Guesting on the Rick Amato Show

Doing a guest spot on The Rick Amato Show on One America Network speaking for the Constitution...

Confessions (promo)

This is a promo for the Confessions series of 1997-98...

Exigence (2017): The Street Vendor

Exigence (2017): Pry'ce Jaymes, Tom Maseth and the inimitable Kbaby Nate with special thanks to Jaymes Young...

Notes on a Call Sheet: Steve McQueen

I always thought of my encounters with acting icon Steve McQueen as 'Ferrari' anecdotes but looking back on them from the perspective of a filmmaker who instructs technique and branding to actors, it's impossible to remember them and not come away with interesting observations about the screen legend and insight as to how it was he maintained his star status at the box office for most of his career.

The premiere of Addiction Incorporated

Stayed at the Plaza Hotel, New York, Central Park when I attended the New York premiere of Charlie Evans, Jr.'s documentary Addiction Incorporated on which I was a co-producer. The screening was at the Film Forum where Clouzot's Wages of Fear was also showing. Addiction Incorporated can be viewed on Amazon Prime Video: https://tinyurl.com/y73q37u7

Woman on the Beach (1985) screen capture

This is a screen capture from Woman on the Beach with me and Margareta Sjödin...

Woman o the Beach (1985): The Exhibition

In this scene, I wanted to show the viewer that our football hero was now in her world where she is the celebrity and he is anonymous.

Buying Maseratis in Italy with Tom Meade

  

I knew Tom Meade over the course of four decades meeting him in Costa Mesa when my friend John Andrews pretended he wanted me to look at a Ferrari he found for sale and wanted my opinion as to what it might me. When we arrived, the seller led me to the garage and pulled off the car cover to reveal the Thomassima III (!!) and we all had a good laugh and went out for dinner thus beginning a long friendship. I spent a lot of time with Tom in Costa Mesa doing car things and eating lobster on Balboa Island. I also accompanied him to Dan Gurney's AAR where Tom tried to persuade Dan to sell him one of his Formula 1 Gurney-Weslake V12 engines for use in a planned Thomassima creation.

When Tom returned to Italy, I met up with him in Milan where I was buying some cars and he arranged to have a couple of Maserati Mistrals brought to a car dealership in Parma for me to consider. After a breakfast of strong Italian coffee, the spiciest tomato juice you could imagine and some croissants at a hotel bar, we headed off on the 80-mile trip to Parma in a Fiat 238 van that seemed to appear from nowhere. We covered the distance in record time as the engine tried to tell anyone who would listen that it was on its last legs and about to blow up from over-revving but we actually made it there and back to Milan without incident.

When we arrived, the dealership was closed for lunch and so our own memorable three-hour lunch ensued where we were joined by the proprietor of the hotel/restaurant who sat with us and served us a delicious Parma ham along with other savory distractions and a lovely wine that kept flowing--it wasn't every day you could have lunch with the creator of the Thomassima cars and stories were traded back and forth

Finally, we realized we should move it along and go look at the Maseratis before the dealership closed for the day. I test drove them both and decided they belonged in Los Angeles and that was that. The transporter put them back onto the truck and off they went to the shipper's garage in Milan. Tom and I returned for a dinner at Il Rigolo and an evening at the Nepenthe.

When the Mistrals arrived in Los Angeles, one of them looked just like the one in the picture here-dark blue. The other was a silver/gray. Both had 4-liter engines with ZF 5-speed transmissions, the DOHC six cylinders having fuel injection and twin plugs per cylinder. I kept them both, along with a Maserati Quattroporte, until I returned from Paris a few years later and the Mistrals were transformed into resale red and I sold them.

When Tom returned to Los Angeles, we had other memorable times together but that lunch in Parma was one of the best...

The Action/ReAction Technique

 It was never my intention to become an acting coach but, as a filmmaker, I delved into the complexities of an actor’s performance as a quality control measure to ensure that the films and television shows I produced would be salable and effective in engaging the audience. The result of my studies and observations is the Action/ReAction technique. It is designed to develop an actor quickly to the point where he or she can perform like a seasoned professional. It also enables the actor to express his or her personal brand signature and to create a fan base by resonating and connecting with all of the constituent groups in the audience instead of just one or two.

For years, I only taught the technique personally to actors in my repertory company. More recently, I teach Action/ReAction to actors on Skype anywhere in the world in private sessions. Email cineparis@hotmail.com to find out more.
(Illustration by Tom Gurnee)

Carrera Panamericana (1950-54) on Vimeo on-demand

 Carrera Panamericana (1950-54) is now available on Vimeo on-demand (worldwide): https://vimeo.com/ondemand/331993