GARY UGAREK
Biography
Independent filmmaker, Gary Ugarek, was born in Bridgeport, CT. Over his life he has lived in Syracuse, NY, Allentown, PA, Scranton, PA, Baltimore, MD and other locales up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
From the early 90’s until 2002, Gary was actually a DJ, and earned the title of Lehigh Valley DJ of the year in 1998. Gary enjoyed being a Dj because he loved the fun, excitement and of course the music. Gary is also a musician. In 1994, he co-wrote and recorded two ballads with friend and guitarist Charles Gilroy Jr. One of the two songs was featured in his 2008 film Deadlands 2: Trapped where Gary served as one of the lead vocalists. That song, Tell Me Why, was written in a gas station garage that both he and Charles worked at in the early 90’s, and recorded at Frushon Studios in Pittston, Pa by lead producer and sound engineer James Frushon.
Gary describes Tell Me Why as a song that is meant for both genders asking the big question… Why? Gary and Charles got into the discussion about relationships and the secrets surrounding them, and that was how the song was born. The actual acoustic guitar rhythm and lyrics were written in about 15 minutes, although Gary admits the discussion was longer than the writing process. The song was originally recorded in april 1993, but Gary felt the mix was very plain and went into the studio with engineer Jim Frushon in 1994 and remixed the track giving it more atmosphere and a wider sound. During that remix session, Gary and Charlie went outside for a break and began discussion Long Distance Relationships, which led to the writing of the ballad, Far and Away. Another song drafted within 15-30 minutes was recorded during the remix sessions for Tell me Why. Both songs were releases on a cassette single in 1994 by Gary and Charlie with “Tell me Why” on side A, “Far and Away” on side B.
Gary also produced his own album of electronic and house music in 2000. The 10 track CD, titled “What Did Jehovah Witness?” and released under his “DjfunkmasterG pseudonym, Was again self released. One of the tracks title “Spanish Pu**y Anthem” is featured in the strip club scene in Deadlands 2: Trapped.
Fed up with the direction current music was going, Gary hung up his headphones in 2002, and then decided in 2003 to start an online radio station, WET N WILD RADIO, that catered to the online crowd who enjoyed House and Hip-Hop from the 80’s and 90’s. Neither a huge success or a flop, Gary got word that Universal Pictures was remaking Dawn of the Dead. When contacting the studio directly in hopes of helping spread the word failed, he snuck on to the set in Canada, snapped a few pictures, and be-friended some of the production crew and other “insiders” to share the information with him because of the large zombie fan community. He began sharing the images on his website, wetnwildradio.com, much to Universal’s dismay. Originally, Universal wanted the images and the site taken down until the realized many notable horror websites were actually referencing Gary’s website for remake information and the web traffic being generated could not be ignored. It was then Universal began openly granting him access, which then led to his invite to the world premiere, and then onto his role in George A. Romero’s 2005 return to the zombie genre film… Land of the Dead. Anyone who is a fan of zombies is a fan of Romero, and one of the biggest thrills you can have as a fan of the filmmaker and the modern zombie genre he created is to be a Romero Zombie… Gary got that chance.
After this two event, it made Gary seriously consider making his own film. He had always been a fan of cinema, and friends note even in high school he always talked about wanting to make movies… in the summer of 2005, with extreme enthusiasm, and some close friends, he began making what we know as Deadlands: The Rising. With $10,000 and no formal film school training, Gary tried to put together a film that covered the first few hours of a zombie uprising. It took a year and some tense moments, but in August 2006 he finally finished the film and debuted it at the Fright Night Film Fest in Louisville, KY for their inaugural year (2006). The film went on to win Best Zombie Film of the Festival.
In 2007, with the Deadlands 1 DVD about to hit store shelves, gary was approached by Chris Kiros and Elias Dancey of Art Held Hostage about joining a project titled ZOMBTHOLOGY, a feature film made up of 3-4 short films based on the zombie genre. Gary’s idea was Trapped, which followed 6 people who seek refuge in an abandon theater during the zombie uprising, it was set to be the lead off film in the Zombthology project because of it’s true to nature zombie horde style, but as production began; Chris, Elias and Gary knew Trapped couldn’t be contained into a 20 minute film. Gary began expanding the screenplay into a feature. The film originally had a $1,000 budget, but when it moved to feature length, Gary recruited some small investors, putting up $1,000 each, and Gary put up $1,700.00 of his own money to bring the budget up to $5,700.00. (the film ended up costing $5,800 and change when completed)
Gary debuted the completed film at the Queens International Film Festival in Queens, NY in 2008 and was nominated for Best Horror Film, however, Gary wasn’t pleased with the cut he produced, left the fest early and when he arrived home, spent the next 4 months re-cutting the entire film from top to bottom, which also including re-scoring 70% of the film with the help of friend and co-composer Brian Wright, who was also a co-composer for Deadlands: The Rising and one of the films lead actors. Gary has composed over 100 drop cues for Deadlands 2 alone, but only a total of 21 tracks made it into the film. Two of the 21 were collaborations between Gary and Brian. Gary and Brian also composed about 75% of the Deadlands 1 score together. Gary would do the Synth and piano bits, rian, Guitar and bass.
Deadlands 2 was more of a critical success than financial. Critics whom hated Deadlands 1, were shocked and awed by how much Gary’s style changed when viewing Deadlands 2. Some have considered it one of the BEST microbudgeted Zombie films ever made.
However, gary wasn’t done, he planned on 3 zombie films, but finding money for the third was hard because he and co-writer Lonnie Martin from Woodbridge, VA drafted a screenplay set after the zombies take over the word. That kind of scope requires money, and Gary was looking at a production budget of $1,000,0000 (his last film… at the time, Deadlands 2, cost just under $6,000)
Because of many false hopes and starts with Deadlands 3, Gary opted to change genres. A fan of Gangster films, Gary wanted to make something in the vein of HBO’s The Wire, but wasn’t that well versed with the Urban based talent of the state. In 2010, he was invited to Cameo on the Tom Townsend directed, zombie film Zombie Doomsday. On that set he met Kelvin Page, and Nelson Irizarry. Impressed with both, he struck up a conversation, and made the promise they would work together. IN January 2011 he had the idea of what would become ALL in the GAME. Recruiting Nelson and Kelvin, they set out to make a gritty inner city story revolving around a small time drug crew aiming for the big time. Nelson introduced gary to Micaiah Jones and Chris Clanton, both of whom worked on HBO’s The Wire, the joined the cast as Vince and Lucky… now all they had to do was raise the money.
Originally looking for $7,500, the production ended up with about $1,700.00 after community funding fees were deducted from Indie-gogo. The started filming in March 2011 and over 6 weekends finished shooting the film in May 2011. Because of the lack of money, the production suffered some technical issues, mostly in the sound area, which is one of your most important aspects. Gary did what he could do to fix it, and began shipping it off to possible distributors. The film was picked up by EWO Entertainment, which distributed it through the ADA (Alternative Distribution Alliance) which is partners with WEA (Warner, Electra, Atlantic). Gary’s lowest budgeted film of all his work found the widest distribution, placing in Best Buy and other Brick and Mortar retail outlets across the USA. Gary pleased with this began planning for a sequel, but then suddenly, Deadlands 3 popped itself back into the picture. After spending almost Five Years trying to get the film made Gary gave up on it, but an associate producer Gary met through contacts, brought a horror based studio into play who has great interest in producing Deadlands 3 for a 2013 Release. Filming dates are not secured yet, but the film is slated to begin shooting Spring or Summer 2013, with a late 2013 or early 2014 release.
While gary plans for Deadlands 3, he spends his free time shooting shorts or promo videos with the cast from his films, he also works as an independent contractor for the pharmaceutical industry as a Quality Assurance GMP expert, something he has done for 13+ years, while being a DJ and a filmmaker.
Gary recently left the Washington, DC area and has temporarily relocated to just outside Philadelphia, PA, but promises he is returning to Maryland because as he puts it… that is where my family is, and by family I mean my friends.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1658124/
Gary Ugarek
writer/director/producer
WNWR Films, LLC
240-340-0880
garyugarek@yahoo.com
Hatboro, PA 19040
INTRODUCING KENNY JOHNSON
Kenny Johnson is a film and video enthusiast currently living in Columbia, MD. He enjoys every aspect of filmmaking from writing and directing, to working as a grip and PA, to editing. He enjoys both the technical aspect and the artistic message in film and video.
ACCESS DMV INTERVIEW WITH KENNY JOHNSON
ADMV: How long did it take to edit the DMV Truth.
K J: It took close to 90 hours to edit The DMV Truth. I'm a perfectionist. I'm also slow. It was a total of 20 interviews at 30 minutes a piece too.
So a lot of Raw footage to go through.
ADMV: How long have you been a film editor and what was the most difficult film to edit and why?
K J: I've been editing stuff since like 2002 or 2003. Lots of little short films with my high school friends on the weekend. And even a public access show. I started off with Adobe premiere, then moved to Final Cut Pro and a little bit of Avid, and now slowly back to Premiere. But to be honest I consider myself more of a video editor. Some day I hope to work more with film on an actual steenbeck. That's kind of a lost art. Everything is digital and done on computers these days. There's this kind of blending of film and video now. It's weird. So I don't know whether to say film or video editor. I just go by editor. But the hardest project (which was also the most fun) was Pro Wrestler. I probably got over 100 hours of footage on this one. Lots of cool stuff. And I put together like 3 different versions. It was also my first documentary. I had no idea what I was doing. It was struggle the entire time and I spent almost 7 months just strictly editing. It took me like 16 months to make. But I had so much fun making it. And I made some incredible friends along the way.
ADMV: I loved the lighting setup how did you decide the type of lighting for the DMV Truth?
K J: For the lighting I wanted to look kind of low-tech, simple and raw. It was the stripped down style that complimented what the subjects on the screen were saying. This was supposed to be kind of a confessional to the audience. That's why I had a harsh back light, almost like a spot light. It's dark in a confessional and the only light is that harsh light shinning down on your from the ceiling.
ADMV: What is your favorite job as a filmmaker The job of a DP , Producer or Editor and why?
K J: My favorite job editing. That's what I want to focus on in life. There's so many choices and decisions you have to make as an editor. It's fun and scary at the same time.
ADMV: The music on The DMV truth was awesome how did you decide when and where of the segments to place the music tracks?
K J: I spent a lot of time with the music. The music was placed at particular points to emphasize a change in the mood. Or to enhance the mood. Music is very powerful and often taken for granted. People try to do too much with it and it takes away from the scene. Sometimes the most powerful kind of music is no music at all. You take that sound away and just listen to the dialogue.
ADMV: As a DP what is the most important piece of equipment to have on set other than the camera?
K J: In my opinion, a big HD monitor. Something big that I can show the whole crew that's got focus assist and false color. Exposure is everything. I'd rather get it right in production and not use the horrible excuse of "we'll fix it in post." Kind of basic, but it's important to have a good monitor.
CHECK OUT SOME OF KENNY'S WORK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyI1NV8J_DE
