2018 has been a hella busy year for Psychicflyingmonkey Productions, son! …or daughter. Here’s a breakdown of what we were up to starting with the month of Janus.
January
In the middle of the month we wrapped principal photography on the short film “Gift Wrapped”, which we started shooting in December. It was a pleasure working with Director Ashley Hayden, and she was very collaborative and fun to work with. The best quote on set was when one of the actresses looked around after my gaffer/key grip Mike Heberling and I had finalized the lighting on a bar patio scene and exclaimed, “This lighting is lit!” Yes, young lady, our lighting was indeed lit.
Post-production on “Gift Wrapped” was delayed for a few months but it’s now in its final stages, and the film should start hitting film festivals in 2019.
February
I caught a sweet gig shooting Jo Koy ENG-style during and after his performances at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix and at the historic Fox Theatre in Tucson. The footage was edited into promo videos for social media, and you can check the Phoenix one out below. I had been hearing Jo Koy regularly on one of my favorite podcasts The Adam Carolla Show, so I jumped at the chance to shoot for him. Dude’s hilarious, and he even mixed up material from the early show to the late show each night- displaying his deep bag of funny.
March
My annual pilgrimage to Woodward West Action Sports Camp in Stallion Springs, CA for the 10th Annual Old School BMX Reunion was on and poppin’! As I rolled into a town near the camp, a mist began rolling in that would chill the nuts off Stephen King. I wanted to maximize my riding time at the Dinneeland of BMX, but observing the fog sweeping across the farms and ranches just outside Tehachapi’s town limits forced me pull over my Mini to shoot a timelapse. Over the course of the weekend I also caught some stills of deer and a covered bridge both enshrouded by fog. I shot plenty of footage of the mist-ensconced gnarled trees that decorate the hills of Stallion Springs to use in my documentary about Jose Yanez, the inventor of the backflip on a bicycle and motorcycle. Jose usually makes the trip with me but unfortunately he wasn’t able to make it this year.
June
Everyone knows the 21.5 year anniversary is the big one. Psychicflyingmonkey Productions turned 21.5 in June so we had to throw a party. With the help of DJ Adrenaline and his lady Marita, Del Ramirez, Jr, Mike Heberling, my lady Toni Ross and Sean Porter, we held a party at DeSoto Market in downtown Phoenix. As part of the festivities, I got to create a couple things I’ve been wanting to give fellow celebrants for years now. I’ve always loved embroidery, so I had Psychicflyingmonkey Productions patches made in time to give one to each of my honored guests. I also customized a semi well-known cocktail to create the Psychic Flying Monkey©. So you’re wondering, “Exactly what’s in a Psychic Flying Monkey©?” Well here ya go:
1/3 part banana liqueur
1/3 part Bailey’s Irish Cream
1/3 part psychic
1/3 part chocolate ice cream
1/3 part magic
I know it doesn’t add up. Who gives a shit? We got down with that get-down on June 7th!
The party also doubled as a thinly-veiled launch for the crowdfunder for my film Out of the Loop: The Jose Yanez documentary. That part didn’t work out so well due to multiple distractions in DeSoto, a blown amp and last minute snags with my chosen crowdfunding platform, but I rolled with the punches and got the fundraising going a few days later.
Thankfully, everything was up and running by the time Helltrack at TexPlex went down the fourth weekend of June. The Helltrack event was a re-creation of a BMX track that never existed in real life, but was made and shot for the movie RAD in 1985. I took the trip to Texas with my executive producer Glenn Slusher, BMX pro Jody Donnelly and the maniac who did all the backflips in the movie RAD, Mister Jose Yanez. We had a great time notwithstanding the brutal heat, wind and humidity, I snagged some excellent footage of the race as well as interviews and poignant footage of Jose, got to ride the track that I had salivated over as a kid, and procured a grip of generous donations to our crowdfunding campaign from event attendees. And I dropped into that wall. Three times, fool!.
Jody Donnelly dropping in on the Helltrack starting wall. Think it looks scary from this angle? Try looking at it from the top deck.
August & September
I was hired by Michael Benson in mid-August to direct a commercial for Agency IQ’s client The River Source. We found an excellent actress in Taylor McGlone, who was a vision on screen and simply magnificent to work with. The script was already written and approved by the client when I came on the job, so it was nice to have that part already taken care of. We found an Air BnB with an incredible gray and black (my favorite color combo) interior at which to shoot that happened to be only a few short blocks from my homestead. The palette fit the tone of the commercial in the best way. One limitation- we were only allowed a total of 6 crew members + actors for the shoot. My team and I rose to the occasion, and knocked the shoot out in only 8 hours.
The commercial was edited, sound designed, color graded and submitted for approval, and the client loved it! They only wanted a few changes made to the end logo and text, and it was good to go. The commercial hasn’t been released yet, but as soon as it is I’ll add it to my commercial page.
The last weekend of the month saw me running operations and tech at the Jerome Indie Film & Music Festival, of which I’m co-founder with my girlfriend Toni Ross. We had an excellent festival, and our organization has never been better. While running the festival I didn’t get much time to enjoy myself, but personal highlights included experiencing the Ghost Tour in Jerome Cemetery with Toni on Opening Night, running my Psychicflyingmonkey Productions booth at the Film Soiree’, watching and participating in incredible karaoke performances at our big Saturday party, experiencing the excitement of the crowd at our screening of USS Indianapolis: The Legacy, and shooting black and white film stills of Scott Jeffers’ show in the Film Fort on Sunday.
October & November
I was brought on mid-season to direct photography for Western Trading Post TV, a reality show starring Bobbi Jeen Olsen and her family that showcases the western lifestyle. It’s been a joy shooting singing cowboys, guns from the late 1800’s, Navajo blankets, western auctioneers and more. It was also pretty cool to start shooting for the show and have my stuff air on TV within a month. We shot the first season of Western Trading Post at a real western trading post in Casa Grande, and the show is currently airing on The Cowboy Channel (RFD-TV). Check the schedule below for times and channels.
Big thanks to all who supported Psychicflyingmonkey Productions in 2018 and over the years, and here’s to an excellent 2019!