A Field Guide to LgN Productions

Most catalogs get organized by year, or by genre, or by whichever award sounds best on a poster. This one doesn't sort cleanly that way, and it shouldn't. What holds LgN's work together isn't a category — it's a set of obsessions that keep resurfacing: memory that won't stay buried, complicity that hides in plain sight, and the gap between what people say happened and what actually did. 

A war anthem written from inside the mud. 

A weapons dealer whose real crime isn't the one you think. 

A public-access relic that turns out to be the whole company's origin story, thirty years hidden in a box.

This is a walk through that catalog by throughline, not by résumé.

Before the beginning. LgN Productions — originally "Last good Nerve Productions" — was founded in 1993 for a single public-access documentary about Lost in Space, produced on borrowed equipment with a crew of friends. Films now on either YouTube or at the LgN Screening Room.

JZ Murdock served as its uncredited executive producer, writer, and editor. 

The LIS documentary aired twice on Seattle cable in early 1994. During postproduction the tape editor at the Viacom studio on Roosevelt Street in Seattle, broke mid-post, most of the music dropped out on broadcast, and then the company went dark for over two decades for a variety of reasons, mostly personal.

When Murdock started making films again decades later, he didn't start a new company. He picked LgN back up. 

Everything below is what happened after that.

The Features

Pvt. Ravel's Bolero (2022; remastered 2025) is the anchor of the catalog, and its festival run — 80-plus wins — is the reason there's now a deliberate policy of not listing all of them. A visceral anti-war meditation, it imagines composer Maurice Ravel forging the relentless rhythm of Bolero while serving as a truck driver amid the horror of World War I. Built from archival imagery, surreal overlay, and Ravel's internal reflections, it refuses the polish of a conventional documentary in favor of something rawer and harder to look away from — a tribute and a warning at once.

The film has its own footnote in history: in February 2022, a Ukrainian festival selected Murdock's horror short Gumdrop as an official selection days before the invasion began, and within a week a Russian festival nominated Bolero — an anti-war film — for Best War Film. Two governments moving toward war; two festivals, on opposite sides of it, choosing the same filmmaker's work. It's the kind of coincidence that says more than a mission statement could.

"Gumdrop," a short horror (2020) picked up 17 awards of its own, and it earns its place next to Bolero on theme, not just as a genre pairing. Sampson, a meticulous underground weapons supplier, moves product through clients using a coded word — "gumdrop" — while flashbacks from a fractured childhood bleed steadily into his present. What looks at first like a portrait of a damaged middleman turns, in its final act, into something rooted in crimes that once existed outside of fiction. It's a film about what a person can normalize when the alternative is remembering. From the short true crime story, "Gumdrop City" (2012).

The Frontier

Two of the newest additions to the catalog don't fit the fest-circuit mold of the shorts above — they're closer to experiments in how a story gets told at all.

Light Snowflakes: America's Second Orbit (2026) builds an entire immersive documentary around a single object: a rare 1962 vinyl record carrying the unedited audio of astronaut Scott Carpenter's Aurora 7 mission. Restored footage, research, and context surround that recording, educating the viewer so thoroughly that by the time the raw audio plays again at the film's end, it lands differently than it could have for anyone listening in 1962.

Travels (2025) is the outlier on purpose. An experimental short built from AI-generated stills and an AI-composed score, guided by a screenplay Murdock wrote at university in the early 1980s, it follows a woman moving through shifting, dreamlike landscapes where memory, technology, and selfhood collide. It's less a departure from the catalog's themes than a stress test of them — the same questions about identity and buried history, run through tools that didn't exist when the script was written.

World Explorers Program (2026) goes back further than any other title in the catalog — to a set of records Murdock received as a child in the 1960s, part of a monthly series that introduced kids to different countries through vinyl, printed materials, and small keepsakes. He kept them his whole life. 

The film doesn't illustrate them with new footage; it turns the original audio itself into the image, using oscilloscope-generated waveforms so the sound becomes something you watch as much as hear — voice, music, and narration rendered as a moving trace across the screen. It's restraint as a formal choice: no modern imagery standing in for a childhood that arrived entirely through listening and imagination. As a kid, Murdock never knew whether these recordings captured real travel or a studio reconstruction of it; decades later, restoring them, the honest answer turned out to be both at once.

(LgN's catalog isn't limited to film — Murdock also publishes prose under LgN Press, including the award-winning Death of Heaven. That's a separate story for another day.)

Unproduced

The Teenage Bodyguard, a screenplay grounded in a true-crime basis, has picked up 17-plus awards on the strength of the page alone — proof that a script doesn't need a camera behind it to prove itself. It's the clearest evidence that LgN's throughline lives in the writing first, production second. Two producers are interested if the money can only be found. It would have been made three times with three different directors that one name producer found, but they just didn't have the right...vision.

What's Next

Three shorts are currently under consideration at Life is Short and HorrorHound TV: 

Eagles & Crows, a Fable (a 4 min allegory), "Gumdrop", a short horror, and The Rapping. 

Eagles & Crows is a minimalist allegory — loosely drawn from the symbolic roles of eagles and crows in Native American traditions — about a forgotten act of kindness between the two birds that calcifies, generations later, into a ritual no one remembers the reason for. 

The Rapping, shot in stark black and white and built partly from real NASA InSight Mars lander audio, follows a man alone with an insistent, rhythmic sound he can't place — inside his house, or inside his head. Elements of it were later folded into Gumdrop, linking the two films into a shared psychological universe.

Alongside the submissions, a film companion book to Bolero is being considered at a UK publisher — expanding the film's found-poem approach to Ravel's war into something longer-form.

A Body of Work, Still in Progress

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

The True Crime Prestige Limited Streaming Series - The Teenage Bodyguard?

In 2013 I wrote a screenplay based on a true crime story about a teenager who was asked by a terrified woman to protect her for a week until she could leave town. She needed to avoid her former boss, a captain in a local mafia family. It's won 17 international screenplay / film festival awards.

I've now worked on it with a script consultant and a producer. I'm not talking to a UK writer/director who got me thinking about it in a different direction. Rather than a screenplay, it could be two films.

Or a prestige streaming channel limited series.

I hadn't considered that so I did some research and it looked like my best bets were Netflix, which I was leaning toward, HBO, which seems more difficult, or FX, which I liked that idea a lot. And so I've been working up materials for that.

Why did the woman need protection? Because she had witnessed a murder.

There is a newspaper clip about it. She gave it to him to read. 

But she said, that's not what happened. They had killed their own. She knew that, she said. She didn't see it, although she was in the parking lot when it happened, but they thought she saw it and that...is the problem.

All she needed was for someone to help her get through the week. to protect her from them. What she didn't tell him was she also needed protection from herself. And an emotional support person to keep her from breaking down...or just turning herself in to them. 

Go to the police he said.

They own the police, she replied.

Oh, shit, he said.

Yes, exactly, she despondently concluded.

So yes, it's a fascinating tale. A seventeen year old protecting a 20-something woman from the local crime family who was looking for her, over a murder. And how do they typically deal with that kind of thing? Another murder? Likely so.

So you get it into shape, first. I entered contest, used their reviews and suggested corrections (some obvious, some occluded, some just wrong), then I used a script consultant. Years later I worked with a known producer to rewrite it in better screenplay format, with budget in mind and for a lower budget production. 

He got me three working directors who wanted to shoot it. But they didn't have my vision. I'd heard many times from processionals that it's better to wait than go with production if it's not your vision. Sure, shape your vision, don't be unrealistic (and that's where "they" get you). But also stick to what you know in your gut is important, or important to you.

And so I have.

It's been a journey, writing this story, in screenplay format. It's hard for fiction authors to adapt to, but I had studied this decades before at university. So I had a leg up. Still, after years of fiction writing, you want to write fiction in your Action sequences in a screenplay and that pretty much is a bad idea. 

A good Action element in a screenplay reads like fiction, it's interesting, engaging, even fascinating, but it's in Action format, not fiction format, which takes up far too much space.

And that's why I bring this up today. One of the things you do as a screenwriter is to get help. You can enter contests, but only ones that offer help. A conversation. A review. A critique. Or "coverage". 

Screenplay coverage is a written summary and opinion of a movie script that helps producers decide quickly if it is worth developing or passing on.

I only have two projects on The Black List website

One of the well thought of coverage types is The Black List. IF you can get on their list, you're doing really well. But you can also get on their website, you can pay to be a member, and you can pay for their coverage. Which I've done several times. I cleaned up my screenplay, and resubmitted. 

As I say above, I only have 2 screenplays there. I have more on Script Revolution and Film Freeway.

And so, that's why we're here today. Something about one of those coverage reports.

It is in sections. It rates your screenplay for Overall, Premise, Plot, Character, Dialoge and Setting and then offers a summary via Era, Locations, Budget, Genre, Logline and Pages.

Then there are three major sections of Strengths, Weaknesses and Prospects.

I'm going to share what the Prospects section said in one of my Black List coverages from years ago. I've since gone through multiple rewrites. Why? Because of a mistake by the script reader — also known as story analysts or coverage readers in the industry:

"There are a number of sequences in this screenplay where the pace of the dialogue really stands out.

When conversations move quickly - as the exchange does between Gordie and Sara from page 44 to

46, for example's sake - it keeps the reader's (meaning prospective buyer's) eyes moving down the

page and gives the scene an energy that can translate to the screen effectively. (But, be sure that those

characters have distinct voices; a character's personality really comes to life on the page when their

voice is unique and idiosyncratic.) There are some useful details early in the piece as well. For

instance, the fact that Gordie doesn't pull his backup parachute during his skydiving malfunction -

because he's wary of the $250 fee - is telling. Similarly, Mark laughing with Deputy Fiori on page 9

alerts the audience to the fact that the mobsters and police have a working relationship, which is

important later in the story (when Sara fears going to the corrupt police for help). Gordie's discomfort

with Marlon's suggestion on page 74 is a memorable moment; Gordie's hesitance with Kelp is

authentic, and we get the sense that it stems from his feelings for Sara. Finally, it's interesting to see

on page 113 that there was a serious reason Sara never called after landing in New York."

OK. I bring this all up because in the screenplay, "Gordie" says he cannot afford the emergency parachute repack of "two fifty". 

The script reader took that to mean two hundred and fifty dollars, when in reality it was two dollars and fifty cents.

Why bring this up? Because of a vast change in tone and meaning.

IF it's $250, most even today would think, 'well, I can see why he'd at least hesitate." But if it's only $2.50, then one might wonder what the hell is wrong with this guy today. While back in 1974 one has to consider that gas was 30 cents a gallon, if not less.

Getting past a belief that this guy must be nuts to avoid deploying a lifesaving emergency chute when he "main" had failed, we get to his embarrassment that he did not have that small amount of money on him. The fact however that he might even consider that as an issue in such a dire situation (which to should also be noted that he did not see it as dire, but that's another issue entirely), one needs to know that character's mindset, and history.

It had already been exposed that he had emergency services training in search and rescue, landed his first plane at twelve years old, and started fighting in Karate tournaments in grade school and so had fasted fear in multiple venues over a period of a decade by time this story unfolds as he was plummeting to the earth at around 90-110 MPH (terminal velocity is 120MPH but a streaming parachute would slow that down due to drag forces). 

So, again. Why bring this up?

Mostly because it's an interesting story for an audience.

But also for aspiring screenwriters. Yes, coverage is important. Especially very good and relevant coverage. But they aren't always right, certainly not about everything.

You have to "follow your gut" so to speak. You have to know when to, as Kenny Rogers put it in the song "The Gambler":

knowing when to hold ’em

knowing when to fold ’em

knowing when to walk away

knowing when to run...

Use whatever tools you can get your hands on, but use your brain first. Do not buy your way out of thinking. Spend money only when it earns its keep. Free beats stupid every time. Trash what does not work. Learn what does. Learn when it does.

If you start something, finish it. Put a real product on the table. But also know when a thing is dead and cut it loose. That is not quitting, that is survival. Yes, it is a contradiction. So is life. You get better at it by screwing it up and learning.

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!


Pages: Start Here | About JZ Murdock | 

Timeline: Heather Cox Richardson and the Roots of Today’s Political Crisis

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Rediscovering “Travels”, A One Act Dramedy— a Premiere and Journey Reimagined

A Forty-Year Journey Arriving in a New Form

Today my experimental very short film Travels premieres on YouTube, and it comes with the strange feeling of opening a time capsule from my early life as a writer. This film began in 1984 as a one-act stage play I did in an eight person, team scriptwriting class at Western Washington University. This was one an exercise where we each had to produce a short script.

Brief aside from Terry Gilliam on 1984: " 'Brazil' came specifically from the time, from the approaching of 1984. It was looming. In fact, the original title of 'Brazil' was '1984 ½'. Fellini was one of my great gods and it was 1984, so let’s put them together. Unfortunately, that b@stard Michael Radford did a version of '1984' and he called it '1984', so I was blown."

He also leaves out the part that actually set the whole thing in motion:
Gilliam wanted to make Brazil first...and the studios said no. Too weird, too dark, too unmarketable.

So he pivoted and made Time Bandits instead, this weird little tale he had sitting in a drawer, because they would greenlight that. And when Time Bandits became a surprise international hit, suddenly the impossible happened:

The success of Time Bandits gave Gilliam the leverage to finally get Brazil approved.

That’s the irony: the film he made because he couldn’t make Brazil is the one that ultimately allowed him to make Brazil… which then turned into one of the biggest studio battles of the 1980s.

Moving along now...

It was a small, sharp piece set entirely in an office where two people push and pull overpower, authority, and personal truth. At the time, I had no idea that this little play would sit quietly in my work for decades, waiting for another life.

Over the years I had forgotten about it. When I recently uncovered it going through my old university papers, in revisiting Travels I came away thinking the same thing. There was more here than the walls of that office allowed for. 

There was something psychological in it (well, this was for my creative writing minor, as I was a psychology major), it had...something wounded, something seeking meaning. I always felt the story was trying to walk somewhere, but the stage version never let it leave the room. Then again, it was a trifle, written for an in-class exercise among classmates

This new film finally lets it travel.

Travels follows a woman moving through shifting, symbolic, dreamlike landscapes. The images are generated with the support of AI tools, but the tone and the emotional direction grow directly from that original 1984 script. There is more going on than at first appears.

The environment is surreal, sometimes unsettling, somehow singularly disturbing. They're reflections of memory, identity, and the distortions we move through when our lives are under pressure. They carry humor, disorientation, reflection, and the search for self that lived beneath the surface of the original play.

The music is also AI composed, which gives the film an atmosphere that feels both modern and oddly timeless. The sound has a drifting quality that fits her movement through spaces that do not behave like the world we know. Even so, I guided every choice the way I would any traditional production. Tools may evolve, but storytelling still needs an artist steering its meaning.

I've considered doing it on camera with actors, so why not do a pre-movie of it? How? A storyboard? Sure, but... Just use AI, explore that toolset. I thought of voice actors but that was more than I wanted to get into on this iteration. So, AI actors? And there it is. As I envision it, real actors would flesh the scenario and characters out a lot more. But once I watched it, I was surprised it worked at all. 

Travels is, at its core, still about the same question I asked in 1984. 

What does a person do when the structures around them bend, twist, or betray them. How do we make sense of a world that feels unreal. How do we move forward when nothing lines up the way it used to. This new version steps out of realism to explore those questions in a more visual, poetic way, but the heart of the work has not changed.

I recently learned that the creator of Severance graduated from WWU twenty-three years after I did, and it made me wonder if we both picked up our shared claustrophobic streak from the same source. Probably not the university itself, or the theatre department, or even the professors we both admired. More likely it was something in the town of Bellingham. A charming place, truly. But tucked far enough up in the corner of the country that the rest of America feels like a rumor.

Dan Erickson, creator of Severance directed a student play called “Convention” at WWU (produced by the STP theatre group) that he wrote and which shows early thematic connections to his great later series. 

This film stands where past and present meet. The script was written in my late twenties in the mid-80s, shaped by the world of 1984 in more ways than one. Revisited now with the tools of 2025, it becomes a story stretched across two very different eras. It was impossible to graduate in 1984 without hearing the echoes of Orwell’s book in those hallways of education, a reminder that stories can define the atmosphere of a year as much as history can.

Thank you for being part of its journey.

Thank you for watching.

The full 11-minute premiere of Travels is now up and live on YouTube.

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Not All Awards Are Equal: The Hard Lesson After 350+ Festival Wins

For years, I had one goal related to writing. Get a short story published. I achieved that in 1990 when I sold my first story of dystopian fiction to a horror quarterly for $28. 

I never dreamed of actually getting involved in filmmaking. Now I have 349 festival wins, just on Film Freeway. That's not counting direct festivals wins, or other platforms like WFCN.

I had worked at Tower Video in 1984 when their first one opened in Tacoma, WA. This was right after graduating from college. 

Before that I had worked at Tower Posters and Tower Records while attending my first two years of college, then transferred schools up to Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.

I'd always loved cinema. I was excited my first quarter of college to find I could take a class in it. Intro to Cinema where I began to learn the language of cinema. I later realized I'd started studying cinema in the 1960s watching films. I grew up going to the drive in theater with our dad worked a night job as Assistant Manager and Box Office Cashier. Ever Friday night our family was there watching from our station wagon. I got very interested in foreign films PBS regularly played. I became familiarized with Francois Truffaut's concept of the Auteur filmmaker.

After graduating college in 1984 with a degree in psychology (with a focus on phenomenology) and a minor in creative writing—screenwriting, playwriting, and fiction—I continued honing my storytelling, 

That same year I took a series of film seminars by the renowned filmmaker Stanley Kramer. That...was amazing. But I never thought I'd ever get involved IN filmmaking. I never thought I'd be a published writer for that matter (Until that first paid short story sale, getting not paid for an article being printed didn't really count for me). 

Though I had been given praise by fellow students and professors in college, who seemed to be somewhat amazed by my writings, my analysis of things, and my fiction, non-fiction and psychology journal articles, I had trouble believing I could be part of that valued catalog of writers (or filmmakers) at any level. 

Authors for me as a kid, were "Gods" of a sort, a literary sort anyway. who created universes. Filmmakers were of a similar ilk, but far above authors. They actually made movies from novels after all.

I had shot a short film for two professors my senior year of college. It was bad, but quality wasn't the orientation, mostly for that film, it was the journal I kept that was what was important. Sadly, I had to turn it in for my grade along with the film (which my prof then showed to all his classes). But my professor wouldn't give back my journal. He said what you turn in to a professor, becomes the professor's property to use as needed for further teaching or whatever. I wish I'd had the foresight to make a copy.

I graduated college on my Veteran's Benefits (Vietnam Era, I used to say I got a four-year degree on the "eight-year plan", after four years (officially six, with two inactive service) of the USAF. But before I left college I wanted a full screenplay under my belt. So I graduated in the spring and took a full summer load of classes which used up the rest of my GI Bill education benefits. But I had my screenplay. It is titled Ahriman, about an alien prophet/prince who is inadvertently dragged to Earth due to Earth scientist's accident during an experiment (oddly, a similar device was used in my book, Anthology of Evil II Vol. II The Unwritten.

After graduating in 1984 I started sending out my screenplay and short stories. Do you have any idea how hard it was back then, going back through history (before the internet) to find and send out writings? You had to buy a Writers Market each year. You used to be able to just hit their website. Of course. But today for some reason, it's unavailable, and with their apologies.

I'd written my very first complete short story after reading Frank Herbert's Dune in 1970. I then never wrote another full short story until college. I used to write beginnings and middles of stories through the 1980's but never finished any of them. My friends who would read them loved them but were mad I never finished them. Endings were...just too complicated. Too many options. HOW does one pick the right ending? It was too stressful to choose, then know you'd have readers hold you to task for your poor choices.

Something one day, I realized I had inadvertently learned how to do after a few years of college. 

In the 1990s I published some articles for no pay in computer "rags", local regional periodicals printed on cheap newsprint, that were popular at the time. My first was in Denver, Colorado on the topic of how managers of offices were giving their people grief for being on the internet. Much as they used to worry over people being on the phone too much. It was well received. 

At some point IMDb, the Internet Movie Database popped up online in 1990. It was clunky, but a genius idea and I used it often. Even more so when it used HTML and became a webpage and then a website as it is today.

At first I just wanted to get some attention, then sell something. Then...my goal changed to getting listed on IMDb. My first posted film there was actually with my second narrative film, "Gumdrop", a short horror. It won some awards that said I could list them on IMDb. Awesome. And weird.

What is weird about my IMDb listing is this...

I looked up my name on IMDb when I started thinking about wanting to get listed there. this was a while before I even had movies I'd produced to put up on there. Nothing. My name wasn't there. Not surprised. Then on a lark, I looked up one of my two adult kids, my youngest. And there, low and behold, was THEIR name! Well, they had done artistic things, were oriented toward that. They were a photographer and a musician. Both my kids are creative, intelligent and artistic.

Still. What?

So I looked up my other kid. The older one and sure enough, they were on IMDB Too! I couldn't believe it! So I called them up and asked and neither knew they were on there. Good grief, I'd wanted it so bad and had no idea how to get on there, both of them were on there but didn't care and didn't even know they were there. They thought it was cool but weren't that impressed. The youngest had been a photographer on a short art film with high production values, the other had done video game testing for a contractor to Microsoft and so get their name listed. 

Well, now we're all listed. 

With Pvt. Ravel’s Bolero, that film became a mission—one that eventually racked up over 50 film festival awards. It sounds impressive (and in many ways, it is), but as I quickly learned, not all festivals carry the same weight. Some wins open doors; others just fill up your inbox with laurels. But I was motivated, more than with my previous film to get some good awards. That let me to submitting my "Gumdrop" film for more awards as I became more savvy about it all. 

Now, with a polished film or two and dozens of accolades between them (and other films), I've had to ask: 

Which awards actually matter in the industry? Which festivals move the needle with distributors, audiences, or future collaborators—and which ones are just expensive pats on the back?

That led me to here, today and this topic. Some of the awards below (45 of them) are listed on IMDb for my documentary. Using my film Pvt. Ravel's Bolero, and the awards it's won, I compiled a list and broke it down so we can look at the quality of film festivals at large...

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🎯 Respected/Established Festivals (Count Significantly):

These festivals have been recognized as credible by filmmakers and sometimes distributors. Their awards are meaningful on press kits and resumes.

• Accolade Global Film Competition

• The IndieFEST Film Awards

• Impact DOCS Awards

• Best Shorts Competition

• Depth of Field International Film Festival (DOFIFF)

• Documentaries Without Borders

• New York Movie Awards

• London Movie Awards

• Rome Movie Awards

• Paris Film Awards

• Calcutta International Cult Film Festival

• Hollywood Gold Awards

Note: These festivals are often (but not all) monthly award competitions with limited live screenings, but they are well-known and IMDb qualifying.

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⚠️ Decent Recognition but Variable Weight (Mixed Value):

These may be useful in press and posters, but many are festival mills — offering many awards per month for revenue. Still, they can help with marketing and social proof.

• Venice Under the Stars International Film Festival

• 8 & Halfilm Awards

• Tagore International Film Festival

• Gold Star Movie Awards

• Beyond the Curve International Film Festival

• Pinnacle Film Awards

• Cult Critic Movie Awards

• Frida Film Festival

• OTB | Only The Best Film Awards

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❗ Low Prestige / “Award Mills” / Vanity Festivals (Usually Don’t Count Professionally):

These festivals have little to no screening, press, or industry presence. They tend to give awards to most entrants. While not necessarily scams, they are mostly for laurels, not visibility.

Examples:

• Wild Filmmaker Festival

• Casino Film Festival

• Green Ciak Film Awards

• LION KING International Film Festival

• White Apple Festival

• Dragon City International Film Festival Bahrain

• Sweet Democracy Film Awards

• Andromeda Film Festival

• Medusa Film Festival

• Goldspire International Film Festival

• RunDoc Film Talent Award

• Close Film Festival

• Thinking Hat Fiction Challenge

• Vietnam Indie Film Festival

• Russian Institute of Cinema and Performing Arts Awards

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✅ How to Highlight on Website, IMDb, and Press Kits:

Stick to a curated, meaningful list for credibility. For example:

“Winner – Impact DOCS Awards, IndieFEST Film Awards, Accolade Global Competition, Paris Film Awards, London Movie Awards, New York Movie Awards, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival.”

And then say:

Also received over 50 international awards including honors from Rome, Hollywood, and documentary-focused festivals.

So after more than 50 festival wins, what have I really learned? That the film festival world is a mixed bag—part validation, part illusion. Some festivals offer real exposure, networking, and industry credibility. Others hand out trophies like candy and vanish before the next submission cycle. Winning doesn’t guarantee distribution, connections, or recognition beyond the festival’s own website. 

But it does teach you how to navigate the game—what matters, what doesn’t, and how to focus your time, money, and creative energy where it counts. The prestige isn’t in the number of laurels you collect—it’s in knowing which ones are worth wearing.

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Val Kilmer: A Legacy Of Talent & Resilience – Mamet, 'Spartan'...& A Spy’s Game

RIP to Val Kilmer.

"Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies. The New York Times was the first to report his death." - AP

My introduction to Val Kilmer was in Top Gun (1986), and I did not like him (that character, anyway, as I came to realize later). Then I saw him in Real Genius (1985). I liked him a bit more. Then I saw him in Top Secret (1984) and I thought, yeah, he's much more likable here. 

​Val Kilmer, the versatile actor known for his roles in films like Top Gun, Batman Forever, and The Doors, passed away on April 1, 2025, at the age of 65 due to pneumonia. His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed his death, noting that he had previously battled throat cancer since 2015, which had significantly impacted his health. 

Kilmer's portrayal of Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991) showcased his dedication to his craft, as he immersed himself in the role by singing all the concert sequences himself. His performance as Iceman in Top Gun (1986) and as the titular character in Batman Forever (1995) solidified his status as a Hollywood leading man.

Throughout his career, Kilmer was known for his intense approach to acting, which sometimes led to a reputation for being difficult to work with. Despite these challenges, his commitment to his roles left a lasting impact on the film industry. ​

Kilmer has narrated a few films. One of the notable projects he narrated is The American West (2016), a documentary series that explores the history of the American West. Kilmer’s deep, distinctive voice adds a powerful layer to the storytelling, making his narration a memorable part of the series. Additionally, Kilmer has lent his voice to various other projects, both in narration and voice acting.

In addition to The American West, Kilmer also narrated The Mutant Chronicles (2008), though it is more of a feature film with a documentary-style approach. However, for a more documentary-specific project, Kilmer is also known for narrating Cinema Twain (2015), a rather good documentary that focuses on the life and legacy of Mark Twain.

"The Mutant Chronicles universe was first a Pen and Paper role-playing game published by Swedish game studio Target Games. There were also several boardgames, a set of tabletop wargaming rules (with associated lines of miniatures), as well as comic books." IMDb

In his later years, Kilmer became more politically active and even considered running for governor of New Mexico. He also authored a memoir titled I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir in 2020, providing insights into his life and career.

Kilmer is survived by his two children, Mercedes and Jack, who have both followed in their father's footsteps in the entertainment industry. 

But I don't want to talk here about those films that have been discussed so much.

One of his, if not standout performances in a film for me, but one of my favorites is Spartan (2004) from David Mamet. Their only collaboration and a film kind of panned by reviewers, but still one of my favorite Kilmer flicks. But then I have an orientation that leans into espionage, both non-fiction for most of the first part of my life, and the fictional. But I've always preferred as realistic as possible. Either in its reality or in the feel for that. Which was why my favorite spy novelist long was books by Len Deighton. 

While I was not in my father's life, or he in mine, I was given the last book he was reading when he died, and it was Deighton's spy series, Game, Set, Match. Which, rather oddl,y when I received that book, I had just finished what I thought was a very good BBC series of the same name with Ian Holm as the inveterate character of Bernard Sampson (pronunciation of his first name BERNard, forever misspoke by "Yanks").

Deighton was famous for his books into films starring the late Michael Caine: The IPCRESS File (1962), Funeral in Berlin (1964), Billion-Dollar Brain (1966). Caine's character of spy Harry Palmer was my favorite fictional spy after James Bond and before the satirical Derek Flint (James Coburn). I loved those films and Michael Caine ever since them.

Oddly enough it took me forever to find the DVD set of the Game, Set, Match series because writer Deighton hated Holm's performance and he tried to kill their existence. I finally found a copy in Australia. That Game Set Match series is a trilogy of a trilogy of books: Deighton later wrote two more trilogies continuing Samson’s story:

• Game, Set, Match (Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match)

• Hook, Line & Sinker (Spy Hook, Spy Line, Spy Sinker)

• Faith, Hope & Charity (Faith, Hope, Charity)

But I (quite obviously) digress...

I've been a fan of Mamet's since my playwriting class days at university, and full in after I saw House of Games (1987). But even before that, with The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), The Verdict (1982) with Paul Newman, and definitely with The Untouchables (1987).

How can I justify my appreciation of Spartan?

I don’t really need to justify liking Spartan—but if you want me to defend it against its lukewarm reception, there is plenty to work with. 

Here’s why I think it stands out:

1. Mamet’s Signature Dialogue & Tight Script

• Mamet’s stylized, clipped dialogue can be divisive, but it gives Spartan a unique, almost poetic rhythm. It’s efficient, stripped down—no wasted words.

• The storytelling avoids spoon-feeding the audience, trusting them to piece things together, which makes rewatches rewarding.

2. Val Kilmer’s Performance

• He’s at his best here—intense, understated, and believably lethal. Unlike a typical action hero, he plays Scott as all business, which fits the tone perfectly.

3. Unconventional Spy Thriller

• No over-the-top set pieces or glamorized espionage—this is a brutal, procedural look at special ops work, where success often comes down to ruthlessness, not flash.

• The film’s twists feel earned rather than forced, and it respects the audience’s intelligence.

4. Dark, Political Edge

• It subtly critiques power structures, government corruption, and the expendability of even high-profile individuals.

• The conspiracy at the film’s core isn’t outlandish—it feels frighteningly plausible.

5. Rewatchability & Cult Status

• Like a lot of Mamet films, it’s aged well. Its methodical pacing, sharp dialogue, and ambiguous moral compass make it more rewarding the more you watch it.

The fact that critics weren’t all on board actually makes it more of a hidden gem. Some of the best films aren’t universally loved at first but develop a loyal following over time—Spartan is one of those.

Val Kilmer’s career is celebrated for his iconic roles in films like Top Gun and The Doors. Known for his talent and charm, Kilmer has faced personal challenges, including a battle with throat cancer. Despite these hurdles, his legacy continues to inspire, leaving a lasting mark on both Hollywood and his fans.

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

The works of JZ Murdock - Where to Find Them today?

A bit about myself and where my works are to be found today, on my birthday. I'm offering for 1 day, my epic ebook DEATH OF HEAVEN for free! 

Coupon (1st 100): C3ULQ

Cheers! Sláinte!

My writings, my film works? As for my social media links, those can be found on LinkTree. Like easy ones such as JZMurdock.com or LgNProductions.com.

I have been interviewed a few times. Here's my December 2019 Slash Night Shorts interview, a monthly film festival a friend and I created, until Covid hit and killed it. We had local indie filmmakers show up and it was basically a party once a month, with films and on stage interviews and networking of filmmakers and fans.

Below is a photo of some years ago at a gallery in Port Orchard, Washington, during my author reading for my book, DEATH OF HEAVEN.

This is an interview from February 2018.

Regarding my books, ebooks, and audiobooks, they are all available at Amazon, Smashwords, and Audible.com.

Many of my covers are produced by artist Marvin Hayes.

There is more than anyone should ever want to know about me, on my website.

My films, are different...

Some are available on my TheJZMurdock YouTube channel.

Some are on my LgN Productions YouTube channel.

"Gumdrop", a short horror, is currently only available (for $1.99) on the LgNProductions video site. This is a rough film, indie film, but also a film noir/horror film shot with a nod to the film, "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer". Technically, there are interesting things going on in it as well as some things often missed going on in the background. 

And in part because of that, it's also an award-winning film. 17 awards to be exact: Best Noir, several Best Horror/Thriller, and others.

My biggest award-winning film is, "Pvt. Ravel's Bolero". Sadly it's in limbo until the primary (and title) song goes into the public domain in January of 2031. It's a long story, I misunderstood the song's public domain status during research and production and was later surprised to find it's still owned by a company). I also started on the film when I was trying to struggle out of a year of long covid, so maybe it's not surprising I made a mistake on something. Still and that being said, it's now won over 60 international film festival awards.

Its trailer, outtakes reel, and "Wars on Earth" videos are available on YouTube.

My first narrative film, "The Rapping" (referring to a sound, not music), is available.  This is an unlisted link so you cannot find it by searching online for it. This film includes NASA InSight Mars Lander audio incorporated into the soundtrack to add to the eerieness.

It is also the long version of the pieces of it used in my next and longer film. That film is, "Gumdrop", a short horror, which I have already covered. It has a trailer. Curious as the entire film lasts only 8 minutes. 

I also have some short silly films like, "Below in the Dark". Or, "Happy Birthday from Dragon Boxer - February 18, 2011". A film I made for my youngest backpacking eastern Europe at the time, and feeling rather low. This cheered them up. How could it NOT? 

Another favorite of mine is the short "Eagles & Crows, a fable". Yes, for a 4-minute film, I did ridiculously make a trailer for it. I had some footage of the eagles in my backyard over months and thought I should use it. One day I watched a crow harassing an eagle and thought it was funny. 

I made one up of some extra video for an audio recording I made of my son and friends playing drums up at Ft. Warden Park in Port Townsend years ago. I called it, "Beyond Abbadon's Gaze. For a while I used that percussion audio for the original trailer for my film, "Gumdrop". I liked the coarse, uneven beatings and noises for the trailer. But when my soundtrack composer Andrea Fioravanti heard it (from the Italian band, Postvorta), he offered to do the music for the trailer, and I went with that.

How dumb DO you have to be to piss off an eagle? So I made a film about why that happens, why a crow would attack an eagle, and made it about the eagle trying to educate the crow. Silly film I thought kids just might like. But I don't think any yet have seen it.

Here's a couple of old pieces from Indies Unlimited:
- Meet the Author: JZ Murdock
- Article on JZ Murdock by LA Lewandowski: "Gender Bender"

I also made up some book trailers for my books. These are from 11 year ago and since I started producing films, my tastes have changed and I would make this very different today. But they are what they are and so I offer them out of nostalgia if nothing else.

Like Expedition of the Arcturus, a generational spaceship story. First published on the online, hard science fiction magazine, PerihelionSF.com

• Death of heaven (Revised 2014) / Death of Heaven (2012)
• Synesthesia (non-fiction/psychology)
• Some Notes on Field Theory and Psychology (non-fiction/psychology)
• The Conqueror Worm (1st story from, Death of heaven)
• Mr. Pakool's Spice (zombie story)
• Anthology of Evil (collection of older short fiction-horror/scifi)
• Poor Lord Ritchie's Answer (surreal horror)
• In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear (1990-dystopian America & giving one man, all power)
• Quantum History (humor-science experiment gone mad)
• Gumdrop City (story the film "Gumdrop", a short horror is based upon)
• Simon's Beautiful Thought
• Sarah ("Twilight Zone" type story)
• EarVu (horror/scifi-science experiment gone mad)
• Japheth, Ishvi and The Light (religious cult/zombie story)
• Andrew (novella that Death of heaven is in part based upon)
• The Mea Culpa document of London (medieval witch hunter story)

I have several new books out after those above. The sequel to my first collection of short stories is, Anthology of Evil II Vol. I & "The Unwritten" Vol. II. Also Suffering "Long Covid". 

And that's a list of where all or most of my works are located, should anyone be interested. Have fun!

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts 33a - ThrilzTV, Our New Streaming Movie Service

Well. Not much walking of late. But I thought I'd offer an update.

I've been saying for a while I was working on building a brand new streaming movie service. And so we have been. It recently went live online. We've yet to market it yet, holding off on that as we continue to build it up and other things. 

A streaming service by indie filmmakers for indie fiimmakers, and lovers of other than mainstream big studio films, with a taste for the unusual and unique. Some vintage, some bizarre, some docs on fimmaking, some movies you probably won't see elsewhere, and just stuff. We have big plans for it. Not just movies, but expanding beyond that.

Brief aside about streaming services from the WrapPro: "The Oscars Box Office Bump Is Dead – but the Streaming Lift Is Alive and Kicking"

I used to work at Tower Records, and Posters (started there) and Video (ended there, in Seattle, other than being a supervisor there, I took over Jeff Ament's job (of Pearl Jam). Our video employees would gather some nights to party, blow off steam after a week of dealing with the public (Have you MET the public?), and we'd bring some fun/weird films from work. And we'd always have a blast. We would have loved this, having a streaming service such as we're building. And no need to check out VHS tapes from work!

Mostly we're just testing it out, getting more movies on it every day, and already...somehow, we've  already acquired subscribers! So if you want to get in on something at the beginning...here we are!

From a post by our marketing department guy, Steve:

"I'm excited to be helping out with a new streaming movie service called ThrilzTV.  If you're a fan of fun, thrilling entertainment and looking for something a little different then come check it out.  Not your Hollywood blockbusters but a range of independent films and nostalgic "B" movies too. 

"If you're interested in being a beta tester and getting a free month send me a message and I'll give you a promo code.  All we ask is that you watch some movies and take a short 10 question survey."

So there it is! Thanks, Steve! 

Well, I said I'd share when it came online and here we are!  As always...

Cheers! Sláinte !