Friday, August 10, 2012
Dog Park Derelicts Trailer!
Get to know Charlie in this brief trailer!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dpd/dog-park-derelicts-the-movie
This is a story about the golden years of Charlie, a Vietnam Veteran Medal Winning Combat Soldier, disabled by the effects of agent orange. Charlie isn't feeling sorry for himself though. He tells his war and life after war stories with a sense of unabashed humor. You've never before heard warfare described the way Charlie describes it.
People like dogs...unless they don't. And there are people who like dogs...and then there's everybody else. I have both types of friends. It is no doubt that my friends who like dogs are much better friends...period.
Dog parks are not only great for dogs. They are great for dog owners to socialize with each other. I have met some of the most interesting people in dog parks. All you have to do is ask "what's your dogs name, how old is he, or she?"...or try and figure out before you ask...if it's male or female..."what kind of dog is it, did you rescue him/her, and then...what do you do?" That's the conversation starter. Most people never get the name of the dog owner but knowing their dogs name is very important.
I live in L.A. Guess what? Famous people have dogs too. They love their dogs just as much as anyone else. I have met actors, lawyers, film producers, genetic engineers, writers, carpenters, plumbers, homeless, CEO's, store owners and of course derelicts...the most lovable derelicts in the world.
The guy who did the music composition for "Got myself a dog" our theme song is a guy I met in the dog park. He composed it to the lyrics I wrote and he sang it and his wife did the background. The diversity of a dog park is incredible.
In December of 2009 I had to put down my 12 year old Belgium Sheepdog named Nikki after a bout with cancer. I was already battling depression before this occurred, but after that, I really got depressed. Eight months later I finally got off the couch on a random Saturday and went to the dog shelter. It took about 2 minutes to fall in love with my new Nikki..."Nikki-too".
And then something strange happened... I started making multiple daily trips to the dog park over many months with my new love Nikki-too. In time I started hanging out with Charlie and his dog Babe in the mornings. After awhile, I noticed that my depression was beginning to lift. Spending two hours every morning with Charlie and his cigarette stealing, coffee drinking Golden Retriever Babe had begun to lift my spirits... in a big big way.
Every morning was a two hour comedy show. I began meeting all of Charlie’s insanely goofy friends and listening to Charlie’s life perceptions. It was then I decided I had better get this hilarity on film in order to preserve it for posterity. I proceeded to film Charlie, Babe and their friend’s antics for the next year.
Charlie is a genuine Vietnam War Hero. He has a shoe box full of war medals...and every medal had a story (actually several stories). Each one while heart-breaking, gut wrenching and astonishing, was conveyed in a hilarious and ungodly funny fashion. Sometimes I could not tell whether my tears were from sadness, horror or laughter. It was then that I forgot about my own problems and began to appreciate the problems of others.
I knew there was a movie in all of this. So what does a movie need? ...A theme song!
One side of Charlie showed kindness love, generosity and an uncanny ability to hand make the most imaginative bird houses in the world. Charlie is stern but kind. Charlie would buy a homeless person a hot dog without the slightest reservation. And then there was that constantly vigilant and cautious side from his time in the jungles of Laos. He would often espouse "I'm not paranoid, but that doesn't mean that somebody's not out to get me".
Locally, he is the "Godfather" of low end personal loans and rabble-rousing at the Sunland Donut Shop. But in the mornings, he is the Mayor of The Whitnall Dog Park in North Hollywood. He is the funniest con man in the world!
Charlie was the perfect characterization of a famous television character, which everyone knows the name of... Tony Soprano. He's even descended from Italian mobsters in Pennsylvania. So I set out to produce the movie trailer and theme song to Dog Park Derelicts before I even started editing the dozens of hours of film that I had captured.
This is evident in the theme song trailer. You will see Charlie and Babe going to the dog park every morning, rain or shine, or hot or cold to meet up with their furry friends and sometimes just as fuzzy derelicts and dog park patrons. "Where are the white women !!" Charlie would occasionally shout out. It was laugh til you cry every morning at the dog park. Laughter had cured my depression.
I am looking for funding to complete the editing, voice overs, duplications and various production costs needed to bring these very special characters to life in a movie which all hero's and anti hero's will love...not to mention all of us who love our furry friends.
And, oh yeah, I have a cat-too.
I appreciate your support; please feel free to reach out to me with any questions/ comments!
Terri & Joe
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