http://genrehacks.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-fck-should-i-write-about.html

http://genrehacks.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-fck-should-i-write-about.html

Connection Teaser Video

NatGeo "TABOO"'s episode on Sex...and Swingers

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/taboo/videos/swingnswap/

4 Hilarious Things I Learned About Orgies (By Going To One)

You and I need to enter into an agreement before you read further. This is an agreement of trust and understanding. I want you to have a good time, and you, in turn, probably want to have a good time. You came here to laugh and maybe learn something. I want to impart knowledge and laughter. Maybe a few titters. Because of this, I need you to trust me. Naysayers will no doubt ruffle their dick feathers and insist that my motives in this article were impure, and to that I say tits. Tits and butts and penetration and grunting.

I went to an orgy for the purposes of writing a comedy article.

Read more:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-hilarious-things-i-learned-about-orgies-by-going-to-one/

A Glimpse Into The Lives Of Couples With Open Marriages

"Marriage as we know it is dying." So begins chapter one of therapist Susan Pease Gadoua and journalist Vicki Larson's new book The New I Do: Reshaping Marriage for Skeptics, Realists and Rebels, which challenges readers to consider alternate marital agreements in a world where lovers live together without tying the knot, more couples are having children out of wedlock and about half of all marriages end in divorce. "Rather than continue to encourage people to cram themselves into an old model that isn't working for many -- about one out of two marriages ends in divorce -- we want to acknowledge what's already happening and encourage you to think about new ways to marry," the authors write. The book, which hit shelves in late September, offers up seven models of alternate marriages for modern couples to consider. Below, an adapted excerpt about open marriages.

Click here to read the whole article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/05/the-new-i-do-excerpt_n_6111242.html

Sex in Film - An Illustrated Cinematic History

http://www.filmsite.org/sexinfilms-index.html

Connection Look Book

Swinging Is Now Officially In "Vogue"!

The following is excerpted from Vogue magazine.....

About Last Night: That Time I Went to a Sex Party

by Karley Sciortino

Last weekend, in the penthouse of an upscale, downtown hotel, I attended my first sex party. I went with a friend of mine—I’ll call her Anne—who’s been bugging me to come along to this particular event for months, on the grounds that I can’t call myself a true sex writer until I’ve been to an orgy. Fair enough, I thought.

“It’s the best sex party in New York, with the most fun, attractive crowd,” Anne assured me, adding that the attendees are a mix of swingers, “burners” (Burning Man–types), and fetish people. I was skeptical. How amazing could the participants of a paid orgy really be, even if it was invite-only? I also had serious reservations about whether I would actually be able to hook up amidst a crowd of “roughly 100 people.” But I trusted Anne, because she knows a lot about this stuff. See, Anne and her husband are in an open marriage: They’re happy, successful, attractive, deeply in love, and they also get to sleep with whomever they want. How unfair.

To read the full article, go here:
http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/that-time-i-went-to-a-sex-party-karley-sciortino/#1

Connection Webathon (playlist)

Here's some clips from the March 26th webathon. More to come.

Connection Webathon (playlist)

And, btw, not to late to donate to the film:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=BN3S7DD5JCUGN



Enjoy and THANKS!!

Make a "Connection" THIS Wednesday!

In support of his new film "Connection, writer-director Jacques Thelemaque is doing a one-day fundraising webathon on Wednesday, March 26th starting at 7 a.m. and going until Midnight (PST). It's all happening HERE.

We know you are probably as tired of crowd funding solicitations as anyone else, so we're keeping a very short promotional window and doing it all on a single day!!

And on top of that we're going to host a really fun, informative and engaging show for 17 HOURS!! If you are not a fan of filmmaking, not a fan of the subject matter or not a fan of Jacques :)…then hopefully the show will earn your support. PLEASE TUNE IN!

We'd love for you to be a part of it, too. During the show, post to us anytime on this Facebook page or Skype (connectionthefilm) us directly during our call-in segments and breaks in the show.

Our goal is to break our own single day record. And we can do it with YOUR support! Donate whatever you can and/or spread the word via email, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. Ideally, you will support and then let the world know that you did.

DEEPLY appreciate your support and consideration.

Hope to "Connect" this Wednesday!

http://filmmakersalliance.org/CONNECTION_Fundraiser_3.html.

"Hysterical Literature": Women Who Read Until Orgasm

‘Hysterical Literature’ creator Clayton Cubitt on the high price of filthy business.
reprinted from The Daily Beast by Rich Goldstein.

“I like fucking with people,” Clayton Cubitt says. “I like subverting expectations.”

Cubitt’s newest project is Hysterical Literature, a series of videos featuring a female subject reading aloud while being simultaneously masturbated with a Hitachi Magic Wand, the so-called “Cadillac of Vibrators.” The videos begin with the subject introducing themselves and the text they have personally selected for presentation. The session lasts as long as the reader. When the subject has an orgasm, she stops reading. The longest so far is 11 minutes and 42 seconds.


Cubitt, a native of Louisiana, broke into the public consciousness for his photojournalism in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. The photos he took—called Operation Eden—were a direct reaction to the journalistic images that disseminated throughout the United States by traditional media outlets.

“For years I've done projects that were about photographing or filming people when they were distracted,” Cubitt says. “Partly this stemmed from my controlled experience of making celebrity portraits, and seeing how the tendency toward ‘branded personality’ was starting to metastasize into the larger culture, as everyone started developing what we now we call selfies.”

The first Hysterical Literature video posted in August of 2012 and featured adult entertainer and writer Stoya giving a reading from the Necrophilia Variations by Supervert. Subsequent guests have included comedian Margaret Cho and self proclaimed “hurricane of intellectual sexuality,” Stormy Leather. The project has received some coverage in the press, including an in-depth analysis by medium.com and varsityonline.com, but Cubitt considers the majority of stories “shallow” and more focused on the participation of a celebrity like Margaret Cho or Stoya.

For all its filthiness, Hysterical Literature is....

Please click HERE to read rest of the article.

A Few Questions About The Creative Process For "Connection"

My good friend Sean Hood, who has his own blog (Genre Hacks), asked me to write something about "Connection"'s creative journey that he could post on his blog. He asked a number of questions, much of it about screenwriting/filmmaking, in general. But since it includes"Connection", I naturally had to post it here, too. Enjoy!

How is writing an independent, micro-budget movie different than writing traditional spec script?
The main difference is that in writing an indie, micro-budget feature,  you MUST write within the bounds of your resources. Meaning, you have to consider, with each scene/location/prop/stunt/etc. how you are going to shoot it and how much it will cost. It sounds restrictive, but it actually forces you to come up with imaginative ways to realize things that money can't simply buy. With a traditional spec script, your imagination is unhindered by such things.  The difference between the two kinds of scripts, however, are minimal for me, since even with an unlimited budget, I would be drawn toward telling the same kind of stories, in the same kind of way, that I am doing on a micro-budget: Character-driven pieces set in a compelling dynamic. I make lower budgeted films, not simply because I have to, but because I choose to.

How is your story, in structure and content, different from a "Save The Cat" screenplay?
The main difference is that in my story, people are too busy having sex (or trying to) to even notice the cat. I actually am not too familiar with the whole "Save The Cat" thing and not very motivated to understand it too deeply. My loose understanding is that a "Save The Cat" screenplay follows all the traditional Hollywood story-telling paradigms, including having the main character "Save The Cat" early on to build audience sympathy for them. Real people are more complex than any standard paradigms and that I'm vastly more interested in exploring that complexity than smoothing it out for entertainment value. My story doesn't answer questions. It asks them and leaves the audience to consider them.

How do your plans as director inform your choices in the writing process?
I actually tend to try to separate the two. Of course, I can't help but visualize the film and think about directorial issues while I'm writing, but I try not to let that hinder me in any significant way. I simply focus on what the characters and circumstances are telling me as I make creative choices. Is there tension? Is it compelling? Is it authentic? Is it working on multiple levels? These are my four main general concerns while I'm writing. Then, when I direct, I "bury" the writer. The script becomes nothing more than a blueprint that I am free to re-interpret based on visual style, pacing, location, casting, quality of performance and many other real-world factors once we are actually committing it to film (or HD video, as is usually the case these days).

Why did you decide to fund this film through kickstarter and other fundraising campaigns rather than through a traditional production company or studio?
Two reasons. Well, three actually. The first is that the budget I saw for this film was in that zone between self-financing (or raising money just from people you know) and traditional production company or studio financing. I couldn't have done the film the way I want to do it on a smaller budget. Of course, I could've gone the other direction and simply done the film for a larger budget, but that leads to the second reason I didn't go the traditional route: the film itself. The subject matter is challenging and I want to explore it in a challenging way. It will not be typical Hollywood fare and I don't have faith that traditional funding entities are interested in funding anything that doesn't have commercial appeal and/or serious star power. The third reason is that I don't know many people in the traditional production company or studio world, nor do I have much interest in developing those contacts. For the most part, I'm not at all a fan of the films they often choose to do.

How can people follow the making of this film, either as fans and fellow filmmakers who may involved in the same process?
Given the ubiquity of social media, there are numerous ways to "connect" with CONNECTION. Here are the ones we have thus far:
Our Crowd Funder: http://filmmakersalliance.org/CONNECTION_Fundraiser.html
Our website: http://connection-thefilm.com/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/CONNECTION_film
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnectionTheFilm
On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ConnectionTheFilm
On Tumblr: http://connection-thefilm.tumblr.com
On Instagram: http://instagram.com/connectionthefilm

Casting for "Connection" has begun!! Guess the actors and WIN!! :)

We've finally begun casting in earnest for "Connection". Very exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Since we are first reaching out to high-visibility actors, we have to approach them one at a time and then wait for a response before moving onto the next (if necessary). So, not surprising, but a lot of waiting. They're busy people and if they even give it a second of thought, I'm flattered. But with April looming, it is a bit stress-inducing.

In any case, I'm excited about the list of actors we're approaching. I can't say who specifically we are approaching first, but I will give you the list of potentials. Try to guess who among them we are going out to first (from both the male and female leads. If you guess right, I'll send you a jar of Love Lotion to use however you please (if your sex life is a bit slow, keep in mind it makes car seats soft and supple). 

Note that we are trying to keep our reach-outs realistic and there are definitely some on this list who are wildly unrealistic and wouldn't waste a fart on our script, let alone read it.

So, here goes...

For the character of "Melissa":

Julianne Nicholson

Keri Russell

Elizabeth Moss

Kelly MacDonald

Elizabeth Banks

Kate Beckinsdale

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Katie Holmes

Amy Adams

Mireille Enos

Rebecca Hall

Bryce Dallas Howard

Jessica Chastain

Sara Paulson

Diane Kruger

Emily Blunt

Abbie Cornish

Rachel McAdams 

Rachel Weisz

Kate Winslett 

Marion Cotillard

Vera Farmiga

Lena Headey

Anne Heche

Hilary Swank

Reese Witherspoon

Christina Ricci

For the character of "Benjamin":

Matthew Rhys

James Badge Dale

Mark Duplass

Peter Sarsgaard

Alex Karpovsky

Corey Stoll

Ewan McGregor

Bill Hader

Jake Johnson

Mark Feuerstein

Justin Kirk

Stuart Townsend

James Tupper

Michael Vartan

Bryan Greenberg

Jon Heder

Jack Davenport

John Hawkes

The Sexiest And/Or Most Sexually Provocative Films Ever. What do you think they are?

Of course we must do our cinematic research before beginning the real work on "Connection". Not to mimic what's been done before, but to learn from it, perhaps build on it, maybe subvert it and/or simply be inspired by it. So, I built myself a little list of sexy and/or sexually provocative films (NOT porno) that are required viewing.

Given what I'm doing with "Connection" (see previous posts), would love to know what you think I'm missing. Or just tell me sexually-themed films you think I must see.

Here it is in no particular order....

In the Realm of the Senses
The Story Of O
9 Songs
The Night Porter
The Dreamers
Eyes Wide Shut
The Hunger
Intimacy
9 1/2 Weeks
ShortBus
Shame
Betty Blue
Emmanuelle
Belle Du Jour
Malena
Body Heat
Secretary
Kama Sutra
Last Tango In Paris
Caligula
Red Shoe Diaries
Sex and Lucia
I Am Curious Yellow
Romance
Swimming Pool
Wild Orchid
Concussion
Blue Is The Warmest Color
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
Henry and June
Y Tu Mama También
Salo
The Lover

What I'm exploring with "Connection"

I'm often asked that question, or something like it. Why are you making this film? Well, it's a question all filmmakers should ask themselves long and hard before they jump into a film. What does this film truly mean to me? Is it something that needs to be made - i.e. am I adding something fresh and meaningful to the cinematic landscape or is it just more movie detritus clogging up the distribution pipeline?

Good questions. But I think most people are really asking me what personal issues I have that would make this film relevant to me. They don't ask me straight up like that, of course, but that is the subtext of their question when they ask "Why are you making this film?" Am I a swinger? Am I interested in the lifestyle? Do I have intimacy issues? Sexual issues? Am I just a horn dog or kinky bastard?

They often think I'm making porn. But obviously, I'm trying to explore something more than just sex in this dynamic. Hence, the title "Connection". But I do feel there is a lot to explore in the sex itself. Sex is a very powerful and complex cinematic metaphor, because it is such a hot button topic for psychological, social and spiritual reasons. Even porno, as superficial and direct as it is, speaks volumes about who we are individually and culturally. The reasons it (or any individual pornographic act within a porn film) stimulates us, reviles us, or leaves us indifferent says a lot about our beliefs, choices, preferences, fears, fetishes, issues and more.

I want to make a film that holds a mirror up to ourselves in a similar way, albeit in a more complicated, nuanced, artistic and multi-dimensional way than a typical porn film. What really interests me are relationships - and what role sex plays in its connective tissue. I was in a monogamous relationship for nearly 17 years - 15 of those years married. There was so much of that relationship that was NOT about sex. Yet, our sexual dynamic was always around us, defined us and, ultimately, destroyed us. And when that relationship ended, so did I lot of my rather traditional thinking about relationships. However, I have yet to discover some new, ideal paradigm. I guess it's different for everybody. But I certainly haven't found it for myself, yet.

So, I'm exploring, questioning, considering....experiencing. Letting things wash over me and listening to my reaction to them. This is what I want my film to do for people. It will be an experience. A brief journey into a very specific world. If it is a world with which you are familiar, you can look at it - and feel it - from a distanced, artistic perspective and either celebrate or re-examine your place in it. If it is a world completely alien to you, you can take a frank, intimate, physically-safe, psychologically-challenging tour through it and check yourself afterwards. Either way, the point is not to answer questions, but to raise them. To have you explore, question, consider and experience......

In the beginning, there was the idea....

So this is the first post to my blog about the journey to make my new film, "Connection". Why, how, where, when, with whom, etc., etc. And it will be linked to my "A Filmmaker's Life" blog because, let's face it, this will be my life for awhile. 

"Connection"is about swingers. Well, specifically, it takes us through a single night at a lifestyle (swinger) party as seen through the eyes of Benjamin and Melissa Hughes - who are exploring it for the first time.

The idea formed a few years ago when I met my first swingers and found myself compelled by their stories, beliefs and choices. Not for me, per se, but as a psychological, sociological and sexual phenomenon. But it indeed had me questioning my own choices and my own thoughts about relationships - especially having recently (at the time) ended a 15-year marriage.

The journey started in earnest a little less than a year ago when I decided I had to make my next film. Now. I had many ideas bouncing around in my head but this is the one that stuck with me.

Why? Because, as I said, I'm fascinated by it. Not just swingers, but the whole open lifestyle thing (they are not synonymous, in case you didn't know that, but we'll get into that eventually....). In general, I'm a student of human relationships (as are many filmmakers) and have a never-ending curiosity about how we relate to each other in the most intimate ways.

But I also wanted to further explore the aesthetic I used for my short film "Transaction"- which explored a very different sexual dynamic (a call girl and a client) in a very specific way. The film did very well out in the world and I was often asked if I had a feature in mind. No, did not see a feature emerging out of that particular dynamic. But a saw clearly how I could apply that cinematic approach to a film set in this dynamic.

That's it, for now. Starting slow. Much more to come. Curious to know what your immediate thoughts are when you first hear that I (or anyone) is making a film about swingers....