Inside Tito's Blog (a personal reflection)

In 2004, there was nothing I wanted to be more than a filmmaker. I tried to think of many different angles to get into the movie industry, but I didn't see my way in. So the only thing I could do while I was waiting for my big break was write. And write I did. By the beginning of 2004, I had ten feature length screenplays written. My reason for churning out so much material during that time was simple; if Hollywood came knocking, I would be prepared with a whole oeuvre of work that I could easily build a career with. I believe that was smart thinking at the time, and looking back on my motivations, that was a very comfy cushion to throw myself down upon.

The only problem was, Hollywood never came calling. I never got to make movies out of the ten screenplays I wrote back then, but I had no way of knowing that at the time. So I kept pushing on and wrote script number eleven...

That eleventh script was entitled 'Inside Tito's Trunk'.

And the major difference between this script and the ten screenplays I penned previously was that I was actually going to film this one. This was going to be a real movie watched by real people and I was going to do it for the cost of 200 dollars. The reason behind the microscopic budget other than the fact that I had no job or bank account was that I wanted to make a completely independent feature with no investors or money on the line. I wanted to pursue the limited vision I had for this film and make it as cheap as humanly possible. I was 19 at the time the script was written and I had just turned 20 by the time we wrapped production. It took a very frustrating five months to edit it, but hey, we were dealing with 2003 technology.

Finally in February 2005, we were ready to unleash this low budget beast onto the masses. This was going to be the big stepping stone to stardom. Someone was going to see this movie and notice our potential and give us the opportunity of a lifetime! We were going to make it! There was me, Nick Murphy, cameraman/co-star/producer Patrick Miceli, and our star, Tito himself, played by Cesar Lazcano. We called ourselves 'The Trio' and I was sure we were destined for the kind of Greatness we've only dreamed about. And it was going to happen all because of this quirky and unique 200 dollar movie...

I don't know where my head was, but it wasn't in reality.

Perhaps it was in the clouds with Creen

In a way I miss that semi-delusional idealism. Mainly because it kept me going, it kept me determined. It's what got me through the whole 'Inside Tito's Trunk' experience. It's now been nearly eight years since I've made that flick and I still have yet to follow up 'Inside Tito's Trunk' with another no-budget feature, but it's not like I haven't tried. In 2008, I started production on 'Dewy Carson's Debt' a more ambitious, but inevitably doomed project. We shot two scenes of the 100+ page script during the summer months, but after too many scheduling conflicts and problems with the way the footage came out, the movie was abandoned. Then last year, I finished up a screenplay entitled 'Hackjob Productions' a comedy about a quartet of aspiring filmmakers who consistently fail whenever they try to make a movie. It was, and still is a major passion project of mine. I was hoping to get the film off the ground and running during the summer of 2011, but perhaps it was a mixture of fear and laziness that stopped the flick from gaining momentum. I could blame many elements for the failure of these projects, but the truth is that it's nobody's fault but my own.

I blame YOU, 19 year old Nick Murphy!

So at this point, as I enter my very late 20s, my legacy is 'Inside Tito's Trunk'. It's the only example of my filmmaking work that I'm completely proud of. And it's the only movie I've spent every ounce of my energy seeing to fruition. I've put a good amount of effort into other shorter films like 'Love Zombie Rejeckt' or 'My Olivia' or our 'Basket of Puppys' sketch comedy webseries, but none of any of my subsequent work showed an accurate depiction of my integrity or my state of mind quite like 'Inside Tito's Trunk'.

It's not about what's in the trunk. It's about what's in our hearts and souls.

So that's why I've decided to take a stab at flagrant self-promotion and spearhead a modest online campaign to spread awareness of 'Inside Tito's Trunk'. I posted the entire movie on YouTube almost a year ago and during that time it only got about 79 views. But last month I posted a link to the film on reddit.com and by doing that, I managed to get that number up from 79 to roughly 245 views.

But that still isn't enough. However, it convinced me that there's still a life that this movie can have in the expansive world of the internet. Because there is an audience for this film. An audience that's sick and tired of 200 million dollar epics that hinge their power on its abundance of CGI and big name actors. 'Inside Tito's Trunk' is very much an anti-blockbuster. Shot on a mini DV camera that's completely obsolete now with no fancy lighting, no elaborate sound mixing, no visual effects and zero production value of any kind. This is not something that would ever be bought by a studio and advertised on television. This is in many ways not even a movie, I could shoot a much more visually and audibly impressive feature on my cell phone (which I'm seriously thinking about doing). As it is online, 'Inside Tito's Trunk' is a heavily compressed piece of modern performance art featuring a few young guys just having fun, shouting obscenities at each other and talking about life. Punctuated by metaphysical transitions and an uncontrollable rage of emotions. It was the movie I wanted to make at the time I made it and it not only delivered on my intended vision, it also, at times, exceeded it.

This is the final stand of 'Inside Tito's Trunk'. After this online promotion, this flick will be forever buried in the back of my mind never to surface again. I've been dwelling on the effect of this project for much too long. It's time to face the ghost of 'Tito's Trunk' head on and let everyone know that this movie does exist and it is weird, it is badly shot, it does sound terrible, but that's exactly what I was going for. I ignored the high gloss finish that accommodates damn near every movie in existence and said "Fuck that!" We don't need elaborate lighting set ups, we don't need a clear sounding microphone, and we don't need any color correction. All we need is a camera and someone to point it at...

And that's exactly what we did...

I'm almost 28 and that's fitting because at this point in my life, I have mostly moved on from 'Inside Tito's Trunk' and I did continue writing. I now have 28 scripts to my credit; one for every year of my life, and I'm planning to write many more in the future. I'm not sure what I can do with all these screenplays, but if the day ever comes when Hollywood is hot for some Nick Murphy creativeness, then I'll be ready to serve it up...