QUANTUM STORM .357 ISSUE 23 IS RELEASED FOR AUGUST 2023!

QSE .357 ISSUE 23 dtd 8/1/2023

40 Pages

ON THE COVER - Headshot of Hector Luna. Used by permission.

MAIN ARTICLES

Remembering C-47s Creator - Hector Luna was ahead of his time in the local Houston Indie Film Scene, creating an e-magazine filled with actor and directors interviews, production notes, meetings and activities, and an editorial by D. R. Quintana, remembering his friend.

 Who Rode Luna's Legacy - The list is long, but Luna had his favorite local Indie Film Scene actors, directors and film teams who were always presented in the C-47 Houston Magazine. Here we present a few of them and where the are today.

The Planned Hector Luna Film Festival for 2025 - Because Hector Luna loved the film scene so much, a handful of his friends have put together the first annual film festival in his honor. 

 

YOU MUST BE A SUBSCRIBER TO VIEW THE FULL CONTENTS THIS NEW 2023 ISSUE OF THE QUANTUM STORM .357 E-MAGAZINE AND FOLLOW THIS BLOG

 

 Subscribers from the local Houston Indie Film Scene came out to support this new issue of the QSE.357 E-Magazine and comment on the article concerning Hector Luna's Legacy. All comments are posted under writers 1st Amendment clause.

Thank you for stopping by!

THE AFTERMATH OF LARRY CARRELL'S "JACOB"

In 2011, the Houston Film Scene was much in astir about a local filmmaker [Larry Carrell] who put "the best" of what Houston, Texas had to offer in one film and through some daring production shams and scams, as he was able to put up the cash to make his dream film come true. Give this man some pretty impressive "ambition points" as he set out to do something and make it look big as possible. In a few months, he had a written script, a few thousand dollars in his pocket, and he tore away at Houston to make this dream come to life.

There was ton of double-dipping going on prior to the production of his film JACOB; the filmmaker infiltrated several local films and evaluated talent in them, then sucked the talent right out of those productions to bring into his film, all of the time promising huge success and big contracts. Quite truly, the film was the talk of the town...at least in the local independent film scene.  But when the first premiere hit the streets, it was a complete disaster of 'unfinished mastery' missing sound, filled with incomplete scenes, and presented scraps of an unfinished film to the cast, crew, and their families...and like most amateur indie film actors in the vast landscape of "wanting to be stars," no one complained about it all during this initial premiere. Instead, local actors and their families stood proudly and took pictures afterwards; smiled and boasted the films "huge success."

Just a month prior to the first premiere of Carrell's JACOB, a local short film produced entirely of teens, boasted huge success at several "Sold Out" premieres which seemed to jeopardize Carrell's potential future film success with his uncompleted film. During JACOB's first premiere in Houston, most of the attendee's in the seats were just the cast, crew, some family and a couple of local indie film critics who were begged to come see the film. People outside of the films clique who attended were not impressed with what the film presented and Carrell knew that. Some of the people in attendance openly complained that the price paid for tickets should have been refunded...and of course, even though he [Carrell] was ashamed, nodding in agreement with them promising something would be done about that, that never happened and Carrell and his team pocketed the cash with a nice grin and went on about their business.

You see? that's the way "real" film business is run in Hollywood and Houston should do the same. For him being someone who always tasted the long reach of top fame, Carrell was finally on the right road to success, not caring what or who was standing in his way. People in his inner circle began to believe that his attitude was the right one to have if you truly wanted to step into the real world of movie success.

 

But through diversity and patience, Carrell and his team continued to push forward. Over a period of months [up to even a year] they added scenes to the unfinished film and were able to scrounge up a known Hollywood name to bring more credence to the film. None of what is written here is fabricated...it's the truth. Through thick and thin, the film made it's way from one convention to another, then eventually onto Netflix. The film crossed the oceans and landed a following in Europe, where the title of the film was changed to "Sister." The film won countless local Indie awards and practically over night Carrell's clique grew and some names were added to the "producers" list who seemed to jump on the bandwagon ride of success...and all were very proud of the end results; which weren't easily attained. None of the local actors in the film have ever been paid for their work...not that they expected anything due to the shady contracts they signed.

So, in the end, Carrell got his film made and he got the attention and money he dreamed about...sort of. Below are comments made on the films IMDB page. You have to get passed the comments posted by the cast and crew to see what the real thoughts are by the REAL people who previewed this "fine masterpiece" of 80's horror. 

I still have yet to see this film, so I cannot review it properly....but I thought it was best that you, the reader, know what your getting into should you choose to decide to watch it yourself.

D. R. Quintana
Editor