Update on the search for Todd

This is the life of a desperate filmmaker,
The things we go through for the story the people we have to deal with and the suppression that we face.

Here is a long overdue submission to this blog.

At this writing I am sitting on the road using a laptop connected to the battery of the truck that I have been abusing to search for the first of many mysteries that my friend Todd and I were going to investigate. The legend of the lost Adams diggings. Unfortunately my friend is now lost as well. The New Mexico Search and Rescue has been looking for him in the wilderness for two days and after tomorrow may pull the plug on the search. The terrain is prohibitive to an extreme and the June heat is so bad that I needed over a gallon of water during the hike I took with the first team on our search on the first day.
There must be fifty flies buzzing me now. (I think they like the smell of the bug spray I used.) I haven’t had a shower in five days and I can’t shake the feeling that Todd is waiting out there somewhere for me to come find him.
All my fault, the nagging voice keeps telling me, that he fell behind. We were out of water. My young companion and I were desperate to get back to the truck ,but Todd just wanted to get down to the river and carry on with our mission, he was unshakable, and unafraid. “Just leave me here” he kept saying, “I’ll find it for you and I’ll come back and tell you where it is.” The search and rescue teams haven’t even been able to get to where were trying to get. Twelve teams so far have been out there on foot and quad runners but finding no sign of him. The deputy told me an hour ago that if they don’t find him tomorrow they will probably pull the plug. Todd would want me to carry on like it didn’t matter but that will be difficult for me.
He wasn’t even interested in the gold nor was I for that matter, but of course we could have used it to buy equipment.
Todd has been on many missions before and always come through even without water in the desert of the middle east, looking for the most significant sites from the Bible, lost in antiquity. That’s how I found him, already bearing photos from those places and raving about the most significant site on earth, less than twenty miles from my house. That one is called the Mystery Stone of Los Lunas. He showed it to me in person and using an amassed body of books and research material, translated it to show that it is the Ten Commandments of the bible inscribed in Paleo-Hebrew from about 2500 years ago. Not surprising to me, no one believed him. Though he had much proof and accounts of it being reported before the language was even known, the State’s official stand remains that it is a hoax.
I know that if it is possible for anyone to survive these conditions out here that Todd is the one and remain hopeful that he will come out smiling with a report tomorrow.


The truth about people really comes out when they think you are looking for real treasure. I had an incident with someone I thought was a close friend, when I made the mistake of telling them prematurely that I was looking for this lost Adams diggings.

But the signs of suppression were already there, threats and fear based control tactics to try to manipulate. I am taking a hunting rifle with me. And why not? There are bear and wolves and mountain lions out here in the wilderness, me being military trained and from Alaska I know I’ll be able to sleep better and walk more confidently with a rifle over my shoulder.



But I’ll have to be completely honest , we left too soon and somewhat ill prepared. I brought a truck that was too small for the journey and we had to walk much further than we would have if I had taken the trip after I fixed my bigger truck, thus the state we were in when we were separated with Todd.

Am I shifting blame here? No absolutely not. I am entirely responsible for my actions and everyone that took on the mission were making their own decisions, in fact Todd offered many times to hitchhike down here and walk in on his own.

But my friend Todd is still missing and I will continue to believe in him and hold on to hope that we will find him tomorrow, or he will return as he promised to do if I sent him on his own.
Thus continues the life of the Desperate Filmmaker. No camera, no way, lost in a sea of insanity and uncertainty, but I will find a way, I will find a way.

Day six of the search for my friend Todd.

I have been sent away from the official Search and rescue base , by the deputy’s words the rancher would rather be left alone. Obviously he blames my companion and I for the situation and would rather we didn’t hang around. I had to use a calling card to call the search commander and verify he was getting the dogs down to where we actually saw Todd last and to where we were going. My confidence is somewhat lacking in this new group as he didn’t sound like he was seriously going to send any searchers to the locations I know Todd would go if he were okay.

My brother and I are about to take matters into our own hands as we found a new way in to where we were going that we can drive within two miles of the canyon. We are ready to go search it ourselves.
It is my friend after all and I can’t abandon him there in that wild canyon on his own any further. If this new commander never had a team dispatched to that location we are going in though I repetedly told them that it was our objective from the start.

The search has been officially called off and I have no solid confirmation that the site we discussed was searched and with the state police blessing we are going in at first light tommorow. I'll be taking the camera with me and reporting as I go.

It’s just now noon and only getting hotter but we have almost three gallons of water with us and are ready to go. I’m going to call the search commander now and find out what they are doing and tell him we are going in without them.

Scriptwriting 101 "Aristotle's Poetics"

This is something I stumbled on, looking for theory for writing good screenplays.
I remember hearing Matt McDuffey, (the professor in the class that I tried to take twice, and never finished) talk about Aristotle's poetics being at least part of the foundation for good storytelling.
Here you will have it in audio format to glean what you can from one of the great masters, truly he must have been a great orator to gather the masses as he did.

So the question that begs to be asked is:

What can I get from Aristotle to help me with my zombie script?
I will look for that answer with you if you are curious.


Aristotle's poetics here

Some interesting things you'll find out there

Flexibility and good listening skills, keys to any long term success in the social world.
With unlimited information at our fingertips, many spend their time complaining about someone or some company or... whatever.
Then even more who will read and watch and listen to the complainers because they are doing something, publicly.
The anonymity of global society on the web is changing the way we treat each other, and yet the power of wiki has proven that the truth is important to all.
Therefore I find it difficult to take sides, rather I look for bits of value in every opinion.
Of course I have found some exceptions, here for example are segments from two sides of an argument with value in each message. If you are starting something then you as the social leader, drawing attention by just saying something or starting something, be it posting a video, or starting a business. people will always want to share their opinion.

I say let them, and you will find the bits of wisdom, right there on your screen. Even if they don't like you there is some helpful advice in their message. Swallow it with some humble pie.
So I'm trying to wrap my head around all this theory while surfing through digg, and newsvine and some others I enjoy and find this very interesting topic on marketing and the film industry squeezing every dollar it can from the product of entertainment. Really the burger king or 7eleven is going to pay top dollar to sell those cups shaped like Ironman's head, propaganda obviously to attach the emotional connection of the film with their place of business.(opinion again but well, it's a blog.)


An excerpt from a few inputs and comments on digg.com

EXPOSE: Your "clever" marketing tricks have no effect on me
Written by Anthony Burch

You know what moviegoers really love? Mystery and quality. Look at Cloverfield – after that first teaser hit the Internet, everyone was freaking out about what the movie could be. Might it be an adaptation of the game Rampage? Another Godzilla remake? Will the entire movie be done in one continuous shot?

The trailer was appetizing, yet left many unanswered questions. It looked cool, but we were also confused: that is what makes a great viral marketing campaign. The Cloverfield campaign respected the ability of the viewer/potential ticket-buyer to use their imagination and try to suss out what the film might be about. It piqued our interest, and then left us free to pursue or deny that interest; it didn’t just

thrust a bunch of irrelevant websites from the universe of the movie at us and and continually demand that we be interested. It didn’t beg, and it didn’t assume we’d be stupid enough to buy a bunch of force-fed marketing b----t just because it danced around in a funny costume or pretended to be a political campaign for a fictional character: it was sleek, it was mysterious, and it was intelligent.

So, if you must indulge in some sort of clever, viral marketing campaign, that oughtta be your template.



Later in a response to one of the comments another digger, calling himself Joe:

Get this:

Some people LIKE viral marketing. Did you know that? Some people actually appreciate the fact that creativity is coming back into the media. Some people respect the fact that an advertisement doesn't have to be flashing on a web page, or printed on the side of a bus.

Sometimes an advertisement can be a game. Or a story. Or anything.

C'mon, man. What did creativity ever do to YOU?


This is what we need to remember:
Why do people watch commercials on youtube?
Because many people enjoy good creative marketing, even just for entertainment.
It's okay to be marketing, just be creative and entertaining when you do it.

The Future

Here in the world of the web we take for granted that the world knows what is happening around them. The television as we know it is changing and looking more and more like a monitor connected to the internet. Who will lead the market and how can the industrious small business owner capitalize on this trend?

If you look through the data compiled here you might be able to follow the process I'm getting at. The viability of the small business built on the platform of online distribution and monetizing the product of film direct to the consumer.

Is it such a bad thing for the independent to profit?

Surveys have shown that when given the option the consumer will support the local small business if cost isn't an issue.

There is an opportunity here to capitalize on a trend that we haven't seen the likes of since the inception of cable networks.

A workable model in the future might look like this: a crew of ten on the set many of whom will take acting roles, and three or four producers similar to groups like Kids in the Hall, or Monty Python, but technology has gotten so light and available as to open up more genre'. They will most likly be shooting in a small studio with greenscreen technology creating from start to finish in house stories to market directly to the consumer.
The production company would employ others to promote the film and using blogs and social networking tools create a fan base with steady contact through a mail list.

Ask an expert if you don't believe me, but make sure they know who told you.