Winter 2002 was not a happy time here at Casa Comstock. Two years earlier the dot com bubble had burst, cutting Peggy’s web design business by 75%. Over the next year, a couple of solid commissions for my documentary work kept us more or or less even, but after 9/11, the phone went silent. I took advantage of the quite that Autumn and edited MARIE AND JACK: A HARDCORE LOVE STORY, which had been shot earlier that year.

By February 2002 thing were dire. M&J had been finished for five months, but was going no where fast. We hadn’t renewed the lease on our midtown office, but trying to hang tough in the six months of the lease after 9/11 had drained our savings. To make end meet our apartment in New York was sublet, but our house is too long a commute to pick up day work in the city. I checked eBay daily and watch the value of my AVID go down down down while it sat idle. Finally, at the end of February I sold my AVID – the cpu, the card, the RAID, the two 20 inch monitors – for $4,000, less than 10% of what I bought it for a few years earlier. I was officially dead in the water.

But I did have a plan.

If by some miracle I got my teeth into a job, I figured I’d by a Macintosh and a copy of FinalCutPro, Apple’s new, hardware independent, “AVID for the masses.” By hook or by crook I’d use FCP to cut the job. With whatever was left over I’d figure out what to do next.

Six long weeks later, my miracle came.

It came in the form of a commision to produce a documentary about a small slice of the 9/11 recovery effort. We shot it on the same two Sony PD100a cameras that were used to shoot MARIE AND JACK, and it was the first film I edited using FinalCutPro on a powerbook.

The Powerbook/FCP combo proved surprisingly capable. I ended up editing and finishing a couple more commissioned pieces, as well as XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT on the same machine. (DAMON AND HUNTER was also edited on that machine, but was finished on a more powerful edit station, capable of working with uncompressed HD footage.) The powerbook became my e-mail and web machine. All the ranting and raving you read here, as well as any unhinged e-mails any of you may have received were typed on that machine.

All but this post I’m typing right now.

Half a year ago, my second daughter, just learn to walk, tried to kill my trusty 400mHz powerbook when she careened into it as I sat with her watching MAZY MOUSE and reading blogs. She didn’t kill the machine outright, but she did bust the hinges. I’ve been restricted to ranting at my desk, screen propped up against my NTSC studio monitor since then.

But tonight the powerbook met its end. Again my younger daughter was the culprit.

While I was ranting on the phone to Tony Hey at the MPAA (he’s the finest kind of old movie buff, and we were talking about war movies,) she climbed my office chair and tried to get at my razor phones that try to keep out her reach on top of the NTSC monitor.

Leaning as far as she could (the chair was away from the desk) she capsized the chair, with my old faithful powerbook in the fall line. Down came the computer, down came my daughter, down came one of the phones too. The crippled screen was ripped from the keyboard, wires and all.

My daughter is fine. My phone is fine. But my old friend, the powerbook that saved my family from dying in the cold is done. It’s in two pieces that will never again be one.

Just last week Peggy got a new MacBook to replace her toddler damaged 400mhz Powerbook. I took the drive out of my dead machine and now it’s in Peggy’s old machine. The hinges on this machine are fine, but somethings wrong with the screen. When the machine heats up, the picture breaks up, and that’s what’s happening now as I finish the eulogy to my old friend. I can barely see what I’m typing, which I guess means this rant is over.

“When we screened the final cut of this film, we knew we weren’t going to change a frame. Every moment up on that screen works and is an integral part of the emotional arc of the characters. The MPAA has screened the film now and made its decision, and we’re comfortable with that.”

“As with so many of his previous films, Oscar-winning director Ang Lee has crafted a masterpiece about and for grown-ups…”

About and for grown-ups. Hmmm. You never know who’s reading your blog, do you?

From recent speech:

“Speaking of the NC-17 rating, we call again for efforts to revitalize that important category through the release of significant movies under the NC-17 rating. Contrary to often-repeated myths, most theatre companies will play NC-17 movies that are appropriate for their markets, and most newspapers will run advertisements for the pictures. NC-17 movies on average make $3.9 million, while unrated films on average make $1.8 million. Serious filmmakers need to take NC-17 seriously. Everyone in the industry should resist any temptation to treat NC-17 as a negative judgment, rather than an integral part of the rating system that contemplates entertainment for both children and adults.”

PDF of full text here

About a month ago I sent a letter to Dan Glickman, Chairman of the MPAA, asking what, if any plans the MPAA had to rehabilitate the NC-17 rating. Yesterday I called Mr. Glickman’s office in Washington D.C. and was told that my letter had been forwarded to the Los Angeles Office, to Joan Graves, Chairwoman of CARA, the MPAA’s ratings body.

Today I spent about an hour on the phone today with Ms. Graves. We talked about a lot of things; but my ultimate aim was to find out what future plans the MPAA had for the promotion of their NC-17 rating. I learned a couple of interesting things.

One of the first things she said was, “Have you talked to the theater owners about this?” Then she went on to tell me about her recent conversation with John Fithian, President of the National Association of Theatre Owners. It seems Mr. Fithian is upset about what he perceives as misinformation about his membership’s policies regarding NC-17 movies. Joan says John says (yes, I realize that makes it here-say) that overwhelmingly NATO members support the NC-17 rating, have no policies against showing NC-17 movies, and that he has been actively working to correct the myths and rumors that swirl around the rating in the minds of the press and the public. Ms. Graves gave me contact information for Mr. Fithian and said I should mention her name when I call or write.

Interesting.

Also interesting, last week Ang Lee’s LUST AND CAUTION received an NC-17 rating, and the film’s producers accepted the rating. (That means that like we have to do with MARIE AND JACK the producers of LUST AND CAUTION will have to submit their advertising to the MPAA for approval.)

When I asked her what she thought the reason that the producers of LUST, CAUTION embraced the NC-17 rating, while producers of films like SHORTBUS or 9 SONGS eschewed the rating, her guess was that it had to do with how widely the producers expected to release the film. 9 SONGS and SHORTBUS had very limited theatrical runs, mostly playing art-house theaters that often play unrated films. The producers of LUST, CAUTION are going for a much wider release, and expect to play in many theaters that do not play unrated movies.

This pricked up my ears. The “conventional wisdom” is that NC-17 is the kiss of death for distribution, with movie-makers famously throwing fits and crying censorship when their films receive (the dreaded) NC-17 ratings. Yet here’s the follow up to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN choosing to take the rating and all the advertising hassles and headaches because they think having the NC-17 will help them get into more theaters.

Hmmmm. Interesting…

We also chatted about a dozen other things, including mistake that the MPAA made in not trademarking the X-rating, the collapse of a legitimate space for grown-up movie making, the misadventures that my films have had with other countries’ ratings systems, and other territory that should be familiar to this blog’s readership

What it all means for our movies, well that I’m not so sure. But it’s more information to add to the pile. Maybe at some point the pile will hit critical mass. In the mean time, after the critical and box office failures of SHOWGIRLS and THE DREAMERS, I’m going to cross my fingers that working in the unrestricted space afforded by the NC-17 rating, Ang Lee has been able to produce something that turns out to be artistically exciting and financially successful!

Three new reviews for MATT AND KHYM last Thursday. From the couple sexuality website Freddy and Eddy:

“Love stories and Porn don’t usually go together, in fact they never seem to cross over or even intertwine. Comstock Films doesn’t produce porn, they in fact produce true love stories. Hence, Matt and Khym was created. The story of Matt and Khym is truly a love story, where the audience are introduced to two people who fell in love in their teens and yet show such a strong bond with intense erotic wantonness years later. We then follow along and become voyeurs to watch how their relationship blossomed into the wonderful art of lovemaking.”

From S&SM on Amazon:

“Matt and Khym is a wonderful introduction into the joys of married sex. When you look at this movie, you can see the genuine love Matt and Khym have for each other. Matt and Khym are so candid in talking about their life in and out of the bedroom that you come away feeling like they could be your next door neighbors or close friends. The scene at the end of their lovemaking when Matt looks lovingly at Khym is the way any girl would want her guy to look at her. I replayed the promo at Tony Comstock’s web site over and over again, just to see that look.”

And from L. Fox, also on Amazon:

“I first read about this DVD in the O magazine and thought that it might make a fun gift for my husband and I as we are trying to have a second baby and it can become less about us and more about the having to get the job done. We have never watched porn together and I thought something with a little class might do the trick. Within ten minutes of watching this movie we were both so turned off that we had to distract ourselves and try again later.

“We now have a DVD that besides the fiscal cost, nearly cost us our own passion for eachother and sex. We have hidden this dreadful DVD in the closet and are trying to find fun ways of getting rid of this waste of time and money. I would not advise spending a penny on this product, I wish I hadnt.”

Woah! Wow! Ouch!!! My mantra when making films is “Whatever you do, don’t ruin someone’s evening!” and it looks like I failed (bigtime!) over at the Fox household! Two things about this review are especially distressing:

Mrs. Fox really (really!) reacted badly to the way I portrayed Matt, and that makes me feel bad for both of them. I spent a lot of time talking with Matt and Khym before we did the on camera interview, Matt is a devoted, loving and sensuous husband, and when people agree to appear in one of my films they put a huge amount of trust in me and how I portray them. If Mrs. Fox found Matt “slimy and repulsive”, I’ve failed both of them.

The second thing is that it sounds like there was a lot riding on this DVD at the Fox household. Peggy and I have two children, and know that baby-making can be stressful enough, even when everything is going right. It would have been thrilling to hear our DVD helped make the baby-making seem “less like work,” but instead we just made things worse. Hearing that makes me feel just awful!

Of course this all a part of the package put yourself or your ideas in the public eye. Not everyone is going to like what you do; some people are going to hate it; and when you tackle love and sex, you’re wading into territory that is heavily laden with whatever each individual viewer brings to the show. When a film makes a connection it can be powerfully positive, or profoundly negative.

Anyway, you take the bad with the good, that’s life, and I’d guess Mrs. Fox’s feelings are hurt more than mine or Matt’s. You can’t please everyone.

A couple of days ago Atlantic editor Andrew Sullivan made a blog post about the jitters he’s feeling about his impending nuptuals.

Andrew sometimes posts bits I send him, so I sent him a note, encouraging I hope, which he blogged, along with another reader’s note.

Good thoughts both, I reckon. But I can’t help wonder if people who know my films and read my blog will be able to guess which note is mine!

UPDATE: My uncle guessed wrong.

Megan Spencer

Fresh from her role as Guest Artistic Director for Revelation Perth International Film Festival 2007, Spencer will rework the talk for the inaugural 2007 Sydney Underground Film Festival. Updating it to the 2007 underground filmmaking context, she will cite a broad range of references including Jisoe, A Dollar for The Good Ones, Zoo, Naked On The Inside, Loose Change, the work of Tony Comstock and others. She will explore the role of transgression in documentary, its definitions, and will also ask whether the term ‘underground’ can still be applied to documentary in the age of digital distribution.

I think it’s pretty ironic that in combining the most ordinary of human experiences (a couple making love) with the most shop-worn of formats (the talking head doco,) I’ve somehow managed to make transgressive cinema. Behold the magic power of the camera!

Hooray!

I woke up this morning to the news that ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT has been selected for the 2007 Melbourne Underground Film Festival, running this September in Melbourne, Australia.

DAMON AND HUNTER played two sold-out screens at last year’s festival, and was ultimately named Best Documentary, so I was worried that A&K would get tossed in the “been there, done that” file.

But no! We’re in, and the film’s already got a good bit of buzz going down under. I can’t wait for Peggy to design the poster!

Now and then Google alerts delivers something really sweet:

“Wow, I was totally shocked that I actually really liked the stuff on the Comstock Films website. I usually prefer more hardcore porn, so I wasn’t expecting to get much out of it, but the trailers were so sweet, and sexy too! It looks like they are filmed beautifully as well. I kept laughing to myself and thinking, I guess I really am a girl after-all.”

Many thanks to my wife Peggy for untwisting the very kludged stylesheet that had been previously been running my blog, and pouring it into something more inkeeping with the rest of ComstockFilms.com

*schmewch*