Independent Filmmaker Offers Tips in Realizing Your Personal Ambition

With each passing year Andy Warhol's quote - that everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame - rings truer.

The caveat: some people get more than 15 minutes, in large part because they actually work at their success, says award-winning indie filmmaker Kerstin Karlhuber. In fact, she calls this the "golden era of self-starters," because this is an unprecedented time in which creative doers have access to achieving an audience.

"While there are some people who see the rise and fall of their name shortly after a quirky incident on a reality TV show, the more important success stories come from devoted artists who've worked their entire adult lives on a dream - and then something clicks," says Karlhuber, who recently completed her latest project, "Tides of the Heart" (www.kerstinkarlhuber.com), an avant garde feature-length music video with no dialogue.

With some talent, a vision and that irrepressible itch to do something, amateurs such as "Fifty Shades of Grey" author E.L. James, or the co-creators of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," initially shot by three non-professionals before the FX channel contracted the show, are changing what and how audiences are receiving entertainment, says Daniel Jay Paul. His latest album, "Clean Getaway" (www.danieljaypaul.com), not only makes up much of the score for the film, but also structures the plot.

"We're living in a golden era of self-starters when it comes to the arts," he says.

Karlhuber and Paul discuss three ways those just starting out can kick-start their projects:

• New methods of financing: Sites like IndieGoGo.com are making it easier for self-starters to raise money for a variety of independent projects. It's a 501©(3) non-profit that utilizes a "crowdfunding" platform in which those who seek to raise money can create campaigns to detail their story and get the word out.

• Alternative distribution: A decade ago, it wasn't easy to get your self-made film out to audiences. If a committee liked your work, then you might get picked up by an indie movie festival, shown at the odd art house theater, Karlhuber says. Now, there are some households that go without cable or satellite, whose inhabitants rely completely on sites like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, where the Karlhuber-Paul project can be found, for their entertainment. An independent filmmaker can reasonably expect their video to be watched tens of thousands of times, if not much more. Despite these handy advances, utilizing traditional methods is a good idea, says Paul, who is continuing to enter "Tides of the Heart" into film festivals after having won awards in past events. He is expecting more theater screenings in the future, and hardcopies of the film are available.

• Marketing: The old way of advertising - billboards, newspaper space - can still be effective, but no longer necessary. If you're not utilizing a method for online marketing, including the usual suspects such as Facebook and Twitter, then you're not doing your job as a passionate artist, Paul says. "Unless you have the means or cash for a professional to handle your PR, then you have to ask yourself a simple question: What good is your project if nobody is exposed to it?" he says.

About Kerstin Karlhuber & Daniel Jay Paul

Kerstin Karlhuber is an award-winning filmmaker and director. Her work in the arts has been seen around the world, from off-Broadway to Cannes, the Arclight Theater in Los Angeles to a segment on "Good Morning America." She is the founder and director of the film production company Silent Giant Productions based in New York City.

Daniel Jay Paul is a songwriter who recently released "Clean Getaway" on the Sunlight Communication Arts label. His songs have been described by Music Express' Marcus Wright as "music you hear with your heart ...." Paul is the author of the novel "The Last Sunset."

East coast remodelers focus on rebuilding communities this holiday season

 

Des Plaines, Illinois, December 18, 2012?It has been two difficult months since Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast, bringing devastation to areas along the coastline. The National Association of the Remodeling Industry's (NARI) 12 chapters that represent the Northeastern region are stepping up in in big ways this holiday season?lending a hand and expertise to those who need it most.

"Those affected by the storm are now trying to piece lives back together," says NARI National Chairman Michael Hydeck, MCR, CKBR, president of Hydeck Design Build Inc., in Telford, Pa. Hydeck himself assisted a fellow officer in the Long Island, N.Y. area when he loaded his car with gasoline, a generator and food and drove several hours to make the delivery.

Many of the projects out there require skilled remodeling professionals, and NARI members are doing their part to assist in rebuilding efforts in their local communities. "The NARI community is proud to come together and support each other in what will be a long and difficult rebuilding process," Hydeck says.

Here is a look at some of NARI's Sandy recovery efforts so far.

New York City/Long Island NARI chapter took action after seeing a news report about the Heckman family's struggle to treat one child's recent leukemia diagnosis with a home destroyed by the storm. The chapter immediately organized a rebuild of the home, gathering supplies and labor, for what will eventually be a new home for the family.

NARI-Staten Island Home Improvement Contractors Association is focused on education and safety for homeowners during the rebuild. They have joined forces with other groups and business leaders to form the Rebuild SI coalition, with the goal of disseminating information to more than 20,000 victims on issues like avoiding unscrupulous/unlicensed contractors, health risks associated with flood waters and hazardous materials left behind, and proper care and removal during clean up to lessen risk.

In addition, Steven Coppola, NARI-HIC of Staten Island Liaison and president of APB Security Systems Inc., in Staten Island, N.Y., says that many members are giving back in additional ways. "Remodelers are giving free estimates to help victims apply for assistance, and some are performing work without any assurance of payment," Coppola says.

NARI of Bucks-Mont chapter based in Spring House, Pa., raised funds and organized multiple supply drop-off trips to New York City. On one trip to Queens, chapter board members joined Bill Clinton, and volunteers from the Clinton Global Initiative in rebuild efforts.

Chapter Membership Chair Laura Hawley, principal of Ambiance Design based in Pipersville, Pa., continues to look for help and donations and plans to return to the same neighborhood. "There is just so much to do and still great need," Hawley says.

 

NARI Eastern Massachusetts chapter based in Newton Centre, Mass., organized a supply drop-off at Breezy Point, home to many New York City police and firefighters who are themselves in need of assistance from flooding and fires. Everything from light construction equipment, clothing, food and water were collected in the effort.

Building Industries Exchange of Pottstown and Vicinity Inc., member Steven Oehlert, of Oehlert Brothers Inc., a heating and cooling company in Royersford, Pa., made 20 emergency fuel deliveries to New Jersey residents and municipalities in need of gasoline and diesel to power generators and more directly following the storm. Additionally, Potty Queen, a portable restroom rental company based in Pottstown, Pa., donated portable restrooms and comfort stations in to areas in New York and New Jersey.

Remodeling Contractors Association of Connecticut chapter member Carl Loschiavo, president of Timberline Carpentry in Stratford, Conn., and property owner in the Milford Shore area, lost two homes in the storm. Nevertheless, Loschiavo and his crew started pumping water from basements during first three days following the storm and set up a grill and passed out hot dogs and hamburgers to workers and victims. "It was great to bring neighbors and workers together to talk and laugh over hot food, if even only a minute?it gave people a little break from the smell and disaster around them," Loschiavo says.

North Jersey NARI chapter members, based in Hawthorne, N.J., are doing their part to help as well, providing free delivery of materials and donating a portion of jobs sold from November to the end of January to the American Red Cross Sandy Relief fund.

"A great source of pride for remodelers comes from driving through a neighborhood and pointing out all homes and buildings that they remodeled in their communities," Hydeck says. "So when something like Sandy comes along and destroys their community, rebuilding and restoring the community becomes a labor of love. It's not over until our communities are rebuilt."

NARI is the source for homeowners seeking to hire a professional remodeling contractor because members are full-time, dedicated remodelers who follow a strict code of ethics that observes high standards of honesty, integrity and responsibility.

Visit the NARI.org site to get tips on how to hire a remodeling professional and to search for NARI members in your area.

Click here to see an online version of this press release.

 

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About NARI: The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) is the only trade association dedicated solely to the remodeling industry.  The Association, which represents 7,000 member companies nationwide?comprised of 63,000 remodeling contractors? is "The Voice of the Remodeling Industry."® To learn more about membership, visit www.NARI.org or contact national headquarters, based in Des Plaines, Ill., at (847) 298-9200.

Quad Cities, USA: The Salvation Army of the Quad Cities Christmas Assistance Program -- offering a Christmas food box and toys to families who signed up in November -- is The Salvation Army's largest outreach event each year.

The Angel Tree collection is finished, and the toys will now make up the toy shop in which parents can choose toys for their children. Over 2,000 children will have a brighter Christmas morning because of this community's generosity and support of this program.

The Food Boxes were packed on Friday night - 2,300 of them - and families and individuals comprised of 6,288 people will have food in their cupboards, and a nice Christmas meal on their table.

Generous Quad Cities residents, businesses and civic groups make this program possible with their donations.

For 2012, the Food Box Distribution and Toy Shop will occur by appointment only.

The press is invited for interviews and filming of this program on:

Davenport Corps, 3400 W. Central Park Drive
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 9am - 4pm
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 @ 9am - 4pm

Heritage Temple Corps, 2200- 5th Avenue, Moline
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 @ 10am - 4pm

About the Salvation Army

The Salvation Army, an evangelical part of the universal Christian church, has been supporting those in need in His name without discrimination since 1865. Nearly 33 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through the broadest array of social services that range from providing food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the
disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and opportunities for underprivileged children. About 83 cents of every dollar raised is used to support those services in nearly 9,000 communities nationwide. For more information about local programs, go to http://www.salvationarmy.org/quadcities.

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On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 spaceship blasted its way through the earth's atmosphere to begin the first U.S. mission to orbit the moon?a mission that would set the stage for the first moon landing less than a year later. On board were astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders. By Christmas Eve, the Apollo 8 had begun to orbit the moon. 

Borman, who had planned to participate in the Christmas service at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in League City, Texas, arranged with an engineer at mission control to read a short prayer that could be played for the church. During the third lunar revolution, Borman read:

Give us, O God, the vision which can see thy love in the world, in spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust the goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each one of us can do to set forth the coming of the day of universal peace. Amen.
"Amen," echoed the engineer back on earth.

During the ninth lunar revolution, the astronauts pointed their camera at the moon so that those on earth could get a glimpse of its cratered surface. Then they read the story of the creation from the Bible, as told in the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis: "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

As writer Mike Wright observed, "The Bible reading, with all three astronauts taking part, drew both intense joy and intense dissent." Acting NASA administrator Dr. Thomas D. Paine called it "the triumph of the squares?the guys with computers and slide-rulers who read the Bible on Christmas Eve."

One of the most vocal critics was the infamous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the woman credited with getting prayer taken out of public schools. In a 1963 decision in Abington School District v. Schempp, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that schools could not require students to read passages from the Bible or recite the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of each school day. In response to the Christmas Eve scripture reading from space, O'Hair remarked, "I think the astronauts were not only ill advised but that it was a tragic situation...that they should read portions of the Genesis Bible which is accepted by a very minor number of persons in the total world."

Minor or not, the Bible reading cut through the political haze and sent a strong message to those glued to their radios and TV sets?a message of hope in a torn and ravaged world. And before signing off, the crew of the Apollo 8 sent a final message back to earth: "We pause with good night, good luck and God bless all of you-all of you on the good earth," which apparently included Madalyn Murray O'Hair, whether she liked it or not.

And so ended what had been a tumultuous year that saw the Tet offensive launched by the North Vietnamese; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated; and disenchanted citizens from Paris to Chicago taking to the streets in revolt.

This year, with its heart-wrenching tragedies in the schools and elsewhere, has been no less tumultuous. We've had kids getting micro-chipped in the public schools. Congress, the courts and the White House working in cahoots to erode our privacy rights. The Transportation Security Administration fumbling its way through national security. Hurricane Sandy ravaging the Eastern shore. The police state merging with the surveillance state to keep us tagged, tracked and under control. The military industrial complex lobbying to keep the nation at war and defense contractors in the money. Individuals getting fined and arrested for violating any number of vague and overreaching laws. Homes getting raided and innocent Americans killed by rampaging SWAT teams armed to the hilt.

Through it all, The Rutherford Institute has remained strong, vibrant and incredibly relevant, despite a growing caseload and limited resources. However, as you will see from this month's Faith and Freedom newsletter, we could not do what we do without the prayers, friendship and support of individuals like you. We accomplished a great deal in 2012, and with your continued support, we will be able to continue our vital mission of restoring and preserving our civil liberties well into 2013.

So thank you, and God bless you, for giving what you can, when you are able, time and time again. Thank you for believing that freedom is worth fighting for. And thank you for your prayers for our guidance, protection and perseverance. As we remember all the battles you've helped us through this year and anticipate the ones waiting on the horizon, we pray that God will bless you and your loved ones, both now and in the year to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.