I can say this now because I no longer have a label: I hate liner notes. I almost never read them. Like a lot of things, they are easy to do poorly, and hard to do well. The writer needs a knowledge of film, of music, of film music (not the same thing), the ability to write clearly, an understanding that it’s a commercial product (no trashing the movie), and a willingness to do research and check facts—like looking up the years of the movies and not just pulling them from memory (Jeff Bond!).

I am not including sales and pressing numbers because I don’t even know what they are. I put off writing this column because, in all honesty, I was so burnt out that many of my memories are not happy ones. I never got tired of the music, but the administrative duties of running a boutique label—negotiating contracts, proofing packages, maintaining financing, finding new titles to release—did me in.

News of the first two “releases” I put on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, which some of you might have seen: my wife and I are expecting identical twin girls this August. We are very excited.

This makes me highly motivated to promote the third new release, that crazy NC-17 movie I cowrote and coproduced. After a specialty theatrical release earlier this year, LUCKY BASTARD is now available for buy or rent in the U.S. and Canada on many VOD platforms including Amazon, Xbox, Sony Playstation, Vimeo, direct from our website via VHX, and numerous cable and satellite platforms including Time Warner and DirecTV. (A DVD will be released from Revolver Entertainment on July 1. Internationally, the only distribution at the moment is a download via our website.)

Star Trek Into Darkness opened to a four-day domestic weekend of some $80 million. This is a staggering amount of money, yet the movie was characterized as underperforming. Into Darkness did record business overseas (for Star Trek), but its emphasis in fast-moving action after months of hype-through-secrecy left core Trekkies mumbling the Vulcan proverb, “Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining.”

In college I took a film theory class during which I asked the professor if it was true that movies today (circa 1996) had too many close-ups, because directors were familiar with television and music videos. The professor responded with one of the guiding principles of my life: “That may be true, but I try not to beat up on historical change.”

I've posted at the non-film score part of the discussion board, but for those of you who don't know, I have co-written and co-produced a feature film, "Lucky Bastard."

This film features mature subject matter and is not for everyone—it's NSFW but you can view the TRAILER here.

Please check out the new poster at our home page, www.luckybastardmovie.com.

In the meantime, here is a special offer effective today until we say otherwise:

Buy $50 worth of FSM CDs (pre-shipping charges) and get a free gift of one of following 3CD sets:

In the meantime, here's a little FSM freebie offer you might enjoy at Screen Archives:

Buy any $50 (not including postage) of FSM CDs and get FREE your pick of ONE the following:

That happens to be true. Over the past several years I have written various things (okay, by “things,” I mean screenplays) and tried to go about selling them, making them, building relationships, calling in favors, etc.

As anybody who has tried this can tell you, it is a long, frustrating process, often hopeless, dependent on good luck, an Ed Wood attitude (“My next one will be better!”), and the kindness of strangers.