedules and organizing the logistics that a film shoot of any size requires.

Perlman enumerates how locals can contribute: volunteers to man the production office; housing for out-of-town cast and crew members; food for the film shoots; office supplies; building materials and, among other things, a small high school marching band for a parade scene.

In return, they'll be paid in the currency of independent film makers, namely, acknowledgements on the film's credits, its Web site and at premiere screenings. That, and the experience of taking part in the nuts-and-bolts of movie making.

Those interested in helping out should call the production headquarters at 848-2238.

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