Friday, August 17, 2007

Announcing the Making of Jordan Allen’s Debut Music Video

Hollywood, CA August 17, 2007 - Simplicity Records announced at the HollyShorts Film Festival that an agreement is in place to have Dream Regime Productions and Def Films produce singer/songwriter Jordan Allen’s debut music video for “Extraordinary” off of his latest album, “Mistakes, Regrets, and Coffee”

Jordan Allen (http://www.jordanallenmusic.com/) hails from the deep south and brings with him a bit of that songwriting tradition. His new album, "MISTAKES, REGRETS AND COFFEE", combines his tried-and-true songwriting approach with an emotional, in-the-moment sound. His music springs from his own life experiences. A busted relationship, a friend in need, the hope of finding the perfect girl, the search for self. People can relate to his songs because the topics are timeless: Love, loss, inadequacy, pain, struggle, joy, hope...all of these things are universal.

“Extraordinary” will be directed and produced by rising independent filmmakers David Branin and Vincent Martinez. The same duo behind this year’s ‘surprise’ short film, “Honey, I’m Home” which won the HollyShorts Audience Choice Award in its premiere festival.

In making the announcement, writer/director David Branin said, “It’s an honor to be involved with this project in any capacity. Jordan is one of the most gifted and talented musicians that I know on a personal level. Hopefully this video will play a small part in helping Jordan showcase his music to an ever growing mass audience.”

Jordan Allen added “With David’s work, every movement has a meaning, every word a responsibility. Our collaboration on this music video is quintessential, for I too believe in such significance--that every single lyric and every single melody must hold some importance, no matter how slight or small they may seem. I look forward mightily to our conspiracy. This is gonna be downright substantial!"

In addition to Jordan Allen, the video will also feature his band mates, accomplished drummer Kenwood Anderson, and in-demand bassist Keith Eaddy.

About Jordan Allen (http://www.jordanallenmusic.com/) – Now based in Los Angeles, Jordan was born and raised in Georgia. He has recently been featured on ABC 7 special report, “Up and Coming Musicians in Hollywood” by news anchor Phillip Palmer. He has performed in front of crowds of thousands of people all the way down to intimate house concerts which have spanned North America. They include LA, GA, FL, NY, NJ, Vancouver BC, South Carolina, North Carolina, San Francisco, Orlando, Miami, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Boston, The Berkshires, Minneapolis and Alabama. His music has received distribution through a multitude of internet sites in addition to internet radio.

About Def Films (http://www.freewebs.com/deffilms) - Def Films started as Definition Magazine back in 1996 and has since become Def Films. 2007 film releases include “Too Late for Tears” and “Harlem Sunset.” The production company helmed by Vincent Martinez has also produced promotional videos for Pepsi/Milk Chillers, Alley Cat, and E-21 BMX. This past year has also seen the expansion of Def Films still photography division adding eight models to its list of credits.

About Dream Regime Productions (http://www.dreamregimeproductions.com/) - A collaborative team of business minded professionals encompassing all forms of entertainment. The film division has produced the internet sensations, “Religious Freaks Gone Wild” and “Bodywash Spoof” which have been added to countless online sites worldwide and have been viewed by millions. Recent film title “Shoot-Out” is an award winning short film which has appeared in over 20 international film festivals and has garnered a lot of critical acclaim.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

HollyShorts ’07 Recap

What a thrilling weekend we had at the HollyShorts Film Festival. It was a great three day event. It was capped off by our surprising film, "Honey, I'm Home" winning the Audience Choice Award for Day 2 of the festival.

The fest kicked off Friday night at Club Nacional in Hollywood with Adrian Grenier's "Euthanasia" opening the festival.

For those who would like a picture.

We have a lot of photos from the festival that we look forward to sharing with you. Hopefully very soon. We are waiting for the pics to come in. Once we have them, we will probably post them in a long photo blog for you.

Over the two days of the festival, it was amazing how many filmmakers attended. The list included Michael Attardi, Tony West, Justin Liberman, Jason Roberts, Alex Ferrari, Karen Dee Carpenter, Jim Grollman, Phil Allocco, Shawna Baca, Brandon Maxwell, and Leah Meyerhoff. Even with all these names, I am probably leaving over half the amount of directors that were on hand for the festival. That's a pretty powerful list of filmmakers of who have been doing big things on the independent scene.

As mentioned previously, I was interviewed by Damon Campbell who is doing a documentary on this past weekend's HollyShorts Festival. I was also interviewed by Ourstage who was the premium sponsor of the event, and I was interviewd by Steven Buchsbaum from http://www.truehollywoodtalk.com/

Look forward to sharing those interviews with you when they become available.

Sunday was a day powerpacked with films and a business superpanel who's topic was "Packaging, Promoting, Marketing and Distributing Your Project in the Digital Era" The panel was Moderated by Stuart Altman, Vice President, Film Industry Network. The Panelists: Mark Stoloraff, instructor, No Budget Film School; Story analyst for Imagine Films Entertainment, CBS, Anschultz Film Group and Participant Productions Peter Russell; Entertainment Power Lawyers Greg Bernstein, Law offices of Greg Bernstein), Paul Battista, Esq., Partner, MindFusion Law Corporation and Mychal Wilson, Esq., Partner, MindFusion Law Corporation.

The panel got pretty intense and was quite informative. It's great having nuts and bolts commentary like this within the course of the festival.

Big Announcement - News is coming very shortly about an agreement to do my first music video. The video will be produced by myself, David Branin, and Vincent Martinez. The same duo behind "Honey, I'm Home"

For those of you who attended the festival and even for those who didn't. Sunday featured almost 8 hours of short film programming. Great films from all different genres. Somehow, within all of that, our 5 minute film won over the audience. It was amazing to cap off the festival at the awards ceremony and hearing "Honey, I'm Home" being called out as the Audience Choice Award Winner. It is an honor we were not expecting. There were so many impressive films that it is hard to believe we would walk away with such recognition. We just want to say congratulations to all filmmakers on hand for putting out great work and we want to thank HollyShorts festival directors Daniel Sol and Theo Dumont for running a first-class event on all levels.

Another Official Selection

The demand to see "Honey, I'm Home" is increasing. At least we would like to believe that. Well, if you are in the Phoenix area, our film is coming your way. That is our next destination as we pursue our goal of screening in all 50 States.

I have just received word from Steve Weiss at No Festival Required that after going through the screening process, "Honey, I'm Home" has been accepted and will screen in Phoenix, AZ in September.

The details for the screening will be available for you very soon.

More About NFR - No Festival Required is a microcinema project based in Phoenix Arizona, with almost monthly screenings of short films and videos the First Sunday of each month at The Paper Heart, and featured screenings at various times and various venues. For more information, go to www.nofestivalrequired.com

Monday, August 13, 2007

Review - This is some scene - "Remarkable acting ability displayed by Jacob Magnuson"

Coming off an amazing weekend at HollyShorts. Don't worry, I will be providng you a recap of the festival very soon. First I have to get you caught up on the reviews we have coming in for "Honey, I'm Home"

I believe Ralph James of This is some scene provided us our fastest review ever! According to my records, I mailed out the DVD screener on one day and Ralph had his review up the very next day. Have never seen anything like it.

Not only did Ralph provide us a fast review, it is concise and well-written. He had some amazing things to say about our film.

Here is the full review - This is some scene reviews "Honey, I'm Home"

About This is some scene: Guerilladelphia has developed ThisIsSomeScene.com to report and review the Entertainment World in true Guerilladelphia style! Ralph James Ippoliti is joined by Chris Blake Sasser, Doug Lipski, Kristin Theckston, and Jonathan Jones in covering entertainment news, reviews and interviews. They are in the process of adding to the Guerilladelphia crew of writers.

Honey, I’m Home wins Audience Choice Award at HollyShorts

I am too exhausted after this weekend to go into the full details, but "Honey, I'm Home" gains validation as the 'surprise' hit of the HollyShorts Film Festival by winning Sunday's Audience Choice Award. I am pretty shocked by it. And I feel quite honored, very fortunate.

Will post more after I am able to get some rest.

PS - Also have some pretty big news to announce in conjunction with this weekend's festival. Will have a press release out early this week....

Sunday, August 12, 2007

HollyShorts Update

The HollyShorts Film Festival has been awesome the past two days! Before I get into the full update, let me just quickly remind you that "Honey, I'm Home" will have it's World Premiere tomorrow (I have begun typing this before midnight) Sunday August 12th at about 4pm at CineSpace at 6356 Hollywood Blvd. Based on today's turnout, we are going to have a packed theater at that time. Very likely going to be standing room only for a lot folks.

It was great to see Adrian Grenier at the Opening Night Reception. His short film "Euthanasia" kicked off the fest. Club Nacional was packed. The guest count was easily over 400.

The press I have been able to generate thus far from being the festival has been an added bonus. At the opening night reception, I was interviewed by Damon Campbell who is doing a short documentary on the festival. In addition to that I was interviewed on the red carpet by OurStage, who is a premium sponsor of the event and provided exclusive inside coverage of the Opening Night Party. It was a great experience and lots of fun. Both of these interviews will make their way online soon, and when they do, I will share them with you.

The festival itself today (Saturday) was tremendous. The festival directors Daniel Sol and Theo Dumont do a great job providing an intimate connection with all attending filmmakers to the event. You are not just another number or just another filmmaker. Every filmmaker who shows up is welcomed and embraced.

The highlights for me today were connecting connecting filmmakers Alex Ferrari (Broken, Cyn) and Jason Roberts (Tell-Tale). I have become familiar with Alex through his smash hit "Broken." The amount of attention he has garnered for his short film has been inspiration not only to me but to many independent filmmakers across the land. It's also cool, because my previous film "Shoot-Out" has screened at many of the same festivals as "Broken." Not only that, but his latest effort, "Cyn" made it's World Premiere today, and my latest effort, "Honey, I'm Home" will premiere tomorrow.

I wasn't familiar with Jason before today, but we crossed paths twice today and got to know each other a little. Great guy and passionate filmmaker. His work "Tell-Tale" inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's work is an impressive film. The cinematography, editing, and sound design on the film is all top notch. Check it out at an upcoming film festival near you.

Not only I was able to connect with those two talented filmmakers, I also received my third video interview from Steven Buchsbaum of http://www.truehollywoodtalk.com/. He is going to have a lot of great interviews from the festival available online over the next week or so. Will keep you posted.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, hope to see you at CineSpace for the HollyShorts Film Festival and for the World Premiere of "Honey, I'm Home"

My best,

David Branin

Dream Regime Productions

www.dreamregimeproductions.com

Myspace: www.myspace.com/dreamregimeproductions

Our First Bad Review

Imagine you are an artist. A filmmaker, musician, actor, writer, poet, painter…whatever your art may be, once you start putting your art out to the public, you open it up to criticism.

It's not something to shy away from, it is something to embrace.

Now imagine this. A critic views your work, and let's you know up front that he isn't going to write the best review regarding your work. In other words, your creation is about to be bashed.

You have two choices, thank the critic for his time and move on. Or you can walk into the fire and welcome the criticism.

What would you do?

To our surprise, all of our early reviews of "Honey, I'm Home" have been pretty amazing. Now we were given warning, there was a bad review coming. Our first blemish. Yet we were given the choice to avoid it. How often does that happen?

Jonathan Hickman of Einsiders.com is a classy guy, extremely professional. We are big fans of his work and his opinions. We thank him for taking his time to view our latest effort and offer us his honest thoughts. No honest review is a bad review.

For us, there was no dilemma in answering the question of whether to accept the review or not. We are thankful for it.

Here is the full review – Einsiders.com Reviews "Honey, I'm Home"

Often there is good news hidden within all the bad news we receive. In our case here, if this is the worst review we receive for "Honey, I'm Home" we are in great shape.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Tony Farinella Review - “It’s a shocker, by god!”

I have a Tony Farinella story for you. He's also known as the "Bachelor Critic" and he writes for "The Comic Book Bin," among others.

I'm just not sure if I should share this story with you. I don't want to get Tony mad at me. It's the kind of story I can only share, if you promise to read this all the way through. Can you do that? All right, as long as you promise.

Keep on reading. Here is the story, a year ago I contacted Tony for a review of my short film, "Shoot-Out". His interest was piqued by my attention-grabbing query letter. (Shoot-Out has received amazing press) After reading my email he asked that I mail him a copy, which I did. His life swept him away as did mine. I never touched base with him again to follow through on the review. Needless to say, he never reviewed the film.

Remember your promise? This is the part of the story you do not want to miss. It wasn't until I started contacting critics to review my latest film, "Honey, I'm Home" that I came across Tony's name again. Maybe he did review "Shoot-Out" and I just wasn't aware of it. So I started doing some research. I couldn't find his review anywhere. Should I really bother to send him a copy of "Honey, I'm Home" I asked myself?

He deserved another chance, didn't he? I decided to go for it and contacted him to see if he would be interested in reviewing "Honey, I'm Home." Once again, my query letter grabbed his attention. He said he would certainly be interested. I planned to send him a copy, knowing that this time I would follow through with him. I even asked him if he ever reviewed "Shoot-Out." This is where it really gets good. Now you will find out why I am sharing this story with you.

Tony could have been defensive or he could have weaseled himself out of the situation. He didn't do that. He instead admitted that he had received the film, yet with his schedule and life being life, never got around to watching it. (Tony, it's still not too late to watch it) He took the honest approach.

Now I was glad that I had decided to contact Tony again. If he will be honest about not watching "Shoot-Out" and not trying to duck out of it, then I knew he was going to give his honest thoughts and feedback on any film he reviews. I just had to make sure that he would review "Honey, I'm Home."

Know what makes this story even better? I didn't need to follow through with Tony at all. He reviewed the film before I had a chance to contact him. Not only that, but we have been rewarded with an honest and awesome review.

Here is Tony's full review - "In today's cliched Hollywood world, it's refreshing to see creative writing on the Independent level"

The reviews are pouring In...

We have just received a bunch of reviews of "Honey, I'm Home" all at once. We would like to give each it's own amount of love and respect. Can't wait to share this latest press with you.

Please stay tuned, we will be adding each review one by one to this blog.

Thank you to all the critics who are taking the time to review our latest work. If you are a movie reviewer and would like to review "Honey, I'm Home" for your site please do not hesitate to request a screener copy of the film. You can email us at dreamregime@gmail.com

And thank you for checking in with us to see the latest happenings with this film. It is great to have your interest in our film, and we hope that with our goal to have it screen in all 50 states, that you will soon have your chance to see "Honey, I'm Home." If you are in the Los Angeles area, come out to the World Premiere this Sunday, August 12th at the HollyShorts Film Festival which will take place at CineSpace located at 6356 Hollywood Blvd. Screen time is approximately 4pm.

In-Depth Interview with Daniel Sol (HollyShorts Co-Founder) by Sharp Radio Network

This interview with HollyShorts co-founder Daniel Sol is great for filmmakers, writers, directors, actors actresses, and anyone else with film ties. It provides you with an in-depth look about why certain films are chosen for film festivals and why they are not. Not many festival directors are as accessible as Daniel Sol, so it is hard to find this kind of inside knowledge.

The interview is conducted by Ben Pratt from the Sharp Radio Network. The interview is not one that runs on and on so it well worth the time to listen.

The link below will bring you to the Sharp Radio Network page, from there just click on "Go To HollyShorts"

Interview with HollyShorts Co-Founder Daniel Sol

For more on the upcoming HollyShorts Film Festival (August 10th-12th) visit www.hollyshorts.com

Monday, August 06, 2007

Brand New Tyshawn Bryant Movie Trailer (Upcoming C. Thomas Howell Film)

The first trailer for Mutant Vampire Zombies From The 'Hood! had its World Premiere at Comic-Con 2007 in San Diego this past weekend. The preview screened at the conclusion of "Zombie Night", immediately following a screening of the 80's cult classic "Night of the Comet". The audience laughed and applauded and seemed quite appreciative of the brief sneak peak.

The film stars Tyshawn Bryant, Dream Regime producer and star of "Shoot-Out" along with C. Thomas Howell (The Hitcher, Soul Man, E.T.)

Without further ado, here is the link to the official site. Enter the site and click on "Trailer" to see the brand new teaser.

http://www.mutantvampirezombiesfromthehood.com/

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Brand New Review - Rogue Cinema

Making movies allows you to connect with others. One of those connections that I have made along the way has been with Duane L. Martin of Rogue Cinema who is a strong supporter of independent film. He was the first reviewer to offer his thoughts on our last film, "Shoot-Out"

He was so impressed with the film that he offered to interview the boys (David Branin, Daniel Sol, and Tyshawn Bryant) behind that project. It contains great insight and is a cool look down memory lane for those interested.

Rogue Cinema Interview with David Branin, Daniel Sol, and Tyshawn Bryant

When I contacted Duane a few weeks ago to possibly review "Honey, I'm Home," he didn't hesitate to have me shoot him a copy. I wasn't sure how he would respond to this one but it looks like we won him over again.

"The film does have an incredibly surprising ending...I won't give it away here though. You'll have to watch the short."

Duane, thank you once again for taking time out to review our work. You are a tremendous asset to all of us in the independent film community.

Here is the Full Review - Duane L. Martin (Rogue Cinema) Reviews "Honey, I'm Home"

Free Hollyshorts Opening Night Party!!! (August 10th 7pm)

All you have to do is RSVP
Email: rsvp@hollyshorts.com with your reservation.

Party starts at Club Nacional (1645 Wilcox Avenue, Hollywood)
at 7pm on Friday August 10th.


Adrian Grenier of Entourage (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004978/) directed the festival's opening film "Euthanasia" which will screen at 8pm.

There will be free hors'doeuvres and specialty drinks.

Hope to see you there.

PS - Make sure to RSVP.

You are welcome to forward this news to anyone you believe would like to attend.

Movies Made Me - "A highly enjoyable piece that left me surprised at how much I loved it."

The secret is getting out.

When was the last time you heard people buzzing about a film made for less than $100?

It is now happening with David Branin's "Honey, I'm Home" A film that critics are falling in love with. Take another look at the headline of this post.

"A highly enjoyable piece that left me surprised at how much I loved it."

That is what film critic Chad Connolly of MvMMDI had to say about "Honey, I'm Home" which premieres August 12th at the HollyShorts Film Festival. Check our homepage for further details on the screening.

In a private email to me, Chad revealed that "Honey, I'm Home" was one of those rare films that required a second viewing. Great to hear and great to have this latest review to pass onto you!

Here it is!

The Movies Made Me Do It reviews "Honey, I'm Home"

Monday, July 23, 2007

ADitude Advertising - "Honey Im Home is a quick and intense ride from start to finish!"

Look at this sensational review! This has just arrived from Trey McGriff, Film Department - Aditude Advertising.

We sent Trey a copy of our previous film, "Shoot-Out," a film that he absolutely loved and caused him to write "4 out of 4 Stars! You need to see this film!"

Knowing how he felt about our previous film, we were really excited to get a copy of our latest film, "Honey, I'm Home" into his hands. Apparently, he couldn't wait to view it himself. Here's what he wrote back after he received his screener DVD in the mail.

"Congrats again on everything and I'm pumped to watch this tonight as
the main feature!! We've got some people that will be watching too,
should be a fun time and a new crowd to turn your film on to!"

Well, what happened you ask?

Here is his response after watching the film with a crowd of people.

"We watched your film this weekend and everyone loved it man! Truly
great work!! The ending really caught us all by surprise and the
acting was superb, as well as the music, directing and all footage!
Congrats on such a unique twist in this film, it was a really fun
viewing!"

Looks like we did it again!

Trey McGriff's official review is short and sweet. He provided us the above banner to go with it. Here it is.

HONEY I'M HOME

"Honey I'm Home is a quick and intense ride from start to finish! David Branin really shows his directing and writing skills in this attention grabbing short film! You'll never guess how this films ends! A must see for any film lover! This film was made by David Branin and you can order the DVD today at myspace.com/honeyimhomethemovie or myspace.com/dreamregimeproductions"

For more information on ADitude Advertising and their amazing catalog of Ad Specialties, Promotional Products, and Graphic Design, visit http://www.aditudeadvertising.com/

Announcing 2nd Official Film Festival Selection!!!

Imagine a film being made on a shoestring budget of less than $100 competing with films made for 100 times more. It is no fantasy. We have just received word that "Honey, I'm Home" has been accepted into this year's DigiFestival.net which is based in Italy! Our 1st International Film Festival.

This is just the beginning. Our goal is to have a screening of "Honey, I'm Home" in every state in America. Stay tuned for when it comes to a city near you!

More on the festival as it becomes available.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

"Honey, I'm Home" - The Greatest Review!!!

We have just received our latest and Greatest review from The World's Greatest Critic, J.C. Macek III.

Allow us to share a story with you. When we seeking press on our previous film, Shoot-Out we contacted a slew of movie critics. We will never forget J.C. Macek's intial reply..

"It's my pleasure to review independent films, just so long as the makers respect the fact that my opinion will be honest and fair, and that it's understood that my writing style is primarily comical. In short, no hurt feelings intended."

Fair enough, as we wanted to hear what the World's Greatest had to say about our film. We figured even if he bashes our project, something good will come out of it. What was the verdict??? He loved "Shoot-Out!!!" He watched it many times over and provided us an amazing Review.

We do not bring up this story to toot our own horns, we bring it up because JC Macek III, who has seen thousands of films, is not an easy critic to please. If a film is poor it is going to be known, and if a film is great it will be praised. We love the way he writes and his comic style which leads to the question...

How did we fair this time around with our latest project, "Honey, I'm Home???"

Here are a couple of quotes from the review

"Worth every second of the viewing...a very unique film"

"Branin's still got a great way with the pen here, and his work feels fully thought out and well-imagined."

Don't stop there, you will want to read the entire review.

Here it is: World's Greatest Critic Reviews Honey I'm Home

Sunday, July 15, 2007

"Honey, Im Home' featured on FilmSynergy!!!

Want to thank the good folks at FilmSynergy for adding our World Premiere Press Release to their site. Looks like a great resource for indie filmmakers out there.

Here is the link - David Branin's "Honey, I'm Home" to Premiere at HollyShorts Film Festival

Friday, July 13, 2007

Daniel Sol on FIN Panel

Los Angeles---On Sunday, July 8 Daniel Sol, HollyShorts Festival Director and Co-founder spoke on the Film Industry Network (FIN) panel titled "Award Winning Directors: The Short Films", which took place at Sony Studios.

Film Industry Network (or FIN for short) is a non-profit networking community comprised of individuals from all facets of the entertainment industry. FIN provides a fun and relaxed atmosphere where individuals can make key contacts, develop solid industry relationships, exchange vital resources and take advantage of real networking opportunities. Our goal is to create an organization that truly supports the goals and careers of its members.Offering more than just a snack and a guest speaker, FIN hosts terrific panels as well as a variety of valuable programs like: -Yearly Screenplay Competition -Mentorship program -And More.

FIN provides real networking opportunities, so come to the next FIN meeting and network your tail off.

HIT REVIEW - "If this is a calling card for Tinseltown, it’s an excellent"

Another review for "Honey, I'm Home" is now on the board, thanks to JB at Hollywood is Talking. He handles himself quite professionally and reviews material in a proficient and efficient manner.

For those who have not boomarked the site, we would highly recommend it as HIT covers Hollywood, Indiewood, Trulyindies, books, art, lit., gossip, etc. with new material posted daily. The site offers quite a fresh perspective compared to many other film sites.

JB has seen a ton of films, yet here's what he had to say about our film...

"Suffice it to say, it was good enough to completely surprise me. These guys never go in a clichéd direction which is a big plus."

Here is the full review - HIT Reviews Honey, I'm Home