Josh Cribbs, Diamond Dallas Page, Dian Bachar and some Ohio Kid (Me!)

My name is Larry Longstreth and I'm writing this blog because Amanda Harnocz of Patch simply would not stop badgering me.  

"Please write a blog for us!", she'd yell.  "You're hands-down the most interesting and attractive man in all of Ohio!" 

While I know as well as all of you that that title truly belongs to the one and only Carl Monday, I was flattered anyway and felt obligated to accept.

A brief history recap: I'm 31.  For a decade I worked hard to get short-film after short-film finished.  Some of them animated, some of them live-action.  We listened to the cynics and the mean-spirited naysayers.  We listened to the truly helpful mentors and advisors we'd met along the way, as well.  We tried our best to separate the wisdom from the nonsense, the good advice from the white noise.  

We heard everything from everyone and we kept on trucking and trying to reach the lofty goal of making a living making movies (AKA: FEATURE-LENGTH films).  

We sold our first feature film titled "The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something" a year or two ago.  National distribution.  Pay-Per-View, On-Demand, Blockbusters, and Family Videos.  Not bad for our first feature.  It was rough and very Clerks-ish, and naturally we haven't seen any money yet (though we've grossed over $30k) but I'm proud of it and the key to profits and increasing a project's marketability is to MAKE MORE.

And make more, I shall.  

My company (Eddy Spaghetti Productions, LTD) is shooting our first SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild) film in 8 days.  It's still low budget, but it's drawn more attention than I thought it would.  It's called "The Murders of Brandywine Theater" and it's about a lonesome, pathetic middle-aged guy and town laughing stock named "Henry", and his puppet, "Moxxy".  Henry is a coward and never sticks up for himself... but after one day of having taken too much, Moxxy finally starts speaking up for him, much to Henry's surprise.  It's a split personality, good vs. evil kind of story.

I'm excited to do it, but like I said... the film has attracted more Hollywood name-power than I thought it was going to.  

It stars Dian Bachar (Southpark, Baseketball) as Henry, Danielle Lozeau (Legion) as Mindy (Henry's would-be love interest), Diamond Dallas Page (The Devil's Rejects, WCW) as Officer Carwin, Martin Klebba (Pirates of the Caribbean) as Henry's boss, Mr. O'Doul, and even Cleveland Browns player Josh Cribbs as "Brick", Henry's least favorite bully.  And best of all, like my last film it is executive produced by Mark Ordesky (The Lord of the Rings), my friend and mentor. This is bigger than anything we've done, but I asked for it and I got it.  

There are flights, hotels, catering, union forms, pay roll, the works. My crew and I are working hard to rise to the challenge and take things to another level.  

I'm scared.  I just am.  But I'm also defiantly confident and I can't freaking wait to prove I can do this.  
My Uncle Tom had the best (or worst) line.  "If I were you, I don't imagine I'd be getting a whole lotta sleep."  I laughed and said "Thanks, Uncle Tom".  As if I needed a reminder.  

So, yeah... I don't think it's bragging to say that we're doing something pretty interesting and worth blogging about.  I'm exhausted but I haven't lost sight of how cool this is.  I don't want to ever forget how lucky we are to have pulled it off. I'm really proud of it and I'm really proud of my team.   

That's about it for now.  I may post more updates later on as things progress, assuming I survive this thing. For now, if you want to check out my film company, visit EddySpaghettiProductions.com.  There's a link to our Facebook page on there that has tons of photos, videos, and updates you can check out. 

Also, if you want to be an extra (or crew member) on our team, be sure to visit our Facebook page for details.  

In closing... I'm nervous and I'm thrilled. In just under a week, I make a SAG film starring Hollywood actors!  Oh, and guess what, scoffers and cynics?:  We're doing it IN OHIO.

Keep the faith.  

Lar