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WATCH IT HERE!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bLjgieLeWA

CLICK TO READ!:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071023/ENT02/710230377

COPY & PASTED VERSION:
Local indie filmmaker David Lehre takes his bag of quirkiness to Hollywood

Adam Graham / The Detroit News

Los Angeles, Michigan, doesn’t actually exist, but David Lehre has been living there for the better part of the last two years.
It’s the residence he lists on his My-Space page, and the fictitious town succinctly captures the two worlds Lehre has been trapped between since his short film “MySpace: The Movie” hit it big in early 2006.
“MySpace: The Movie” — a clever, 11-minute send-up of the ins and outs of the popular social networking site — registered millions of views and turned Lehre, 22, into an overnight online star.

But now, as Lehre is looking to transform from an online star into an actual one, he’s making the move from Los Angeles, Michigan, to the real deal.
Before he leaves, he’s throwing himself a goingaway party of sorts Wednesday night at Royal Oak’s Main Art Theatre, where he’ll screen an assortment of his irreverent short films. But then it’s off to La-La Land.

“I want to represent Michigan, but the fact is the entertainment business is not here,” says Lehre, who grew up in Washington Township. “I could stay out here the rest of my life, but the opportunities are 1,000 times greater out there.
“If you’re just out there hustling, talking to people, taking meetings, you’re going to be in a lot better position to make your career happen there than you are here,” says Lehre, whose bright clothes and shock of teased hair make him look the L.A. part if not slightly out of place at a Shelby Township Caribou Coffee.
“I just have to go out there, because I’m just not content not having a Lamborghini in the next couple of years.”
Lehre is more than a wide-eyed kid with a suitcase and a dream.

When he heads to L.A. later this month, he has a management team and an agency already in place.
In addition, he’s a known commodity amongst Web surfers and something of a hero to generation YouTube. He routinely receives messages from fans telling him he’s inspired them to pick up a camera, and his YouTube channel — where he releases new short films on a regular basis — has 5,500 subscribers.
“Dave’s a rock star,” says Dallas Sonnier, Lehre’s L.A.-based manager. “He’s very self-motivated, and he’s got incredible production, camera and editing skills. He’s a leader.”
In the wake of “MySpace: The Movie,” Lehre was profiled by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Esquire magazine, ABC’s “20/20″ and more. More importantly than the press clippings, however, the exposure helped jump-start his filmmaking career. Shortly after “MySpace,” Lehre found himself in boardrooms attending meetings at many major studios.
Lehre scored a pilot deal with Fox television to make his own sketch comedy series, which he filmed last year in Macomb County, which he treats as his personal back lot. Early feedback from the network was positive, but in the end Fox passed on the show.
Lehre took it in stride.

“I had a show with Fox, I made the best show I could, now I’m moving on,” Lehre says. “It’s like, whatever, you know?”
Lehre was a little more hurt by the series not being picked up than he lets on, says his father, Albert Lehre.
“He came out of it learning a lot,” says Albert, a painter and a builder in Macomb County. “I think he aged internally about 10 or 15 years. He learned the business in three months.”
Lehre envisioned the series as being a voice for youth culture in America. He had a slew of interactive tie-ins with cell phones and the Internet, but says in the end the concept was too out-there for advertisers to buy into.
“It didn’t discourage me at all, really. I was proud and happy that I got to do what I did,” he says. “And I’ll just use all the new connections, all the new contacts to make even better stuff.”

Lehre sees himself as being a representative for the youth and wants to create the kind of content he and his friends enjoy. The problem, he says, is the gatekeepers of culture are stodgy execs who don’t understand youth, and Lehre is attempting to break those walls down.
“People our age need a voice, and they need a representative in the entertainment industry, and there isn’t that,” he says. “Everything’s going to come around, and all I can do is keep making great content that I believe in, and eventually either I’m going to have to change something, or stuff will catch up to me.”

Getting started:
David Lehre got into moviemaking when he was turned down for his school play “Little Women” at Romeo High School. He decided to make his own movie, “Little Pimps,” instead.
“It was terrible,” Lehre admits, but it helped teach him the basics of filming and editing.
Afterward, he bought a camera from eBay for $1,000 and started making movies with his friends, from whom he draws his inspiration.
Lehre skipped film school and hasn’t studied the classics, but he knows what he likes. “I studied ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ ” he says.
He doesn’t cite influences, but says he’s a huge fan of “Saturday Night Live’s” Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island troupe, and aspires to create the same kind of random, genre-bending comedy that Samberg brings to his popular “SNL” digital shorts.
Lehre’s mother Carol, a Ford engineer, encouraged him to start modeling in high school and helped land him spots in several local commercials. In addition, Lehre has a keen fashion sense and says he’s always been fascinated with clothing, and he used to fill notebooks with designs for clothing labels he hoped to one day create.
The name of his production company, Vendetta Studios — which is more a loose assemblage of several dozen friends and co-workers than an actual studio — came from one of those early designs. “It’s a powerful name. It means business,” he says.
The Vendetta logo appears at the front of all of Lehre’s projects.

Act the part:
Though Lehre writes, directs, produces, edits and shoots his own work, he says he’s most excited by acting.
He auditioned for “Superbad” and “Knocked Up.” While those didn’t pan out, he had a role in the 2006 blockbuster spoof “Epic Movie.”
He also acts in many of his short films and tends to insert himself into his projects, even when he’s not acting. In “Turbo Girls,” the “Charlie’s Angels”-style online series he created about a team of butt-kicking babes, a frame of him holding a camera appears over the director credit.
“Turbo Girls” is a calling card, of sorts, for Lehre, showing how he works cheap but doesn’t make cheap-looking content. He says the series cost $1,000 — roughly $1,000 more than most of his projects — and says he hopes to pitch “Turbo Girls” as a TV series or a full-length movie.
If “Turbo Girls” doesn’t pan out, he’s got his screenplay for his movie, “Last Summer.” If “Last Summer” doesn’t pan out, he’s got ideas to create his own online network. The trick, he says, is to keep hustling and he’ll eventually make his mark on the entertainment industry.
“I’m extremely driven and motivated to get something done to impact a large amount of people,” he says. “I want to entertain the world as much as I can, because I kind of feel like if I don’t do it, I’m going to be cheating myself.”
Any fears about moving to Los Angeles? Not a chance.
“I think people should fear me,” Lehre says.

David Lehre’s greatest clicks
Go to youtube.com/user/Davelehre to watch these and other shorts:
• “Chaz Wimbledon: Tennis Ball Boy”: Lehre stars as a tennis ball wrangler with a dream.
• “XLB”: Baseball is given an extreme makeover in this spoof.
• “Things I’ve Learned: The Movie”: A video Lehre made to accompany his feature in Esqure magazine.
• “Disease Island”: A “Survivor” send-up starring nine people with an assortment of diseases.
• “Turbo Girls”: Lehre’s own “Charlie’s Angels.” He calls it the biggest project he’s created to-date.
• “Learn to Dance Salsa with Hernando”: A mock infomercial for an instructional salsa video starring Lehre regular Jeremy Kerr.
• “MySpace: The Movie”: The one that put Lehre on the map. Watch out for the angles!

CLICK TO WATCH IT!!
http://www.davidlehre.com/html/media/current_tv.mov

   CLICK TO LISTEN!!:  http://www.davidlehre.com/david_lehre_npr_2006.mp3   

 HALF OF THE WRITTEN TRANSCIPT:Rising stars don’t even have to leave home to get Hollywood’s attention these days. Some agencies have talent scouts devoted to seeking them out online. Lisa Napoli reports.KAI RYSSDAL: Welcome to Hollywood. Or close to it, anyway. It’s five or 10 miles from our studios. You can find fame and fortune there, if you’re lucky. But increasingly, you don’t have to be anywhere near Los Angeles to hit the big time. Marketplace’s Lisa Napoli has the story of one guy who might be the symbol of the changing ways of the entertainment industry.LISA NAPOLI: It all started a couple years ago when David Lehre and his friends didn’t get cast in the high school play.DAVID LEHRE: So I said, well, let’s make a movie then. You know, let’s get back at ‘em. Let’s make a movie.He didn’t know how, but that didn’t stop him. He bought a video camera. And he rallied his friends, who suddenly became writers and actors and grips. A modern, hipper, digital-age version of “Let’s Put on a Show.”Lehre called his group Vendetta Studios.LEHRE: I’d make a movie every week. So it was great practice.It turned out to be great exposure, too. They didn’t just screen the films for their friends in Washington, Mich. They put them online for the whole world to see. People started watching.LEHRE: I had a pretty steady fan base growing. And it was really cool to have people all around the world saying “Hey, we like your stuff.” But then I started to notice that there was this huge sea of independent film makers and digital film makers online.So to really make a name for himself, Lehre made a film he knew would get a lot of attention: A parody of how obsessed kids his age are with MySpace. Overnight, a million people watched it. That’s when Hollywood started calling.SCOTT VENER: I was like, “Wow, who’s giving them all this money to make this stuff in Michigan? You know?That’s Scott Vener with the talent management group Schiff Company.VENER: And when I spoke to him, he was like, “What do you mean? It cost me a hundred dollars. I made it myself.” I go, “You’re making shows that are, you know, MTV is probably, it’s costing them half a million dollars, if not more, a show, and you’re making them look like what they have on the air for a hundred bucks?One thing led to another and suddenly all the poobahs in Hollywood were taking meetings with Lehre and his dad.LEHRE: And then I had a meeting with every single network. And then Fox . . . Fox pretty much said, you know, What do you want? And I said I want my own show. And they said OK.It didn’t hurt that the head of Fox had a 14-year-old son who had seen Lehre’s movies online and was a fan. Now, not only did Fox give Lehre the money to do a pilot, the network gave him something usually reserved for A-list celebrities: total creative control.He didn’t even have to relocate from his parents’ house.LEHRE: I mean, like, I’m editing the show all by myself in my bedroom right now. And, like, during the filming process it was just me and all my friends like we normally do, just making movies.Of course, there’s nothing normal about a bunch of 21-year-olds making a pilot for a major network in a tiny town in Michigan. Except, perhaps, in the age of the Internet. The major talent agencies are now scouring for other David Lehres out there online. Brent Weinstein heads up the newly created digital team at United Talent Agency.BRENT WEINSTEIN: Their job is to make sure that as an agency we are aware of the most exciting new voices coming out of the Internet, and that we’re there early.It may seem a bit needle-in-the-haystack, but for the new Hollywood players like Scott Vener, that’s half the fun.VENER: Every night before I go to bed, I can sit and browse through all the different websites and the video sites. And I’m traveling around the country, you know, seeing who’s the entrepreneurial ones that want to put their stuff up and want to stand up and be heard.Like David Lehre, who is already promising not to sell out now that he’s got one foot in the big time.LEHRE: You know, we’re just trying to have fun, we’re not trying to get all Hollywood on anybody. We’re just trying to have fun, and make fun movies, and just hang out, and just, you know, be kids.Let’s see how long that lasts. But even with his deal with Fox, he knows who the real boss is. His mom finally allowed him to drop out of college.In Los Angeles, I’m Lisa Napoli for Marketplace.

READ THE FULL PIECE HERE:
http://goodproduce.net/blog/?page_id=180

COPY & PASTED VERSION:

David Lehre
The internet is truly one of the most amazing tools in the world. It breaks and ruins careers via the nimble fingers of bloggers everywhere and it also helps shine the light on creative types like the Midwests very own David Lehre. Through the power of MySpace and YouTube, Dave’s filmmaking and comedy sketches have spread the world to the eyes of more than 7 million people on YouTube alone. In between meeting with numerous Hollywood studios and agents, Dave answered a couple of questions about how he got started, his current projects, and of course the Midwest.

Enjoy!

What’s up?

Hi, nice to meet you!

Location?

A small town 30 minutes north of Detroit, Washington, Michigan.

You’re pretty much known as the guy behind the super popular MySpace video (almost 7 million views) When you were filming the short did you have any idea that it’d become so popular?

Yeah, I made it as a marketing tool to promote my other work. I have a portfolio of over 50 short films, music videos and comedy skits that i’ve made over the past 6 years. I felt we we’re ready for prime time but just needed to get more exposure and separate ourselves from the sea of other “filmmakers”. So I saw a market that needed to be filled, MYSPACE. If I make a movie targeting that, I will get a fanbase of the 60+ million unique users and they’ll all pass it on to their friends.

When/Why did you start filming and writing?

I started back in 10th grade with all my friends from High School theatre. I found all this great people that loved entertaining people just as much as I did. So, when we all didn’t get into the school performance of “Little Women”, I said, Let’s just make our own movie. Of course I had no idea how, but I bought a MiniDV camera and taught myself.

I started because when I make movies with all my friends, I have the most fun ever. It’s energizing and rewarding to see a vision come to life on a screen for others to enjoy.

Tell us a little bit about Vendetta Studios. What/Who is it?

Vendetta Studios is my production company. At first it was just “David Lehre Productions”, but once we started getting more serious, I needed to give a real name to the group. I’ve always loved the word VENDETTA. It has the same meaning and spelling in over 150 different countries. And it is also the name of my clothing line that I started has a hobby back in high school as well.

I plan to continue expanding it to a major entertainment and lifestyle company. Not only movies, but clothing, products, clubs, restaurants, etc.

How do you all decide what to write about and what gets filmed or not?

haha, this is the best part! Well, we normal have writing sessions at my house. Jeremy and Joe will come over, and we’ll just throw ideas back and forth. Stuff we saw today. People we met. Things we laughed about. Stuff that made us smile. whatever. Then we start acting out skits in front of each other, then that builds into everyone adding new parts to it. If we can roll with an idea for a couple minutes, then we usually know that it’s time to make a movie about it.

So i’ll get on the phones the week before filming, cast actors and get locations, props, etc. Then a week later we film it. Then I come home and edit the movie and compose the soundtrack for the next two weeks. When it’s all done, we usually have a party and watch the movie at a friends house or the local movie theatre.

In your interview with the LATimes, you say that you want the power to produce anything you want? Now that you’ll be working within the Hollywood structure, how easily will it be for you to actually produce what you want and distribute it without any restrictions?

Good question. I’m learning about all that right now. And I’m most likely going to keep learning about it for the rest of my life.

In Complex, you mention that the big studios feel threatened by filmmakers like yourself because of your ability to connect with the younger generation. “They don’t know what kids like, and we do, so this is our opportunity to take control.” What do you mean by “taking control?”

I just thought it sounded cool. haha, no seriously though, I kind of saw it as a way to motivate and organize a movement of independent filmmakers across the world. I figure that lots of filmmakers wish they could get articles about them, so I’m making that statement about everyone. I want to be a good role model for kids just starting to make movies and tell them, “you can do it to!” kinda thing. We do have the leg-up on “What kid’s like” because we’re all kids… and we obviously know what we like. haha

I hear you pretty much run your city with the local theatre playing your new releases and all. What do we need to do here in the Midwest to better support filmmakers like yourself?

Go to www.DavidLehre.com. Tell your friends. Spread the word. Download all my videos on your iPod. Add me as a friend on myspace:

myspace.com/vendettastudios
myspace.com/davelehre

This goes for every filmmaker like me. I just love getting a message from someone who said they had a bad day, and then they watched one of my movies and it made them feel better. That’s amazing. I’m never going to be a doctor or do heart transplants, but if I can make someone feel better in life though my films or entertainment, then I’m happy. That’s the best.

What other projects can we expect from Vendetta in the future?

I have a TV deal with FOX late night. It will be my own comedy variety show.

I have an offer from Fox Atomic for Writing and Directing. FOX Atomic is Fox’s new film division targeted to 14-25 year old’s.

I have a small acting role for a movie this August.

I’m trying to get a record deal for my fake boy band, “HEAT STREET”. I’m continuing to build my clothing line and hope to have a flagship store opened next year.

And I will of course be always Writing, Producing, Acting and Directing short films, Music videos and Movies.

Any words of advice for other young midwestern filmmakers out there?

Work harder than the next guy. It’s hard being a kid and turning down crazy house parties and club trips every weekend… but you have to sometimes. Lock yourself in your room and don’t come out until you have a product you’re satisfied with. Learn everything you can about your craft. And as E-40 says, “Stay Hungry & Humble.”

Of course, we’ve got to ask, “What’s your favorite thing about the Midwest?”

It’s easy going. It’s relaxing. and from a filmmaker’s perspective, GREAT for making movies. You can get everything and anything for free by asking favors. It’s not like California where local businesses and people are surrounding by movies everyday. People in the Midwest love to help out.

Words of advice for midwesterngoodness.com?

You guys are doing great here.

Any last words/shouts outs?

HI! My name’s Dave from Michigan and I wanna give a shout out to Jeremy, Joe, Rick, Mike, Jake, Caitlin, Lauren, Devin, Steve, Albanian, Caylin, Christy, Derek Steele, Fritz, Josh Invert & Corbin, Mr. Vener, Tera, VP & all my friends back home! Whoooooo!!!

For more information about David Lehre & Vendetta Studios:
http://www.davidlehre.com/

WATCH THE VIDEO THAT AIRED ON HBO HERE!!!:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=7496702

WATCH IT ON MYSPACE:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1771082016

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-dqYXsAMZk

Not sure if you remember, about two years ago, about the young fellow who had this internet phenomenon in early 2006 by the name of Myspace: The Movie. Well, his name is Dave Lehre and since then, I’ve been seeing him everywhere – Esquire, Myspace (obviously), YouTube, 20/20, New York Times. His YouTube channel has over 4500 subscribers and he just directed a video for Pittsburg Slim.

There have been many who have chased the dream of parlaying “internet fame” into “real fame”. The Michigan native seems to be one of the few to have some sort of tangible success. That success is growing at a rapid pace. I had a brief interview with the busy young man who just moved from his hometown of Washington, Michigan, where he’s been filming constantly, to LA.

So, you started with Myspace: The Movie. When did you start making films, how did you get into it?
Well, I started when I was 16. I had tried out for a play back in high school in Michigan, which I didn’t get into. So, I bought a camera and made a film with all the people who didn’t make it into the play. I uploaded it and people really liked it and I made more and more films and more and more people started watching.

I made Myspace: The Movie and uploaded it, and all these people started emailing me, producers, agents, managers. So I flew out to LA, had all of these meetings and eventually signed with ICM and got a production deal with Fox.

Also, my film just won the T-Mobile Sidekick Nation Video contest on Myspace, so you’ll be seeing on Jimmy Kimmel soon.

Is the Writers’ Strike affecting you at all?
Not really, I have the production deal for a comedy variety show with Fox TV, but I act, write, produce and direct and if I can’t do one, then I move to another. I just moved to LA and I’m in an action film in January.

Who would you most like to work with?
Ashley Tisdale. I think we could put together something really funny, a great comedy.

What about directors?
Robert Rodriguez.

So, you’re definitely more influenced by the DIY filmmakers?
Yeah. I mean, I think he’s one of the first filmmakers to have had great success doing most of it himself. I definitely admire that.

Do you plan on becoming apart of the Hollywood scene, I mean, I know going out to network is most likely in your plans but actually going out and getting into it?
Yeah, definitely. I enjoy going out and meeting people is apart of things, so yeah.

ENLARGE & READ:
http://www.davidlehre.com/html/images/esquire/1_large.jpg
http://www.davidlehre.com/html/images/esquire/2_large.jpg