Fire-Wired Blog

There she be, "Wheel of Death" in all her incredible, gory, gnarly, fun, and funny glory. There is nothing like finishing a film and just knowing it is a success. Not perfect, maybe it had perfection programmed into its GPS and along the route saw a tourist trap that was too good to pass by and soon decided that in its heart it needed to stay there for the night. That is what I'm talking about. Wheel of Death is a wonderfully wild tourist trap of horror comedy that actually delivers the good.  There are so many points I want to hit but I'll start with the thing everyone needs to know: Craig Bahnsen's performance as Doug the Demon is so impossibly good. I love so many things in this film and hit so many of my goals in it, but the top of the praise heap is definitely Craig. I didn't know in 2019 when we asked him to slap on some JNCOs that he had this in him, but I am so happy he hung around and delivered a performance that makes this film the most rewatchable ...

On set of "Essential Essence." Tiny Explosions did something we have never done before; we pre-planned an important element of our 48 Hour Film Project film. I am a bit of a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to the rules. I don't care if it is a month, week, or hours before the kickoff- if you have an idea for our film, keep it in your head. Does that box have a logo on it? We need a different box. Can you see that Kohl's signage in the shot? We need to reframe. In fact, I get rather cranky when other teams break the rules and pre-write their film. What's the point of 48 if not for the constraints? Still, we kind of massaged the rules a bit in that we made puppets.  For as long as I can remember, my family has watched the "Muppet Family Christmas" on or around Christmas Eve. It originally aired in December 1987 and I still watch the original recording my parents made on VHS. It is one of my favorite things; the songs, all the Henson characters, the gags, th...

It's taken a few months, but I think I've processed the production, release, and reception of the "USS IOWA," a documentary I worked on for four years. I hesitate to call it "my documentary" because I didn't originate the project, and sharing the story of military history and people's personal stories is a bit of sacred task. Discussing the project in reverse, when the documentary was entirely edited and ready for release I felt a shock of concern; would U.S. Navy veterans accept it? the people who run the USS IOWA museum in San Pedro, California? Survivors of the April 19 explosions? Navy historians? Thankfully the answer to all of that was yes.  A packed house at the second screening of USS IOWA, in Johnston at Camp Dodge. In Waterloo, the very first audience for USS IOWA. While the project hit the airwaves on March 1, 2023, the first screening was actually February 18 in Waterloo in front of live audience with hundreds of veterans in attendance an...