The documentary on how "The Way to Get Money is to Ask for It" was made is now posted on our YouTube channel for your edification and enjoyment. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/0mm34vjJTdY.
 

I have posted a few of my videos on my YouTube channel which can be found by searching under my name John Glassco. Take a look and enjoy!

Back Story

Actually, Paraglass Productions has been around for a long time. It's not really a bona fide production company per se, but rather a representation of the creative efforts of the founders, two best friends, John Glassco and Randy Parada. There's no illusion of fame or fortune here, folks!

It all started back in late 1970, in Encino, California when John and Randy decided to get into movie making, particularly animation, and, specifically stop-motion animation. We started by using John's Dad's old regular-8mm movie camera, a Revere Model 88. We were able achieve stop-motion by simply flicking the slider-type operating button so that the film would advance one frame at a time. 

We filmed in outdoor locations and on a make-shift animation "stage" set up in John's bedroom. We had one heck of a lot of fun and a passion was born.

We put together a film made up of all of our to-date movie clips, inserted a comical "intermission", and called it Experimental Techniques #1 (https://youtu.be/RC5J0POm0qo). Experimental Techniques #2 is yet to be made! This creative endeavor, and a newer camera with single-frame capability, lead to our decision to attempt an extended-length animated movie using clay figures of our own creation. The two "principals" were named "Fritz" and "Buh-Buh" (below left and right respectively).

The Way to Get Money is to Ask for It (https://youtu.be/KJGdPC2gsUM), as this film was titled, exceeded twenty minutes in length and included such characters as a Fairy Godfather, The Beatles, and W. C. Fields. The sets were fairly elaborate and mostly home-made. The sound track was recorded separately on a Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder, as regular 8mm film didn't have a magnetic sound track. This led to significant problems with audiovisual synchronization when the film was shown. The film was premiered at a UCSB student-created film festival in 1971 entitled "First Films Funky", along with Experimental Techniques #1. Both films were hits with the audience.

Twenty years later, in 1991, the soundtrack was refurbished and the video and sound were combined onto video tape. The film was re-premiered in Santa Barbara for a group of friends. In 2015 the 8 mm original footage was digitized and in 2017 the soundtrack and video underwent minor revisions, thus completing the work 46 years later! A documentary is now being shot that will provide the fine details of this long and extraordinary journey.

In 2018, John made a documentary titled Pebble Beach - My Way (https://youtu.be/d-2ys0mVVqU) recounting his experiences as a member of the Field Operations team and Class Host at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Antique and Classic Automobile Show as a final project for a motion graphics course he was taking at Saddleback College.  It covered about ten years and included not only the Concours itself but also the various events associated with it.

In the interim, family, career and life in general dictated that very little film work would be done. However, John has been doing quite a bit of scientific and medical consulting for the film and television industries: imdb.me/drjohneglassco.  Finally, at long last, our retirement enabled the re-kindling of our creative fires. We now have an animated Lego movie in production and two nature documentaries, one in development and one just being conceptualized. Stay tuned!