Bye bye Biscuit

#309 (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

After nearly two years, we've decided to not renew our lease at the Biscuit Company Lofts. It's been a great experience and we could not have picked a better first residence here in Los Angeles. We're going to miss this old building and the friends we've made here.

We've chosen to move on to greener pastures. (Literally, our new place has a yard.) WAP, Inc. is still going strong, just with a new footprint and mailing address.


NW stairwell. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

We feel fortunate to have experienced all the interesting people, places and things we did while here. The 90021 Project is a testament to that. The Arts District is a truly unique place even in a city as diverse and unique as L.A. 90021 is a body of work I am extremely proud of. It's now time to move on and start a new chapter.

From now on, every time I drive down the 5, 101 or 110 and see this majestic masonry fortress standing proud on the Eastern edge of downtown as it has for over 80 years, I'll smile.


Archive photo. Circa 1926. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Lead Solo

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

As you may already know, I've been collaborating with former Blue Angel-turned-screenwriter/actor Len Anderson on a project dubbed Out of the Blue. When we did the first set of images, Len's Blue Angels flight suit was three hours ahead of us in Pensacola, FL. Undoubtedly, a shot of him in the legendary blue suit was a must. So upon his return to Los Angeles after the holidays, he brought the whole get up to the studio for a portrait to lead the series.

Growing up in a Navy town like San Diego, I've been a lifelong Blue Angels fan. The annual Miramar Airshow with the Blues headlining was second only to Christmas morning in order of importance to me and my brothers. Finally seeing the suit and helmet close-up, with it's unmistakable gold visor, was pretty damn epic.

Len, call sign "Loni," did a full three year tour with the team. He finished as a solo pilot in the #5 aircraft, also known as the "Lead Solo." Before that he flew combat missions over Iraq, attended Top Gun and has logged over 250 carrier landings—widely regarded as the "quickest way to shit your pants on the job." The question now is, has all that prepared him for battling Hollywood?

At least F-18s have ejection seats.

A girl named Remy

Framing up. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

A few weeks back, good friend and photographer Remy Haynes asked if I wouldn't mind helping her out on a shoot for her very timely Currency Project. What originally started as me recommending locations here in my neighborhood turned into me lugging lights. Voluntarily no less! I really wanted to see one of her Currency shoots in action. She'd been talking about it for months. Besides, it's nice to occasionally put the camera down and instead juggle C-stands and yell "game off" when a cars come down the street.

I've known Remy for years now. We met while both living in Seattle. As a matter of fact, she was the pathfinder coming down here to Los Angeles. She relocated here about six months before we did. Come to think of it, we used the same movers, car shippers and apartment finders. Needless to say, I owed her.


On set. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Her shoot was with Nate G. and friend Remy N. (Another girl named Remy. What are the chances?) She needed a gritty urban environment for a Twilight-inspired, vampire homage shot. This part of town set the standard for gritty. I knew just the spot.


Nate and the other Remy. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

So as we all headed down to a nearby warehouse district street, I grabbed my old Canon AE-1. It had an unfinished roll of film in it. What kind of film I couldn't remember. The counter simply read "5." I figured whatthehell, I'd just snap a few shots throughout the evening and whatever showed up, showed up.


Lit by her own strobes. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

It was SO FUN. I'd never worked side-by-side with Rem. (Her name was truncated to Rem for the day to differentiate talent from shooter.) I shuffled lights around, lifted sandbags and just generally had fun watching Remy—er—Rem, have fun. You can see the wonderful results here.


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

I am so glad we've kept in touch over the years. Her attitude and generous spirit is a real inspiration to me.

And best of all, Nate showed up on film! So much for vampire.

City of Sleeping Angels

Detail crop. Click image for full size. © William Anthony

This photo was taken the morning of Trigger Street shoot, as we were setting up atop the 6th St. bridge before the sun rose. In the hi-res version you can see everything from the newly erected Ritz-Carlton at the L.A. Center to the left all the way to the Hollywood sign tucked away just to the left of City Hall. (The triangular roof, far right.)

This wonderful light is almost good enough to get me up earlier in the morning more often.

Almost.

When concrete blushes

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Color study in concrete and cellulose.

Six Feet Under House

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Oh how I miss the Fishers.

I was perusing YouTube last week and came across some clips from the epic HBO series Six Feet Under. Ruth, Claire, David, Nate, Brenda, Federico, George—it all came back. I didn't have HBO when it was on the air. I rented DVDs. I figured I'd watch the pilot first because everyone WOULDN'T SHUT UP ABOUT THIS SHOW. I wanted to not like it because of the hype. I almost watched it out of spite. After the final scene of the pilot, when the bus pulls away from Nate, I was emotionally exhausted and totally committed to the Fishers. From then on the routine was simple, rent a DVD, return it and get the next one. I think I watched the entire series in a two weeks.

After moving to Los Angeles, I decided to investigate if the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home was an actual building or just a set. To my glee, I discovered it is a real house. And not five minutes from where I live.

So last night I took the 'ol 4x5 out to it and snapped this photo not far from where Claire took her last photo.

Now I need to buy the box set. Unless, of course, there's someone out there who wants to gift it to me...

Michael Novotny - Production Designer

Shot at the Warner Bros. Lot (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Another installment for the ARTSTARS.us blog. Tom and I drove on to the Warner Bros. lot of sound stages for this one. Michael Novotny is the Production Designer for CBS's The Mentalist. He has a long and storied career. He's also the father of CSI's Dan Novotny. (The pencil doesn't fall far from the drafting board.)

In addition to the close-up hero shot for the blog, I knew I had to get a shot of Mike in his golf cart. The Art Dept. was having trouble with other departments mistakenly lifting their cart, the preferred vehicle at WB. Mike's assistant, Julie, told me he wanted to make his cart unmistakable. No wait, I'm paraprashing. What she actually said was, "Did you see the ducks on the roof?"

Two mallards in a boxy version of a pond are what now differentiate Mike's golf cart from everyone else's. He drove this thing around like a madman. I nearly fell out—twice. And the thought of seeing this cart whizz by with two ducks leisurely enjoying the ride, bills to the wind, made me smile.

No one mistakenly takes his cart anymore.

Look for the interview with Mike soon on ARTSTARS.us.

UPDATE: Read the interview here.

Trigger Street Productions

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

All good things must come to an end. And some ends are more fun than others. The following is definitely the latter.

A shoot I did last Saturday marked the end of my personal, neighborhood project I called The 90021 Project. And it's a shoot that's been in the works for months. Here in the Biscuit Company Lofts, one of our neighbors is Trigger Street Productions. Formed by Kevin Spacey in 1997, it's a production company that has produced titles for stage and screen. Also, it's web site is an online community of established, emerging and aspiring screenwriters, actors and waitstaff. (Remember, this is Hollywood.)

But to me, Trigger Street is Dana, Carter, Andy and Matt. Four guys, on a mission. What that mission is, I am not sure most of the time. But whatever it is, it looks and sounds like a lot of fun. Dana's the boss, Carter is the right hand man, Andy sets up picks and assists with the video editing and Matt is the good-natured nice guy that everyone gives shit to. Ok, just Dana. Dana gives him shit. Nonstop.

We quickly became friends when Pamela and I started up Trivia Night across the street at the local English Pub. They were usually the loudest team at the bar. I immediately liked them.

They're a different kind of Hollywood production company. Namely, they're not in Hollywood. They moved to downtown to get away from the influence as best they could. (Thankfully they didn't mimic Kubrick and move to England. Oh wait, Kevin did. Nevermind...)


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Once I started The 90021 Project, I thought it would be cool to try and illustrate that outsider ethos in a portrait. But at first, I didn't think they'd be up for my idea for the shot. In time, I got the balls up to ask Dana and he loved the idea.

I wanted shots that typified the Trigger Street attiude and highlight each guy's unique personality. Dana's the guy that can make it though a Mardi Gras riot without messing up his hair or losing a cufflink. Carter often times seems to look on at his colleagues with incredulous disbelief. Andy has dashing good looks that nearly always gets him in trouble. And Matt, well... Matt is just Matt.

We had a blast at the shoot despite the 6am call-time. Dana's fiancée, costume designer/stylist Johanna Argan, did an amazing job with the costumes. Hair and make up artist Tania McComas gave Andy a shiner and a fat lip. (Not the first or last to do so I am sure.)

And with this shoot I close The 90021 Project. It's been a great adventure and I've met some wonderful people during the process.

I just hope I don't have to get the guys Hepatitis shots because of shooting this on the 6th St. bridge...


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Credits
Production Manager: Pamela Sunnarborg
Photo Assistant: Jeff Johnson
Wardrobe/Styling: Johanna Argan
Hair/Make up: Tania McComas

about:face submission

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Thanks Jason!

See more here.

Reggie Watts vs. DieHard

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

While doing my daily blogroll, I came across the video below. And it's amazing for several reasons.

I'll get to that. First, the 90 second spot:



First, it's Reggie Watts. Former lead singer for the Seattle soul band Maktub, now solo artist. The man is quite simply a talent supernova. Funny, improvisational, smart, fearless and a voice that leaves velvet feeling coarse. Let me put it this way, once you see his full range of talents, his epic fro is the LEAST interesting part of his persona.

Second, it's a great TV spot. Smart creative paired with good production values and shot well. I'd love to know how many takes there were. Probably many, and I bet they're all different. And awesome. (Thank you advertising gods for them NOT using the low-hanging "wattage" pun.)

Lastly, I hope this brings Reggie's sweet gentle creative goodness to more people.

My path crossed with Reggie's a few times in Seattle. The first, I think, was at a party hosted by my artist friend Cassandria Blackmore circa 2001. I'd seen Maktub and loved them. We struck up conversation and I was immediately impressed by how nice this guy was. No ego whatsoever.

We would meet again two more times while I photographed him for KEXP.org.

Truthfully, I had forgotten about Reggie after I left Seattle. That is, until last night when I saw DieHard Battery vs. Reggie Watts. Such a nice surprise. I hope he begins to get the wide-ranging recognition he deserves.

Be sure to check out more of his amazing performances on Youtube.


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

ARTSTARS.us

Click to go to ARTSTARS.us. © William Anthony

Today marks the launch of ARTSTARS: Conversations with Production Designers & Art Directors. Created by friend, neighbor and Production Designer, Tom Lisowski, it's a blog of interviews he conducted with some of Hollywood's leading PDs and ADs. Don't know what a Production Designer in Hollywood actually does? Neither did I. This is a good primer. Already in the industry? This is great insight to some of Tinsel Town's best films and how they were made.

Tom asked if I'd be up for shooting portraits of his interviewees. I was happy to, as I got to sit in on the interviews. These are very interesting guys. They all share a passion unlike any other in filmmaking. A passion for the craft of make-believe but very different than the screenwriter or director. Because their role in the production of a film is so wide-reaching, most are adept at not only drawing and designing but sawing and hammering as well. And they love talking about all of the above in minute detail.


Documentarian Daniel Raim (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Tom's launching with four great, in-depth interviews. He has many more lined up including more industry legends.

Check it out for yourself here.

Kane Hodder - RIP

In Hell's Kitchen (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

According to my compatriot and former fellow Seattleite, Ryan Schierling, the tonsil-hemorrhaging NW band Kane Hodder is no more.

For those of you not of the great gray/green Northwest, Kane Hodder is a very loud, very crazy band named after the stunt man that played Jason in the Friday the 13th movies. Ryan was a megafan. I had never heard them live. All I'd seen were Ryan's photos of them. And in those photos, you rarely saw Andrew Moore's (lead vox) feet touching the ground. He was either mid-air or writhing around grand mal style. Only Guy Picciotto from Fugazi did the front stage tortured writhing better. So when Ryan asked if I'd be interested in shooting stills at a KH music video shoot with him, I agreed.

I had no idea what I was in for.

It was shot in a grimey shithole in Tacoma called Hell's Kitchen. (That's a compliment by the way.) It was crammed full of pre-, mid-, and barely post-pubescent fans and the video hot lights lived up to their namesake and kept the interior temperature in the club well above the BROIL setting.

They were awesome. "Reckless abandon" got redefined for me right in front of my eyes. I nearly died of heat stroke. But I have a cache of images from that night I'll hold dear for a long time. The image above is my favorite.

Godspeed Andrew et al.

P.S. Kane Hodder, the person, is still very much alive. And, apparently, a very good poker player.