Johnny Derango's gonna shoot Sam Bailey!!!

"Your director of photography is named Johnny Derango?"

If you think his name is something, you should check out his reel: www.johnnyderango.com.

Working with Johnny somehow turns every problem into another one of life's poker-faced incredulities, to be greeted with enough disbelief to make it funny before pouring on the coals. One of the things I've learned from Johnny is that many of the challenges we face can be solved just by laughing at them long and hard enough.

At the same time, he's one of the hardest workers I've ever met. In less than one day, Johnny and I nailed over twenty-five shots for Farther, spread across over a mile of rugged, rocky, windy desert. Looking back at that shoot I remember the risks we took, the amazing scenery, and the sensationally good time we had. Oddly, I don't remember feeling tired.

When we got back and went through the footage, everything looked fantastic. We've cut together an amazing 8 minute short with only one real day of shooting. Frankly, it's a wonder.

Just prior to the recent reading, Johnny confessed that he's eager to dig into Sam Bailey and Heartsgaard, and that on top of his camera duties he wants to put his hands on the experience, the credit, and the rewards of our success as a producer. Johnny knows that he brings a host of production and post-production contacts and relationships to the table. On top of that, our viral and guerrilla marketing stands to benefit from his creativity, his fearlessness, and his sense of humor.

Look, these aren't films that will land a fella on Michael Bay's camera team. From a production standpoint, the challenges are pretty straightforward. Our success will be in the details, and I'm extremely confident that Johnny will master those details thoroughly. On the other hand, our business plan absolutely relies on a certain degree of recklessness. Pulling off a stunt like Sam Bailey or Heartsgaard demands wit and no small amount of courage. For those reasons alone, having Johnny join Sam Bailey's team of producers is a perfect match.

We're going to laugh our way straight through this. Once we've pulled it off, we'll be an independent film company. We'll remember the risks we took. We'll remember the beauty we found along the way. We'll remember the people, and the amazing time we had together. We'll have a major motion picture making money in US theaters, and it'll be about time to start laughing off the next set of challenges.

To check out Johnny's commercials, his trailers, his music videos and his reel, visit www.johnnyderango.com.

Johnny Derango, welcome to 8 Sided Films!