Earlier this year, my mother sent me a hard copy of a collection of poems that my grandmother Kathleen attempted, but failed, to get published. This revelation – that my grandmother wrote poetry and aspired to be a poet – was pretty surprising. We knew that my grandmother loved poetry and that she read it aloud as a senior to keep her mind sharp. We knew she’d written one unpublished novel, too. But she never mentioned her poetry. None of us had read any of it until 2023, more than 17 years after her death. My mother asked me, “Can you do something with this?”

Challenge accepted.

Today, on YouTube, I release a tribute to my grandmother and my own rendition of five of the poems in her collection. I hope that my efforts are pleasing to my grandmother, wherever she is now. Her efforts to write poetry so long ago make me feel closer to her today, and also more at peace with my own accomplishments. Guys Reading Poems took five years of my life to make, and included two of my original poems. Although I consider it an artistic high point in my career, it was not a financial boon, to say the least. Sometimes, in lonely moments, I’ve wondered if it was worth it. But knowing that this poetry-related accomplishment fulfilled not only a dream for myself, but also for my grandmother, is extremely satisfying. 

Thank you to my mother for discovering and nudging me to create a video around these poems. And a huge thank you to my grandmother, Kathleen, for being an inspiring and encouraging voice. Hopefully, we’re able to bring voice to your work, in some small way.

This anniversary snuck up on me. In 2008, in anticipation of producing my second play, The Sermons of John Bradley, I went through the legal steps to form a production company, Fatelink. That move was purely pragmatic, to establish a legal entity to deal with one show.

Little did I realize in that moment that we’d still be around 15 years later and have produced dozens of productions from theater, film, series, and YouTube videos to commercial branding projects.

To celebrate, I gathered a tremendously talented group of actors to table read two new screenplays, The Book of Joe and The Good Dark, and also showcased a short performance based on a third concept, loosely titled The End of Joe. That presentation included several storyboards by Anthony Sturmas, who did a fabulous job with the boards from Guys Reading Poems, and our collaboration on this micro project represented an opportunity to reunite and get some shots envisioned.

The day was exhausting, but successful. We started at 3 p.m. with The Book of Joe, then took a dinner break when Zankou Chicken arrived. Then, the short, ten-minute performance from The End of Joe ensued, with the storyboards projected onto the wall. Finally, we concluded the evening with my new thriller script The Good Dark and it was after midnight by the time everybody got out of there!

Part of the purpose of this marathon day of readings was to explore three projects so that I could make a choice of where to place my focus. Mission accomplished – and more news on that soon. I send my tremendous thanks to the actors, friends, and colleagues who participated in this magical day. It was just the creative boost I needed.

Actors who participated in the day’s event were (in alphabetical order):

Gabe Armentano

Sue Anderson

Daniel Berilla

Rebekah Brandes

Jason Daks

Jeff Dujardin

Elizabeth Gordon

Hunter Lee Hughes

Melinda Hughes

Rex Lee

Taylor Nichols

Ashley Osler

Yuki Sagara

Blake Sheldon

Eliza Shin

David Stark

Erwin Stone

Eduardo Torres

Arjen Van Eijmeren

Eva Zubickova

All storyboards below by Anthony Sturmas, based on a tentative shot list for The End of Joe. Thank you, Anthony!

Wow, have I been naive about the film finance structure and also the way that movies progress from the script phase to distribution.

Sometimes, it feels like the financing challenges are this steep cliff that simply isn’t possible to climb. But that’s a feeling. I know that notion is wrong because I’ve worked on a team that successfully financed a feature film in the past. But it’s easy to get demoralized or discouraged. 

Rather that allow those negative emotions to take over, I’ve taken the hard facts learned about film finance and development hell and developed some brief tutorials, so that (hopefully) you can learn from my mistakes and misunderstandings of the past.

In particular, I’ve set out to explain exactly what a “waterfall” looks like as revenues flow from the distributors to the creatives holding net profit participation points. 

Admittedly, I’m nostalgic for the early 2000s before “development hell” got even more hellish. At the risk of being overly negative, I explain why the previous system was better for creatives than the system we have now. Still, it’s not impossible to bring together the right elements for your film, but you have to be willing to see how the sausages are made. And most creatives don’t want to know how they sausages are made. They just want to receive a call that they’re wanted or needed for a project.

So…for explaining how the sausages are made, I apologize in advance for ruining anyone’s blissful ignorance. 

The last few years have seen me expand my directing career to include more commercial work, including case studies, television spots, biographical videos, and more.

It’s been a huge learning experience to adjust the creative process to a client whose specific needs drive the reason we’re on set. 

Sometimes, it’s been challenging to balance the commercial work with a feeling of wanting to work on projects with artistic integrity. But it’s important to remember that being of service to others allows them to grow and connect with their customers and wider community. Oh, and it pays the bills.

So, I’m proudly sharing this reel that encompasses some of the commercial and artistic work we’ve been pursuing over at Fatelink. Hope you enjoy it!

From the lobby of WeWork, which boasts the new office of my company Fatelink, we presented a multi-media table read of A Place by the River in front of a kind and appreciative audience on Thursday, December 5th. We lured guests with hot toddies made for the season and also a chance to spin the wheel of past lives. Okay, so that was a bit hokey, but folks had fun with it! 🙂

It’s been an interesting challenge to take what I learned about this material from the production of Nathaniel Quinn, Filmmaker, a stage adaptation of the previous draft of this yet-to-be-produced screenplay. Knowing with more certain what jokes worked and did not work with an audience informed the rewrite decisions. So did a deeper understanding of the characters. 

I want to send out my grateful thanks to the actors who participated in the reading – assembled by our casting director Daniel Berilla, and to our producer Jason Daks for producing such a smooth event.

We look forward to updating you with news on when we’ll enter into production. We’re looking towards Summer, 2020.

Til then, wishing everyone a peaceful and meaningful holiday season!

If you haven’t checked out the monthly themed open mic events hosted by my company Fatelink at Sabor y Cultura, maybe this is the month for you!

Every last Saturday of the month we gather at Sabor y Cultura for some poetry and short story readings. This time around, we’ll be exploring the topic of: dreams. So whether it’s a poem about your Jungian analysis, a chilling nightmare or your aspirations for love, career, and creativity, come share your work with a group of welcoming fellow poets eager to bend our ears into the unconscious.

The open mic takes place on Saturday, April 27. We begin at 7:00 p.m., with sign-ups available starting 6:45 p.m. Sabor y Cultura is located in the heart of Los Angeles at 5625 Hollywood Boulevard.

More details at our Facebook event page.

Artwork by James Teohart courtesy of Adobe. 

These past two months, I’ve had the privilege of working with Michael Kearns on his original play Bloodbound. That represented one of those moments when my life truly came full circle. Let me explain.

When I first arrived in Los Angeles, I saw Michael’s acting class advertised in a local West Hollywood publication. Some inner instinct prompted me to call him up on the phone, despite my anxiety’s protestations. Within a week or so, I joined the class, meeting one of my best friends Rex Lee in the very first session.

So I was truly honored when, all these years later, Michael called me up (or hit me up on facebook to be precise) and asked me to be part of his original play Bloodbound, directed by Mark Bringelson. Although I haven’t seen every piece Michael created over the years, I believe it’s the best writing Michael’s ever done. The play explores a haunted sexual encounter that forever changes an important relationship, set against the backdrop of the disco scene on the one hand and prison on the other.

My castmates Gordon Thompson, Greg Ainsworth, and Mike Bash are all terrific in their roles, too.

Because Guys Reading Poems took so much of my time, it had been several years since I’d performed in a play. Making the experience more meaningful were all the reunions that took place. In attendance during the course of our run were friends and co-stars Rex Lee, Patricia Velasquez, Dale Raoul, Patrick Kennelly (editor of Guys Reading Poems) and I even got to catch up with Sheena Metal, along with Greg and Gordon, to talk about the piece on her radio show.

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful experience. Judging by Bloodbound, the best is yet to come for Michael Kearns!

-Hunter

After three years making the film and nearly two years on the festival circuit, I’m proud to announce that Guys Reading Poems is now finally available across platforms (in most countries) through our distributor Gravitas Ventures. 

You can find a full list of streaming platforms carrying the film here.

If you’re living in the UK or Ireland, hang on. We’re still figuring out our distribution in those two countries. Hopefully, we’ll have news to share on the film’s availability there in a few months.