BEING both a movie actor and director, as well as a movie affectionado, I'm well aware of the part that a good soundtrack plays in any and every movie, right down to the ability of "the right" music being able to, almost on its own, invoke viewer emotional attachment and garner views/sales. But I've often wondered exactly how much music also masks the acting and story. So, when world class author and scriptwriter, William Maltese, sent me a script for WINNOWING, I determined to make it an exp...

IT’S my pleasure as director of the JET Production of WINNOWING -- https://winnowing.yolasite.com -- to announce the creation of a director’s cut. This novel “soft” neo-noir film features Setsuko Tsuchiya in her debut lead actress role with actor-companion Daniel S. Janik, together playing eight roles each from a screenplay by the incomparable author/screenwriter William Maltese. Incorporating storylines from six Maltese books, WINNOWING brings diversity to a new level and, I believe,...

FIRST, let me explain that living in Hawaii, we’re always alert to tropical hurricanes, like Calvin, that like to visit our islands this time of year through Christmas. Calvin is about halfway here and so far has been growing in intensity achieving Category Two status yesterday.

WINNOWING — https://winnowing.yolasite.com — on the other hand is a JET Progress film production, currently in post-production. What they have in common is that as WINNOWING progresses through the film festival...

WINNOWING, a JET Progress production based on the screenplay of the same name by William Maltese, is a vignette of short scripts from previously published William Maltese books, which two actors must persevere reading as part of a final audition for a “Really Big Film.” A mystery-drama, the six scripts include:

“House of the Brave Bulls” in which prize bulls raised and trained for the bullfights in Madrid suddenly go missing.

“Assignment: Grey Area” in which a private investigato...

I recently posted regarding the film WINNOWING — https://winnowing.yolasite.com — which I’m debut-directing, and which I’m hoping will become a classic in what I’m calling the post-modern “Soft” Neo-Noir movie genre. Never heard of it? That’s likely because it’s, I believe, unique to contemporary motion pictures.

One of the great challenges to creating a new film genre is the musical accompaniment. The big question at JET Progress — https://jet-progress.yolasite.com — r...

WINNOWING is a JET Progress production about an actress – Sakura Kai played by Setsuko Tsuchiya – and actor – Richard Andrews played by Daniel S. Janik – persevering together through a final audition for a part in an undisclosed “really big film,” currently in post-production with an anticipated release in later 2023 or early 2024. Based on a screenplay by pre-eminent author and screenwriter William Maltese, WINNOWING requires reading excerpts from six published Maltese works, inc...

OKAY, let’s start at the beginning. “Noir” (masculine) or “Noire” (feminine) simply means “black.” According to a popular online thesaurus, it can be used in a variety of shades of meaning such as dark, absence of light or illumination, obscure, cynical, fatalistic, edgy, bleak, to which I would add in contemporary terms minimalistic. According to Filmlifestyle.com, “During the 40s and 50s, film noir was at its height. The world had just come out of a brutal war and there was ...

WHEN JET Progress agreed to produce William Maltese's screenplay, WINNOWING, I was pleased to be offered not one, but TWO Lead roles, those of Jeff Candleston, Draqual Media's Casting Director, and Richard Andrews, auditioning actor. I'd never played two roles, much less two lead roles, in a movie. Still, one of my personal favorite actors, Peter Sellers, was known for such, so I immediately felt a sense of excitement in the challenge, and, now that WINNOWING is almost finished filming, accom...

JET Progress is pleased to announce the immanent transition of the film WINNOWING — https://winnowing.yolasite.com — from production into post-production. This short, dramatic mystery about two actors stretching their acting abilities to persevere through multiple, live screening auditions for possible lead roles in an otherwise undisclosed “Really Big Film,” stars Daniel S. Janik and Setsuko Tsuchiya, each playing two different characters.

The Ultimate Audition: Two Actors; One Drea...