Beyond COVID

The public’s response to my recent declaration that “I’m looking beyond

COVID” has been enthusiastic. My decision to do so was made only after

careful consideration of all the facts surrounding the pandemic since it

entered our lives in early 2020. Insurance companies, film industry unions,

and common sense now require film sets to have a full-time COVID compliance

officer on-hand at all times during production. Rest assured, I am prepared.

I’ve been fortunate to have found a woman by the name of MJ Policastro,

who is now officially attached to UVA Films as (a) an Associate Producer,

(b) a Certified COVID Compliance Officer and (c) a trusted collaborator on

my 2021 slate of projects (“Happy Goat,” “CA Shorts,” and “Decade Game.”)

In addition, MJ has asked me to reach out to find a caterer who would consider

collaborating with her as film productions increase (as they surely will) now that an

effective vaccine has been developed and will soon be available. Email me or reach

out to MJ directly on her LinkedIn account.

What is "CA Shorts"? Blog #5

CA Shorts is a feature-length film about what can happen to anyone who is willing to risk it all in order to create a new chance for themselves in California. The film does not tell a single story for it is not a single film, but rather several short films joined by a common theme about the reinvention of the self and a firmly rooted sense of place set here on the Western Edge of the North American Continent. The film’s strong, thematic glue asserts that we all have the capacity to reinvent our lives to mirror what we imagined they could be - or die trying.

CA Shorts declares that anything undertaken in California is considered possible. Even before the California Gold Rush of 1849 it’s continued to have a reputation for the quickness with which something new can be devised and a willingness of the people to abandon the old ways. The film will tell the stories of such people’s lives as they find what they’re looking for.

That’s what CA Shorts is.

In early 2020, CA Shorts will be released as a feature film.

A Blog Kindly Published #4

An open letter addressed to my family, friends, collaborators, and to the many strangers who have contributed so much support to my 15 year filmmaking career. 

     Back in 2018, I retained the consulting services of one Ms. Joanne Butcher, the founder of a dynamic enterprise called Filmmakers Success that is based here in San Francisco and in Miami, Florida. You should know that I have known Joanne for well over fifteen years and took notice quite early of her insights and intuition when discussing ‘the business’ of being a creative, as well as how all we humans have the capacity to reinvent our lives to mirror what we once imagined they could be. What’s not to love about that?

      Once Joanne had signed-on as my mentor and coach, I took my foot off the metaphorical brake and stumped on the accelerator to develop the idea of an anthology film called CA Shorts that is now quickly becoming my first feature film. I have taken the necessary deep breath required and jumped into what has proved to require a lot of ambition, work and daring.  Wasn’t it was Goethe who wrote about the unconscious impulses underlying our mental creations. He advised that, “Whatever we can do, or dream we can do, we should begin it.”

      My first step into the world of being a businessman who makes films was to beg and borrow $15,000 from family, friends, collaborators and a great many strangers who took note of my mission statement and funded the first two stages of a for-profit business called GMCo LLC (G. Maselli Company). Thank you all again everyone. I will forever be grateful.

      In order to explain why I chose to set all my stories in and about California, I must confess that I was born and raised for the first 18 years of my life in Porterville, California. Thanks to my parents, Babe and Juanita, I managed to, somehow, find my way through the maze of growing up in a very small town in California’s Central Valley nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  CA Shorts is my very personal expression of the love that I have for the great state.

      As I grew older and my travels took me further and further away from home, I discovered that around the world anything is considered possible in California.  I learned that the California has earned a reputation of the quickness with which something new can be devised and that that points to a willingness of the population to abandon the old ways for the new. It was the likes of Sam Clemens and his friends that informed me that by well before the monumental Gold Rush of 1949, California had already developed its distinctive reputation as a place where anything is considered to attainable. 

     My compilation of short films will be packaged together and released as a feature film with a strong thematic glue that suggests that we all have the aforementioned capacity to start again.  You will experience that California’s strongest magnet of all is the possibility of reinvention.

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A Blog Kindly Published #3

One of my old zen master buddies once told me, “Climbing mountains. That’s all there is, Leo. You will get to the top of one and you will find that yourself at the bottom of another one. And then another, and another.”

So I am here to tell you all about it. Film-wise, UVA Films (the GMCo LLC film production company) is growing and expanding. It is most certainly a start-up that’s showing what it’s got to the marketplace. Moxie, talent and passion.

We have valuable assets:

— One finished film - in-the-can - has be in and come out of post-production. Title: A Lovely Adult Beverage.

— Another film wrapped on 1/19. The film Indulgence and is about to go into editing to get a first rough cut in my hands sometime prior to March 16th.

— Three film-right options on three screenplays to be exercised (or not) by me by this spring.

We have quality, high-concept projects in the pipe-line:

— We are producing a featurette about our Composer Sky Schuyler and his process writing the score for Indulgence. It will premier at the Scary Cow Film Festival and be available to a growing legion of fans on YouTube - and let’s not forget the potential investors who will be pleased to see a fascinating tale well told on film about a man and his music - on demand on YouTube . Site-survey this upcoming Monday evening.

— Another film goes into production on April 24. Title: Tamale. (Writer - Donna Mae Foronda. Director - Maria Maella)

— Another film goes into production in July. Title: Happy Goat. (Writer/Director - Donna Mae Foronda)

— Another film goes into production in October. Title: Either Incidental Rae or The Lens. It’s a difficult choice offered by the writer/director , Tamara Gurbis.

— I am in discussions with filmmakers concerning the future sales and licensing of CA Shorts.

— I am in conversation with two Sales Agents and a VOD Distributor about CA Shorts and its future.

— The short films will be packaged together as CA Shorts and released in early-2020. I thank you for taking the last few minutes to read my GMCo business blog.

Until next time, I remain

G. L. Maselli

A Blog Kindly Published - #2

The fourth and final shoot-day on the Indulgence project has come and gone five long days ago. The cast and crew have moved on. But before they left, I let them know how impressed I am with their hard work and passion for the project and for indie-filmmaking in general.

Now we slide right into Post-Production - in all its many phases. Here in the war-room there’s a big chart on one entire wall lists the next steps that will give will move the whole CA Shorts feature-film concept closer to an early 2020 release. It looks like this:

— Assemble all the Indulgence footage shot to-date.

— Edit together the first rough cut.

— Get the first rough cut into the hands of our composer, Jim Schuyler so he may begin making key decisions of where music could fit and how it would enhance the film’s story.

__ Begin production of a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process. It will be a mini-doc - a featurette, if you will, with a total run time of 3-1/2 to 5 minutes.

Here’s the thing: it must all be accomplished in just under 7 weeks. There is a deadline. There always is. If a deadline doesn’t make itself apparent to me, I create one of my own.

Am I having fun? Could I do this forever? Well, I decided long ago that for me, creativity is an essential aspect of my life. And I’ve never been more creative than I am right now.

A BLOG KINDLY PUBLISHED

VOLUME ONE  - First Edition

 I was thinking that publishing a new, on-going, writing project today, right now in my life, would be made even more difficult due to not having anyone around these days to bounce my blog ideas off of.  But then, I remembered you: my family, my friends and my collaborators and most certainly my fans (I’d guess four - my grandchildren) and supporters (of which there are well over 150) who have committed their hard-earned dollars to my current, major enterprise called CA Shorts in the form of donations and loans to the project.  Can investors be far behind?

Your good judgment shall be rewarded.

Speaking of matters involving good judgment, earlier today I received the third message (via our friends at Seed&Spark - the crowdfundng platform) from a fellow in France who wants to loan the GMCo LLC project 1,800 Euros. I ignored his first pitch, told him no thanks to his second, and still he returns.  So - I’m going to do my due-diligence and see what I can work out with him.  Is he for real or just working the room?

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 Although I’m currently working on 3 screenplays, most of what I do every day is administrating a start-up business that is projected to make a healthy profit upon release of its first feature in the first quarter of 2020 (the aforementioned CA Shorts).  No mistakes can be tolerated.  This is the edge of the sword.  I am such a romantic.

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 How long will each blog be - how many words?  Well, what I’ve written above is about 250 words.  I intend to always shoot for between 350 to 500 words. A page.

 So I’ve got more to write. Here’s more about me and the film projects I create.

 As I’ve said in my brand-new GMCo LLC website setup over at Square Space:

 “As a teller of narratives set in a broad range of genres, I think of myself as being part of a very old and very true tradition.  That’s how I would like to be remembered – as the creator of films about reinvention, each full of wonderful characters, provocative endings, and non-tragic themes.”

As a secret admirer once reported so accurately about me:

“There is little doubt that no writer could be more at home in the dramatic and humorous worlds created in his screenplays and films than, Giacinto Leonado Maselli, himself.  Of Italian descent, Mr. Maselli traces his family’s arrival in California to the latter part of the great Gold Rush years.  As a boy growing up in the small foothill community of Porterville, California, he absorbed all he could about his family’s enterprising and multi-generational heritage  (the ranching and processing of olives, olive oil and Italian food products), including the loving, non-stop, old world humor and philosophizing that was always mixed into the exciting and passionate family life around him.”

My first GMCo LLC blog has reached 469 works.  I have succeeded.  Thank you for inspiring me.

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