The Toils Of Independent Film
I'm going to be writing about independent film, my own film projects, and a diary account detailing the making of my first independent feature film as I progress.
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Still Going B-Movies Eight Months May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 December 09 January 10 February 10 March 10 
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Still Going
It's been at least eight months since I've posted anything here. That old "Eight Months" essay about the process of writing my feature film is already way out of date, a I've written two more drafts since then. I don't even know where to start this update. So much has happened. As I just said, I wrote a couple of more drafts of my script, and am still trying to get it made.
I recently realized that March will mark the two year anniversary of when I first decided to make a feature film. It was March 2006, and all I had was an idea for a bad horror film, and a drama. I wrote an outline for the horror film before I decided not to do it. I worked on the drama, "Seeing Red", for about five months, even holding auditions at The Spotlight Theatre (courtesy of Roger Mathy). The actors were all good, but during a reading, I decided that no one was quite right for their parts, and my script was far from ready (I had about four drafts at that point). I was 18 at the time. I'm going to turn 21 later this year. I feel I've learned a little from my fumblings and misadventures that maybe this year, I might actually get something done and stop talking about it. 2006 and 2007 were busts, but I'm beginning to have faith in 2008. We're only halfway into January, but so far I have a bit of interest, and a small crew forming. My friend Corey Ferdinand (who's a filmmaker as well) will be doing sound, his fiancee, my friend, Shannon Willette, will be doing production design (arranging and fabricating wardrobe, dressing the set, and to a lesser extent, doing the props). A local makeup artist finally got back to me after I sent her my script a month ago, and has expressed interest in helping out with the production, depending on when we shoot/for how long. A brilliant composer from the Netherlands, Herman Witkam, will be doing the score. He's scoring a short film I'm trying to make right now as a sort of "practice collaboration". It's very long-distance, but it works. My friend Benn Wheeler (aka Cockeyed Caucasian Cockfight) will be making some songs as well. Now all I need is a cast. I've approached a former teacher, Kimberly Chin, who teaches film and theatre at BC, and directs most of the plays there, about helping me find actors. She enthusiastically agreed to help me out. I also sent my script to an actress I know who's involved in local theatre, and she's going to pass it around like pornography between 12-year-olds for me. I may have a crew, but the cast is the most integral part. It's a character/dialogue-driven ensemble piece, and a great cast is imperative. I can only hope my dialogue sounds okay, but I'll pray the cast will really bring my words to life. Even if my dialogue is as good as I hope it may be, bad acting will completely kill the film. Afterall, this isn't a horror film, I need people who can act. But I'm not just looking for actors and theatre people to throw me a bone. I'm really looking for people who are passionate about what they do. And I mean passionate. I want people who live for their art and their craft, as I do. I want people who are as passionate about my script as I am. This has always been the hardest part of the process for me. I've dealt for years with flakey actors--people who stop answering emails and phone calls without giving a reason, people who say they're going to be there, and don't show up. It really plagues me. It makes me wonder about myself and my material. Am I just oblivious to how shitty my work really is? Do I give off a weird vibe to people? I really don't know. It's just so fucking hard to get people interested in what you're doing. Am I the only one who cares about these characters and their stories? Are they only interesting to me? Regardless, I've come too fucking far to give up on this project. I've put far more thought and time and effort into this project than the first two feature films I abandoned. I especially need to get it out of my system. It's that burning desire, that unrelenting passion, that won't allow me to throw in the towel. I do feel closer than I've ever come to getting this project off of the ground, but I'm still afraid it'll all fall apart at the last second, as it has for the past year or so. I can't allow another year to slip through my fingers. 1 comments from 1 users
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posted by
matt
on Jan 18, 2008 at 05:52 PM
We missed you for the upcoming film & photo issue of Bakotopia, BUT you just might have a mention thanks to the Bird and Sanders.. ;-)Next time, answer your e-mails, home fries!!!
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