A late 40's era hot rod movie in the making...

[Loren]

I am a producer working with a small time director and am currently in the pre-production of an independant film set in 1949 Los Angeles. The film revolves around interesting characters and stories taken from authors like Dean Batchelor and the likes. Real roadsters and local hero rods will be used and will be a part of casting later on, but right now I need feedback on who would like it, good sources of information and stuff like that. I am a hot rodder enthuist myself and am keen on the early history but any information that can be given is certainly useful.

[Loren]

bump

[InjectorTim]

if you made it, i'd see it.

[greaseball]

Mmmmm...
I don't know how I feel about you just hopping on here
And "spamming it up"
But I'd PROBABLY check out that movie...

Axle from "The Shifters" car club is a HUGE hot-rod-history buff,
And if you were real smooth,
(and I think you must be for posting this HERE)
You'd think about "advertizing" it at car shows,
Like TBOTC and FTB, VLV and that type of thing...

But why don't you tell us more about the movie...?

I would say do an intro, but we all know you WON'T be around LONG, and why waste Ryan's space?

That gives me a BIG CHUCKLE that you are a hot rodder,
and you are just NOW posting on HERE...

So tell us MORE about this "movie"...
Theme?
Color? B/W?
When is it gonna "hit the theatres"...?
Etc....?
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[DrJ]

I can see it now "Flat Head Hellians of Oxnard" terrorize the local dairy the ccows get so scared they refuse to be milked.
Dairy Farmer Gus calls it a disasterous and udder failure.
Local chrch group calls for outlawing of th outlaw hotrodders, but Fudly, the leader of the Hotrod gang saves the church secretary from going over a cliff and renews the towns faith in their rambunctious youth..

(How am I doin'?)
Make that movie and no one will want to see it.

make it real, make it a docu-drama get Jay Carnine (C9,on the HAMB) to write or at least edit the screen play. He know's his shit, because he's lived and can write about it, and is published too.

[modernbeat]

If you wanted to do it right, hire a pair of technical consultants. A few folks that have made a serious study of the cars and the period and make it worth their time to help you with a commercial venture.

I'd recommend Mike BIshop and Vern Tardell, Mabey JimA from Rod and Custom magazine, Hit up the editors of The Rodders Journal, Get in close with the Over the Hill Gang and the Early Times clubs (late '60s Street Rod clubs) Axle from the shifters club. Vern was recently the subject of a period hot rod museum show (Berkley I think) and would be my best recomendation. His son Rex could also be a good cantidate.

[Deyomatic]

It looks like he did do kind of an intro, even if it is half assed, and he is trying to find out if there is a market for this movie before he spends a shit-load of money on it. It's called market research. So what if he hasn't posted here before, new people find the HAMB everyday. It looks to me like he is trying to see if "car" movies are marketable and can be profitable if they DON'T feature Honda Civics with sticker grafix and brontosaurus ribs mounted to the trunk and big budget explosions.

Think about it this way, my producer friend, if you put cool cars in it and get a consultant who knows their shit for period correctness, people will like it. The story can't be any worse than "Two Lane Blacktop," and people love that movie, myself included.

[Loren]

greaseball...Youre right, it is weird that a hot rod enthuist would just all of a sudden post something on the internet at HAMB because the internet is where all true hot rodders should find themselves, not in a garage. As for the film, it is in it's earliest possible stages which makes this prime time to get some feeback from our built in cult audience. It also makes this far too early to advertise a non-existent film to the masses at car shows and such. I am not wasting space on this board, I have been a long time lurker to the boards but posting was something that I felt should be left up to you guys for the moment. I can appreciate the fact that my sudden appearence and seemingly off topic posting will receive negative feedback and some sarcastic comments, but dont waste your breath. The cinematic stuff is up to you too, if you want it in B/W say so, if you know of a colorful character then tell me. C'mon, lets be a bit more friendly here to someone who is simply trying to tell the story that has not been told on film yet. Thanks

[lowsquire]

Cast Germ Dean in a starring role.

[fordiac]

well first thing that comes to my mind is to make sure that all the cars featured in the movie have all the period correct parts on them... like engines, tires, and parts no newer than whatever year you said you wanted it set.

you would have to use lots of restored stockers as background cars.

you would have to close streets... make sure the street signs are old styled, old style restraunts, stores,

it depends all on how accureate you want to get, but you might be looking at spending lots of mooola

but what do i know,,, i was born in '82

[Nick32vic]

1.if it has cars in it i will try my hardest to see it.
2. if it has cool cars in it, i will see it twice
3. if it has cool cars, and period correctness i will buy it
4. if it has cool cars, period correct, good story line i will tell people to watch it.

[safariknut]

I can't be sure but from the way he speaks it sounds like Dr.Knobcheese has made yet another appearance.I hope I'm wrong.
safariknut

[four-thirteen]

Realisticly, If those old, b&w hotrod movies that DrJ described were any good, people would still watch them, and we'd still have them around. Thing is, most of them sucked., and no one cares about them anymore. But, if you make a really good classis hot rod movie, with good actors, good script, good storyboard, and good photography, people will watch it. better yet, people who aren't hotroders will watch it.

Putting together a period correct car is pretty damn hard. Finding enough of them to make a movie with wont be easy. Surely this is a noble quest, and certainly i wouldn't mind having a part in it's production. Personally, I've considered writing something like this myslef, but came to the realisation that I didn't have the abilty to see it though production. Dave

[Rocky]

I've been thinking of doing the same thing on a very limited basis for fun, not for money. Just to gain some personal satisfaction and I believe this is prime time to do it.
Right now, there is a huge resurgence in traditional hot rods and customs. This is the clearing house for the most hard-core of them, the HAMB. The HAMB drags [August 23rd] was overflowing with this very type of car and the people that make 'em go. You could have gotten a shit load of background material there, I did.Home video footage...
I believe it should be shot in black and white and every effort should be taken to assure it be "period perfect". I have no idea what kind of interest there is in such a flick but I can tell you the people on this board would welcome a fresh car flick. There are close to 3000 people registered on this board from many countries. That sounds like a pretty small audience to me but the HAMB caters to a very slim slice of car fanaticism..........we love traditional-only rods and customs. We could make our own movie using our own cars if we just had the financing and expertise.
Long story short------I'd certainly come to watch a traditional'styled car movie. Even a bad one! Can't get any worser than "Hot rod girl" or some of the other 50's grade C movies.. bring it on!

[flatlandman]

11 years in motion pictures, 37 productions later, I could comment, but I won't. Still too new around here...

[D Picasso]

who are you? what have you produced? who's the director? what kind of budget are you talking?

I'd kinda like to know. I like movies.

also, there's no need to get snarky. if you've hung around this board any length of time you'd know you've got to approach all of this with a certain amount of patience. I don't suppose you just walked into the film industry and expected to be instantly embraced, didja?

I'm just saying, is all.

[slazzen]

I have to say that the books by se.hinton are still my all time favorite and that the movies were done right if you could do a hot rod movie with that attitude it would be a hit!!! cars with cheese just dont cut it!!! gotta have grit

[SamIyam]

Here's what I think...

I think it should be a documentary... American Grafitti was a documentary... and it worked.

I think it would be bitchen' to take an interesting piece of many of the different pioneers in the sport and tell their story... an interest in cars in high school, early street racing/ lakes racing and rodding before the war, going off to war, kid learns skills that he apply to his hot rods after he gets out of the cervice, starts applying those skills to his hot rods, starts kicking everybodys ass, people want to buy his shit, he starts selling them out of his garage, and then the next thing you know, he's advertizing in HRM, he's involved in street racing, lakes racing then salt racing and drag racing... the whole time selling his shit to moonshiners and oval track racers too... he went to Indy... or at least some of his parts did... and the whole time he's screwing this betty page wanna-be (gotta keep the greasers and rat rodders interested)... anyway, tell the story...
Sam.

[fordnutz]

American Graffiti was an example of a good car movie. Maybe not a great example, although everyone pretty much agrees they liked it. It was a look at a time in our history reported fairly accurately that a lot of us could relate to. It had a story and some nice cars that were reasonably correct for the era. If that could be done for the late 40's car flic it should work. Although the Graffiti movie dealt with the baby boomers and a period when there was a lot of car activity. Getting some individuals from the era as tech consultants for the cars and car activity is job 1. There are lots of car guys and clubs in SoCal that were there at the time, basically been there and done that. Guys like Isky, Winfield, Tardel, etc, etc, must have some great stories to base a film around.

[D Picasso]

I'd pay 8 bucks to see the Joaquin Arnett story.

[metalshapes]

Some thing that irritates me about most movies that are set in a certain period (because they almost never get it right), is that all the cars look like they are freshly restored.
If a car is 10 or 15 years old in that movie, it needs to look 10 or 15 years old.

[Bumpstick]

Hey Loren, I'm in entertainment advertising (I design movie posters) I'd love to talk to you about your project. Anybody making a film about hotrodding is O.K. in my book. PM me. I live in L.A. -stick
P.S. Go to Bakersfield this weekend if ya' wanna be schooled.

[gasser]

If you go through with it I don't think B&W is the way to go. It needs to be color, not Technicolor but the real grainy color that the forces started filming in towards the end of WW2. Better still film it with period (color) equipment.

[Humboldt Cat]

[ QUOTE ]
who are you? what have you produced? who's the director? what kind of budget are you talking?

I'd kinda like to know. I like movies.

also, there's no need to get snarky. if you've hung around this board any length of time you'd know you've got to approach all of this with a certain amount of patience. I don't suppose you just walked into the film industry and expected to be instantly embraced, didja?

I'm just saying, is all.




[/ QUOTE ] Yeah, I'm with Foiled on this one. It's weird, too, because much of my family works in Film, one uncle is an exec. producer who owns a building of movie sets in L.A., featuring great sets for this genre, another uncle is a music editor. And so forth. But this isn't the place to pop in for a random source, jim boy.
See ya on the silver screen.

[rodnkustom]

Aren't you this person?!

[ QUOTE ]
Nov 23, 2000
22:23
Loren P*******
Contact: Take2theAir@aol.com

I am 15 and looking to start racing and I need a bicycle.I weight conscious as well as price conscious.My budget is $500(US). If you could help me please contact me at Take2theAir@aol.com

[/ QUOTE ]

Or am I just confused?! Same email and all, hmmm... So your what, 19 now?!

Sorry, I'm snoopy, at least we now know you like bikes, or something. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Need a photographer?! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Not to be rude, but I got so much more shit than this when I signed up a couple of years back, because I was stupid, didn't watch the trends, just signed up, and posted an ad for this chevy truck I used to have, Yup, the cardnal sin! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif So post a little info about yourself. And I'm not joking about the photo shit, if you need some help, and your really going to do what your saying your doing, send me a line.

Good luck!
-peter
www.rodnkustom.com (http://www.rodnkustom.com)

[**DONOTDELETE**]

[ QUOTE ]
greaseball...Youre right, it is weird that a hot rod enthuist would just all of a sudden post something on the internet at HAMB because the internet is where all true hot rodders should find themselves, not in a garage. As for the film, it is in it's earliest possible stages which makes this prime time to get some feeback from our built in cult audience. It also makes this far too early to advertise a non-existent film to the masses at car shows and such. I am not wasting space on this board, I have been a long time lurker to the boards but posting was something that I felt should be left up to you guys for the moment. I can appreciate the fact that my sudden appearence and seemingly off topic posting will receive negative feedback and some sarcastic comments, but dont waste your breath. The cinematic stuff is up to you too, if you want it in B/W say so, if you know of a colorful character then tell me. C'mon, lets be a bit more friendly here to someone who is simply trying to tell the story that has not been told on film yet. Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like a bunch of B.S to me... i was in the L.A streetracing scene when fast and furious guys were coming around to check everything out everyone was always telling how the scene SHOULDN'T be portrayed and look at how that flick turned out. These hollywood guys are all about money they dont give a shit about opinions they just want to find the next big trend...i bet this guy has a dozen crisy clean VON DUTCH shirts in his closet that make him a TRUE enthusiast...

[roadstar]

Just do a movie about the HAMB. There are pleanty of colorfull characters here.

We'll work for car parts http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

You would have to change the names to protect the "Guilty" though http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[modernbeat]

Things I look at if I were makin' a late '40s period Hot Rod movie.

Read everything I could about the SCTA
Rocketeer
Catch Me If You Can
Landspeed (I know how lame it is, but...)
The '50s version of The Fast and The Furious

Stay away from
The Outsiders
That NY Gang movie with '50s cars....

[Phil1934]

John Lithgow would make a modern day Dan Andrews as the pissed off wimp fighting back against the evil rodders. Or possibly Justin Timberlake as the rooder saving the town from the giant radioactive spider. I think I just summarized every early hot rod movie. Seriously if cars are the star it won't be seen. How many of you even watch the VCR tape you get with renewal to whatever group? If you want to do it, go ahead. If you are looking for feedback, this is mine.

[Roadsters.com]

A Google search for your E-mail address turns up just one match: an ad written two years ago by a 15-year-old looking for an inexpensive racing bicycle.

It looks like now you're 17 years old, and you're an aspiring movie producer. You want us to help you with your demographic research, and tell you where to do your other research.

I could put you in touch with some of the most well-informed hot rod historians alive, as well as the world's leading expert on old hot rod movies. (Twelve years ago, he and I co-authored a very thorough book about the history of hot rod movies.)

If you're real, you're welcome to phone me at (602) 233-8400.

Another suggestion would be for you to add your real name, Loren Petersen, to your profile.

Dave Mann
http://www.roadsters.com/

[fatassbuick]

Can anyone tell me what the High Desert Composite Squadron is?

[marq]

Yup if it was good i would watchit,don't worry about the sarcasm this is the hamb so i'd get used to it .I got barracked rotten when i joined but they aint bad for damn yankee peep fecker arses and they know their stuff.What you really should do is find some English rodders who are in the states my reasoning is the guys who have moved to the states do so for one purpose and thats build period hotrods cheaply,they live the rockin lifestyle daily thier houses,clothes music and cars are period 1940'-1950's they study every aspect of the lifestyle and times and are living history many of them.The English rockin scene has been going since the 50's and for some the late forties early fifties have never finished (sad but true).I have been on the scene myself for 25 years so i know the real hardcore people involved.Theres a young lad out there at the moment who writes for custom car magazine over here,they call him kid rocka his ole man has been on the scene forever and they know their stuff you could find him through cc magazine and i'm sure he would help you ,just make the film a good one and in colour with lots of kool cars...............Mad Marq

[Just Gary]

Besides period correct cars (faded, covered with dust & maybe a few dents, not a Pebble Beach collection), you gotta have a period correct soundtrack http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Nads]

The one fil that absolutely must be made is one about Veda Orr. And also The Bean Bandits have to be immortalized, with FA I agree here.
We've had the Shirley Muldowney story told in a so-so movie, so why not a well made authentic tale about the first lady of Hot Rodding?
I'd pay $60 to see that flick.

This guy Loren sounds like a chump to me, but what do I know?

[superbell]

Good detective work PETER...

[286merc]

Another suggestion would be for you to add your real name, Loren Petersen, to your profile.

A BIG IF but if that last name connects with the mag empire this could be interesting.
OTOH, I dont know if I like 1949 as the rod thing was just starting to get rolling by then. Add a few more years and I would think the period would be more fun. Tie into the beginning of R&C for instance.

[metalshapes]

I'm disapointed, I was hoping it was Sofia's grand daughter.

[wingnutz]

[ QUOTE ]
1.if it has cars in it i will try my hardest to see it.
2. if it has cool cars in it, i will see it twice
3. if it has cool cars, and period correctness i will buy it
4. if it has cool cars, period correct, good story line i will tell people to watch it.

[/ QUOTE ]


"DITTO"

Mark

p.s. Check out the "LoneStar Roundup" Video I'll watch that till my eye's bleed! You'll find it on kontinentals.com

[Nads]

marq man, I've been in the rocking scene for 47 minutes.
Y'got any pointers for me?
I don't wanna fuck up so early in the game.

[Creeper Larry]

How bout a little bit of lakes action? All those period cars doin the period thing! That would be impressive.Check the book, "The Birth O f Hot Rodding", The story of the dry lakes racing. It is in color! Fucking COLOR!!!! Great book to get the real feel of what it actually looked like. Just my .25$, I would like to see a movie like that. I would buy it ,Larry http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[SwitchBlade327]

when the hell is the person who started this post gonna stell us a little more info on who the hell they are and what the hell their trying to do exactly. If i end up seeing a 50's hot rod version of 2fast2furious starring Christopher Titus I'm going to go on a killing spree...

[Phil1934]

I keep thinking of vintage racing footage being spliced in like the old Tarzan movies in color that would go to a grainy black and white when they showed live animals.

[nor cal nic]

hey,'ELVIS' don't let 'em scare you away! you could be on a set cleaning the HONEYWAGON for CRAFT SERVICE. hang in there!
nic

[Loren]

ok, indeed good detective work Peter. A 17 year old aspiring film maker is not a far cry from reality as opposed to saying I own a studio. Like I said this film is in it's earliest stages of production. I have been into cars, and bicycles, since I was 9 years old and having grown up around it I became a fan of the hot rodding scene. I was approached by Brad M. Elmore to help produce this film for my general knowledge of the period and the vehicles. This does not make me an automotive engineer or a historian, simply a person who knew more about the subject then he does. That is as honest as I can be for you and I hope it allows you to be more open to this idea. I thank the people who have offered their very useful ideas and their open minds. To tell you the basic idea for the film, Brad is going to send the next reply.

[Loren]

Hello,
I am Brad Elmore, the man who is intent on Helming this project. I have no interests in the technicalities of Hot Rods, i just am interested in telling a good story. I approached my dear friend Loren (he is actually 18 years of age, as am I, you gotta start somewhere right?) with the idea and he has offered his help and his money. Right now this project is in its earliest developmental stages and we are tossing ideas back and forth in an attempt to cook up enough material to fill a feature length movie. I chose him as a producer not just because of his money or our friendship, but because of his love for the culture.
I envision a story with classic themes of friendship and commraderie, competition and pride. I plan on making the races tense and exiting but grounded in realism. But most of all i want to entertain. Whithout alienating too many purists (you can never please everyone, look at the comic geeks). This is not a 2Fast 2Furious with 40's rods, and will feature no MTV-generation jumpcuts or slick cgi. To accomplish this realism i am relying on feedback from the actual core-fanbase that this will be targeted at.
I cannot stress enough how low-budget this is right now, and will not be made for another five/six years or more, its just a project i plan to tackle but will remain on the backburner until i can do it justice. Thank you for any and all help, and hopefully i will see you at the movies.

[roadstar]

I guess one Of the first things you need to figure out is Todays "Scene" Has nothing to do with Hotrodding of the late 40's.

There are lots of books out there that discribe and document the era of hotrodding you wish to portray, start reading.

The hard part might be getting perfect era correct cars that people will let you beat on http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Good luck

[Nads]

Fuck, five or six years!!!?????
The Young Guns will no longer be young and everyone's tattoos will have turned into shapeless blobs.
You'd better do it now, like next week.

[flatlandman]

[ QUOTE ]
Fuck, five or six years!!!?????
The Young Guns will no longer be young and everyone's tattoos will have turned into shapeless blobs.
You'd better do it now, like next week.

[/ QUOTE ]
They won't have time. They still have to go to film school and learn what "jumpcut' means and how to plug in a 2k.
I know of a period correct set-in-SoCal -in-'53 hot rod picture optioned not that long ago. Written it 6 years ago with 2 years of research behind it. Budget is set at nearly $20 mil.
You boys better start saving your lawn mowing money.

[Loren]

is "Written it" simply incorrect grammar or did you write the film yourself? If so I dont see why it is implausible for us to get started on one. Keep the info coming.

[marq]

No real tips for ya nads except just remember when buying jeans get em a couple of inches to long for ya turnups lmfao,as for soundtrack well my collection should do it ,i got some real nice stuff too.count basie,lionel hampton ,benny goodman ,woodie herman,glen miller,how about a bit of ella fitzgerald oh ok as it's set in 49 joe turner,how about louis jordan that'll stomp it up,wynonie harris a very young roy brown(good rockin tonite was 1949)i could go on but it will get boring but if ya gonna do it use good r n b and swing.The chances are that the guys at the time would have listened to white or black music whatever thier feelings of race infact they already were and they rebranded it later with the title rock n roll really rnb...................Mad Marq

[40StudeDude]

Uhmmm Loren P., Brad E., I hate like hell to blow my own horn...awww shit, I don't either as long as there's money involved...But I LIVED and wrote about life in the Midwest in the late fifties...true glory days...you mite wanna ask me about some of MY stories...

Any truth to this? Just ask most of the HAMBer's on here!!!

Lemmee see now, an "option" is when someone wants to buy your story(s) to make into a movie and gives you a buttload of money not to sell it to anyone else...correct?

FWIW, I've got twenty-six "episodes" available to option...could make a great movie all strung together...PM me or e-mail me!
R-

[flatlandman]

Optioned is when a producer ties up the rights to your story for as little money as possible or none, while they shop it around to talent, directors, bigger studios or anybody with money willing to gamble.
Almost always 12 to 24 months, sometimes longer, which means you can't even show it to anybody else in that time span. At the end of the option period, if nothing happens, the rights revert back to you and you start all over.

[40StudeDude]

So Flat-...WHAT have I got to lose? Money is money!

Never hurts to put out a few "feelers"...I see you did, a few replies ago, too!!
R-

[flatlandman]

You asked what optioned was, I told ya...BTW, send it again. The file was corupted it said.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

So Loren or Brad or whatever your name is...what other films have you put out or is your first gonna be a feature length..must have some budget (or connections) for a 17 year old to be making a film..i know guys who are 40 and have been in the buisness for years and they cant get financial backing for there work...just wondering
also if you guys do end up making this please use film and dont go the modern route of DV

[rodnkustom]

I'm peter,... no one else, just me! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Trust me, at 22, actually going to photography school, I'm one open minded sob.

Good luck w/ the movie, I made a stop motion movie once, w/ my GI Joes, when I was 12, it was cool! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
-peter

[TagMan]

A week ago, a couple of guys in our club and I were out to a nostalgic drag race at a track that was built in '57 and closed down in the late 60's due to high insurance premiums. I was standing next to an old timer, watching the guys racing and started talking to the guy. He told me he had been racing there in 1957 when it first opened and went on to tell me a little of the history of the track and how it hadn't changed at all since then. I thought at the time that it would make a great intro for a real hot rod movie, then have flashbacks of this guys life growing up in the 50's, racing, school problems, etc. Of course the story would have to be embellished to hold the non-gearheads, but I think it's be really cool to tell a tale of an average kid back then and how he coped with growing up -just an average, everyday kid that everybody could identify with through the years and different generations. Anyway, here's a couple of pics (courtesy of my pal, kustomolds) of the track, just to give you a feel of what it was like..........

http://home.rochester.rr.com/mrplates/sb8.jpg

http://home.rochester.rr.com/mrplates/sb9.jpg

[Germ]

can i be in the movie,,
I'm sexy as hell..

GERM

[nor cal nic]

i wanna' be in the movie,too. i do nude scenes and work for scale.or as a 'net profit participant'.
nic