Short film becomes a big winner

We received a very nice write-up in the Pioneer Press this week. The Pioneer Press is owned by the Chicago Sun-Times and publishes local papers for Chicago area suburban communities (Skokie Review, Evanston Review, etc.) I'd have to say that this is the most thorough and accurate article written about us to date.

JK

Short film becomes a big winner

December 6, 2007
By ROBERT LOERZEL

John Kramer of Skokie has written sci-fi novels and screenplays for 20 years, but book agents and Hollywood studios wouldn't give him the time of day.

A Rogers Park native who tends bar at Chicago's Second City, Kramer got around that obstacle in 2006 by posting short comedic political videos on the Web. Last month, Crackle, a video Web site owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment Co., chose Kramer's "Hit Men" as the winner of its first short-film contest.

The prizes include something that Kramer has been seeking for a long time: a chance to pitch his movie ideas in Hollywood. He also gets $15,000 and a development deal with Crackle.

But there's a hitch. The Writers Guild is on strike, and the last thing Kramer wants to do is cross picket lines.

"It's thrown a monkey wrench into everything," Kramer says. "If I set foot on the ground in L.A., I get blacklisted immediately."

While Kramer waits for the strike to be resolved, he is keeping busy with his political videos, posting them on his own site, www.britethorn.com, as well as Crackle, YouTube, MySpace and other sites.

Action President

The Fox network's morning shows in various local markets plan to broadcast a series of videos by Kramer starring action figures of President Bush and a character called American Ranger. Chicago actor Sam Locke, a regular at Annoyance Theatre, provides Bush's snickering voice as the president attempts to spell or, in one film, sings "Man of Constant Sorrow."

The Bush vs. American Ranger films are crude and cheap, and Kramer isn't afraid to admit it.

"The majority of our films are made with a $250 Canon video camera," he says. "I walked into a big-box store and bought it."

For the film that won the Crackle contest, "Hit Men," Kramer went slightly bigger-budget. Working with director Johnny Bruder, he used a better video camera and spent four hours filming three Chicago actors skilled at improvising: Second City alum Matt Craig and Second City e.t.c. cast members Andy St. Clair and Alex Fendrich.

Craig plays a citizen snatched off the streets of Chicago by two pollsters who chain him up and demand answers about his preferences in the upcoming presidential campaign.

"People really hate the idea that this election cycle heated up so early," Kramer says.

Shrinking material

After the cast did lots of takes, Kramer and Bruder edited a "wealth of material" down to three minutes and 23 seconds. That's pretty long by Internet-video standards.

"If you get to six minutes, that's like War and Peace," Kramer says.

After Kramer posted "Hit Men" on the Crackle Web site in the fall, the company chose it as an entrant in the short-film contest. A panel of Columbia and Sony executives named it the winner from a field of 10 finalists.

Often working in collaboration with director Aaron Sjohom, Kramer is keeping a political focus for his short films. With the 2008 presidential campaign finally nearing the primaries and caucuses, Kramer expects he will have lots of comedic fodder for his scripts.

Kramer is a Democrat, but when it comes to comedy, he's an equal-opportunity satirist, he says.

"It makes fun of Democrats, too," he says. "There's plenty of stuff to make fun of."