dv theater
Thu Aug 24 1:12 AM US/Eastern 2000

i am surprised this movie was shown, although I support ifc's right to show it. i am opposed to government censorship of any kind, but i do believe with the right to show this film comes a responsibility to anticipate predictable, undesirable outcomes. this film encourages others who may confuse fame with notariety to follow this directors' example: ifc may then have blood on their hands.
-- (george heath jr.)
gheathjr@aol.com
 
 Astounding!!
Thu Dec 21 11:07 AM US/Eastern 2000

I hope, however, that someone is in the process of turning the tables on director Frank Gallagher. I would like to see how he is coping with the aftermath of the tragedy that he and his crew facilitated. The ultimate irony of course is that Gallagher has made a brilliant film and Tom, who couldn't, is dead. On the brighter side, do you think Adele is still single?

Carmine from NYC

Good Documentary
Thu Dec 21 1:28 AM US/Eastern 2000

We all go through so many failures in this life and often we think about taking our own life when we do fail. But Tom was a spoiled brat. He had won the money and he could easily have let go of the movie at any time. What he tried to do was live his movie through the documentary, because he knew the movie he had made probably would never be that successful. This guy was obsessed with being a success and for the first time in his life he was confronted with failure and did not know how to handle it.

AB
classpath@yahoo.com

They Shoot Movies...
Thu Dec 21 1:29 AM US/Eastern 2000

Great movie! I've never written in praising a movie before, but this one just really hit me...the reality of it!!! Borderline genius; the interplay between the two movies that were actually trying to go on at the same time. I'll be going on to theyshootmovies.com after this to see what else there is! Wicked!!

James Elliott Brooklyn, NY

theyshootmovies

I watched your film here in my apartment from 4:15 am to 6:00 am EST today.  This movie should have never been shown. It is a major disrespect to Tom Paulson and to his family and friends. There is a line that should not be crossed... you have crossed it.
William Elliott Jaeger
jaegerwi@home.com
 
 
 reaction to dvtheater
Thu Aug 24 1:07 AM US/Eastern 2000

That was awesome.Really powerful shit.Yet another example of why IFC is some of the best stuff on tv.Please keep up the great programing. Justin Miami,Florida
-- (Justin Brezner)
cirus33@bellsouth.net
 
 

The Making of Mirage
Thu Aug 24 1:35 AM US/Eastern 2000

You've got to be kidding me. NO ONE had a clue as to how alienated Tom was  becoming? Frankly, I'm pissed off and appalled at the lengths Mr. Gallagher felt he had to go. By deciding to keep the cameras rolling at the same time he must have undeniably been viewing (as I had) the deterioration of Tom's emotional constitution  (from unconfident to fragile to unstable) without thinking to intervene (either on or off camera) makes me  wonder "how amazing did he think the appeal of this documentary would be?" But, I don't even mean to single out the director. I'm sure any one of the people following Tom around until his last day in Vegas could have seen that something in his demeanor had darkened dramatically. The last vestiges of a dying civilization were not being captured on film here (not that that would make this sort of outcome acceptable, but possibly plausible?) -no, only a twenty-seven year old man attempting to make a movie (good, bad or ugly), and now he's dead? The truth is stranger than fiction and much more horrifying.
-- (M Rosenblum)
msr1@mindspring.com
 
 

To: nobody@theyshootmovies.com

i caught the film about half way thru....tom's plight is not foreign to me or many people i suppose. one doesn't have to label oneself an artist (acting, scripting)  to realize once we pass certain stages in life...guess what? that is what we have been doing all along. it becomes an existential dream..why carry on...why try...why care? what the hell! by the time the film concluded  i was madly and deeply in love with tom. he was me.... i him. his  plight...the plight of humanity. the difference was he took it seriously.  maybe we should take a lesson from him. the film scared the shit out of me.  it is so real. thank you,  ed frazier...austin, texas
edgermain@aol.com
 
 Tearing the soul out of a filmmaker
Thu Aug 24 1:14 AM US/Eastern 2000

Wow. I'm in the embryotic stages of making a  film and seeing this man's ultimate journey in film and in life makes you think about why we do what we do and what is the real driving force behind who we are. It seems that he killed himself and also would have been able to pay the Ari guy so that shows you how confused and at one with his decision he was. as a documentary it all makes sense but what a shitty way to get somebody's soul into your camera. I can't really think of anything else to say. I don't want to see the film if and when it comes out only because I'd feel like a sadistic voyuer and probably wouldn't take away anything from the film but I would be trying to figure out the man behind the camera and I'm not sure I need to look any further than the documentary for that. P.S. could you loan me 40 grand so I can make my film, I'd do just about anything, include let you film my demise and then solicit a reaction via the internet, SICK FUCKING BASTARDS
-- (Nate Cohen)
magicnumber32@hotmail.com
 
They Shoot Movies-Dont They?
Thu Aug 24 1:03 AM US/Eastern 2000

Fascinating. Truly reality based programming. I found myself gripped to watching this documentary. And also a truly tragic tale.
-- (Tom)
tpenso@cs.com
 
 
Re: The Movie "They Shoot Movies, Don't They?"
Thu Aug 24 1:12 AM US/Eastern 2000

(It) shows the cold blooded and callused side of the business of making movies where the artistic vision gets sacrificed. I found it more than a little coincidental that the film "Mirage" that he was making was about failure and that he considered himself a failure by his in- ability to get the money to finish his vision. But very compelling......raw emotional drama with fair measure of honesty. I hope a measure of his vision endures through the final cut. Can't wait to see the movie!! james
-- (James)
notrout2@aol.com
 
 They Shoot Movies Don't They?
Thu Aug 24 1:12 AM US/Eastern 2000

Great documentary. We most definitely can get too focused and as a result end up putting some reason and logic aside. I would like to know what happens to the film--will it end up making money in the end? I believe there is a fine line between the most successful and people like Tom. Indeed, Tom may have become a highly successful filmmaker if he had endured. Toward the end Tom was unreasonable in his requests from freinds and business associates. Would anyone disagree with that? Maybe he took his life to make a statement of, "Here's your money--that's all you all wanted, and you got it. Life shouldn't be about money."
-- (Mark Jacobs)
MarkDJacobs11@hotmail.com
 
 

POWERFUL= THEY SHOOT MOVIES DON'T THEY
Thu Aug 24 1:13 AM US/Eastern 2000

CAUGHT THE DOCUMENTARY MIDWAY THROUGH AND IMMEDIATELY GOT CAUGHT UP. POWERFUL FOOTAGE TO SEE A HUMAN HIT ROCK BOTTOM. HARD TO BELIEVE, HOWEVER, THAT HE HAD THE MONEY IN HIS POCKET AFTER GOING TO THE CASINO. STRANGE THING,OUR FASCINATION WITH THE MATERIAL, MAN SELLING HIS SOUL=FRIENDS, FAMILY, SPOUSE) FOR HIS QUEST TO BE RICH AND FAMOUS THROUGH HIS ART AND THEN FAILING AND SEEING SUICIDE AS THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESPONSE. STRANGE THING ABOUT MYSELF? FIND A PERSON'S FAILURE AND SUICIDE AS FASCINATING ENTERTAINMENT.
-- (GEORGE FOX)
contemjaz@aol.com
 
 You missed the point!
Thu Aug 24 1:41 AM US/Eastern 2000

The truly miserable ones in the film are the "producer" characters who think they got it all figured out. They are the ones who ultimately "cash-in" on any trends. Look at how compromised and spineless the system is that he (Tom) is up against. That anyone is up against for that matter.
-- (Dankenstein)
the tardis@hotmail.com (or) the  tardis@hotmail.com
 
To: theyshootmovies
i only caught the last half of the movie. it was amazing!!! i didn't believe it was real, it was so good. when is IFC running it again?
Aaron Pugliese" 
aaron11@home.com

They shoot movies...
May 24 1:21 AM US/Eastern 2001

What a great piece of art!!! Ironic that this was actually made b-4 Blair Witch, yet not shown untill recently??!! Keep up the good work! I wanna see "Mirage"... hope someone jumps on this bandwagon, cuz' this could be huge!!!! Let's see the entertainment industry prove this wrong... distribute this! Give funding to Nobody Productions! Let's see what else they are capable of

The County
marinmay7@aol.com

He gave them what they wanted
Mon May 28 7:29 PM US/Eastern 2001

Whether or not Tom Paulson is dead, one out of 2 movies he produced was a resounding sucess.

Cristina
dpete3333@aol.com

Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2002 21:46:36 -0500
From: "Forrest Hicks" <fhicks@ckt.net>
To: <nobody@theyshootmovies.com>
If anybody is reading these messages, I must say that this is the most brilliant thing I have ever witnessed in my life. Absolutely believable. You guys are geniuses...You say this is Hollywood. I say this is what Hollywood should try to be. Make me believe in something.

Forrest

Subject: Wow...
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 05:21:32 -0400
From: "Ryan Speck" <ssmodk@bellsouth.net>
To: <nobody@theyshootmovies.com>

It's really something of a masterpiece and, movie or no, it's still fucking moving and mildly eerie.
When's the next movie?

And who's behind hollywood-buffallo.com? Strange.

Ryan Speck

© 2010 For more information on the THEY SHOOT MOVIES, DON'T THEY Experience
e-mail Nobody Productions
Or call 323-662-7976

A Powerful Film I'm not sure how to respond to.
Thu Dec 21 1:27 AM US/Eastern 2000

Voyeurism. Sadism. Filth. Disgust. Genius.
THEY SHOOT MOVIES is all of those things, and more. It touched ground on so many points (at least to me anyway) As someone who would like to get into film, it's frightening what some people will go to make a film, and protect the "integrity" of that film. To me, the thought that maybe we're all failures if our lives were recorded and broadcast to the world. Anyhow. I'm still not sure how to react. I'm utterly compelled to it, yet in a lot of ways, this is watching a human hit rock bottom for entertainment value. I guess this culture hasn't moved that far from the Roman times, where we'd cheer on Gladiators to kill one another. An excellent film, despite the fact that it's utterly twisted my emotions.

Matt Jordan
larryjordi@aol.com

Alan Meeker wrote:
I do not ever remember being so caught up so fast in a movie while channel surfing. I was immediately hooked. The ending gave me a shock and a loathsome feeling I have never had watching movies for 37 years. I stood up saying. This can't be real, this can't be real, no fucking way is this real. I was spooked guys...amazed. I've never before sent any communication, fanmail, letter etc. etc. regarding a movie. Doubt I ever will again. I can't imagine anyone outdoing this. Geeeez you guys have balls; big brass creative balls.
Alan Meeker
Fort Worth, Texas

More "They Shoot Movies..."
Thu Dec 21 2:02 AM US/Eastern 2000

I wrote several times when I first saw the film, and after watching it again I wanted to see what other people thought. I am struck by several things: (1) the continued confusion about the 'mocku-' vs 'docu-', -mentary. I think that if it's a 'mocku-' then the writers should win some sort of big and meaningful award. If it's a 'docu-', then IFC should be thanked for having the balls to air it. Also if it's a 'docu-' it marks a point in time where the well-founded tenet of nonintervention venerated in nature documentary, has come to human documentary. This is the sympathetic harmony to American interpersonal isolation. My only question is: Are the documentarists really so far "advanced" that they can live with themselves? (2) The urge to view this suicide as dying for Art. That's just infantile. Clearly he died, as is said early in the film, because he is afraid to fail...or to succeed. This suicide is the result of what psychiatrists call: narcissistic injury. It is unimportant. (3) The degree of upset around the real, not real question. My work involves suicidal people, and the families of people who have suicided. IFC has presented an accurate portrayal of the masturbatory nature of the vast majority of suicide attempts and successes. What is the problem?

Amy
sitka1@prodigy.net

They Shoot Movies
Thu Aug 24 2:26 PM US/Eastern 2000

When are you gonna show it again? I missed the very beginning but couldn't stop watching to the very end. Is it real? If it is are you going to show Mirage?
-- (nic)
ncolon@mediascope.org
 
 

Got my attention 1/4 way into the film.
Thu Aug 24 1:11 AM US/Eastern 2000

Documentary? Mockumentary? Either way, it grasped my attention and was a very interesting piece. With all these "real life" TV shows and voyueristic urges in the world of film/Television entertainment, I guess you could say it fit right in. As for the "rules" of shooting a documentary.. Since when did you have to follow rules to shoot anything? The rules of yesterday are suppose to be broken today. If they aren't, we wil be stuck with the same old crap again, and again and again. History doesn't need to be repeated anymore.
-- (A Film/video student not from the east or west coast.)
hybridsniper@hotmail.com
 
 mirage
Thu Dec 21 4:48 PM US/Eastern 2000

did mirage ever make it into the theaters? i'd like to see it although i think i already have.

erica
hatterthanhell2@aol.com

They shoot movies don't they
Thu Aug 24 1:13 AM US/Eastern 2000

I don't know if it was real or not, but this is a great example of quality filmmaking made outside of Hollywood and the networks. Bravo!
-- (Alex)
 
 

The maker of mirage.
Thu Aug 24 1:15 AM US/Eastern 2000

If the documentary wasn't real, then as a film, it was rather shallow in its message of hopeless futility -- to end one's life because one cannot attain an honest vision of their "painting" on film is almost an absurdity. One could merely take up painting instead, or sculpture. A more expressive, evolved scenario could have developed instead where the filmmaker (Tom) realizes the emptiness of the external world, and ultimately realize that his film is forever inside himself -- beautiful, eternal, personal, only visible to himself. And be content with that. If on the other hand the doc was real, then how tragic a story.. to have tried so hard, yet given up so easily.
-- (J. W. Singleton)
MdntTrain@aol.com
 
They Shoot Movies (and Directors) Don't They?
Thu Aug 24 1:23 AM US/Eastern 2000

Provocative, intrusive, quasi-real life drama and disturbing. The obsession of such a single minded, desperate pursuit with the real risk of life ruining failure is both engaging (as we all at some level have "been there") and frustrating. The theme has been played out on many stages before for skaters, dancers, actors, entrepreneurs and  others who sacrifice social life, personal time and resources and often the friendships and relationships of those around them as the strive to attain some personal goal or perhaps the idea of the pursuit of a goal(s). The question is not is this right or wrong but how do we develop a rational perspective that allows us to fail, at times, and still thrive. Hopefully the viewers will pause and reflect on the message in the documentary (and "Mirage") and take a moment to think about it's message for everyone's life. Actually, I think the movie "Mirage" is actually
the documentary-a Kafka-esque twist on what is cinema and what is real life.
-- (Ray Lamont)
snip@ix.netcom.com

"They Shoot Movies, Don't They"
Thu Aug 24 1:27 AM US/Eastern 2000

I don't know what to think. Beauty and pain. Beauty from pain. Whether the story is true or not doesn't matter. The emotion is true. The thought is true. What makes life worth living? Where does the individual draw the line, and say, "I will go no further."? When does the art become more important than the artist, if it does at all? Life reflected in art reflected in life and so on. They can't be separated. Thank you for the film. 
-- (Ian)
cmsc@ntown.com
 
Dope!
Thu Aug 24 1:28 AM US/Eastern 2000

A commendable piece of work. I found myself laughing one moment, and tortured the next. The scene with "Ari" is hilarious, and the producer character is most effective. The films ending is with such sour-ness, not a clear indictment of the hollywood system but a DEFINITE indication as such. A fine effort. The DV format shows to be quite effective. Most heartening. Oh yeah... and I heard somewhere that "some people" thought that Spinal Tap was a real band too. *sheesh*
-- (Dankenstein)
the tardis@hotmail.com (or) the  tardis@hotmail.com
 
So what if it's not real. . .
Thu Aug 24 1:38 AM US/Eastern 2000

it made me think. About success. About failure. And what I might do if my ultimate dream doesn't come true. That, to me, speaks volumes. So all of you quasi-intellectual filmmaker wanna-bes out there should really start considering what appeals to real live people in real live audiences, rather than what's usually done (or not) in documentaries and films.
-- (Joy)
moonstone325@yahoo.com
 
There are two distinct possibilities.
Thu Aug 24 1:44 AM US/Eastern 2000

1: (The most probable supposition) This was a smart, Michael Moore-ish satire on the hollywood industry and how it drives crazed individuals even crazier. Case in point: The Hollywood Buffalo site is way too one-sided in its opinions and accusations and fails to provide a neutral backstory on the real events leading up to the "suicide" of the real Paulson. Plus the note by the straight-out-of-Altman's-ThePlayer-producer which says "Ironically, I believe this will provide us with the happy ending we are looking for" is too sadistic for even a souless individual like that. 
2: The documentary was a shoddy self-parody which did break too many of the rules. And one more point: Anyone who kills themself over their art isn't affecting its quality but rather enacting a myth around it which gives it a more attractive sheen. Can you imagine Ron Fricke shooting himself if he couldn't make "Baraka" or Coppola shooting himself if they wanted Stallone to play Don Corleone? On second thought don't answer that! But in either case I feel the need to say that killing oneself for one's art is both selfish and self-satisfying.
-- (Damien Ruud)
cyberuud@aol.com
 
  Surreal So Real
Thu Aug 24 5:54 AM US/Eastern 2000

Captivating. Enthralling. Poignant. "Blair Witch project" take off, or cinema verite - no matter: it worked. Sadly, I never "liked" Tom enough tocare if he "did it" or not. But the film hooked us all, and for that I salute you. I hope all my wannabe Hollywood friends see it! I do hate this town and all it stands for...
-- (Diana)
dhw63@yahoo.com
 
Reality Vs. Fiction
Thu Aug 24 6:23 AM US/Eastern 2000

Reality verses Fiction: the line is all but gone now. I just hope films like this don't destroy the small market for real documentry films. Still, I thought it was quite effective. I should just be a little more careful what I put on when I can't sleep at 4:15sm on a Thursday morning. It almost made me want to give up on my own screenplay ambitions, but only for a moment.
-- (Mark Hecht)
checht@erols.com
 
They shoot movies....
Fri Sep 22 4:26 AM US/Eastern 2000

I'm a psychiatrist working in an ER, suicidality and suicide attempts are by far the most frequent presentations to my service. I thought about this film for a long time because I couldn't understand why a 'documentarist' would leave a person so clearly suicidal alone in a room with a video camera. I can't remember if they knew about the gun. I came up with a lot of possibilities: that it was a mockumentary, that the 'documentarists' were cynically taking a pose of non-intervention to get a spectacular end to the movie, that they were dirt stupid... Whoever wrote the script happened upon an idea psychiatrists have long known. A high proportion of completed suicides involve a collusion between the dead person and the people closest to him/her at the time. The survivors collude not out empathic atunement; except rarely in cases chronic, painfull, debilitating disease; but out of their inability to tolerate the suffocating demands made on them. This explains, at least partially, the tremendous guilt survivors often experience. Very good work. Thank-you. 
-- sitka1@prodigy.net (Amy)

They Shoot Movies...
Man. What the hell was that?! My accolades to whoever put this together. Very powerful shit. After it ended, I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out what the hell I was just subjected to. I wish you the best of luck. This, and Blair Witch are definitely the "new narrative". Congrats on being the pioneers in the genre! Did you get YOUR "forty thousand" yet?

Derek Tutschulte
derekt@hotmail.comTo: nobody@theyshootmovies.

David Holzman Lives!!
Thu Dec 21 12:49 AM US/Eastern 2000

Astonishing versimilitude! I was 98% taken in when I saw the second half of the first screening several months ago. The 2% that was not taken in hung primarily on my faith in human nature, that no one would distribute the documentary of such an unvarnished tragedy without more humanizing context--truly a testimony to the razor's edge irony with which the piece captures this death of a film salesman."David Holzman's Diary" for the millennium--Bravo!!

Aaron Edison
ADEcat@aol.com

they shoot anything dont they
Thu Dec 21 1:33 AM US/Eastern 2000

A little to real... he didnt win the money...no way...Hard to believe no friend or girlfriend could get him to shelve it for a while. Like she said..."you'll get yours no matter what happens".Arent you glad the poor clueless golfer who removed the bmw badge from his steering wheel for the struggle effect gave you a definitive ending? He knew he couldn't finish his film...but he wanted to give some meaning and purpose to his efforts. A man who has never failed in his life had to succeed for your documentry. Fxxx You. You dealt him the last hand and he was forced to play it out. HE WAS A WINNER. YOU ARE THE LOSERS.

THOR
thorviva@aol.com

Demian Entrekin wrote:
How to say it? Here's one try: your film represents a rough-cut crystalline encapsulation of our post-modern world. Alienation. Reality. Unreality. Self-reflexivity. Desperation. A man sets out after his dream, to make a film about failure, that no one will support, and he becomes his own movie. Which story is the real story? He makes a film about a guy who swims against the tide, and in so doing, swims against the tide himself. Does the film change the experience because of it's intrusive eye? It's almost an absurd question. Does the camera show the truth? Who can say? I know Tom, though I never met him. I know that when you dare to dive into the system, any human system, and don't understand the awesome power it has, you run the risk of your life. Where else could it end? In Las Vegas, of course, where the blur between on-stage and off-stage is impossible to detect. I think it was Philip Roth who said that in America, it is very hard to create fiction, because reality is so hard to compete with. I admire your own fearless dive into the system and hope you know when you're in the current and when you're against it.
Demian Entrekin
Oakland, CA

Good movie - I think
Thu Aug 24 1:16 AM US/Eastern 2000

This is a really interesting film to watch about films and what it takes to make them. The guy was going crazy but you couldn't tell until the end when they show what he looked like at the start.
I'm pretty sure the end was fake, and they were trying to get people interested in seeing 'Mirage,' but everything up to that point was great. So I'm pretty sure I liked this, unless the ending is actually real - then I think it's pretty twisted to show this - and if so, when does the film they were making come out? If it doesn't get into theatres IFC has an obligation to show it, and the guy that made all the money off this film
should be sued.
Peter Bradshaw
pete@eatmydirt.com

Had me up until 2:30am
Thu Aug 24 2:48 PM US/Eastern 2000

Mockumentary or not, I have to admit I was completely fascinated with the plight of Tom Paulson. I went to bed with chills. Probably one of the darkest movies I've seen in ages. No pseudo wannabe Hollywood sophisticated cynicsm here. The movie was excellent.
-- (Tim Ramage)
ewig@earthlink.net
 
couldn't stop watching
Thu Aug 24 5:49 AM US/Eastern 2000

thought it was fantastic. I couldn't leave the room. Didn't want to miss anything. Very unnerving. catches our fears as artists but works as riveting entertainment as well (if a little masochistic to watch). Helps to prove (along with movies like celebration and the last broadcast) that DV works as it's own film medium. i know a few people who'd love this movie. I hope to get them to watch it. very interested in seeing what this group's next project is. 
-- (Josh Gordon)
joshg@centropolis.com
 
Some people have "sucker" written on their foreheads...
Thu Aug 24 1:09 AM US/Eastern 2000

...or they work for the studio. If you believe this movie was a real documentary, then you are a complete dolt. It was really good, however. The mirror relationship between the life of the main character of "Mirage" and Tom's life was very Baudrillard. Very postmodern flick all around. It's a huge cynical take on Hollywood and a shot at its values, which isn't all that uncommon, but it doesn't valorize the whole romantic "starving artist in his garret" thing, which is a difficult balance to strike.
-- (brendan)
 
They Shoot Movies, don't they?
Thu Dec 21 2:20 AM US/Eastern 2000

Is it just me, or have the lines blurred so much now that life and art are completely interchangeable, ndistiguisheable, fungible? If it's Art, then - damn! - it is so true. If it's Life, then -damn!- that's Art... Sharon

waiting to see and hear the gunshot
Thu Aug 24 9:54 AM US/Eastern 2000

I was in bed when this came on, ready to fall asleep, but couldnt until the final credit ran, though I liked the film, it was amazing for me to see the ammount of credits at the end, and some of the names involved....I gotta also admit, it had me hooked on believing the whole thing, until that smoking producer guy came along-but the thread lasted up until the suicide scene-was I watching someone about to blow his brains out, or was I watching a film-either way I felt affected... anyhow, kudos, and cant wait for the next one guys!
-- (andy)
toybots@juno.com  
 

A Clever Film
Thu Aug 24 12:12 PM US/Eastern 2000

Both my wife and I were completely taken in by this ultra-clever and convincingly executed movie. Only until the absolute very end did I grasp what was going on, including the delicious use of the word "mirage." I was emotionally engaged with the characters to a degree greater than anything I've seen on TV in years. It's really fun to be captivated by a movie.

They Shoot Movies
Mon Nov 6 4:32 PM US/Eastern 2000

This "documentary" works on so many levels. Dramatically it was involving and revealing.  Thematically, I think there was much to think and meditate upon. Even the theme of how far a documentary can intrude into someone's life was well done. I would highly recommend this film to anyone, but especially to those of us who watch a lot of independent films that are off-beat. 

-- SrCharles@Mindless.Com (Charles Castelli)

To: nobody@theyshootmovies.com
i caught the film about half way thru....tom's plight is not foreign to me or many people i suppose. one doesn't have to label oneself an artist (acting, scripting) to realize once we pass certain stages in life...guess what? That is what we have been doing all along. it becomes an existential dream..why carry on...why try...why care? what the hell! by the time the film concluded i was madly and deeply in love with tom. he was me.... i him. his plight...the plight of humanity. the difference was he took it seriously. maybe we should take a lesson from him. the film scared the shit out of me. it is so real. thank you,
ed frazier...austin, texas
edgermain@aol.com

Subject: lying hollywood faggot assholes
To: nobody@theyshootmovies.com

"Cutting edge" apparently means "deceptive"., you lying hollywood faggot assholes. It was easy enough to believe (in a state of 'suspended
disbelief') that two dimentional shits shus as Tom really exist. The closer to the end the closer to the farthest reaches of the juvenile's immagination that wrote this piece of shit, simple-minded morality play. Sold his baseball cards to go to Vegas, did he. HACK. YOU BUTTFUCKING HACK. And the narrative "he won the money" is "deus ex machina" as old as the oldest Ancient Greek drama; simply put it's only so because that's the way it was written.
You cocksuckers. I object to your wasting my time with presenting this as a documentary. You simple minded talentless shits obviously lack thecapacity for anything other than theft. Look foreward to your continuing careers as professional street cocksuckers, no doubt in full drag, deluding only yourselves and other faggots.
vincitorex <vincitorex@oco.net>

Subject: Re: hello
To: nobody@theyshootmovies.com

I think that this film should be required viewing by every person who "gave up" at one time or another. This was a difficult movie to watch..which is why it is so good. I am not sure to this day if this was a documentary or not..I'm not sure that I want to know. If it wasnt...every one involved should be nominated for every available award.If it was.....well I am at a loss of words.. I saw the film by chance on I.F.C. and not the whole movie...about 3/4 of it I am 39 and divorced twice with 3 kids from 2 marriages..I have overcome more than I care to mention..in fact it would make an interesting film..but know one would believe it,,,This film..to me..represented the struggle and aggrevation that we all face in our homes and our professional lives...how we mingle them is all that counts....IF we do it well we win..if we dont......well, our guy didnt handle it to well now...did he? I am fowarding to you payment for 3 copies of your film...I would be honored for yoour signature on the cases thanks again
David
DAVLEV37@aol.com

Subject: bye
To: nobody@theyshootmovies.com

I never saw anyone kill themselves before until I saw this. It made some things clear for me and no I know that things don't have to be so hard all the time and they can end. I sort of didn't want to write you, but I guess i did. not to make you feel guilty or something, but because, what you did affected what I'm doing, and we have a connection now. I guess I'm even part of the story a little.
yawgnol@hotmail.com

I've just been to the "they shoot movies don't they" website. And I must confess that i've been a fan since the begining. I saw it last night....and about twice in the last 6 months. Nice work...I don't buy any of it as being real...but I like most of what you communicate. this is the third time I have written this email. I had previously stated all the things I thought you had did wrong and what you film should have really emphasized...but who the fuck am I? I'm a jealous filmmaker because you had the forethought to position and differentiate yourself....nice! I hope to be in the can in several months and then look to kick your ass in the video arena :-0 anyway...it's money..talk it up...but get that goddamn DVTHeater Icon of the fucking screen...it fucks up your film...we all know it's IFC..tell 'em to fuck off

Marcus Russell
Big Hit Productions
Cooprdog@aol.com