Short Sir Cut

Two of my shorts, Ballet Diesel and Girl for Life, are now available for download from TLA video!

(unfortunately you can't do it on Macs - only PCs)


The shorts were picked up by Iron Rod Motion Pictures who put them on a DVD called "Iron Girls 4." You can't yet purchase the actual DVD, although when you download the compilation from TLA, it's much cheaper...

Let me tell you a little bit about Ballet Diesel, the lesbian who looks like a diesel dyke but walks like a ballerina. Ballet Diesel is near and dear to my heart. It was the first comedic film that I made, and despite the fact that we didn't have a budget for it, it's still one of my favorites (don't tell Butch Jamie).

It was also the first festival-bound short that I did, and I ended up naming my production company after it - Ballet Diesel Films. The company name isn't just a reference to the film, but is also a term of its own - "Ballet Diesel" meaning something that is a hybrid of both feminine and masculine.


I posted a clip from the film in my blog a couple of months ago; here's the link if you want to check it out.

Here are some facts about the film:
- It is based on real people (the actors who play the characters are the people the film is based on)
- The film is 99% improvised
- Howard, the cat actor from Butch Jamie, has a cameo
- The actress who plays "The Femme," Leah Williamson, helped produce Butch Jamie and also acts in that movie as "Bathroom Girl"


- My character, named Ballet Diesel, bites into an actual onion in the film; we only had one onion, so each take we did I hid the previous bites with my hand
- Ballet Diesel drinks actual beer in the film; we only wanted to use one beer, so each take we did, I filled the bottle with water
- Ballet Diesel trips in the film and that's a real trip
- Ballet Diesel gags on an onion in the film and that's a real gag
- Ballet Diesel spills beer on herself and that was a real accident


I'll tell you about my other short on the compilation, Girl for Life, next time...

Coming to DVD!

Wolfe Video has picked up Butch Jamie for DVD distribution! The film isn't available on their site yet to order, but I'll keep you updated. It's expected to be released this summer or fall.

Wolfe is one of the leading gay and lesbian film distributors. As I mentioned in my blog awhile back, they are also distributing one of my shorts, Half-Laughing, on a compilation called The Ultimate Lesbian Short Film Festival


They will be releasing Butch Jamie in the U.S. and Canada, although we'll hopefully find distribution in other countries as well. Also, let's cross our fingers for a kick-ass DVD release party...

As I posted in my blog awhile back, I went to the Chicago Reeling Film Festival where Butch Jamie won an award for "Best Narrative Feature."


I also got the chance to interview for the lesbian film site Tello Films. The interview is in three parts, two of which I already posted; to watch part one you can click here; to watch part two and the outtakes, click here. And here is part three -

Gary, Gary, Not So Contrary

A couple of months ago I interviewed with Gary Garver. Gary does entertainment PR for Howard Stern and he has a weekly internet show called "Almost Live with Gary Garver."





I've been waiting quite awhile for the interview to be uploaded, and now I'm thinking that it may not be uploaded at all. I'm not sure why; I do have some theories but I can't say for certain. Nevertheless, the experience was quite entertaining, so I'm going to go ahead and briefly tell you about it.

I was one of 5 guests; the others included a rap group, a singer/songwriter, a producer/actress, and the Ukulady. The Ukulady is, quite simple enough, a lady who plays the ukulele. She makes up her own comedy-type songs to go along with it.

Interestingly, Gary didn't know that I was a lesbian before we shot the interview. And perhaps even more interesting, I didn't know that Gary had recently had a fight with a gay guy whom he called a f***in' faggot.

Here's the gist of our interview:

Me: Butch Jamie...yadda yadda yadda....lesbian.
Gary: Oh. So... are you a lesbian?
Me: I am.
[Pause. Gary's usual sarcastic wit has failed him]
Me (smiling): It's OK, Gary. You can make jokes; I can handle it.
Gary: Oh no. No, no, no. Nope. Uh uh. No way.
Me: I see; so that's forbidden territory, huh?
Gary: Uh huh.
Then Gary launched into what seemed like a 10 minute monologue about how he got into a fight with this gay guy - not necessarily because he was gay, mind you.

However, all things considered, our interview went more or less well despite the fact that Gary seemed uncomfortable for most of it. After detailing the fight he had, he apologized to the gay guy and to the gay community for what he did. Then we had a semi-intellectual conversation about gay rights and the progress we've been making in our country. He somehow went off on an impassioned tangent about homeless veterans, and I chuckled at one point because his seriousness was so out-of-place with his usual crass remarks and crude jokes (and also because I had consumed two to three cans of Bud Light backstage along with the rest of the guests, having made the decision that nothing that night was really anything to be taken seriously).

Indeed, Gary's assistant was like a half-awkward, half-bad ass 1990s grunge rocker guy taken out of Wayne's World.


Everytime he came backstage, he would make sexually inappropriate comments; but his Wayne's World-esque boyishness did make him somewhat endearing despite his lewdness. After he left the room, the Ukulady would look at me with her Fraggle Rock-type outfit (pigtails, orange fur coat, turquoise tights), and say in her high-pitched voice - "Michelle, we're in Man-Land!"

The whole night was definitely a surreal experience, and the fact that I don't even have the video to prove it makes it all the more elusive...

But I do have a video of the Ukulady singing the theme song from the Golden Girls. It's not as good as watching the actual show (Gary's show, the Golden Girls, or Fraggle Rock) but - well, you get the idea.


Hollywood - gotta love it :)

If You're Gay and You Know it, Clap Your Hands

I just found out that Butch Jamie won the Jury Award for "Best Narrative Feature" at the Chicago Reeling Film Festival! The festival was in November, but they just announced the winners (you can check out my blog posting about Chicago here).

As I posted last week, I interviewed with Tello Films while I was in Chicago. Below are some outtakes from our interview. I wish I could say that I was drunk or something - I mean, whatever I'm laughing at, was it really necessary to clap, laugh, and twirl around?



I also have another section of the interview to show you (the video screen size is smaller because of the way it's uploaded). The first section of the interview was posted in last week's blog if you haven't seen it yet. This second one's not bad if you can get past me plugging my websites for the first half of it...