I learned that during my first two independent feature films Consignment www.consignment-movie.com and In With Thieves www.inwithtthieves.com that were produced under the flag of Slice Of Americana Films with the soundtracks being put together with the help of Jackin4beats.Com.

Consignment is the explosive and violent story of Tommy Jones, a Virginia Beach drug dealer who is fed up with the dangerous world in which he has been living.

Frequent panic attacks and the desire to go legitimate with his new wife begin to dull the street instincts that have allowed him to prosper working for sadistic drug kingpin, Detroit Mike. When Tommy shows weakness, Detroit Mike makes plans to have him killed. In need of fast cash to go straight Tommy hooks up with his cousin Carmelo, a reckless drug dealer in California. The pair quickly get in over their heads, taking a large shipment of crystal meth on consignment from a ruthless Latino gangster.

Double-crosses, a series of brutal murders, and an old secret from his wife’s past force Tommy into a lethal showdown with Detroit Mike.

The soundtrack highlights tracks from up and coming East Coast & West Coast artists that include Custom Made Recordings, Ayreon The Don?, Malice & Da Commission and others.

IN WITH THIEVES is a crime saga that blends together a Cuban cartel deep into voodoo, blood diamonds being pushed by an African based crime group, ruthless Albanian gangsters, and an American burglary crew.

This makes for a provocative film that expands the urban genre to a broader group of viewers.

Who can forget how hardcore of a director Robert Rodriguez looked on the cover of ‘Rebel without A Crew’. Rodriguez’s story inspired guerrilla filmmakers everywhere that they could shoot an ultra-low budget action movie like ‘El Mariachi’ that was entertaining, while giving the finger to the traditional way of getting a movie done.

Quentin Tarantino is a cool as they come. His style is often ‘borrowed’ from because he knows how to tell a good story using pictures.

Tarantino has creative influences like all directors who grew up watching movies. The difference is Tarantino turned those influences into his own unique style.

There are many more directors who make great movies and look cool doing it I didn’t mention for the sake of brevity. There’s even more directors who’s personalities and colorful nature keep them in the publics even if they haven’t had a hit movie in years. The cult of personality is a real factor in the world of movies. It can keep some directors working or at least in the media eye until they can turn out a good movie.

In Hollywood that may work, but on the true independent side of filmmaking your image won’t get you anywhere unless you can make entertaining movies.

Instead of wasting your energy to create a colorful image and developing your own cult following like a rock star. Focus on learning what a director does and has to deal with during a movie shoot. You don’t want to be all style and no substance. Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, The Coen Brothers, and Kevin Smith all had to prove themselves by making good movies before anyone knew who they were or cared.

It takes more than deciding where the camera goes to be a movie director, especially when you’re directing an indie movie where you won’t have the luxury of sitting in video village cut off from all the other production gyrations going on. I’ve wrangled cable, broke down equipment, dressed sets, and a dozen other jobs as ‘director’ on indie movie shoots. It’s not glamorus, but it gets the job done.

General rules of thumb that will help you become a stronger director.

A strong grasp of the entire process it takes to make a movie is important.

There’s different departments that work together to bring a film together. The camera department, sound department, make-up/wardrobe department etc. You need to know what they do and how to maximize their efforts to help achieve your creative goal as a movie director. On big budget movie shoots the departments are very distinct and well supported. They remind me on a smaller scale of Roman Legions who together comprised the Roman Army. As a director you are the Ceaser of your filmmaking army small or large.

Knowing how to best utilize your team comes from understanding how these departments work. On indie shoots more often than not the departments blur together out of necessity. During the shooting of the urban movie Consignment we had one person with an assistant doing key hair and make-up while also heading the wardrobe department. These two departments were put together because I knew how they worked and how to bring them together to keep the production moving.

You should learn basic camera shots, angles, and moves.

Know what a medium shot is. Know what a reverse-angle shot is. Know what a dolly shot is. Know what a two and three shot are. I suggest you pick up ‘Film directing Shot By Shot’ by Steven D. Katz’. It can provide the technical foundation you will need as a director to help your creative vision come to life. Keep in mind their is only so much you can learn from books. When you get on set you’ll hear terms for shots, like ‘cowboy guns’ and ‘cowboy no guns’ not covered in a book. It’s a medium shot from the waist up no guns to thigh up guns.

People will yell ‘Wolf!’ which means stop. “Flying in (insert film gear here) means bringing in. No shame in asking what a term means when you do not know. Ignorance is not bliss on a movie set.

I was a grunt production assistant (PA) acting as a human stop signing controlling traffic with another PA. I got called on the walkie we were rolling and to not let any cars through. I gave the hand signal to the other PA, production had limited walkies, that we were rolling. He nodded knowingly for two takes.

During the middle of the third take he let a motorcycle roar through killing the take and getting us both chewed out. I later asked if he missed the signal, he told me he had no idea that signal meant rolling. He never worked on a movie before. Asking what i meant would have saved us being chewed out.

That story ties into how crucial communication is when your making a movie. You have to be clear to with everyone involved in your movie about what you’re going to do, what you need, and what you’re looking for them to do.

People look for this, they expect this from a director. Don’t leave cast and crew guessing about what you want. There’s never enough time or money to play that game during production. Communication runs two ways. Make sure people can ask you questions if they’re not clear on something you said. What might make total sense to you can be lost, virginia Crime, in the translation as it goes out to the troops.

Accept you’re not always going to make the right call on every shot. You’re never going to be totally happy with the way some scenes turned out.

You’ll always want to go back and re-shoot certain scenes again. Fight through it. It might not seem like it during crazy times of filming, but if you have paid attention to the details you will have shot yourself a movie at the end of production. Trust your instincts. I was a nervous wreck after CONSIGNMENT was in the can. I could barely sit down with the editor Tim Beachum to watch the raw footage because my neck and back were seized up with stress.

Sure enough a couple of the camera moves I chose for a few scenes did not turn out like I had envisioned.

A few of the calls I made as a director just didn’t work. i was a mess, editor Tim Beachum was surprisingly relaxed about it all and talked me down from the proverbal ledge. I was positive my movie was doomed. What saved the day?

A tip I got from an old school Director of Photography (DP) I listened to before, virginia Crime, shooting. No matter what kind of amazing camera move you want to experiment with to shoot a scene grab at least one take of a master or a standard three shot for coverage in case your wonder shot goes to hell.

Turns out the coverage I thought was never going to use because surely my awesome camera moves would work. Some didn’t. The extra coverage I grabbed did end up covering my ass in post.

The editor had enough coverage from those few takes to cut the movie together without losing continuity. I had spent three or four takes on, virginia Crime, what I thought were the coolest shots only to end up using the basic takes that worked. The other side of the coin of that is some of the shots I had taken chances on worked beautifully, virginia Crime, .

Nothing like hearing an editor say, ‘that was a real pretty shot’ or ‘loved the way you shot that scene’. So if it all goes to hell with your experimental shots have at least a little standard coverage to get you through. If it comes down to time. Plan ahead to give yourself a take or two with the shot you really want and a take going by the book for coverage

Having a solid sense of how to tell stories using moving pictures and thinking about how a scene will cut together before you yell ‘Action!’ is a smart.

It gives you much more flexibility as a director to be creative, take chances, and experiment with a scene. Knowing the basics how to cover a scene allows you to bend the rules.

Stay away from being a paranoid and insecure director. Yes, you have to keep firm control of your movie because a movie directed by committee doesn’t work, but there is a fine line between control and paranoia fueled by insecurity.

I was working on a shoot film in Los Angeles with a director that was wired pretty tight.

He asked me once if any of the cast or crew said things about him behind his back. Of course they did. That’s what people do. Of course I lied like people do in that situation and said no. He was completely convinced that one of the actors were forgetting their lines on purpose to undermind him and the DP was just waiting to hijack his movie all together. He was wrong. They were talking about what an absolutely paranoid hard on he was.

It all came to ahead when a camera shot wasn’t working after numerous takes and the director went off into one of the most colorful profanity laced fits I had ever seen.

I mean for a tiraid it was a beauty to watch. Arms flailing, a prop glass being thrown against the wall like a child, and everything else you expect from a person who lost control. “Why isn’t this working?” was the last thing he yelled. The 1st A.D. smartly told everyone to take five while things cooled on set.

The director got himself back together and we took another take that didn’t work. We were losing daylight and had a lot of other scenes to shoot to make the day, so the DP suggested a way the shot could work, by using a different camera position and move to get the action the director wanted.

Right on cue, the paranoid director completely over reacted. He told the DP to piss off he. He was the director and wasn’t going to let him hijack his movie. The DP cooly said, “stop being so insecure. I’m here to make your movie, not mine.” The director blew off the suggestion without a second thought. He never got the shot he wanted to work and scraped the scene from the final cut. Who knows if the DP’s suggestion would have worked? It would have made sense to try it considering the other shot wasn’t working.

It was a different story on another shoot all together. A friend of mine was directing his first feature. He didn’t have a lot of money, but he brought on a DP with a resume an arm long and for the lead this hot B list actress that had some slasher movie credits. He invited me out to visit the set. My friend was a director with energy and enthusiasim to spare. He knew exactly what he wanted from everybody on the set. He gave the DP detailed notes, his shot sheet, and they had already gone over in detail the storyboards my friend drew up himself before shooting began.

My friend was in total control.

I was looking over his shoulder into the monitor during the crucial shooting of the final scene of the movie. He had the actress in this amazing bikini being chased by a knife wielding killer. After the first take there was a problem. The actress ran slower than the actor playing the killer. On the next take he told the actress to speed it up and the actor to slow it down. Still didn’t work. My friend watched the playback with the DP. Then asked the DP what he thought would work to get the shot.

The DP got the shot to work by changing the blocking and moving the camera. My friend got the shot and the ending he wanted because he was secure enough as a director to utilize his DP, not nutralize him.

Those two experiences really gave me some perspective on getting through directing a movie. During CONSIGNMENT I ran into a major problem that threatened to cost us shooting a crucial murder scene. We had been working all night and instead of chasing daylight we were trying to beat it. We had a shooting scene that had to be shot before the sun came up, we had about an hour of night left, and there was no option to push the scene.

We were losing that location for good after we wrapped. After a couple less than stellar takes I turned to my DP Royce Dudley. We have to make this work, we can’t lose this scene I said. I took the actors through a last minute rehearsal without rolling on the camera to see if I could cover the scene a different way. Royce stood back like he did sometimes watching. After the walk through rehearsal he said, “I can get your scene” and he did. Thanks Royce!

On the IN WITH THIEVES shoot I brought back an actor from CONSIGNMENT I really enjoyed working with named Jerome Hawkins.

I write and direct my own movies, so I get really involved in not only the action, but that the lines are delivered the way I want them. So here we are shooting a scene, when Jerome tells me he’s really feeling adding something to a line, keep in mind this movie is my baby, but I felt his vibe. I gave him one take to run with it his way. The line he added to close the dialogue was great. We added it to the script and kept it in the movie. Did I feel he was underminding me? No. I was secure enough as a director to let an actor I respected contribute creatively to the movie.

These last couple of stories might seem to go against what I said about not directing by committee, taking chances that don’t always work, and keeping control of your movie. I still feel that a movie can’t get done right when you have a weak director who listens to everyone on what their movie should end up looking like. I still feel you can’t be afraid to take chances on shots that don’t end up working. I still feel you have to keep control of your movie. It’s one thing to be overly paranoid about someone hijacking your movie, but it’s equally destructive to you as a director to cave in when someone is trying to tell you how to do your job as a director.

You also don’t want to become so completely narrow minded that you can’t brainstorm with your key production personal to problem solve, work creatively with your DP to see your vision materialize, allow your talent to spread their wings from time to time in a scene, or see when you need to be open minded enough to change the way you’re shooting a scene so that it can work. You surronded yourself with a good team let them help you make your movie. They say it takes a village to raise a child.

Well it takes a production team to make a movie.

it will always be your overall vision behind the way a movie will turn out, but being open to collaboration with your cast and crew creates a more positive set. You don’t want mindless robots going through the motions. You want fired up people eager to lend you all their talents to make your movie rock. Don’t let your ego get in the way of you seeing the big picture.

Some myths I do not buy into about being a director.

You’re not a real director if you don’t shoot on film.

Nonsense. Once you’ve completed a movie on any format you’re a real director.

A director needs to know how to light scenes. The more you know about any aspect of film production the better, but if you don’t know about lighting a scene you can still direct. What I do is make notes on the look, feel, and mood I see in my head for each scene. I pass that along to the DP so we can discuss how to make it happen. I also like to suggest to the DP movies to rent with scenes I feel lighting wise are close to what I’m going after.

Your DP is the master of light. He’ll deliver the lighting set ups you need.

The director needs to know how to run the camera. Not true. It’s very possible you will never touch the camera once during a shoot. I myself for the most part watch through a monitor. I do look through the camera after the DP has set the frame for the shot, but I rarely run it.

It’s easier to direct a low budget indie movie than a mainstream Hollywood movie. Wrong. Directing a low budget indie or a Hollywood blockbuster both have their own challenges for a director to numerous to list.

In the end you still have to be able to tell a good story using pictures. It’s never easy.

A director sits in video village all day while everyone else works. I wish that was true. A director has to be on top of everything going on during shooting. They deal with the actors, check with camera and sound to make sure there were no problems with the take, and put out a dozen other fires that pop up.

Some ideas I do buy into as a director.

Never let anyone give your actors direction or notes, unless they are coming directly from you.

You’re the director It’s your role and your role alone to work with actors to get the performances you want. No one else should ever be allowed to work with the actors. One time I was on a roof looking at a scene. I didn’t like the way the blocking was playing out, so I walkied the 1st A.D. some directions to pass along to the actors. That’s as far as I felt comfortable having people work with talent.

It’s your set and you should be the only one to yell CUT! I had an actor once in the middle of the take turn to the camera, virginia Crime, and say cut because they flubbed a line.

It wasn’t their call, it’s not anyones call but the director. They were warned and when it happened again they were released from the movie.

The director is the driving force behind a movie. Nobody is going to care as much about your movie as you do. You have to keep everyone pumped up and on track to finish a movie. You want your passion for what you’re shooting as a director to be contagious on the set.

A director needs to be able to be secure enough to listen and collaborate with cast and crew.

This is not directing by committee but having the leadership ability to fully maximize everyone’s talents. Your movie can only turn out better because of it.

You have to be a cheerleader and a salesmen. When things are not going well on set you need to be able to keep morale up. After a particulary rough day of shooting I let everyone know what a great job they were doing and how excited I was by the dailies I looked at each night. I had to keep them excited about the movie now, not when they would get paid a week later.

The next toughest thing is keeping people going after you’ve hit 12 hours. You have to sell them on your ability as a director to not only finish the movie, but turn out a good one that people will want their names attached to in the credits. You would be surprised how many people worked on a movie for credit only and the movie never got done or turned out terrible. Let them know you’re not that director. If they stick with you and dig a little deeper you will put out a good movie.

Some people feel that when you attach the word urban to an independent film the story will be based on slices of life that unfold in housing projects or the barrio. Which do provide rich and colorful backdrops that reflect a slice of americana.

On the flip side urban culture has moved beyond the housing projects and barrios.

Taking those attitudes and feelings into new environments. This opens up new backdrops for you to shoot urban films. You no longer are forced to only shoot in the inner city to produce urban films.

A few other hits urban movies take is that the production quality will be less than an art house film made on a similar budget. That urban movies don’t have well written scripts and they all look the same style wise.

Many innovated filmmakers that love the urban genre are changing the way people think about that.

They are putting out high quality urban movies made on indie budgets that are freshly entertaining.

The diversity of the urban genre continues to grow because the storylines are connecting with a larger audience by going beyond what you would expect to see in an urban movie. The elements you can fold into an urban drama are becoming more complex earning these films more respect.

Through networking I’ve connected with Irish-American filmmaker Mike O’Dea founder of Shamrock Films. He is currently in production with TOWNIES.

A film about the Charlestown mob. Looks like a great urban movie being delivered from the viewpoint of Irish-American gangster characters.

The word ‘crime drama’ is used to describe films like ‘Training Day’, ‘The Departed’ and ‘Scarface’, but to many urban movie buffs these aren’t crime dramas. They are urban masterpieces done by highly talented and respected filmmakers at the top of their creative game.

Shooting urban movies has always been a goal of mine. When I began fleshing out the script for CONSIGNMENT my first feature film I wanted it to be authentic across the board.

Nothing kills the vibe of an urban movie more than it being completely phony. Like in the older Westerns when the Native-Americans were played by blonde hair blue eyed actors. Imagine how different ‘Dances With Wolves’ would have played to viewers.

There are tremendous actors out there at every level that can deliver powerful performances. On a larger budget feature actors are able to get into character, research the role, or work with a dialect coach if needed. On a truly independent film budget you will be lucky to get in a decent amount of rehearsals before shooting.

It is sometimes a benefit to work with real people for what I see as tailored roles. In CONSIGNMENT we had a character named Smiles that was from the streets and had survived a nearly fatal shooting. My friend Ruben Navarro was cast. Unfortunately, he did survive a near fatal shooting in his life. It made sense to me as a director to work with him as a first time actor since he understood the character from personal experience. It wasn’t like he was being cast as for a role he had zero knowledge of.

As the writer I felt that this particular script was best served highlighting a Black and Latino perspective playing out through the film. The plot centers around a Virginia Beach drug dealer that runs into trouble and has to lay low in Southern California. This being the movies all the problems that come with power, drug money, fast women, and jealous rivals has to come out. It was nice to be able to mix in the subtle cultural differences between the two places.

This came from being able to work with Co-Producer/Editor Tim Beachum that had lived in Ohio, Detroit , and Virginia Beach.

I’ve only lived in Southern California. When the film was done shooting we were able to mix in some outlaw bikers, virginia Crime, and corrupt police. The personal bonus was being able to add people I grew up with to the cast to give it a real edge.

I felt comfortable adding elements from the East Coast because I could consult Tim Beachum. If that option had no been there I would have focused on writing what I knew. That would have been a film that was completely slanted to the West Coast lifestyle.

If you’re able to ever expand your film take advantage of that. If not and you have a limited budget write a film you can shoot within your resources using what you know.

Through collaboration with the website Jackin4Beats.Com we were able to add a quality soundtrack, virginia Crime, featuring East Coast & West Coast artists including Custom Made Recordings, Ayreon The Don?, and Malice & Da Commission. You’re going to hear “NO” a lot when tracking down music for your soundtrack. A nice music budget makes it easier, but most independent films have very little money for music.

Don’t give up or settle on music that doesn’t fit your film. There are music artists that will appreciate the exposure of being on a movie soundtrack. CONSIGNMENT lent itself to a hip hop soundtrack, so we focused on rising hip hop artists. In our case it happened to work.

CONSIGNMENT has recently been acquired by Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. It will be a direct to video title. It will be released November 2007.

After the experience of CONSIGNMENT. We decided expand our take on the urban genre with our second feature film IN WITH THIEVES.

This urban film blends together a Cuban cartel deep into their darker version of Santeria, blood diamonds being pushed by an African based crime group, ruthless Albanian gangsters, and an American burglary crew.

This unique blend of creative and visual elements we felt would make for a provocative urban film. The inspiration was to show that urban stories can have global influences.

The production of IN WITH THIEVES was difficult because casting was calling for extremely diverse and capable actors that could play real in front of the camera.

Good fortune smiled on us bringing some tremendous talent that we had not worked with before and some faces from CONSIGNMENT we respected.

The goal was to fold in the Albanian Mob, American crooks from the streets, an African based crime syndicate and a Cuban cartel that practiced a wild version of Santeria. I asked a family friend that ran a botanica to show me items that, virginia Crime, would be authentic. She set me up down to Jesus Malverde giving us realism at the voodoo altar scenes.

Sharing real experiences and honest practical advice with others interested in shooting urban movies is what this article will hopefully do. The biggest lesson I learned was that if you have a certain amount of time and money to produce your film do not overwrite your script and over schedule each shooting day to fit your over all schedule. I’m not a film professor so the easy way for me to put it is like this. If you’re 1st Ad or UPM breakdown the script and say it will take 14 days to shoot your film, don’t expect to shoot in a 7 days and get everything you want.

Think about trimming the script if you can’t extend the shooting days. On IN WITH THIEVES this became a reality for me as a director as the shooting days I had available began to shorten quickly in comparison to what we were getting into the can. By the third day rock and roll UPM Cameron Penn already let me know at the pace we were shooting we wouldn’t nail all the pages we needed to finish the movie.

I knew the script was ambitious and my own writing ego wasn’t open to deleted some scenes that really weren’t crucial to the film.

Ego is a terrible thing, not just in film, but in life. At least for me anyway. Before the fourth day of shooting an actress who had a supporting role let us know she couldn’t show up for her first day of shooting because her agent got her an audition for a well known television pilot. I never begrudge anyone that has a chance for a shot at what they feel is a bigger opportunity than what they committed to.

We wished her well and knew the production could not shoot around her or reschedule her.

The practical choice was to release her from the film. It was a blessing in disguise. I had to do some re-writes to remove her character from the script. This allowed me not to fall in love with any scene or dialogue that wasn’t important to the film. It has been said that screenwriters should not fall in love with their own words. I agree!

I was able to write her out and the story was tighter. We finished the movie. It’s currently in the final stages of post-production . We will begin shopping it to interested distributors shortly.

If you are interested in seeing the trailer for this film please Google IN WITH THIEVES.

With the love for urban movies still strong we’re starting production on our third feature STASH SPOT. Rival criminals fight to find a fortune in cash ripped-off during a drug deal gone bad. When the stick-up artists responsible turn up dead, a bloodbath erupts as each vicious criminal makes their ruthless play to locate the money.

You always learn things with each film you produce. Hopefully filmmakers will continue to push the urban genre beyond what it is now.

* Quick and dirty tips if you’re going to produce your own urban movie:
(* does not apply to filmmakers that have Hollywood connections or access to big money)

Avoid writing an amazing scene like the shoot-out in ‘Heat’ if you can’t pull it off.

Write realistic locations into your script that you, virginia Crime, have shooting access to.

Action scenes are always going to take longer to light and shoot than talking head scenes.

Make sure, virginia Crime, your dialogue is authentic to the culture of the street.

If you’re writing your own script your words cost nothing.

Wardrobe can’t make Corey Feldman (nothing against The Corey) a Latino gangster by putting him in a bandana and a flannel buttoned only at the top. You see that type of phony wardrobe in some really bad urban movies.

Whatever happens keep the show rolling.

Some talented film directors behind this urban movement are Charles Dutton, Damon Dash, Sid Kali, Hype Williams, John Singleton, Dale Stelly, Mike O’Dea, virginia Crime, and Quentin Tarantino.

The diversity of the urban genre continues to grow because the storylines are connecting with a larger audience by going beyond what you would expect to see in an urban movie.

Filmmakers are pushing the complexity and overall look of the urban genre to new levels.

Exploring the urban landscape and culture makes for entertaining films that offer viewers a look into a slice of americana they might not otherwise experience. Collaborating with dedicated individuals that work in front of the camera and behind the scenes to create quality urban movies has always been a life goal of Director Sid Kali.

Sid Kali made his directorial debut with the urban feature “Consignment”.

The spirit of independent filmmaking came together. We felt “Consignment” was best served highlighting a Latino and Black perspective of the events that were going to unfold in the film.

The plot centers around a Virginia Beach drug dealer that runs into trouble and has to lay low in Southern California. This being the movies all the problems that come with power, drug money, fast women, and jealous rivals has to come out. It was nice to be able to mix in the subtle cultural differences between the two places.

This West Coast and East Coast mix worked out because Co-Producer and Editor Tim Beachum had lived in Ohio, Detroit , and Virginia Beach during his years. While Sid Kali has only lived in Southern California his entire life. By working together they were able to blend these influences together. “Consignment” is being released on DVD November 2007 by Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. Support independent film and add this feature to your DVD collection.

An important aspect of making an urban, virginia Crime, movie is keeping it authentic.

At the independent level budgets are tighter, so it helps if you write a script that has elements you can realistically translate from the page to the screen. The basic idea is to write a script that you can shoot using your resources. The cool thing with urban movies are they lend themselves to many more backdrops than before.

It used to be when you attached the word urban to a film the story had to take place in the inner city. That’s changing as urban culture and style is moving beyond those pervious boundaries.

This makes for an exciting time to shoot urban movies.

The word “crime drama” is used to describe films like “Training Day”, “The Departed”, “Heat” and ‘Scarface’. To some movie buffs these are urban masterpieces done by highly talented and respected filmmakers at the top of their creative game. This shows the diversity of the urban genre.

After the experience of shooting “Consignment”. Slice Of Americana Films wanted to expand their take on the urban genre with “In With Thieves”. This urban movie brings together a unique blend of creative elements.

“In With Thieves” features a Cuban cartel that practices their own version of Santeria, an African based crime group that deals in blood diamonds, ruthless Albanian gangsters, and an American burglary crew that is Latino, Black, and Irish.

This unique blend of creative and visual elements, virginia Crime, we felt would make for a provocative urban film. The inspiration was to show that urban stories can have global influences.

Career criminal Jack McGee (Tony Napoli) is out of prison facing hard times.

His trophy wife Karen (Jennifer Day) spent all the money they had stashed away and found time to fall in love with another man. Max (Edward Gusts) his junkie brother-in-law, made enemies with the Albanian Mafia leaving Jack to hold the bag on a large debt. The release date for Jack insn’t a surprise to anyone who runs in criminal circles. Former gang member turned burglar Hector Garcia (Walter Pagan) and street huslter Frank Washington (Jerome A. Hawkins) are his partners in crime. When Jack was running the robbery crew they were flush with cash.

After he went inside the scores dried up. Now it’s time for them to reconnect and go back to work.

Anton (Jayson Matthews) a savvy and vicious Albanian boss, has his trusted solider Vicktor (Marek Matousek) carry out a brutal act of violence to send a message to Jack. The message is clear to Jack. Pay the debt or everyone close to him will be, virginia Crime, murdered. Over friendly welcome home drinks Jack asks Hector and Frank to come through on the money he needs to pay off Anton. They both refuse his request turning the reunion bitter and bringing some old wounds to the surface.

Karen halfway walks back into Jack’s life pushing him into a frantic mix of anger, confusion, and dark alcohol fueled thoughts. She’s still involved with the other man. Adding to his problems is a gunpoint reminder that he has a short time to pay his debt or Karen will be killed. Pressed he hooks back up with Hector and Frank to steal the money he needs to pay Anton. They come up short.

He falls into a heated sexual affair with contract killer Rita Desouza (Arnita Champion) to numb his pain.

Sex turns to conspiracy when she lays out a plan to have her husband ripped-off during a 5 million dollar diamond deal. Her husband is ruthless Cuban kingpin David Desouza (Art Parga). He’s heavily into his own version of Santeria and the blood diamond market. He depends on Rita and his most bloodthirsty enforcer Voodoo (Jesse James Youngblood) took keep people in line.

Jack brings in Hector and Frank to help him pull off the robbery. Out of time on his debt he’s forced to let Anton in on the job for a large cut of, virginia Crime, the take.

They crash in on illegal blood diamond deal between a Cuban cartel and an African based crime syndicate headed by an ambitious upstart known as Omar (Keion Adams).

The rip-off erupts into deadly violence. This sets off a frenzy of double-crosses and brazen executions that entwine everyone in a bloody conflict that plays out to an explosive ending. Friendship, loyalty, and love run short in a world of greed.

The trailer can be viewed on YouTube.Com, Yahoo Videos, Google Videos, AtomFilms.Com, and iFilm.

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“In With Thieves” is in the final stages of post-production and is being represented to interested distributors by Mark Steven Bosko the author of “The Complete Independent Movie Marketing Handbook”. A must read for independent filmmakers that want practical advice on the business. While filmmaking is an art you should be prepared for the harsh realities of the business side. All filmmakers take lumps coming up through the game.

Urban movies will continue to rise as talented filmmakers show their passion for making movies with an independent heart.

Slice Of Americana Films has started pre-production for their third urban movie titled “Stash Spot”. Rival criminals fight to find a fortune in cash ripped-off during a drug deal gone bad. When the stick-up artists responsible turn up dead, a bloodbath erupts as each vicious criminal makes their ruthless play to locate the money.

You always learn things with each film you produce. Hopefully filmmakers will continue to push the urban genre beyond what it is now.

* Quick and dirty tips if you’re going to produce your own urban movie:
(* does not apply to filmmakers that have Hollywood connections or access to big money)

Avoid writing an amazing scene like the shoot-out in ‘Heat’ if you can’t pull it off.

Write realistic locations into your script that you have shooting access to.

Action scenes are always going to take longer to light and shoot than talking head scenes.

Make sure your dialogue is authentic to the culture of the street. If you’re writing your own script the right words will cost you nothing.

Wardrobe can’t make Corey Feldman (nothing against The Corey) a Latino gangster by having him wear a bandanna and a flannel shirt buttoned only at the top. You see that type of phony wardrobe in some really bad urban movies.

Nothing will go as planned.

Leave your ego behind.

Whatever happens keep the show rolling.