Stephen Mitchell's Reel

Every film should present the audience with two journeys: one physical and the other internal...

This sequence from my movie Bleeder & Bates shows our protagonist Bates paying a visit to someone I wanted the audience to infer was an 'informant with benefits'. Like addicts of any sort, she lives in a state of apathy and this was the message I wanted to convey with her prolonged, absent gaze as Bates calls the station to leave a message for Del or Henry. Later in the movie, I drop another subtle hint and some viewers correctly guessed that the woman is Bates' ex-wife and the mother of his daughter.

French bassist Bunny Brunel composed and performed the score for my movie Fait Accompli which I made in 1981 and shot in Los Angeles, Palm Springs and Ensenada. The track presented here was used for the end credit roll. A couple of years ago, I asked Bunny if he still had the tracks he recorded for the movie as most of my possessions--personal and professional--had been 'lost at sea' in the late 90s. Bunny told me he was about to move and hoped he might come across the files in the process....

A scenes from my movie Point of Departure in Cannes during the Cannes Film Festival...

This episode--Kim Rollins (Interview)--starring Victoria Foyt is unusual in that Victoria and I collaborated on the story that was presented in this fictional interview. Marshall Brickman wrote a spec treatment after seeing the episode. Notice how subtle is her use of interstitial reactions...

This scene from my film Point of Departure comes near the end of the story after a prolonged interrogation by the French police that has lasted since the beginning of the movie punctuated by flashbacks--I wanted to convey the impact with reactions rather than dialogue which is limited to just three lines...

What would you do to make friends with a celebrity? The Devotee with Belén Oyola-Rebaza coming soon to Amazon streaming video and DVD...

The Jerry Fairfax Show was conceived in the Cine Paris repertory company for film and television as a comedy vehicle for Michael Chanslor and was intended as an experimental and innovative show with a non-stop parade of insider humor about show business and the television industry. The show is almost entirely improvisation where director Stephen Mitchell would create gags for the actors on the fly to fit the flow of the show that Michael Chanslor was creating with his improvisation as Jerry....

This is a Skype session with Eliza Kelley rehearsing a monologue I am writing for her. It will evolve into a one-woman show for her.

In 1990, I shot my movie Dead Right and about two years ago, I did a Stage 32 Webinar--How to Shoot a Feature Film in 15 Days (And Survive to See Profits)-- about the experience. A little over a year ago I wrote a book with the same title as the webinar about making the film. This scene features my friend Matthew Ettinger--he and I owned and drove Ferrari race cars back in the day... ...