My good friend Dave told me about the Fritz buzz on the board, so I felt I owed it to you to join and answer your Fritz questions, concerns, etc.
I am saying it here first and will e-mail the mailing list in a bit, but as of today, Episode 1: Night Of The Living Dead is done! The final render is complete. It clocks in at a scarily precise run time of 2 hours, no minutes, no seconds, and no frames. I guess the Owl gods were watching over us on that one.
For those wondering how this came to be, it was 2008. My dear friend, the late "Andyman" Davis and I were sharing a drink at his bar when I told him who my childhood hero was. He informed me that Fritz lived in his neighborhood. We were put in touch with each other and after a few weeks of convincing him (he wasn't sure anyone would care (!)), The Owl, a documentary was born. We made a list of who we would interview, people we could pull old clips from, etc.
My goal of making the documentary was to maybe spark some new interest in possibly reviving Nite Owl Theatre. Thanks to the jazz station for their "change of format", I got a phone call from Fritz delivering the bad news, and as we talked, it was a no-brainer. We could just do it ourselves. It took no convincing this time. I made sure to tell Fritz my intentions of keeping Nite Owl Theatre exactly like it was, complete with commercial breaks and Fritz's famous bumpers, but minus the Channel 10 aspect. We then sifted through a list of films that were available to us via public domain, and he gave me his blessing to start. Within 10 days, we had shot Episode 1. Knowing that it would take more time in post than it did to shoot, we decided to set a launch date of Halloween. It was also a perfect date due to NOTLD being or first featured movie.
Fritz was such a pro, showing up to the shoot more prepared than anyone I had ever seen, and he had only about 2 days or so to plan what he was gonna say. He brought cue cards that he didn't even need to use (they just needed to be there). As he discussed the effects that Channel 10 would have and how they would do them, my co-director, co-editor, and co-producer Matt Parker and I looked at each other and smiled before Matt told Fritz, "We have a button we push for that now."
Telling you anything else about the episode would spoil the surprises contained within, so mum is the word. But I assure you that although the days of sneaking downstairs to watch are over, on Saturday night, October 30th at midnight, all those memories will return as the Grandview Theatre hosts the first of a monthly series. Fritz hit this one out of the park!
With two more episodes scheduled to shoot at the end of the month, and more on the books, if you keep watching, we'll keep shooting!
Visit
www.fritzlives.com and sign the mailing list by e-mailing us at
niteowltv@yahoo.com
See you in October!
-Mike
ps - the documentary is still coming out. It just won't be until we have finished gathering our interviews, etc. There's still a ways to go. For now, enjoy the episodes
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