This week, imdb.com e-mailed to invite ‘Student Short Film’ to be added to their website! This is usually a very selective process, and films have to go through a series of approvals before any item is posted, but imdb.com reached out to ask if they could add it to the site. We never contacted them!
A new sound company is in negotiations to arrange a huge discount on the project. They’re e-mail address is www.pro-sound.com.
The business school here at American University reached out to include this project on a “Kogod Success Stories” video series to help launch their newly-designed website. John is actually responsible for filming it! We will post the video here as soon as it’s finished (in April).
VenusPuzzle.com is donating 100 puzzles for the casting process! We also have three other companies interested in donating, and one confirmed company (Up in Pieces) who is willing to offer custom puzzles ‘at cost’ (we would only have to pay for the materials).
To keep the casting process moving while Amanda catches up on reading the screenplay and Fenix recovers from a serious car crash last week (he is in a neck brace but is getting better), I bought a new website: www.missingpiecescasting.com (not launched yet), made a draft design for the casting puzzle (see below), started web designs for the new site, and started gathering information on the 150 or so celebrities we are considering attracting to the project. We are also looking for a talented writer to assist Amanda in writing letters to celebrities as the task is simply overwhelming.
Website reconstruction is still underway, and Will is almost finished with the sketches. Hopefully we’ll have those up by next week.
As always, John and I are still meeting weekly to research in the library, we added a picture of it below.
Re-writing is underway too. Lately, most of the concentration has been on re-working and re-outlining all four stories. There were several problems in the first draft that are all being addressed. It’s incredibly time-consuming, but having a quality script is the key to attracting talent to the project.
As a follow up from last week, working with the entertainment lawyer won’t be a possibility as there isn’t enough time to contribute to his needs on his project. I am still trying to get in touch with the Alabama film office to arrange for some help on the project. Also, new sponsors are being contacted all the time to help out with the film.
2.25.2009
Pictures
This is how the site looks today. It'll change around a lot during the process, but some puzzle buttons were added this week, so take a look!
This is the homepage for the casting site. Each celebrity will have a customized page similar to this containing a personalized letter, a copy of the script, and other information.
This is the first draft of the puzzle that each celebrity will receive with a link to their customized page.
A normal library day with John
A picture from February 2009
2.17.2009
An Eventful Week
We have a new crew member! Amanda Tuzzolino will be the casting associate. She is solely responsible for creatively contacting celebrities and attracting them to the project. She came up with a great idea pertaining to the working title; “Missing Pieces.” She though it would be cool to send each actor a customized jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle will contain a website: i.e. www.workingtitlemissingpieces.com/johnnydepp. Then Johnny Depp (or whichever actor) would visit the site, and it would contain a personalized letter to Mr. Depp (written by Amanda) and other personalized information.
I reached out to many custom puzzle companies to see if we could arrange a deal for free customized puzzles to execute the idea. A few companies have been keen on the idea, and we are working together to arrange something.
We also started a list of potential actors who might be interested in working on the project.
Fenix and I have been working on coming up with auditioning materials. I made a website with extensive information about production and about casting, and he’s working on creating flyers, casting announcements, and getting in touch with schools nationwide.
We have a new sponsor! Kino Flo lights has agreed to help on the production. They won’t be able to know how much they can help until closer to filming, but they have granted free rentals in the past, so keep your fingers crossed!
Several airlines and other companies were contacted this week as well, so we should be hearing back soon.
This week, I met with a professor and have been talking to a good friend about the script. There are many changes to be made, so the re-thinking and script-breakdown processes are both underway.
A few days ago, I spoke on the phone with a notable film lawyer. He’s working on a project and needs help doing research. Hopefully there will be enough time this semester to help him on the research.
DJ has been busy reading books on sound design and trying to get his hands on some local equipment so he can get hands on experience immediately. John and I have been giving notes to one another and continue meeting every Tuesdays to read American Cinematographer in the library.
Last week I reached out to the Alabama film department, and the Birmingham film commissioner called and said he’s happy to help on the project in whatever way he can. We’re going to talk on the phone again this week to discuss the project further.
In class this week, we had to do presentations on a business proposal of our choice. To get practice pitching a project to a studio, I pitched a mock film partnership and included this film as part of the proposal – trying to be as realistic as possible to prepare for such a pitch in the future. It went pretty well.
Website re-construction and Will’s sketch work are still underway.
I reached out to many custom puzzle companies to see if we could arrange a deal for free customized puzzles to execute the idea. A few companies have been keen on the idea, and we are working together to arrange something.
We also started a list of potential actors who might be interested in working on the project.
Fenix and I have been working on coming up with auditioning materials. I made a website with extensive information about production and about casting, and he’s working on creating flyers, casting announcements, and getting in touch with schools nationwide.
We have a new sponsor! Kino Flo lights has agreed to help on the production. They won’t be able to know how much they can help until closer to filming, but they have granted free rentals in the past, so keep your fingers crossed!
Several airlines and other companies were contacted this week as well, so we should be hearing back soon.
This week, I met with a professor and have been talking to a good friend about the script. There are many changes to be made, so the re-thinking and script-breakdown processes are both underway.
A few days ago, I spoke on the phone with a notable film lawyer. He’s working on a project and needs help doing research. Hopefully there will be enough time this semester to help him on the research.
DJ has been busy reading books on sound design and trying to get his hands on some local equipment so he can get hands on experience immediately. John and I have been giving notes to one another and continue meeting every Tuesdays to read American Cinematographer in the library.
Last week I reached out to the Alabama film department, and the Birmingham film commissioner called and said he’s happy to help on the project in whatever way he can. We’re going to talk on the phone again this week to discuss the project further.
In class this week, we had to do presentations on a business proposal of our choice. To get practice pitching a project to a studio, I pitched a mock film partnership and included this film as part of the proposal – trying to be as realistic as possible to prepare for such a pitch in the future. It went pretty well.
Website re-construction and Will’s sketch work are still underway.
2.11.2009
Everyone's working
DJ is committed! Our crew is solid. Everyone is working very hard and researching pro-actively.
This week, I’ve been doing a lot of work to get DJ headed in the right direction by meeting with a couple sound professionals and doing some research to pass along.
Communicating to get everyone on the same page is a lot of work, but it’s certainly worth it. Everyone working together is pretty amazing!
The website went under a few renovations this week. Continuing with the ‘visualize’ intent, the crew member’s pictures and biographies are now posted online.
Fenix and I have been working on getting the casting process underway. He came up with a really great strategy – a rabbit hole approach. The process will be broken into stages. The stages begin very simply (to allow for a large pool of actors) and progress in difficulty (screening out bad-fits). I wrote a detailed/wordy casting informational sheet that we put online for proactive actors who want to know all the details about the film from the get-go.
As far as the sponsorships go, I submitted formal proposals to Chevron and to a Netflix filmmaking competition. A few other companies were contacted this week as well (including airline companies). A film industry company called SetWear signed on as a sponsor this week too (this brings our sponsor number up to three).
Will and I have been working back and forth on the sketches. He’s doing extremely detailed work and is really going above and beyond. He’s slightly molding the images to more closely fit with the visuals of the film. The sketches are really going to let everyone in on the movie that we’re making.
This week, I’ve been doing a lot of work to get DJ headed in the right direction by meeting with a couple sound professionals and doing some research to pass along.
Communicating to get everyone on the same page is a lot of work, but it’s certainly worth it. Everyone working together is pretty amazing!
The website went under a few renovations this week. Continuing with the ‘visualize’ intent, the crew member’s pictures and biographies are now posted online.
Fenix and I have been working on getting the casting process underway. He came up with a really great strategy – a rabbit hole approach. The process will be broken into stages. The stages begin very simply (to allow for a large pool of actors) and progress in difficulty (screening out bad-fits). I wrote a detailed/wordy casting informational sheet that we put online for proactive actors who want to know all the details about the film from the get-go.
As far as the sponsorships go, I submitted formal proposals to Chevron and to a Netflix filmmaking competition. A few other companies were contacted this week as well (including airline companies). A film industry company called SetWear signed on as a sponsor this week too (this brings our sponsor number up to three).
Will and I have been working back and forth on the sketches. He’s doing extremely detailed work and is really going above and beyond. He’s slightly molding the images to more closely fit with the visuals of the film. The sketches are really going to let everyone in on the movie that we’re making.
2.04.2009
The Crew
John, the cinematographer is committed! He’s still going around to get things in writing regarding his scholarship situation. Taking a semester off is tricky, but he’s getting it worked out. He is incredibly committed, and we are doing a lot of back and forth with notes and references.
Worried about finding a casting director, I started organizing a national campaign to spread the word. Mid-organization, a newfound friend from school, Fenix Libertine contacted me with a sincere interest in working on the film.
After talking with him and getting on the same page about the extensive demands about the position, he turned out being absolutely perfect for the casting director job. He’s enthusiastic, organized, efficient, devoted, and we like a lot of the same movies and music. As we were going over notes about the film, I told him to watch the film, Magnolia, for inspiration of ambition in a movie and flawless casting. It’s not almost 10 years old, and it’s not very popular, but he had the DVD in his backpack!... we’re going to work very well together. I sent him a lot of notes about casting, and set up his e-mail: casting@kentonbartlett.com. Right now he’s working hard on playing catch up and taking a crash course in understanding casting... We have a casting director!
DJ, the sound operator, is still thinking about working on the film. He will commit or defer by Friday, the 6th.
Worried about finding a casting director, I started organizing a national campaign to spread the word. Mid-organization, a newfound friend from school, Fenix Libertine contacted me with a sincere interest in working on the film.
After talking with him and getting on the same page about the extensive demands about the position, he turned out being absolutely perfect for the casting director job. He’s enthusiastic, organized, efficient, devoted, and we like a lot of the same movies and music. As we were going over notes about the film, I told him to watch the film, Magnolia, for inspiration of ambition in a movie and flawless casting. It’s not almost 10 years old, and it’s not very popular, but he had the DVD in his backpack!... we’re going to work very well together. I sent him a lot of notes about casting, and set up his e-mail: casting@kentonbartlett.com. Right now he’s working hard on playing catch up and taking a crash course in understanding casting... We have a casting director!
DJ, the sound operator, is still thinking about working on the film. He will commit or defer by Friday, the 6th.
American Cinematographer
The library at American University has every issue of film industry magazine, American Cinematographer. It’s a fantastic resource, and to get a good working knowledge of professional cinematography, equipment used on films, and lighting setups in popular movies, I thought it would be a good idea to read every issue. John and I are working our way through them. I’ve gone through all of 2008 and 2007, and John just started looking through this week. We’re going to meet every week to sit down, research, and talk about the movie to move forward in a consistent direction on the film.
Sponsors and Grants
We have our first two sponsors! Sennheiser, a microphone company, has offered product discounts for the audio equipment on the production, and Samsung is donating a 1.5 terabyte hard drive to the film (worth approximately $350).
Netflix is holding a competition to give $150,000 to a first-time filmmaker producing a movie this year. It’s perfect for this project, and I submitted all the materials this week. Keep your fingers crossed. We won’t know anything until May, so it’s best to forget about the competition and proceed with fundraising.
The e-mails have continued to all sorts of companies trying to get product donations, loans, and price reductions. With Samsung and Sennheiser’s involvement, hopefully that will be an incentive for other companies to jump on board. Right now, I’m working on an extensive application with Chevron to get some free gas for the road trip.
Netflix is holding a competition to give $150,000 to a first-time filmmaker producing a movie this year. It’s perfect for this project, and I submitted all the materials this week. Keep your fingers crossed. We won’t know anything until May, so it’s best to forget about the competition and proceed with fundraising.
The e-mails have continued to all sorts of companies trying to get product donations, loans, and price reductions. With Samsung and Sennheiser’s involvement, hopefully that will be an incentive for other companies to jump on board. Right now, I’m working on an extensive application with Chevron to get some free gas for the road trip.
Visualize
Last Tuesday, I met with my independent study professor for this course – to make a long story short, the school is opening the course to give credit for revising the script and working on pre-production assignments. She said that people want to SEE the movie that they are investing in. So, she suggested to re-do the website with a concentration of getting people on the same page about the story and basically exciting people about it. This was a great point, and coincidentally, I had been working on a new trailer to advertise the movie.
The next couple days were spent all day in the computer lab taking clips from some of the best movies around and combining them into a cohesive 1-minute advertisement to show what we are aiming for with this movie.
To further ‘show’ people the movie, my friend and talented artist, Will Braden, offered his skills to the project. He is drawing pictures of seven of the most picturesque scenes in the film to excite people about it. I am gathering pictures of expansive locations. We’ll combine the drawings and pictures into a slideshow so people can start to visualize the project.
The website now includes photos and biographies of the crew so people can see that this is really happening and to put faces with the names.
The next couple days were spent all day in the computer lab taking clips from some of the best movies around and combining them into a cohesive 1-minute advertisement to show what we are aiming for with this movie.
To further ‘show’ people the movie, my friend and talented artist, Will Braden, offered his skills to the project. He is drawing pictures of seven of the most picturesque scenes in the film to excite people about it. I am gathering pictures of expansive locations. We’ll combine the drawings and pictures into a slideshow so people can start to visualize the project.
The website now includes photos and biographies of the crew so people can see that this is really happening and to put faces with the names.
1.25.2009
Product placement, crew changes, and in-kind donations/loans
The past week has included relentless e-mailing. Lots of back and forth with the product placement agencies. There are a few leads. Several agencies requested the script. Some have requested that we contact them approximately four weeks from production to see what they can do at that time, once the cast is confirmed.
Most product placement companies only want to deal with movies that have guaranteed distribution and/or have a celebrity attached to the project. Also, the agencies’ agenda does not generally include monetary outlay. They focus on supplying products to movies to defer costs (i.e. free food lowers the budget).
A lot of crew changes happened as well. Leeanna unfortunately had to drop out of the casting director position due to her spring academic program. Ahreum Kim also had to defer the cinematography position due to personal reasons.
I contacted a friend’s sister who was interested in casting, but she was also unable to commit. Not knowing anyone else, national postings for the casting director position came into play. Through trying posting/e-mailing the blurb all over the internet, a few promising responses have started to trickle in, so hopefully we will have the right person on the project by the end of the week.
Also, my talented friend, John Arturo is interested in writing and directing as a career, and he is thinking about collaborating on the project as a cinematographer/camera operator. He has a great personality, an incredible work ethic, and we have a lot of the same sensibilities. The only drawback to his taking the position would be taking a semester off of school, so he has to work out the logistics to see if that would be possible.
A few more professors were kind enough to meet and discuss the movie. Each had a lot of advice on financing that I am pursuing. One suggested avenue was to contact equipment companies to see if they would donate/lend/reduce the price of equipment in return for brand placement in the credits, advertising their arts support in the movie on their company’s website, and possibly pitching their products to the school.
Sennheiser, an audio equipment company has been responsive, so we will see how things turn out. Over the weekend a lot of e-mails went out, so maybe this week some other arrangements will materialize.
Finally, there was a job posting to draft a business plan for a Jewish arts/film project. If it fits into my schedule, it might be a good networking opportunity. I e-mailed requesting more information about it tonight.
Most product placement companies only want to deal with movies that have guaranteed distribution and/or have a celebrity attached to the project. Also, the agencies’ agenda does not generally include monetary outlay. They focus on supplying products to movies to defer costs (i.e. free food lowers the budget).
A lot of crew changes happened as well. Leeanna unfortunately had to drop out of the casting director position due to her spring academic program. Ahreum Kim also had to defer the cinematography position due to personal reasons.
I contacted a friend’s sister who was interested in casting, but she was also unable to commit. Not knowing anyone else, national postings for the casting director position came into play. Through trying posting/e-mailing the blurb all over the internet, a few promising responses have started to trickle in, so hopefully we will have the right person on the project by the end of the week.
Also, my talented friend, John Arturo is interested in writing and directing as a career, and he is thinking about collaborating on the project as a cinematographer/camera operator. He has a great personality, an incredible work ethic, and we have a lot of the same sensibilities. The only drawback to his taking the position would be taking a semester off of school, so he has to work out the logistics to see if that would be possible.
A few more professors were kind enough to meet and discuss the movie. Each had a lot of advice on financing that I am pursuing. One suggested avenue was to contact equipment companies to see if they would donate/lend/reduce the price of equipment in return for brand placement in the credits, advertising their arts support in the movie on their company’s website, and possibly pitching their products to the school.
Sennheiser, an audio equipment company has been responsive, so we will see how things turn out. Over the weekend a lot of e-mails went out, so maybe this week some other arrangements will materialize.
Finally, there was a job posting to draft a business plan for a Jewish arts/film project. If it fits into my schedule, it might be a good networking opportunity. I e-mailed requesting more information about it tonight.
1.17.2009
January 2008 - a picture
January 2008 - a picture - new year reminder - every month will feature a picture of me. Not for vanity, but as an experiment to document the change of a person over the years of making a movie.
January 2008 - All caught up
We’re up to date! Hopefully there will be at least one post a week, but we’ll see. Posting during production might be difficult, but from here on out, check back from time to time to see how things are going, or “follow” this blog (use the link on the right). Thanks for reading!
January 2008 - Product Placement
Back to school again.
Still trying to raise money, the turn to product placement has to happen. Online there is a list of every product placement agency in Hollywood. After creating a product placement proposal explaining the project and including location-specific and product-specific opportunities, I sent it to all the agencies.
Responses started trickling in. Some with no interest, but several leads came about as well. It’s a lot of back and forth coming up with arrangements that would benefit the production and reduce the budget (i.e. a company provides food, so we put them in the movie). Each arrangement has to be worth it to the company to sacrifice a little of the film’s integrity by including products, but brands are a part of the world we live in, so it’s not as big of a deal as I once thought, and it could really help with the film’s budget.
Next week, I will generate client-specific proposals for individual agencies and expect to hear back from some agencies to whom the script has been sent.
Still trying to raise money, the turn to product placement has to happen. Online there is a list of every product placement agency in Hollywood. After creating a product placement proposal explaining the project and including location-specific and product-specific opportunities, I sent it to all the agencies.
Responses started trickling in. Some with no interest, but several leads came about as well. It’s a lot of back and forth coming up with arrangements that would benefit the production and reduce the budget (i.e. a company provides food, so we put them in the movie). Each arrangement has to be worth it to the company to sacrifice a little of the film’s integrity by including products, but brands are a part of the world we live in, so it’s not as big of a deal as I once thought, and it could really help with the film’s budget.
Next week, I will generate client-specific proposals for individual agencies and expect to hear back from some agencies to whom the script has been sent.
January 2008 - David Gordon Green
David Gordon Green has become one of my heroes over the past year. He is a filmmaker who has created some of the best films around. If you’ve never heard of him, you should watch all of his films. Every one is a gem. His most recognizable film is Pineapple Express, which is a departure from his more intimate preceding films. His films and philosophies on life and movies are a huge inspiration, and I had tried to get in touch with him for the past couple months.
After contacting everyone around him, his fantastic composer, David Wingo got back and said he would be happy to forward a message to David Green. I just wanted to tell him how his movies had inspired me. Note: in the script there are characters David Lindale, Daylen Gordon, and Delia Greenly. Can you find “David Gordon Green”?
Hopefully the message will go through to him. I would love to get his verbal support in the movie.
After contacting everyone around him, his fantastic composer, David Wingo got back and said he would be happy to forward a message to David Green. I just wanted to tell him how his movies had inspired me. Note: in the script there are characters David Lindale, Daylen Gordon, and Delia Greenly. Can you find “David Gordon Green”?
Hopefully the message will go through to him. I would love to get his verbal support in the movie.
January 2008 - The Crew
During the contacting process, a lot of my closest friends were generous enough to offer their help on the project. One friend, Travis, is a fashion designer and offered the use of his dresses in the project. And many others offered rain checks on the project. It’s going to take a lot of people to pull this thing off.
Enlisting the long-term, stable crew was also a priority. My long-time friend, Riley spoke to me about his sister’s trying to start in entertainment law in LA, and he talked me up to her and told me to contact her. Her name is Abbott, and she was very enthusiastic about the project. Currently she has to check with the Judge whom she’s working for to see if legal consulting on this project is possible, but it’s looking very likely that she will be able to help on it, and I’m very excited about it.
Following up with her interest in casting, I talked again to Leeanna to see if she was still interested. I had been vague on the casting process because I didn’t know how far in advance to start the process. After finishing the script and understanding the time/financial commitments of actors, it might be best to start the casting sooner rather than later. She is in a demanding program this spring and is currently not sure whether or not she will have time to do it, but we’ll see how things turn go.
The third potential associate contacted was Ahreum Kim. She was my T.A. in our Film and Video I class. She was always enthusiastic, kind, knowledgeable, good with equipment, incredibly motivated, and always gave good feedback. One of her life goals is to be a member of the highly-competitive American Society of Cinematographers. Since our film class, she had been in my mind as someone who’s going places, and I thought we would work well together well and that she might like to be a cinematographer on a feature film. She was very enthusiastic about it, but naturally had a few private reservations about the time commitment and other matters.
The fourth contact is my long-term friend, DJ. We were both workaholics at the local movie theater, and I asked if he would like to be the sound man on the film. He has outstanding work ethic, he’s a quick learner, he’s been looking for an opportunity to shine, and we are really good friends and trust each other. He is also looking in to personal matters to get the logistics together for taking said amount of time off.
If all goes through, the main people to contact now will be casting, explosives technicians, and getting together all the logistics involved (locations, casting, costumes, food, and props). And of course, continuing to find financing.
Enlisting the long-term, stable crew was also a priority. My long-time friend, Riley spoke to me about his sister’s trying to start in entertainment law in LA, and he talked me up to her and told me to contact her. Her name is Abbott, and she was very enthusiastic about the project. Currently she has to check with the Judge whom she’s working for to see if legal consulting on this project is possible, but it’s looking very likely that she will be able to help on it, and I’m very excited about it.
Following up with her interest in casting, I talked again to Leeanna to see if she was still interested. I had been vague on the casting process because I didn’t know how far in advance to start the process. After finishing the script and understanding the time/financial commitments of actors, it might be best to start the casting sooner rather than later. She is in a demanding program this spring and is currently not sure whether or not she will have time to do it, but we’ll see how things turn go.
The third potential associate contacted was Ahreum Kim. She was my T.A. in our Film and Video I class. She was always enthusiastic, kind, knowledgeable, good with equipment, incredibly motivated, and always gave good feedback. One of her life goals is to be a member of the highly-competitive American Society of Cinematographers. Since our film class, she had been in my mind as someone who’s going places, and I thought we would work well together well and that she might like to be a cinematographer on a feature film. She was very enthusiastic about it, but naturally had a few private reservations about the time commitment and other matters.
The fourth contact is my long-term friend, DJ. We were both workaholics at the local movie theater, and I asked if he would like to be the sound man on the film. He has outstanding work ethic, he’s a quick learner, he’s been looking for an opportunity to shine, and we are really good friends and trust each other. He is also looking in to personal matters to get the logistics together for taking said amount of time off.
If all goes through, the main people to contact now will be casting, explosives technicians, and getting together all the logistics involved (locations, casting, costumes, food, and props). And of course, continuing to find financing.
December 2008 - PR, Logistic, and the Radio
Exhausted from writing and not-yet-recovered from the semester, I had to put the engine into idle. I took a semi-break from the movie-watching drought, and started multitasking. DVD commentaries are kind of like listening to the radio, which works well for monotonous tasks …like e-mailing hundreds of producers. So, several days were spent getting on Facebook and going further down lists of people to contact. By the way, DVD commentaries are excellent for anyone interested in filmmaking.
With the limited success of the “spreading the word” campaign, the inevitable turn to product placement seemed necessary. Also, with the logistical details needing organization, I broke down every scene in the script by scene title, scene description, scene purpose, characters, costumes, location, location pre-planning required, props, set details, people to help, product placement opportunities, time of day, time to film, time to set up equipment, time to rehearse, and time on screen. This was a way to really get organized and go through and assimilate which companies to pursue for product placement. The list took close to a week to put together.
With the limited success of the “spreading the word” campaign, the inevitable turn to product placement seemed necessary. Also, with the logistical details needing organization, I broke down every scene in the script by scene title, scene description, scene purpose, characters, costumes, location, location pre-planning required, props, set details, people to help, product placement opportunities, time of day, time to film, time to set up equipment, time to rehearse, and time on screen. This was a way to really get organized and go through and assimilate which companies to pursue for product placement. The list took close to a week to put together.
December 2008 - Writing
Writing…The other half. My personal deadline for finishing the screenplay was Christmas. I was deadly behind. Going into break, only ¼ of the story was complete. The main problem is writer’s procrastination and never having enough time to buckle down and get to it. Also, American University is not an inspiring place to write.
SO! The only way to do it was through strict discipline. I would write for an un-interrupted four hours a day. To make sure there were four solid hours, I got a stopwatch and made sure there would be no distractions for that amount of time. It didn’t matter if I was staring at the ceiling thinking about the story, there would be no multi-tasking. So, after getting organized and sifting through 17,689 words of notes (statistics and numbers give life meaning maybe?), the outline was complete in 9 days. Taking notes and thinking is key to writing. I had all the moments and ideas down, but they weren’t organized in any coherent fashion. As was mentioned before, the notes and thinking had been going on for 9 months, so it wasn’t just coming up with an outline out of nowhere. But the sitting down and putting it all down on paper is hard.
From the outline, writing the script is just filling in the missing holes. From the end of the outline to a finished first draft only took 12 days. After reading over the draft several times and making sure it was as polished as I could make it, I sent it to about 30 friends who had mentioned they were interested in reading it. I AM INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL FOR EVERYONE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO READ IT!!!!!!!! To make sure everyone was as critical as possible, the script was sent with a feedback questionnaire guiding critical responses.
Even though the script was 6 days late, things could have been worse.
Pictures of writing in the basement. Moving to every location in the house was a good way to not get bored in any one place. This it the script laid out.
A close up of the cards - lots of writing on each.
SO! The only way to do it was through strict discipline. I would write for an un-interrupted four hours a day. To make sure there were four solid hours, I got a stopwatch and made sure there would be no distractions for that amount of time. It didn’t matter if I was staring at the ceiling thinking about the story, there would be no multi-tasking. So, after getting organized and sifting through 17,689 words of notes (statistics and numbers give life meaning maybe?), the outline was complete in 9 days. Taking notes and thinking is key to writing. I had all the moments and ideas down, but they weren’t organized in any coherent fashion. As was mentioned before, the notes and thinking had been going on for 9 months, so it wasn’t just coming up with an outline out of nowhere. But the sitting down and putting it all down on paper is hard.
From the outline, writing the script is just filling in the missing holes. From the end of the outline to a finished first draft only took 12 days. After reading over the draft several times and making sure it was as polished as I could make it, I sent it to about 30 friends who had mentioned they were interested in reading it. I AM INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL FOR EVERYONE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO READ IT!!!!!!!! To make sure everyone was as critical as possible, the script was sent with a feedback questionnaire guiding critical responses.
Even though the script was 6 days late, things could have been worse.
Pictures of writing in the basement. Moving to every location in the house was a good way to not get bored in any one place. This it the script laid out.
A close up of the cards - lots of writing on each.
December 2008 - Facebook
Facebook…That halfway defines this month. The only way to spread the word about the project was to reluctantly start a Facebook account…but it’s for the movie…so it’s not like REALLY having a Facebook…right? Anyway, I set up an account and sent personalized messages to every single person I know to try to catch up for all those lost years, to inform them about the project, and to get them to watch the video.
The original idea was that everyone I knew would donate a little bit and it would be the piecemeal film of the century…No. There was limited success, but at least I got to catch up with a lot of people I’ve missed. After the “everyone I know” Facebook approach, I figured that on every movie has a few hundred people working on it, so who better to tell about the movie than those people? So I contacted several hundred people that way, again with limited success. The next and more intelligent approach was contacting the producers on my favorite films. Thus far, a few producers have replied, but, realistically, nobody’s going to put their neck out for someone they don’t know. Also, Facebook is not the most professional of mediums, but the plan was all about quantity over quality. Maybe it was the wrong way to go about it, but the idea was that the website was effective and the message wouldn’t matter as much, so getting the word out to as many people as possible was the way to go about it.
The original idea was that everyone I knew would donate a little bit and it would be the piecemeal film of the century…No. There was limited success, but at least I got to catch up with a lot of people I’ve missed. After the “everyone I know” Facebook approach, I figured that on every movie has a few hundred people working on it, so who better to tell about the movie than those people? So I contacted several hundred people that way, again with limited success. The next and more intelligent approach was contacting the producers on my favorite films. Thus far, a few producers have replied, but, realistically, nobody’s going to put their neck out for someone they don’t know. Also, Facebook is not the most professional of mediums, but the plan was all about quantity over quality. Maybe it was the wrong way to go about it, but the idea was that the website was effective and the message wouldn’t matter as much, so getting the word out to as many people as possible was the way to go about it.
November 2008 - PR
School was very time-consuming and draining at this point, so I wasn’t in a place to work any more on the other 3 stories, and at the same time the clock was ticking on getting the money for the film.
My original goal for having finances was November because the back-order on the Red camera was six months (no longer backordered). As being behind schedule is no good, the money problem became priority number one (if there’s no money, there’s no movie, and if there’s no movie then what’s the point of the story?).
I started dotting my i’s and crossting my t’s. The website needed a lot of work. If someone wants to give money, how are they going to do it? If it’s not easy, it won’t happen. So I added Pay Pal links through the website to accept donations, loans, and investments. I made up flyers that my friend, Blake, put up in a few local Starbucks, flyered 600 cars, and wrote several drafts of a general letter for anyone to read and be interested in the project.
My mom suggested making a video to tell people about the project in a few minutes without having to read. After a few days of thinking, she was right. So, I buckled down and made a four-minute explanatory, promotional video explaining the project. Ideally, it could have been a higher quality video, but the end of the semester time crunch didn’t leave any more time than being able to animate some photoshop stuff together and adding computerized voices together. It’s not a video to be particularly proud of, but it does its job in explaining the project.
Several professors gave feedback on the video and the drafted letter. They gave me the “looks good,” so I took posted the video and took letters around to a couple hundred houses around the D.C. area. Before returning for Christmas break, my friend, Kelley, and I flyered a handful of cars, and I contacted every television and radio station in my hometown to see if they would be interested in running a story on the project.
My original goal for having finances was November because the back-order on the Red camera was six months (no longer backordered). As being behind schedule is no good, the money problem became priority number one (if there’s no money, there’s no movie, and if there’s no movie then what’s the point of the story?).
I started dotting my i’s and crossting my t’s. The website needed a lot of work. If someone wants to give money, how are they going to do it? If it’s not easy, it won’t happen. So I added Pay Pal links through the website to accept donations, loans, and investments. I made up flyers that my friend, Blake, put up in a few local Starbucks, flyered 600 cars, and wrote several drafts of a general letter for anyone to read and be interested in the project.
My mom suggested making a video to tell people about the project in a few minutes without having to read. After a few days of thinking, she was right. So, I buckled down and made a four-minute explanatory, promotional video explaining the project. Ideally, it could have been a higher quality video, but the end of the semester time crunch didn’t leave any more time than being able to animate some photoshop stuff together and adding computerized voices together. It’s not a video to be particularly proud of, but it does its job in explaining the project.
Several professors gave feedback on the video and the drafted letter. They gave me the “looks good,” so I took posted the video and took letters around to a couple hundred houses around the D.C. area. Before returning for Christmas break, my friend, Kelley, and I flyered a handful of cars, and I contacted every television and radio station in my hometown to see if they would be interested in running a story on the project.
October 2008 - Non-profit status, a business plan, taxes, and the story
After finding a few grants that are designed to collect tax-deductible donations on the behalf of the film, I filled out the paper work and submitted to a few.
I met with a dean of the business school who suggested to make a business plan and talk to a tax-specialist professor. This was good advice, so I made a 22-page business plan covering all aspects of why this project is possible and how it’s going to happen and be a real movie that everyone’s going to want to watch.
The tax professor was very nice and basically told me that if I can’t get the non-profit grant to forget the non-profit status because the IRS stipulations get too complicated.
This month, I wrote David’s treatment and script. A treatment is basically the script with limited dialogue and in a less-formal, more-readable, story-esque format. If the treatment is well written, the script simply falls into place. The feedback from my writing class teacher was very helpful throughout the entire process, and her suggestions were helpful in making the story understandable to wider audiences.
I met with a dean of the business school who suggested to make a business plan and talk to a tax-specialist professor. This was good advice, so I made a 22-page business plan covering all aspects of why this project is possible and how it’s going to happen and be a real movie that everyone’s going to want to watch.
The tax professor was very nice and basically told me that if I can’t get the non-profit grant to forget the non-profit status because the IRS stipulations get too complicated.
This month, I wrote David’s treatment and script. A treatment is basically the script with limited dialogue and in a less-formal, more-readable, story-esque format. If the treatment is well written, the script simply falls into place. The feedback from my writing class teacher was very helpful throughout the entire process, and her suggestions were helpful in making the story understandable to wider audiences.
October 2008 - two pictures (bonus!)
October 2008 - two pictures
The close up.
PJs, headphones, and a laptop. A large portion of life.
The close up.
PJs, headphones, and a laptop. A large portion of life.
September 2008 - Work Work Work
Serious work on the outline began this month. Because four stories take place simultaneously, the outline can get quite overwhelming, and it is very time consuming.
To make sure the psychological analysis of the main character was correct (as the whole story contends on his motivations), I spoke with a psychology professor on campus to get his feedback. He helped hammer out a feasible reason that the main character does what he does. He also pointed me in the right direction to finding solutions to other story devices involving drugs (to knock out characters).
Additionally, I spoke with my finance professor to see if he had ideas on how to raise money. He told me to get non-profit status to entice investors. Immediately I began searching for how to make that happen.
At this point, realizing that getting money was harder than originally thought, I took the bare-bones approach to budgeting and whittled it down to $80,000.
As far as the story goes, at this point the characters were pretty much developed. Extensive text-book character studies were made for the main characters. The film takes place as four stories: the main kidnapping scenarios, the kidnapper’s’ backstory (David Lindale), and the two victims’ backstories (Maggie Anderson and Daylen Gordon).
For a class in school, one of our major projects was developing a 30-minute script. For that 30 minute script, completing David's story (1/4 of the 120 page script) seemed like a logical choice since his motivations are key to the film’s believability. This month, I made the outline for his story.
To make sure the psychological analysis of the main character was correct (as the whole story contends on his motivations), I spoke with a psychology professor on campus to get his feedback. He helped hammer out a feasible reason that the main character does what he does. He also pointed me in the right direction to finding solutions to other story devices involving drugs (to knock out characters).
Additionally, I spoke with my finance professor to see if he had ideas on how to raise money. He told me to get non-profit status to entice investors. Immediately I began searching for how to make that happen.
At this point, realizing that getting money was harder than originally thought, I took the bare-bones approach to budgeting and whittled it down to $80,000.
As far as the story goes, at this point the characters were pretty much developed. Extensive text-book character studies were made for the main characters. The film takes place as four stories: the main kidnapping scenarios, the kidnapper’s’ backstory (David Lindale), and the two victims’ backstories (Maggie Anderson and Daylen Gordon).
For a class in school, one of our major projects was developing a 30-minute script. For that 30 minute script, completing David's story (1/4 of the 120 page script) seemed like a logical choice since his motivations are key to the film’s believability. This month, I made the outline for his story.
Late August 2008 - Research, Grants, and the Budget
This month, I started looking into film grants as well as continuing research on the film, production, and the budget.
Several friends were very helpful in throwing around ideas for the premise and character motivations. They were invaluable in filtering and suggesting new ideas. I worked more on fine-tuning the premise and character motivations. I wrote a letter to ask for financing from a select few people, and contacted two qualified people to be the producer on the film. A few leads were generated, but they all fizzled out.
In passing, I mentioned the film to one of my friends, Leeanna, who is an extremely devoted thespian. She expressed her interest in casting which I thought was great, but didn’t know when that process would start...
Back to school.
Several friends were very helpful in throwing around ideas for the premise and character motivations. They were invaluable in filtering and suggesting new ideas. I worked more on fine-tuning the premise and character motivations. I wrote a letter to ask for financing from a select few people, and contacted two qualified people to be the producer on the film. A few leads were generated, but they all fizzled out.
In passing, I mentioned the film to one of my friends, Leeanna, who is an extremely devoted thespian. She expressed her interest in casting which I thought was great, but didn’t know when that process would start...
Back to school.
August 2008 - The Premise
After running through countless ideas for the movie, the premises began sifting down to one that was solid and could really work as both a marketable and meaningful film. The main stipulations that constricted the story ideas were as follows:
1. must be logistically possible with such a tiny crew and cast
2. must take place outside (outdoor lighting is free and less-time consuming (important with a tiny crew))
3. must take place in desolate, surreal locations (under our budget, set design will be constricted, and to sell the movie, cinematic scapes must be used to give the film high production values which will eventually sell the film)
4. only a few main characters (due to casting and travel considerations)
1. must be logistically possible with such a tiny crew and cast
2. must take place outside (outdoor lighting is free and less-time consuming (important with a tiny crew))
3. must take place in desolate, surreal locations (under our budget, set design will be constricted, and to sell the movie, cinematic scapes must be used to give the film high production values which will eventually sell the film)
4. only a few main characters (due to casting and travel considerations)
July 2008 - Research and a Budget
Research and inspirational movie watching continued. I developed a first draft of a budget (originally approximately $150,000) which continues to be tweaked to minimize costs.
June 2008 - More Movies and Research
After finishing up in LA, I came home to recharge and research. I watched about 300 movies (of which 60 were commentaried films). Again, commentaries offer so much. They include film tricks, technical terms, stories, and jokes.
My research included learning about different equipment options and researching stories, articles, and websites for story ideas and character details.
My research included learning about different equipment options and researching stories, articles, and websites for story ideas and character details.
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