Fantastic Frank

This one will be a bit more personal. If you're lucky, you have one of those friends who's been around for so long that you don't remember meeting them. They've perpetually been there like a sibling, only better; someone you actually enjoy and want to spend time with. I can't always say that about my family. I have an older brother, a twin sister and an elder half-sister. Their personalities and interests are far different from one another and from myself. If it weren't for the blood relation they'd most likely want nothing to do with this geeky movie-nut that lives way down in Springfield with his wife & cats. They'll pretend to be interested and listen whenever I go on about whatever movie project I happen to be consumed with at that moment but they don't offer any feedback or express the least bit of curiosity about my passion. Hell, that describes 98% of the people in my daily life actually. My poor wife is obligated to put up with me and even with her, I tend to supress a lot. I'm not an extrovert but if I sense a spark of genuine interest from someone hearing me mention movies, be it my own work or some "real" film, I'll open up, letting the usual inhibitions drop. Todd and I have a great rapport with our movie talks. Sometimes we disagree on certain flicks, but that makes the subject more fun and interesting. A couple of my other "movie buddies" as I like to call them, are enjoyable to share geek-outs with. But it sorta stops there. We all have our individual real-life issues and personal lifestyles. Those damn things that inevititably throw the walls up. During most discussions, the subject invariably changes to politics or their jobs or other acquaintences. They vent, I vent, the end. See ya later. Sometimes one of them gets a bit too defensive or aggressive about a sore-spot subject. I usually just clam up and let 'em finish with the last words. People don't seem to actually have conversations much anymore. Someone usually gets on a soapbox rant and spoils the atmosphere. I won't name names. Hell, I'm probably guilty myself. I wish there was more compassion in the world and less pop-culture political parroting. The one person I'm most comfortable talking with has always been Frank Alexander. He's the best listener and one of the warmest humans being I've ever known. Always attentive, always encouraging, always generous, always friendly. He doesn't live in Springfield anymore so we rarely cross paths these days, unfortunately. I could always pour my heart out to Frank and not worry that he'd use it as ammunition later. Hopefully he felt likewise.. Earliest memory of Frank was that he rode my school bus. He's almost a year older which put him one grade above me & Todd. One time during, I dunno, 4th or 5th grade while on the bus we were talking comic books. He had a pile of Fantastic Four comics that I somehow relieved him of. I don't remember if he wanted rid of them for some reason or if I talked him out of them. Probably the latter. I was a selfish and cheap little brat. "Was." Ha! Still am. Back in the '70s, nothing bonded geeky kids such as us like comic books and Star Trek. Nowadays, I guess similar things can be said about kids forming friendships over video games and/or comics but there's so godddamn much of it everywhere! Quantity has smothered quality it seems. Inevitably, Frank joined Todd and me for our filmmaking endeavors right off the bat. Maybe we should've called it TRRSFA Films but I don't remember if Frank ever expressed a desire to direct. Luckily, he was never afflicted with the massive ego it takes to fuel a filmmaker's madness. He was our lead actor in "Previews of Coming Attractions" and contributed to damn near every other film, be it short or feature, in front of the camera and behind since then.

1985 to May '86, I was absent from Springfield and my friends because of my first failed marriage. Those were dark days for me, but Todd and Frank carried on. They shot a couple of fun little VHS shorts and I was envious of the missed chance to contribute to them. But that simple effort by my two best friends encouraged me to keep the filmmaking dream alive since clearly, it still was with them. Todd and I picked up where we'd left off when I moved back and continued to brainstorm and write. This is where those previosly-mentioned half-started, half-finished super 8 projects originated. Eventually, we moved on to shooting on the cheaper, easier VHS format and naturally, Frank was there to help but these projects failed to coalesce also. It was 1994 when we settled on the not-so-cheap format of SVHS for the features..

Frank's social circle included a lot more guys than just me and Todd. These dudes were hard-core gamers who all stayed busy for days at a time playing the latest & greatest roll-playing games. I never got into that stuff myself. There wasn't time after all the movies to keep up with, 40+ hour workweeks and my other damn wives. Anyway, the upshot is that time with Frank always seemed to be at a premium, so I savored it making sure it didn't get squandered. Frank's roommates and other friends got recruited for the movies as well! I think all them appeared in RAVAGE in bit parts.

Frank's role in SINISTRE was woefully small. It was kind of a shame to kill him off so quickly but we made damn sure to avail his tremendous talents much more for all the subsequent features. Todd wrote LIVING A ZOMBIE DREAM and KITTY KILLERS with specific roles for Frank in mind. The character, "Brother" that he plays in KITTY KILLERS is a lot like the real Frank that we know and love in real life. Only not quite so trigger-happy.

During the early shooting schedule of LIVING A ZOMBIE DREAM, I was preoccupied with the editing & post-production of SINISTRE, unfortunately missing out on half of it. I'm sure Todd has high praise for his collaboration with Frank during that production.

When the special effects crew we'd tried to employ for RAVAGE turned out to be too expensive for us, Frank graciously and generously stepped up and provided outstanding, excellent work. He paid for all the effects supplies himself. I saw a lot of Frank during that year-long production. His presence provided a welcome, reassuring comfort during an otherwise stressful, stress-full experience. That movie would never have been completed without Frank's dedication and ingenuity. There was a helluva lot of pyrotechnic effect work required behind the scenes. Frank delivered with gusto! Ditto his performance in the movie, stealing every scene he's in.

All four of our Borderline Entertainment movies were made back-to-back, even overlapping production schedules sometimes. Fatigue and burn-out set in eventually, inevitably. Todd and I stepped back, vowing not to make another movie until we saw some kind of return, be it monetary revenue, critical accolade or a simple urge to pick up the camera & assemble the crew again. Unfortunately none of the above happened enough to justify waging another production battle. It felt rather unscrupulous and immoral to continue asking our friends to keep giving up so much time and effort for nothing, other than a screen credit and what little fun that could be extracted from the experience.

Todd and I did end up making some short films during the ensuing decade after KITTY KILLERS. Well, I made one and Todd made a couple. Frank was recruited to sort of reprise his "Zombie Lord" character from LIVING A ZOMBIE DREAM as well as to help out with the special effects for my "Remains."

It's been ten years since that little flick was shot and I havn't placed Frank anywhere near a camera since. I said that I'd never make a movie without Frank. When Phil Stevens had me shoot what we refer to as the "Borderline Dads" bit in FLOWERS

where we make our cameo appearances, he really wanted Frank there as well. But by then Frank had moved back to Stockton and wasn't available. Shame. I miss Frank.

Update! I didn't intend for this blog entry to read like eulogy. Frank is alive and well! I just got off the phone with him. He's ready to make more movies! :)