That dastardly gift-giver and my co-writer is Brian (Beastie) Ulery, who plays Vic Brandle in our feature film, “The Karaoke Brothers.” Beastie is one-fourth of our film production team known as Eyesoar Media Inc. We met in 1997 at one of his shows when he played with a band called Soulcracker.

The other three founders of Eyesoar are Derek Steagall (who plays Terry in the film and may have been the real-life inspiration for “The Dude”), Raul Bogue (who plays Caribbean Bill in the film and is nick-named “Lightning In A Bottle” because he always seems to have the most amazing and unusual ideas) and lastly there’s me, Joe Richardson; I direct the film and play the role of Ted Ruxpin.

OK, enough of that, lets get down to it. How do 4 working-class stiffs set out to try and make their own feature film?

First rule of Indy Film Club
is get into it with a group of like-minded friends, male and female, because that is usually what it takes to make this pretty little blue ball spin. You’ll also want to have a significant other that is very understanding or none at all. My wife has helped me greatly.

If you know a lot of musicians and artists like we do, find a little slot for each of them. It’s so much fun to put all of your friends and family into this big ball of swirling madness. Word will spread as it rolls and gains momentum and everyone can enjoy being part of a homegrown effort.

Second rule of Indy Film Club is don’t spend money. You’ll find out pretty quick that your amazing idea has been done before and is probably sitting, unwatched, on a shelf in some Hollywood producer’s office. If you don’t want to try making a movie unless your uncle Pepper floats you 5,000,000 George Washingtons so that every shot is Tom Cruise pristine, then you might want to think about being an investment banker or an astronaut. The other option is to do it for the love of filmmaking and stretch your own resources to the max. We did. “So, how do you make a film without a huge budget” you may ask.