Ken Kokin: In Los Angeles, California.

Welcome Suren!

I'll check it out, Suren. Good points, Ken!

Thank you, this seems like a great community and I look forward to exploring around and recommending it other filmmakers I work with.

thank you

I wrote a script and it's epic, so, of course, I would LOVE to direct it, but I am also interested in what an A-list director would do with the vision I put down on paper... I am super proud of this script - all I can say (and I hate mash-ups) is that it's like the Amadeus meets the Notebook... Or it's like the Notebook but with actual MUSICAL NOTES.

Very nice -- keep us posted!

Huge congratulations on all you successes, Ken. You've definitely had a roller-coaster ride... The title of mine is 'when life throws you a curve ball'... but we're still here. Onward and Upward. If you're ever in Toronto... let's have a drink together. I've already had 2 Stage 32 meet-ups here in T.O.... always fun.

It's difficult when you live in the middle of Hollywood too.

That´s what your story shows. It´s a very hard world but at a far distance and no money...

Thanks for sharing your story! Love the reminder that "the only thing that guarantees you nothing is never asking."

Thanks so much, I am very proud of The Way of The Gun...

Just so you know what is going on... The Director Brian Fairlee (who has a great podcast www.briananddanielleshow.com) is checking the film for scratches. Back in the film-days, before you shoot a whole roll, it was smart to run a little bit of film through the camera, tear it off and examine it closely to make sure it was good.

What a cool shot from back in the day! This is so great. One of our mentors on Stage 32, JT Mollner, still shoots on Kodak. His film ANGELS AND OUTLAWS was at Sundance this year. Long live film! I wonder if we have any millennials here who shoot in film?

I don't think there is a "best" formula or tag you can merely add to make a film great. Suspects is also a mystery and has a solid twist. We were also blessed with a great cast. So many things came together in the right way.

I do think that it always worth exploring desperate characters.

Just make sure you watch the one Directed By Kenneth Kokin, and don't write a bad review if you hate it because I have enough from that Aussie one. :-)

My producer Tim Williams was amazing and I honestly don't know the exact budget. I did find the money, script and put it together, but I didn't want to diminish Tim's producer credit as mine was marginalized in the past. He worked so hard and even to this day continues to be involved with the distribution. I talk to him once a week at least and he is very busy but supports Blood Moon entirely. So this is a long answer to say, I worked within the parameters Tim set for me and made requests but didn't deal with the numbers so I could focus entirely on directing the picture.

A career in motion pictures is faced with tons of challenges and I can do a whole other blog post on obstacles and the moments of all-is-lost through my career. Fortunately, I have a core group of friends and supporters. I have a lot of people around me who believe in my talent. My parents are actually big supporters. My father and mother helped me so much at USC with my films, from catering, AD-ing and acting. They came to the first Sundance and were in the Audience when we won for the feature film, Public Access. They got to see me go on stage to give the longest thank you speech in the history of the film festival to the point where the host, legendary actor Seymour Cassel had to pull me off stage when I still naming people right until I got off stage and Robert Redford shook my hand. Years later, I saw Mr. Cassel and he said, "did you finally shut up?" It's great to have the (brace for a plug) support of you and Stage 32 as well as friends and colleagues and even some from my high school days. Okay, so I don't disappoint Seymour, I'm going to expand (ramble) on something I mentioned in the piece above about my high school... My brother was going to a small school in LA called Newbridge and on a whim, I went to this award ceremony for their film program when I was 14. My soon to be my best friend, Steven Wolfson (https://www.stage32.com/profile/384210), won the award for "Best Use of Violence" with a claymation epic called The Last Soldier. It was a brilliant depiction of war on the level of Stephen Crane, if Crane worked with plasticine. At that ceremony, I saw my calling also partially because of Steven's brother, David. He screened a behind the scenes documentary about Steven's passion for making this Vietnam War story that same night. I got to see the incredible passion from this fellow teenager that brought the idea to the screen and I knew I had to get my idea to the screen as well. The next year I transferred to Newbridge and made a film called Because It's Venice and I won Best Use of Violence. However, Steven Wolfson won Best Picture. Even today, Wolfson's suggestions were instrumental in making Blood Moon the film I am so proud to have directed.