If you had told me Five years ago that I would have the meeting that I have on December 8th I wouldn't have believed you.  I will post about it once I know something.

*Edit on December 7th:  The meeting has been rescheduled for after the Holidays, which is fine, it'll give me more time to prepare.  But see why I never talk about anything until it actually happennnnsss!!!?!?!????!

Tonight I stumbled across this Amazon review of one of the movies I've written, Nora's Hair Salon 3:

Apt review Donovan, apt.

A Picture Frame

I haven't posted in a long while because not much has been going on writing wise and also because I have been crazy busy since Ashlea went back to work.  I currently take care of Christian (my four month old son) every weekday from 7am to at least 4:30pm then I work 3 week nights a week from 7pm to 3am plus all day Saturday and Sunday.  So, instead of writing, I have been trying to catch up on sleep, spend time with my family, and cool things like that.

But, today YouTube informed me that my videos are now monetized, so here's one of my favorite things I've ever done:


And while you're on YouTube, watch The End.

Official Podcast Guest? Check.

I'm the guest on this week's The Fanboy Scoop - Week in Review podcast! I listen to a LOT of podcasts so it was awesome to be on one and make a couple silly jokes. I also play "Mark Ruffalo" in the opening sketch (that I wrote as well).

Click the link, check it out, and subscribe on iTunes using the link in the sidebar on the right.

Also, You can hear now hear The Fanboy Scoop - Week In Review on Krypton Radio every Monday at 7:00 p.m./PST and every Saturday at 2:00 p.m.!

Update!

I turned in the first draft of the script I was working on for an Actress/Producer that had a role in the movie that I wrote: Pastor Jones: Heavenly Voices.  The script turned out really good, now I wait for her notes and I do another draft and get paid the last installment of our agreement.  It should be produced in 2012.

Subscribe to The Fanboy Scoop - A Week in Review!  I write sketches for their podcast, I posted the scripts in the previous posts.  Now that I'm current with that I'll post a link to the pod and the script when the pod is released.

The End. won the Audience Choice Award at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center's Alumni Film Festival!  They programmed the following episodes and interspersed them throughout the night.







I wrote two of those episodes and directed all three!!

Re-Booty Call

This is the sketch I wrote for Episode 24 about the DC comics reboot.
Re Booty Call

It's based on this link:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-change-to-seasonal-numbering-110705.html

Comic-Con Men

Here's the sketch I wrote for Episode 23 about several huge upcoming superhero movies skipping Comic-Con this year.

Comic Con Men

It's based on these links:
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/22/marvel-makes-it-official-no-hall-h-panel-at-comic-con/
http://io9.com/5814750/why-are-superman-batman-and-the-avengers-staying-away-from-comic+con

Super's Man-ager

Here's the sketch I wrote for Episode 22 about the DC Comics reboot.

Super's Man-ager

It's based on these links:
http://blastr.com/2011/06/could-superman-and-lois-l.php
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/06/i_have_no_idea_what_dc_is_doing_and_neither_does_d.php

How Much for that Human in the Window?

Here's the sketch I wrote for Episode 21 about the co-founder of Apple predicting that robots will make humans their pets in the future.
How Much for That Human
It's based on this link:
http://blastr.com/2011/06/apple-cofounder-predicts.php

ZAG Emergency Meeting

I write sketches for Fanboy Comics' podcast The Fanboy Scoop - A Week in Review.  Here's the script for a sketch I wrote for Episode 20 about The Walking Dead's budget cuts.
ZAG Emergency Meeting

It's based on these links:
http://nerdbastards.com/2011/06/01/how-much-can-kyro-syrup-and-red-food-coloring-cost-walking-dead-season-two-facing-budget-cuts/
http://blastr.com/2011/06/will-budget-cuts-hurt-the.php

Subscribe to the podcast using the link in my sidebar!!

Google Alerted

A Google Alert alerted me to a site that is illegally hosting Nora's Hair Salon 3: Shear Disaster.  Usually I ignore things like that because I got paid a flat rate so I don't really care how many DVDs they sell except that if they sell a lot of DVDs they'll probably want to hire me again, etc, etc... 

But just for S's and G's I clicked the link and discovered you can watch the entire movie, BUT I have mixed feelings because 3,085 people on Facebook 'liked' the movie.  So it's cool that people like a movie that I wrote, but I wish I could hear about it in a different way I guess is what I'm saying.

It's also weird that you would 'like' something on Facebook like that, couldn't anyone trace that and bust you?

Re-Booty Call

I have a new audio sketch on this week's The Fanboy Scoop - Week in Review. It's called Re-Booty Call and it's loosely about DC Comics "giving up the ghost on the current consecutive numbering of all their titles, in favor of what they intend to be inviting, more “accessible” new #1 issues." - Newsarama.com  Sounds hilarious right?  It is though!

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes via The Fanboy Scoop link on the sidebar.  Also, to get a daily dose of The Fanboy Scoop, email subscribe@fanboycomics.net!

IMDb Professional

I put up an ad on Craigslist to see if there is a demand for this sort of thing, here's the link and here's the ad:

Need your credit or film posted on IMDb?

IMDb is the industry's source for credits, it's your e-resume if you're in the entertainment business.

Need your film or a credit posted on IMDb but don't have an IMDb account? Don't know how to use IMDb? Have an account and know how to use it but you're super rich and pay people to do things for you?

Then I can help. I know my way around IMDb and I can get your credit listed. (email me for examples of credits I've gotten listed)

Here's how it works: Give me all the information about the credit (we can communicate back and forth through email until I get all the info I need), send the money to my Paypal, and I'll forward you the confirmation email from IMDb that insures that they will process your credit.

$10 for a single credit added to an existing film, TV show, etc.
$25 for a new short listing (film short, TV show episode, etc)
$35 for a new feature listing (feature film, TV or web series, etc)

Email me with any questions you may have, or send me some info and we can get started! 

So if you know anyone that needs this sort of thing let them know I can do it.  If I make any money off of this I'll put it straight into the Love-Bites-o-meter.

Google Plus

Add me on to your circles on Google+ and follow my plus ones here.
A link will be in the sidebar from now on as well.

Moneyballin'

I was browsing The A.V. Club and saw that the trailer for Moneyball was released. I knew one of my writing partners, Phil Pote, was involved in Moneyball in some way so I watched the trailer and he's all over it! He even has a line! He's the guy who says "Who's Fabio?" 32 seconds in.



So awesome.

Just a reminder, here's the synopsis for the screenplay we wrote together (we're still trying to sell it so if you're interested...)

Baseball's First Lady
Co-written with veteran Major League Baseball Scout Phil Pote
Jacqueline "J.R." Raines, mid 30s, coaches softball at a Southern California high school. Her grandfather Solomon "Salty" Raines, 70s, is a baseball scout for the Los Angeles Stars. When Salty has a stroke and J.R. loses her summer job she takes his place and becomes the First Female Major League Baseball Scout.
Her early days as a scout are plagued by betrayal and self doubt, will she have what it takes to find the next big bat or hot hand? Or will her male peers destroy her before she has a chance?
WGA # 1454965

The End. of The End.

Yes!!

Worth the wait.

All of the episodes of The End., with credits, are here.

I'm Batman.

I had a great meeting last week with a Producer to discuss my latest feature assignment.  This Producer acted in in one of the films I wrote for Black Christian Movies, loved the script, and contacted me a month or two ago to hire me to write her a script.

She came to the meeting with a brief synopsis and we talked about it, I had some questions, we signed a short agreement, and she paid me the first installment of my fee.  I'm excited about the project not just because I'm getting paid and the project is on track to get made, but it's an awesome story that's going to be fun to write.  It is an example of good work begetting more work and jobs leading to jobs. 

I also went to a recording of the Fanboy Comics podcast I've been talking about a lot on here lately.  I have continued writing sketches for them.  You can subscribe to the pod on iTunes via the link in the sidebar.  You have to listen to this week's episode though, I wrote the sketch and I play Batman.

I had another acting gig last week as well.  The crew of The End., me, and a couple other crew members have been shooting a comedy sketch-fake trailer thing for a while now.  I haven't had too much involvement because of my fatherly duties, but the other night some of the crew came over and shot a couple scenes.  I will definitely be posting that when it's edited.

More sketches on the way, more info about my writing assignment on the way.

The Fanboy Scoop - Week in Review on iTunes

Subscribe to The Fanboy Scoop - Week in Review, a podcast about geek news that I write audio sketches for on iTunes: here.  So far I have written for episodes 20 and 21, the sketch is at the beginning of the pod with a short button at the end.

And don't forget to catch up with The End. at the Fanboy Comics site.

I'm about to start another paid feature writing assignment next week.  I'll give more details once I've had the meeting.

How Much For That Human In The Window?

This week's The Fanboy Scoop - Week in Review, Episode #21.  My sketch is at the beginning and end of the pod.
       

   
   
Podcast Powered By Podbean
   

 
Thanks.

A Baby boy and some Fanboys

My wife delivered our son on Monday June 6th!  I need to write a long thing about it, I haven't yet, but when I do it will be here, on our Harmon Junior Tumblr.  Needless to say we've been crazy busy but now we're home and trying to get settled into our new life.

When I'm not being an awesome birth coach/ the number one dad, I still find a tiny bit of time to write.  I am going to start contributing skits to the Fanboy Comics podcast The Fanboy Scoop - Week in Review.  Their podcast is a discussion of the week's most important geek news. 

My first skit appeared on Episode #20, which I've posted below.  It's a minute or two long and there's a quick 'button' to end the skit at the end of the podcast.
       

   
   
Podcast Powered By Podbean
   

   
It's fun to take a break from writing features and write something super short.  It's a challenge to write purely audio pieces after being taught show don't tell forever.

But anyway, subscribe to them on iTunes, the new episodes aren't up yet due to technical difficulties but when they are posted you can 'get all' and catch up, I know I will!!  In the meantime I'll post the ones where I have skits featured.

New URL, www.PeterLHarmon.com
New email address, Pete at PeterLHarmon.com



Yes.

A couple quick things:

Fanboy Comics updated their website, it looks great! Here's their press release. I am hopefully going to work with them on my Love Bites graphic novel, but even if I wasn't, they're a great group and their podcast is funny and informative about all things geek.

My friend and collaborator Orlando Brown was named National Ambassador for The American Humane Association, that's awesome. Here's the press release. My manager is quoted in the article and the management company that represents me gets a nice shout out.

Orlando plays a vital role in The End. You can watch his arc here, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

And, my phone has been having camera trouble since I bought it, but I just got a replacement so I've been uploading pictures to my Tumblr.

Por ejemplo:

That's some good composition, good vectors, rule of thirds, nice.

That's it for now.

The Love Bites Graphic Novel Saga Part I

This is going to be pretty long and rambling, but it all will get tied up in the end (I think/ hope).

I wrote the first draft of the Love Bites screenplay in college.  I used to write screenplays from start to finish, no outline, a scene at a time.  I would make notes about the scene I was about to write during class, usually the History of Film class I took (which lead to a real life moment where the teacher said that she was passing out the exam and I thought 'we have an exam today?) then script it that night or whenever.

This was in 2004, 2005ish, before I had heard of "Twilight" whatsoever, sure "Buffy" was huge, and sexy vampires were definitely a thing and they were popular, but nowhere near the cultural over saturation that is going on right now.  Just to say that I didn't think to myself 'what is the most marketable script I can write?  Hmm, teen vampires it is.'  In fact, then, and sort of still with most projects, I never really thought that anything I wrote would ever get anywhere close to getting made.  I wrote it because I love horror 'stuff.'

My parents wouldn't let me watch most movies, horror movies especially, until I was basically around the age of whatever the rating was.  I sort of got away with watching Halloween in middle school and then tried to parlay that into watching all the Halloween sequels but I was unsuccessful.  Also, I was (and still am to a certain extent) a pretty big wuss about scary movies.  I remember just seeing part of the opening scene of Scream when it came out on video and being so scared for nights in a row.

But, I was a voracious reader and I could read whatever I wanted.  I read all the Goosebumps, all the Fear Streets, then some Michael Crichtons (Sphere, lol), and eventually found the man, Stephen King.

Sidenote: there was a R.L. Stine protege you might say, or disciple, or copycat, named M.T. Coffin (Eh?  Get it, get it?).  His books were actually pretty good as I remember and had some wild ideas in them but the series was passed off as a pseudo-Goosebumps.

I read a bunch of Stephen King, some Tales From The Crypt comics, et cetera, but my sweetest success was reading the novelizations of, or novels that inspired, horror movies.  And usually the books were grislier and sexier than the movies, take that parents!!  I know that my parents read this but I'm grown now, about to have my own sneaky son, so it's OK to divulge some of my secrets...  (Like when they switched up the train tracks down by the Peace Cross so that you don't have to wait for trains there anymore and I joked to my dad 'Now what excuse are teens going to use for being a few minutes late on their curfew?'  He liked that one.)

I also love Teen Movies.  Clueless, She's All That, Whatever It Takes, Not Another Teen Movie, Mean Girls, Superbad, everything Shane West, Sisqo, Usher, Mathew Lillard, Freddy Prinze the Second.  It's all good.

Love Bites is the two combined.  More teen movie than horror actually, it just uses horror elements to tell a great high school story that's not sanitized like High School Musical, and not over-sexed and gross out like an American Pie type thing.  Superbad had some extreme elements to it, but it was closer to how kids act than a lot of movies, especially in the way it portrayed guy friendship.  Good movie.  But that's a digression.

Here's the logline by the way:

Love Bites
Twilight meets Superbad, if Twilight didn't suck (no pun intended). Drake, your average teenage vampire, falls for Julia, the new human girl at Vincent Price High School. Julia's not looking for love, she's still having trouble adjusting to her new town, a monster friendly community in Pennsylvania. Even if they did hit it off, Julia's father, a monster-racist, would have a few things to say about his daughter dating "one of those bloodsuckers, or flesh eaters, whatever they do for fun."
WGA # 1376156

Like Happenstances, I've done some work on the Love Bites script almost every year since mid-college, so several years of fine tuning it.  It is a great script, and I have relatively low self esteem at this point from being treated pretty poorly as a writer, but I have a lot of confidence in Love Bites.

I've blogged about this just a bit before, but just so there is a complete history in one place, I'll elaborate just a little bit.  I was listening to the Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast about the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, which is based on a comic book (by the way, in my meeting with the president of the small comic book company I'll probably mention later, I kept saying Graphic Novel real hesitantly like a sheltered white person would stumble over African-American, like do I say Black, am I allowed?  Do I say Comic Book, is it demeaning?  I'll just stick with Graphic Novel...) and the creator of the comic said that he wrote his script in screenwriting software.

Instantly I thought Love Bites!  It's super visually pleasing, I probably wouldn't be able to sell the screenplay in the current vampire weary market, and I'm sure it's cheaper to produce a graphic novel than get millions of dollars together to make the movie.  It's not like Happenstances, that worst case scenario I'll go into debt making on the cheap at some point if things really slow down and I'm desperate (I call it my 'credit card debt movie' a la Clerks).  Love Bites requires a real, low relatively speaking, but still real budget to make it good, there will be a lot of creature effects, extras, a handful of set pieces.

So my first inclination was to contact a friend in Maryland who is an amazing artist.  I would give him a shout out but I can't find a current website for his art, so I'll update it later if I find it.  I still would love for him to do the art but he has a young daughter now and was in a transitional time job wise, so he told me he couldn't really devote a lot of time to it.  Which was probably wise on his part because at that point I hadn't done any research yet.

So I went to the best site to go when you need anything, Craigslist!  And I posted an ad that said:

Produced Screenwriter seeking Graphic Novel Artist

Hello potential friends,

I have had some success writing independent feature screenplays and have had several produced. I have a movie script that I think would make an awesome Graphic Novel. I need an artist to partner with me to create a pitch that I can bring to my manager, maybe some character drawings and a scene or two. If you have contacts we can take it to them, if not then we can see what my manager can do with it. We will be partners in this but I will keep the rights to the story and you will keep the rights to the art until a contract is signed otherwise. Any money we make will be split evenly.

I expect this to be a fun and fruitful process. If you have ideas I am open to hearing them. I know a bit about writing and making movies but very little about the comic book game, any experience you already have is a bonus for sure.

Please send me your website, a short description of your credentials, and a couple words about who you are.

Thanks. 

I got a handful of responses.  One was intimidating, the guy started bullying me immediately with questions like 'do you even have a budget for the first issue?'  Another was dumb, like 'I think I have a friend that could help you, what's your idea for the script brah?'  (I added the brah, but that was the tone I was getting)

Another response was exactly what I was looking for.  The President of a small independent comic book company asked me some basic questions, and I had heard of the company randomly, or serendipitously, on the LAFSC alumni e-mail newsletter (E-nouncements if you will).  The guy who posted about it in the E-nouncements is a friend of a former roommate of mine out here!  I've hung out with him a bunch actually, I think we saw Wanted as a group, which is a movie based on a comic book.  Good sign.

Perfect.  So I met with the guy and we hit it off.  First of all, and pretty importantly, he liked the script a lot.  He gave me a lot of info on just the very basics of the business of comic books, what his company does, their goals, everything.  We talked about different strategies that I could take with Love Bites: make a strong pitch and take it to artists, investors, et cetera, post a web comic online, print it traditionally, some combination.

And I still haven't decided what route to take actually and I still have to meet with the rest of the comic book company for more advice, maybe they have another strategy, who knows?

But, I am excited, optimistic, and motivated.  The guy I met with was nice, passionate about his art and craft, but really, he listened to me.  A lot of people I've interacted with so far in my career haven't listened to me and it's frustrating and demeaning.  They don't trust my storytelling so they shovel their idea onto me to write then I do and they don't hold up their end of the deal by doing anything with the finished script, so what's the point of taking weeks/ months to write ninety pages or more and then have it sit?  OK, that felt good, done with that.

But so far I've gotten four movies produced, all assignments (as opposed to 'specs,' movies I wrote without a contract that I pitched and sold), all sequels (although Walk By Faith 2: After The Honeymoon was a completely original story, just under the Walk By Faith name), and, although I do enjoy writing Faith Based Movies targeted to religious African-Americans, I wouldn't mind branching out a bit (although you'll still be my first love FBMTTRAAs).

Like I said at the beginning, I wrote Love Bites when being a screenwriter was still just a fantasy, a dream job.  It's a movie I would love to watch, nay, a story I would love to enjoy in any medium.  And in a time where now I have been paid to write something that wasn't my own, and I don't have the juice yet to be paid to write my own things, it seems like I have to get things I'm really passionate about started by myself.

Short break, this is getting super long, it's starting to sound like a manifesto.

So back to getting things going by myself, that's sort of what happened with The End.  I mean, the show was created by Bryan Mayer and it was a really collaborative project, but I wrote a lot of the episodes, directed several, played a character, wrote the last four consecutive episodes that dictated how the story ended, basically I'm saying I put a lot of effort into it and that was not a paying gig, we all paid out of pocket for food and props, none of the actors or crew got paid, it was a labor of like (love is too strong of a word).  And it was a positive experience, like I've said before.

So, it would seem like now would be the time where I asked for donations or something to fund Love Bites because it's so important to me, I laid out the whole story, pity party style, you know?  But I don't want to do that.  I want to fund it myself and reap all the benefits even if the only benefit is that I have a visual interpretation of a story I wrote that I love.

It seems like a fool's errand to undertake something like this right now, when I have a son who is going to be born in the next couple of weeks.  But I also just got a raise, but also my rent just went up, but also I'm saving money on gas by riding my bike to work most days, BUT ALSO another thing that contradicts the thing before it!!

So basically, F it (mom and dad, the F stands for 'forget'), I'm going to try.  I'm going to try to save a couple thousand dollars to cover the cost of paying an artist and distributing the comic whether it be on the web or printing, or whatever, I'll figure that out with the comics team soon.  When I ride my bike to work to pick up my paycheck instead of driving, not only will I be working on my sexy legs, but I'll save a couple dollars in gas money that I'll put it into my personal savings account.

It's going to be extremely hard to save any money with a new baby and saving for a house someday and all the family costs that come with being a grown ass man.  But like when I get a paid writing gig, like I have lined up for June (that pays better than my previous gigs), I'll put a major portion of that into myself as a brand basically, like I'm a business.

So, here is my Love Bites-o-meter.  I've arbitrarily picked $5,000 for now, I will change this figure once I know what my strategy is, but I want this visual representation and accountability to motivate me.

And again, I don't want donations.  I will accept an investor that wants to go into business with me with a legitimate contract and all that, but that is not the point of this post.  This post is for me and if you've read this far you're crazy (or you're my wife, I love you Ash).

Provided byFundraising Ideas Center

I'm going to create a page that will track my progress if you care to follow along with me.

State of the Union

Writing-wise, what's going on with Pete you ask?  Oh, you didn't ask?  That's OK, I'll tell you anyway.

As far as I know Happenstances is dead for now, I haven't talked to the Producer yet but I hope to soon just to get closure about that whole situation.  I also want to write some short stories, webisodes, etc, in the Happenstances world to supplement the screenplay.

I have been communicating back and forth with the President of a small, independent comic book company about turning my script Love Bites into a graphic novel.  Here's the pitch:

Love Bites
Twilight meets Superbad, if Twilight didn't suck (no pun intended). Drake, your average teenage vampire, falls for Julia, the new human girl at Vincent Price High School. Julia's not looking for love, she's still having trouble adjusting to her new town, a monster friendly community in Pennsylvania. Even if they did hit it off, Julia's father, a monster-racist, would have a few things to say about his daughter dating "one of those bloodsuckers, or flesh eaters, whatever they do for fun."
WGA # 1376156

I used to read comic books when I was younger but haven't in years really, except for a couple like V for Vendetta and 30 Days of Night, so I'm not even sure how the whole process will work, but I was listening to a podcast a few months ago where the writer of the Scott Pilgrim comics was talking about writing comic scripts in screenplay format.  I thought of Love Bites immediately and asked a friend who does brutal illustrations if he wanted to help with a pitch to show to my manager.  I took the friend's non-answer as a no and a few months later put up a Craiglist ad asking generally about turning a screenplay into a graphic novel.  One of the responses I got sounded good and I talked to him further.  It turns out we both know a guy that's an LAFSC alum from a couple years before me!

I'm supposed to meet with him soon to talk about the project.  I'm excited about that.

My manager gave a treatment of mine to Akon and he liked it, I've been working on that script for a couple months but it's a thriller and the story is pretty intricate so it's been taking longer than expected.

I recently did another draft of the project Orlando Brown and I developed, I sent that script to my manager.

"Relapse" is on A&E Monday nights at 9pm, watch it please!  If you like "Intervention" you'll like it as well.  (I have been with Intervention in my current position for a year now and just asked for and got a raise!!)

My webisode team has been working on a sketch that should start shooting in the next week.


And The End. is almost over.  The finale should be released this weekend and I will post it.  It was really fun to shoot, we had a wrap party, it was great.

I think The End. was both a success and a failure.  Negativity first: we don't have a lot of views on Youtube or Blip.tv (and never really tried on Funny or Die) or a lot of followers on the blog or Twitter, we spent our own money out of pocket and haven't made any of it back, we pitched it to at least one new media division and they passed on it.

Successes
* The project was originally intended to get the actor who plays Duke into SAG through the new media rules, not only did Justinh get into SAG but me and a couple other actors who did guest roles are now SAG eligible.

* I kept in touch with some LAFSC alums and also made new friendships through the project (awwww).

* I got to write for and direct Orlando Brown.  The other directors and I split up his arc so that we would all have an episode with him in it to put on our reels.  He was fun to hang out with and fun to watch work.  Not to mention the other actors and actresses who did guest roles and were awesome.

* Credits on IMDb.

* Learning about web series' by doing, writing short episodes, getting material produced, table reading, working with one location and a small budget (which I already was the king of, but still).

* Getting my act on.

* Creating and maintaining a blog and other social media sites.

* Growing a joke-goatee!!

Just to name a few of the benefits to making The End.  Overall it was definitely a worthwhile experience and I would/ hope to do it again whether it be a The End. miniseries or a whole new show altogether.  In fact, I have an idea for a new web series and I'm talking to a couple actor friends of mine about getting it started.

I think that's it for now (that I want to divulge, you know I always have some secret projects brewing).  I'll leave you with another clip from my smash hit movie Walk By Faith 2: After the Honeymoon



LOL Aussie-tizers!!

Blog Chat!!!

I read a couple different screenwriting blogs regularly, including Amanda The Aspiring Writer where I guest blogged about writing direct to DVD movies.

But enough about me (more about me soon though), recently The Bitter Script Reader had an awesome post about another blog Notes From a Hack that, among other things, chronicled the blogger's experience writing In the Mix, aka That Usher Movie... No Not She's All That The Other One, in seven parts. Here is the link to the seventh part, the blogger has links to all the parts there, or use this link for The BSR's post.  Read it in order, it ends with a hair raising cliffhanger each time.  I am a huge fan of the journey from lowest totem on the pole to produced screenwriter, this is a great example.

Another fun fact, one of the screenwriters, that the blogger is talking about in his epic tale who eventually got a 'story by' credit for In the Mix, wrote the first two Nora's Hair Salons, which I of course wrote the third of the trilogy.  It truly is a small, interconnected world, especially in the realm of movies targeted to Black people.

Since I'm name dropping all these other blogs, their readers might stumble across this blog, here is a silly episode of The End.



The season (possibly series) finale of The End. is shot and being edited currently.  I'll post it as soon as it's released.

And I'm getting a raise at my day (aka night) job soon, woop woop.  But I need to remember to never settle, never get comfortable there, the dream is to be a full time writer (but if I were to write for the show then that would be awesome too).

2011 Beverly Hills Film Festival

The Awards Ceremony is tonight.

2011 Beverly Hills Film Festival

I made some postcards for the promo table at the Beverly Hills Film Festival.

I'm going to a couple movies tomorrow then I'll stop by the after party tomorrow night.  Hopefully more movies Saturday and then the gala Sunday evening.

The 2011 Beverly Hills Film Festival starts Wednesday.

The other TV show that I work on besides Intervention, called Relapse premiered tonight.  The AV Club, where I get a lot of my news, reviewed the show, which is exciting to me.

 

The secret guest star on The End. was Orlando Brown from "That's So Raven," Major Payne, etc.  Watch him in the "The Rise and Fall of The Boomshadow" arc, episodes 17, 18, 19 and the yet to be released episode 20!!  I wrote 18, 19, and 20 specifically for Orlando and he agreed to do it.

We shot the finale of The End. a week or two ago and it went great, a couple familiar faces show up in the end of The End.

In sad news, the Producer who wanted to make Happenstances her first feature production got a new job and will not have time to work on producing it in the foreseeable future.  I'm supposed to meet with her next week to talk about it.   

Happenstances is definitely the script I've worked the hardest on, I've done probably ten to fifteen drafts of it over about six years.  At least I never get excited about anything and thus never have any expectations so I'm not too crushed, but I am bummed nonetheless.  But, with Christian coming this summer, which is when the Producer wanted to shoot the movie, it wasn't the ideal time for it to get made anyway (except financially for me, haha) so hopefully when Happenstances gets made, because it will get made, it's my max out credit cards and call in favors movie, Christian will be older and I'll be able to fully devote myself to making the movie.

There are so many things I want to do and stories I want to tell, I hope I get a chance to do a fraction of it at some point in my life.

Anything else?  I don't know, it's late.  I'll try to post more this month.

My screenplay Addicted to You is a finalist in the 2011 Beverly Hills Film Festival!!  My Happenstances screenplay was a finalist last year and the festival was great, in fact, going to that festival put me back in touch with the Producer who is working on getting Happenstances produced right now.

Here's the synopsis of the script in this year's competition though:

Addicted To You
Jake, a producer for the Intervention style documentary show "Confrontation," is devastated when is longtime girlfriend tells him she's cheated on him the night he set to propose. He goes into depression until his next "Confrontation" shoot. When he gets to the documentary subject's hometown he meets a girl named Amber and falls for her instantly. He continues to the subject's house and finds that Amber is the addict he's supposed to be documenting.
WGA # 1410852

Speaking of which, the Producers of Intervention have been producing "Relapse" a new addiction-based show that I worked on (and will continue working on when it hopefully gets picked up for more episodes). There is finally information about it here. I've seen a couple of the episodes and if you like "Intervention" you'll like this show, it's really good, emotional.

Here is a behind the scenes photo from on the set of Walk By Faith 2: After The Honeymoon 

You can now watch The End. at Web Series Channel.

Here is the latest episode of The End.



You can see who the secret guest star is in the credits of that episode, he just barely shows up in this one but his character has three more episodes that we have already shot, the next one will be released on Sunday.

I wrote the script for the season (series possibly?) finale and it's awesome, I can't wait to shoot it. You can check out every episode of The End. here with proper credits.

I finished a feature a week or two ago and I've been working on another one but I have also been thinking of ideas for sketches to write and act in.  A couple of people I know out here do sketch comedy, The Outside Joke and Friends R Us.  The guys from Friends R Us actually got hired at Funny or Die as writer/ directors and have had a couple super popular sketches so far.  I would like to put together a group like that, I would also love to take improv classes, but with my work schedule it's hard to do much.  I hope to shoot something in the next month or so though.

I screened Nora's Hair Salon 3 Saturday night at the LAFSC theater as sort of my birthday party. It was fun watching it with an audience, the director came. Thanks to those who attended.

I found a clip of Walk By Faith 2: After The Honeymoon on Youtube:



HA! I think that's the first fart scene I've ever written into a movie and I'm sure it won't be the last. As I was writing it I was thinking 'Am I really going to go there?... Yes, yes I am.' Those socks are inspired by my life. For more relationship comedy and drama check that movie out. Here's a customer review (the only review on Amazon actually):

Walk By Faith 2 After the Honeymoon, February 15, 2011
By Larry Tate
This review is from: Walk By Faith 2 (DVD)
I received this movie as a gift and I was reluctant to watch it but I have to say that this film was very entertaining to watch with some stand out performances by Keikabou holland and Lance Gipson and the rest of the ensemble cast, nicely directed and edited by Brett Stumpp. Despite a lower budget this film was beautifully shot, great lighting and camera work by cinematographer michael woxland. This is a religious based movie about two couples where one couple married for many years and the other newlyweds who are both struggling to make there relationships work. I found this film to be very entertaining and touching and I would recommend it to anyone.

That's really nice.

Also, this is from the The End. blog:

 

We recently shot a several episode arc of The End. with an incredible new character (the most electrifying and controversial character since Chad The Casual Cannibal) played by a veteran Television and Film STAR. If you already know who it is don't spoil it for anyone.


Also, Bryan Mayer (The End.'s Johnny) got a haircut!!

Please watch all the previous episodes and spread the word about our guest star.

Thank you.

-The End.

We'll release the info in a week-ish, I'm not positive exactly when. We also put up some more behind the scenes photos on the blog.

No new news about any of my other writing projects but that could change any minute.

The Independent Film Channel has heard of Nora's Hair Salon 3: Shear Disaster and has included it in the DVD new releases for 2/8/11 here.

Nora's Hair Salon 3: Shear Disaster (2011)
Directed by Rico Johnson
Released by 1-2-3-4-Go

Amazingly, this "Barbershop" knockoff for the ladies has stuck around for one more film than the original that inspired it, bringing Miguel A. Nunez Jr. into the fold as a reality show producer who wants to do a series on the salon, but may not be as benevolent as he appears.

Barbershop for the ladies, I like the sound of that. I just got my copy of Nora's but I won't be able to watch it all weekend due to work and shooting for The End.

Big The End. news coming soon by the way.

From Amazon.com:

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this DVD Nora's Hair Salon 3 with Walk By Faith 2 ~ Gabriel Casseus DVD $15.49

+

Price For Both: $30.98

Show availability and shipping details

I haven't seen NHS3 yet (soon, soon, soon) but I think this would make an awesome double feature. 

Two movies I wrote were released today! Here's what Rob Gonsalves over at http://dvdnavigator.blogspot.com/ had to say about them:

Nora's Hair Salon 3: Shear Disaster - I guess there was more story to tell that wasn't explored in Nora's Hair Salon and Nora's Hair Salon 2?

Walk by Faith 2 - Sequel to a movie nobody except devout African-American Christians even knew existed.

Haha, although super sarcastic he's kind of right! I'm sure he'll never watch either of them though, but he should, I have yet to see NHS3 but Walk By Faith 2 turned out pretty good.

Synopses!!!

Walk By Faith 2
A warm faith-based movie about two couples and the
parallel lives they lead that will ultimately cross. First we
are introduced to the young newlywed couple, Shannon
and Jamal, who are struggling to figure out if their new
cohabitation will work or if early jitters will destroy what they
are hoping to build. Meanwhile, Yvette and Clarence, an
older couple who have been married for over 25 years, find
themselves stagnated and must overcome a desire to end
their union after all these years. 

Nora's Hair Salon 3: Shear Disaster 
Delicious (T. Ashanti Mozelle) is in charge of maintaining
Nora's legacy and tradition by running & managing the shop.
The dysfunctional group of hairstylists consisting of Janelle,
Nina, Xenobia, Tashina, and manicurists Ming and Ling are
still up to their old antics!
One day, reality show producer Charles (Miguel Nuñez)
enters the shop. Captivated by the goings-on inside,
he proposes that Nora's Hair Salon have its own show.
Immediately, the salon crew signs on with hopes of money
and fame, but they get more than they bargained for when
they learn that Charles has ulterior motives. Now, the crew
must come together to see that this reality tape never sees
the light of day.
A hilarious urban comedy not to be missed!

A Peter L. Huber Joint

So I found out yesterday that Walk By Faith 2: After the Honeymoon, a movie I wrote, was released on DVD at Wal-Mart on January 11th, the release date for everywhere else I think is still February 8th.














Along with Nora's Hair Salon 3.













So, after work last night I drove to a 24 hour Wal-Mart to buy a copy of my own movie, which I didn't mind doing, it was an adventure. I had asked the Producers for copies and they said they didn't have any yet and I couldn't wait to watch the movie to see how it turned out.

On the back cover of the DVD it says Written By Peter L. Harmon, which is so cool to me, it's written in that standard movie credits font, awesome.

Then, I put in the movie and the first thing I see is that the movie is written by Peter L. Huber!!!! They didn't really misspell my name as much as just use a fake different silly name instead of mine. At this point I'm sure it's too late to do anything about it, in the opening and ending credits a lot of people's names, as well as simple words like Background, are misspelled.

I'm not too mad, it says the right name on the back cover and IMDb, Ash and I have been joking about it all day. The thing that does suck though is that the movie is actually pretty good, good acting, shot well, lit well, it actually looks good EXCEPT for my name in the opening credits. What I'm saying is so close to being an entirely positive experience.

Oh well.

There are some exciting projects brewing, as well as some writing I'm doing for myself because it's fun, that's how it started and how it's supposed to be.

The other day Orlando Brown called with an idea for a movie that he wants me to write for him. I outlined it, we talked about the outline on the phone and he's into it, we're hopefully meeting soon to finalize the outline, talk about possible payment(!), then I can write the script.

I also talked to an actor from Walk By Faith 2 last night, he said that he loved the script I wrote. It's rewarding for people to respond to things I've written and it helps me continue even though it's hard to work a full time job, have a family, and try to pursue something creative. January was tough but I think 2011 in general will be an exciting year (I mean, I know it will because Christian will join us in June, but I mean writing wise).

For my birthday this year (I'm turning 25, which is crazy) I'm going to screen one of my new movies that I wrote, I probably wouldn't get to see them on the big screen, or with an audience, otherwise. If you're friends with me on facebook the invite is here.

In conclusion, this is an awesome still from the The End. episode I acted in.

Janu-hairy

I'm in this week's episode of The End. I play Chad the Casual Cannibal.



If you haven't seen The End. please check it out. You can watch every episode here. I grew that beard just for the episode and I had to get a professional shave to get rid of it because it was pretty thick.

We had another shoot day for The End. on Sunday, we shot four more episodes and they're pretty ambitious, we have big things planned for the end of The End.

Also, if you're going to buy the movies I wrote please buy them from my blog. I haven't gotten copies of them yet but I hope to soon!














I have another draft of Happenstances to do but I finished the drafts of those two projects I was working on before the break so I'm currently writing something that I just want to write, for fun, that might never see the light of day but it's fun writing it and it's another addition to the world I'm creating with my work.

2010

This year:

I wrote and starred in an internet video: The Stickler

My screenplay The Happenstances at the Yellow County Community Swim and Racquet Club The Summer Before Last was a finalist in the 2010 Beverly Hills Film Festival Screenplay Competition.

I transcribed for 2 Reality TV shows.

I started a Tumblr. and a Twitter.

I got a Manager.

I moved from Van Nuys to Encino.

I got a promotion at Intervention from a Freelance Transcriber to, an officially on the payroll, Night Logger with my name in the credits.

Summer turned One.

Ash and I turned Twenty Four, we celebrated one year of marriage and Ashlea got pregnant (that link is to the Baby Harmon Tumblr. FYI).

I wrote 2 sitcom pilots.

I wrote and sold 2 feature screenplays to Black Christian Movies/ Nu-Lite Entertainment.

I got a new cell phone with a California number.

I wrote a spec sketch/ stand up variety show script.

I played on a team in a Men's Basketball League, we played in the Championship game but lost by one and ended in second place.

I am a member of the crew that produces the web series The End. In 2010 we shot 12 Episodes and released 9 of them. Out of the 12 I wrote 4, directed 7, and co-starred in 1.

I put together an E-Query which I should update soon.

I guest blogged about writing Direct to DVD movies on a more popular blog than mine.

I wrote several drafts of Happenstances, co-wrote two feature screenplays with writing partners, two spec commercials, two un-produced shorts, one spec feature screenplay, and a few treatments/ pitches.

In total I wrote 3 features and co-wrote 2.

Now to do more in 2011.