How did this all start? No one is really asking, but I feel compelled to tell you. Every film critic who tells you that they don't want to make movies is probably lying. As someone who has spent the better part of my career writing about film, it was about time I made one.

Years ago, I ran into Rod Lurie at an event for the Writers Guild. Rod is a former film critic for Los Angeles Magazine, and now a bigshot Hollywood director behind such films as The Contender and The Last Castle, Rod and I were hanging out and talking film, when he said to me you know – you never hear from the media to the people who cover the subject feel they can do what the subject can. For example, no journalist who covers sports says, "Hey, I can do what Tom Brady does for the New England Patriots. I could be a Super Bowl caliber quarterback, that's easy." No one who covers politics says, "Hey, I could do what Condoleeza Rice does. I could be Secretary of State." Or at least, they don't say it aloud.

But somehow when it comes to film journalists, they cover movies and say to themselves, "Hey, I could make a film." And Rod was the inspiration for me to make the necessary sacrifices (uh, no pay) and actually go out and make a feature film. Over a decade ago I started Film Threat magazine, moved out to Los Angeles, thinking that the Film Threat thing would be a temporary career detour. And I imagined that I would soon begin making movies. I went off and made a short film called Red starring Lawrence Tierney. At exactly the same time that the film was being made, my girlfriend at the time became pregnant. I was hit with reality and about to become a young dad. A choice was put in front of me, do I pursue the bohemian lifestyle of a broke independent filmmaker or do I actually do the responsible thing, and provide for my family? Well, I chose to provide for my family, and I have no regrets whatsoever. And Film Threat became more successful than I ever imagined as a magazine. But my film career was, sadly, on hold. People think it's strange sometimes when they read some of my wild musings on the Film Threat website or meet me at a film festival and realize that I'm a responsible dad, but that's the truth. And the risky financial life of a filmmaker just didn't quite fit the needing healthcare and regular salary.

But the desire to make movies has burned inside of me ever since. After having written a couple of screenplays that "almost sold" to big studios, I finally had to do something. I did not want to suffer the frustration of that "almost sold" feeling again. I vowed that the next film I wrote, I would actually produce myself. That led to this project, My Big Fat Independent Movie.

After having been to countless film festivals and seen countless cliche road independent movies, coming of age independent movies, Tarantino-wannabe crime drama rip off independent movies, melodrama independent movies... I realized that the entire genre of independent film needed to be made fun of. Indies needed an enema. They need a swift kick in the balls! Thus this project.

A couple of years ago I began writing down what I thought were all the recurring cliches I'd seen in independent movies that needed to be parodied. And after having gone to the San Diego Film Festival one year, I ran into Adam Schwartz, who had made a hysterical short film called "Project Redlight." His writing partner Yoni Berkovits and I sat down and pounded out this script for My Big Fat Independent Movie, having spent almost a year writing down gags. We began with certain parameters and rules about the films we would cover. We decided that we would parody or satirize only independent films that had either made over a hundred million dollars at the box office or independent films that were widely known and revered by indie film fans to be absolutely sure that the subject matter in the film was broad enough to appeal to a large audience. Sure, I sound like some marketing schmuck from some big studio, but the last thing I wanted to do was be another guy that made some independent film that nobody would actually get to see. So while My Big Fat Independent Movie contains specific spoofs of indie films that I know you have all seen, it also includes insights into the independent film world, film festivals, inside jokes and plenty of cameos as well, but, I just don't want to give them away. So if I sound like I'm skirting the issue, well, I actually am.

Next up... INDIE FILMMAKERS ACTIVATE!