ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

7 years, 9 months ago - John Lubran

Amen to that Karl. He'll be missed. Bless him.

7 years, 9 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

We will all miss Dan, he shared freely and I imagine every single one of us will have learnt something from him at some time as well as some of us chatting offsite too. Heartbreaking.

7 years, 9 months ago - Paulina Brahm

A tragedy on so, so many levels. From his sister about his death. Please read.

http://www.tulsakids.com/Editors-Blog/Web-2018/One-Reason-Why/

7 years, 9 months ago - Mark Wiggins

This is so shocking and so sad.

7 years, 9 months ago - Marlom Tander

So sad.

7 years, 9 months ago - Franz von Habsburg FBKS MSc

Words fail me and I am in deep shock! Dan was a dear friend and we corresponded a lot about editing and film in general. I also knew he was in great pain so do understand. It was severe back pain (standing for too long over a Moviola?) May I propose we scour SP for all he wrote so wisely and collate it all for the benefit of members. I personally printed off a lot of what he wrote but there will be more out there! So now he’s gone to that great cutting room in the Sky and be with my dear Jack Cardiff who has also gone there to create wonderful Technicolor sunsets for God. RIP Dear Dan.

7 years, 9 months ago - afia nkrumah

So sad to hear about Dan. He was very generous with his knowledge, RIP.

7 years, 9 months ago - Louise Pennington

So sorry to hear about Dan. We emailed for a time sharing our love of film and he gave me great advice. It's not much consolation, but he is at peace now...

7 years, 9 months ago - cath le couteur

This is so incredibly sad. Dan was a huge supporter to so many filmmakers on SP after he joined the community back in 2006. He was unbelievably generous with his time. His ideas and his thoughtful analysis of so many parts of the filmmaking process helped literally hundreds and hundreds of members with their filmmaking careers. We’re gutted to hear this. A few years ago Dan also wrote a brilliant book “Killer Camera Rigs That You Can Build’ that we promoted for him throughout SP. The book was key to his thinking and approach - he wanted to help teach filmmakers how to build their own rigs, soles, stabilisers, cranes etc and the book was fantastic. He was smart, generous, kind and also very funny. And he spent his time, not just helping shooters with practical advice, but guiding and supporting those who were looking to hone their skills. As a writer and editor based in LA he also gave fantastic insights into WGA, DGA activities and what that meant for independent filmmakers too on the ground, both here and Stateside. We never got to meet Dan in person and would have loved too. In all our online communications with him, he was also a lovely lovely guy. We know that he literally helped hundreds, if not thousands of filmmakers. And inspired so many countless others. He will be very sorely missed.

Cath, and all of us at SP

7 years, 9 months ago - Stephen Potts

I only knew Dan through SP, where I looked forward to his regular posts in the bulletins, always picking them out to read first.
His family and friends in the US may not know how many people in the UK appreciated him, or by how much.
Can I suggest SP sets up some kind of award in his honour? The Dan Selakovich Award for Most Positive/ Insightful/Entertaining/Prolific/Generous Poster of the year (or something similar)

7 years, 9 months ago - Stuart Wright

That's incredibly sad to read... He was always very helpful and generous sharing experiences and lessons learnt so we don't have to... RIP

7 years, 9 months ago - Ben Blaine

Truly awful to read this, my heart goes out to his sister and all his friends and colleagues across the world.

Reading Betty's piece about his death it's hard not to be struck by the particularly savage irony that Dan struggled so hard to find the help and support he needed since I think anyone who has used Shooting People even in passing would know Dan instantly as the most helpful and tirelessly supportive member. Always amongst the first to answer a question, never one to belittle someone for their lack of knowledge, his energy epitomised the best of what this community can be. I love the idea of an award in his name. He will be missed.

Ahh mate. Spool it back to the end of the of the last scene and lets try finding a different ending. Really wasn't time to call wind, reel and print. x.

7 years, 9 months ago - Uriel Emil

It's heartbreaking... I looked over my correspondence with Dan a few years back. He was so kind and sensitive with his advice. He'll be truly missed!! RIP Dan

7 years, 9 months ago - Alan Fleet

'Always amongst the first to answer a question, never one to belittle someone for their lack of knowledge, his energy epitomised the best of what this community can be.' Exactly right, Ben. I loved Dan's posts.

7 years, 9 months ago - Ken Yates

I never met Dan or corresponded with him but I always, always read his posts. I printed up the detailed notes he wrote about editing, and still often refer to them. As has been said it's particularly cruel that someone who was so generous in helping others couldn't get the help he needed himself. SP won't be the same without him.

7 years, 9 months ago - Stephen Potts

His sister is inevitably hurting. It may be some small comfort to give her SP membership so she can read thes posts - or simply to pull them together and send them to her.

7 years, 9 months ago - Nick Hilton

Sorry to read this. As with many others, even though I was a bit late to the SP party to have much correspondence with Dan, I always read his generous responses here and they were routinely amongst the most insightful and friendly on here. Hope he has some peace at last.

7 years, 9 months ago - Karel Bata

Been going over some of Dan's posts from FB:

"What’s the most dangerous room in your house? Apparently, the experts are right. The bathroom. I slipped on the bathroom floor and hit the side of my head on the tub. I was out for about 4 hours. Sharon said, are you an idiot? Go to the ER. My sister, Betty, said, are you an idiot? Go to the ER. I went to the Urgent care near my house. The doctor said, are you an idiot? Go to the ER—and you can't drive there. So here I am at the ER. The doc at the ER asked why I waited so long. I said, “apparently the general consensus is that I’m an idiot.” No brain bleeds, but still have a headache. Oh, one more fun fact: my building was built in 1928, and I still have the original steel tub. The good news: no damage to the tub. Just hose the blood off, and I'm all good to go."

"The roaches in my apartment rearrange the furniture; often while I'm sitting on it. But that's not what pisses me off. What pisses me off is that they are so defiant about it. Man, I hate those roaches. I think they're French (they smoke tiny cigarettes and wear tiny berets)."

"So I wrote this little article for a filmmaking web site in London. I've apparently caused a fucking shit storm. Mostly positive, but damn, the internet is like cancer. Even reddit has chimed in saying I created a "mythology." Really, I was just voicing my opinion, but now I'm a mythology. Good lord. I don't have the self esteem for this. But I wouldn't mind if Paul Greengrass called me so that I could set that fucker straight. This is old, but I'm now quoted all over the world. I'm really not comfortable with that. Really. I'm in fucking Phd dissertations in Germany. Quote Roman Polanski, for christ sakes. I'm tired of getting shitty emails."

Damn, I miss him.

7 years, 9 months ago - Nick Cheel

Hard to digest this sad news. Although only an occasional browser of SP threads, I often followed his comments and always found his take perceptive, measured and constructive - all-round invaluable advice. My sympathies to Betty, Sharon and nearest.

7 years, 9 months ago - Grace June

This is incredibly sad to hear, Dan was gracious and generous with both his time and wisdom - it was heartwarming to always see him kindly jumping to the aid of filmmakers seeking advice on here, sharing his vast experience - his words always encouraging, insightful, warm and witty. Franz's idea of collating his posts over the years is a great one, may his voice continue to spur on the community for generations. Rest in peace Dan, thoughts are with Betty - what an incredibly moving and brave piece she wrote.

7 years, 9 months ago - John Lubran

Thank you all lovely SP peeps for being so kind to Dan's memory and sensitive to his family. They now know how much he was appreciated by this SP community. I love the idea of setting up an award in his name and archiving his contributions under his name. Some of us have already sent letters of condolence to his Mom, which I suspect will have come as something of a surprise to his family. It's good that they know how much affection we have for him. Apart from his considerable knowledge and experience Dan gave us a valuable insight to the LA scene and Hollywood which is going to be hard to replace.

For those of us not so afflicted, the shock of his suicide is a stark reminder as to just how challenging living with a mental disorder can be.

Despite his own personal pain Dan was most always kind and graceful, even to those who weren't.

7 years, 9 months ago - Peter Spencer

Terribly sad.

7 years, 9 months ago - Paul W Franklin

Karel, was that Paul Greengrass thing about going handheld? I seem to remember him having a gripe with that. Didn't know it had gone viral!

Anyway, I'm genuinely very sad to hear this news. On the odd occasion I get involved in discussions on here, I've always appreciated Dan's input, and somehow he was first to comment on almost everything! Very insightful and interesting, and - of course - helpful.
I sadly never met him, what with him being over in LA, but I do know I would've liked to.

RIP mate.


p.s. His sister's post just reminded me what a stupid, contrived show that '13 Reasons Why' was.

7 years, 8 months ago - David Roberts

That’s a real shock to here. A loss to us all.

7 years, 8 months ago - Allan (Mac) McKenna

Always wondered why he bothered with us really. He seemed a cut above most of us. But that deeply sad 'world-weariness' seemed always there. What his sister Betty called 'mental illness'. And still they don't really know what goes on in a self-murdering brain. I'd like to say R.I.P if only to be polite. But who the hell knows what R.I.P means? Yes, there's a bit of a hole - correction, quite a big one - and S.P. is quite a bit poorer from now on. Wrote a short story recently about a young lad who topped himself but didn't get very close to why. Even further away now.

7 years, 7 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

I miss Dan. I was hoping to "see" him again when I rejoined.

I even miss him disagreeing with me, at least his disagreements were informed. I still disagree with him about screenwriting, and a few other things, but I'd like to discuss other things with him. And perhaps give him a good movie to edit and make better for a change. (Rather than just making bad films less bad.)

In clearing out my office, I found his book on home-made rigs, it encouraged me to try and practice "Tai Chi" or at least walk more nimbly. He seemed like such a sage in that book.

As Allan said, he was much smarter than most people, to think his book was released when he was only 42, and he never reached 60, to read his wealth of knowledge you'd think he was in his seventies.

There are others on this list who have left or who have stopped talking. The list seems dead now, compared to what it was two years ago. I'm sure part of his legacy though, is for his work (including his posts here) to survive.

7 years, 7 months ago - Chris Bogle

Oh my. I've just come back here after a year or so away to hear the incredibly sad news. I didn't know Dan personally, but he reached out and helped me on here several times with edits and good advice when I was making my films and got stuck. To echo others here, his wisdom will be missed.

7 years, 7 months ago - cath le couteur

If any of you might be coming to the SP event in London on Tuesday 3rd at RichMix, please do come and say hello. I'll be speaking about Dan at this event and would love to meet others of you directly.
Chrs,
Cath

7 years, 7 months ago - Paulina Brahm

Cath, I'm sorry I missed this -- it somehow did not get to my inbox, otherwise I'd have been.

And I miss Dan very, very, very much.

7 years, 6 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

I'm only just learning of this incredibly sad news of my friend Dan. I've not been active in films for quite some time now and had not logged on to SP for quite a while..

I worked a couple of times with Dan and he was always a wonderful man and filmmaker. My heart is broken by this news.

RIP dear friend. Never will you be forgotten.

Wozy

7 years, 6 months ago - Ellin Stein

So sorry to hear this. Outspoken, generous, funny, and knowledgeable -- qualities the world is in ever more dire need of. And, as others have mentioned, I hate to think of him being so positive on others' behalf when clearly he found it hard to be so for himself.