Morgan Jon Fox (pictured) and John Michael McCarthy are key crew members on Craig Brewer’s $5 Cover, but they are notable local filmmakers in their own right. Both have other projects on tap.
Fox has been particularly busy. His newest film, OMG/HaHaHa, premiered at NewFest, the New York LGBT film festival, June 14th, where, according to Fox, representatives from 12 distributors attended the screening.
“I went up there hustling. I brought 30 [electronic press kits] and screener copies and networked as much as possible. We got a couple of e-mails back from different distributors. One distributor, Water Bearer Films, which put out Mike Leigh’s earlier films and Pasolini’s earlier films, like Accatone … they loved the film and were really interested in it, so we started talking and reached a general agreement. I don’t know when they’re going to release it. It might be later this year. It might not be until next year.”
The deal with Water Bearer is for DVD, digital, and television rights, according to Fox. The film is likely to make its Memphis debut this fall at the Indie Memphis Film Festival.
Fox has also recently struck a cable deal with the Here! network to show Blue Citrus Hearts and secured funding to complete his documentary This Is What Love in Action Looks Like. In the meantime, he’s also producing the next feature from local filmmaker Kentucker Audley, whose Team Picture won at Indie Memphis last year.
“It’s been a good year for me to take the leap into trying to do this full time,” says Fox.
McCarthy has recently finished a script with Craig Brewer for a project called War Bride, which has both filmmakers excited. While Brewer tries to get his next feature project — likely the long-rumored Maggie Lynn — off the ground, McCarthy is working on turning the War Bride script into a graphic novel, with hopes of eventually bringing the concept to cinematic life.
In the meantime, McCarthy has been filming music videos, most recently one for Amy LaVere‘s “Pointless Drinking” and one for Seattle punk band The Cute Lepers, on Joan Jett‘s Blackheart Records label. Both music videos can be seen at McCarthy’s website, GuerrillaMonsterFilms.com.
Brewer isn’t the only local filmmaker working on a web-based project. Mark Jones (Eli Parker Is Getting Married?, Fraternity House Massacre at Hell Island) has begun production on a five-episode web-based series called On the Edge of Happiness. A serialized soap opera/murder mystery, Jones hopes to launch the series — with one episode debuting per week — in November.
Joann Self Selvidge‘s True Story Pictures will screen its latest local history documentary, Leveling the Playing Field: 20 Years of Bridge Builders, at Malco’s Studio on the Square Thursday, July 31st. The 42-minute documentary looks at the history and impact of Bridge Builders — a local youth leadership development program that brings together students of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds — since its inception 20 years ago. The screening is at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, or $15 with a DVD of the film. RSVP for the screening at True Story Pictures: 274-9092 or info@truestorypictures.com.