Directed by
Mark Brent
Featuring
Erik Eagleson and Laura Blue

Click the "POD" image above to see movie

Bitter & Horny was written on a road trip by Mark Brent and Dawn Brent. It was one of long days of driving where everything just seemed to look the same. The idea for the short was conceived somewhere near to the border of Nebraska and Wyoming. It was a place where everywhere you looked the horizon had the same view. It was literally no where and yet was so familiar it pulled up emotions such as nostalgia and longing.

Bitter and Horny was produced to prove several arguments that a filmmaker finds themselves in as they move forward in their career. The first argument relates to Mark's next projects. He has written two feature film scripts, both naturalistic romantic comedies like Bitter & Horny. Bitter and Horny shows this humor and proves Mark's abilities to tell these kind of stories. The second argument is Mark's claim that a movie can be shot on film and produced in such a way that it doesn't sacrifice production value even though it cost far less than the industry standard. The first argument's truth is evident in the film itself, so watch it. The second is proven in the facts. The 16 mm film was made for less than 5 grand. This includes traveling to location and producing this film with a cast and crew count of eight. Cost was also kept down by knowing before hand what shots that were need to tell the story. The film was made with about twenty shots. We only used 800 feet of film and the dream sequence was done on an available HD camera. In short, the story was more or less edited in camera and not only contained in plot, but in production logistics as well. It's true filmmaking and makes one wonder why they would ever want to work with a bloated production again. In reality some productions require more, but this one was designed to prove the point that less is more.

If you have watched this film and would like to learn more about the two feature films in development by Brent Creative and Mark Brent check out the descriptions on Brent Creative, or contact Mark @ his email

Interview With Mark Brent
By Dave Wilson

1) Cowboy's Last Up premiered in 2005, did it have a festival run?

Wow! It's going to be like that! It tripped out of the starting gate. It went to one festival, STIFF and won Best Looking Actress for Jaquis Olivas.

2) Did you make the film with thoughts of an Internet release?

Cowboy's Last Up was made as a festival film. However, we shot it quickly and downtown. We didn't allow for money to loop in studio sound. So, the film didn't have the best sound it could have. Due to cash limitations it became feasible to mix the movie for the Internet. Basically, my mistakes as a producer cost the sound of the film. I managed to salvage the sound, but feel that festivals were not accepting it for that reason. Actually, I don't know why festivals didn't accept it (they don't tell you), and got tired of sending them my money. Next question.

3)How long is the life-span of a short?

A short is great once. After it is seen, it is dead. (This is what I've been told.) I just keep finding ways to show it to new audiences. I think Cowboy's Last Up is worth showing to new audiences. I feel this way based on the feedback that I get.

4) Do you consider yourself a short filmmaker?

No, I'm six foot tall. Ummm..... I used to think I was good at shorts, until I realized my films weren't true short films. I make moments of feature length stories. A true short film is one thread, one point, one epiphany--it's not a matter of length. So, I guess I'm not a short filmmaker. However, I haven't made a feature film yet, so maybe I am not a filmmaker.

I had a few student films under my belt, but The Greasy Spoon Poem was my first film where I'd produced it from concept to final film. I wanted to make a film that was very contained and had minimal requirements to achieve a high production value. I took a short poem that I had and worked a plot around it. This wasn't too difficult to do. The poem has it's own conflict, I just had to keep the world of the poem down so I didn't drive my budget up. I stayed with the two locations, a bar and a greasy spoon, that are mentioned in the poem. Later, I was able to find a location that had both a bar and a greasy spoon in the same building. A great place in Seattle called The Hurricane Cafe. I was able to use the location in away that allowed the place to stay open during the shoot. So, the owners gladly didn't charge me for a location fee. They even provided craft services to the shoot for cost to themselves. Again, thank you Hurricane Cafe!

We shot on a DVX100 from Panasonic. By using proper film lighting we were able to achieve a look for the film that really takes us into the protagonist's world. The entire film was shot and put through post production for less than a thousand dollars.

The Greasy Spoon poem has been well received. Especially by creative types. It seems that we all have a personal understanding of the struggle that exists when creativity is brought into a public arena. Thanks for watching the short film. Let us know what you think!

- Mark Brent

Check out my production company's website www.brentcreative.com click here