the 12 hour auditions over, now the hard part....

So, we had the call backs-chemistry test yesterday. 12 hours + 30 actors = few decisions. Sigh.....

It's an odd complaint, but so many of the actors were so good that we still haven't narrowed it down much. Some people did better than they did at their last audition, some did worse. A couple of choices seemed obvious, and we have first and second choices for several roles, but the leads are still wide open.

While the director was down from Toronto, we made a few other decisions as well; such as how far I can go to negotiate a deal before having to check with the other producers, how much I can "give away" to get the film made, and which distributor/ marketing firm we're interested in going with.

So, a good day. And a good place to take a weekend off, if you call planting tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, & many other veggies to be a day off!

Busy last 2 weeks!

Well, I was reallyreally busy the last 2 weeks! We held auditions for Me, my Mom & a Whistle on the 20th and 21st. SEVENTY people showed up, making for two 15 hour days! I was astonished by how amazing some of the actors were. Non-union, practically unknown, and just freaking brilliant. This will lead to some very hard decisions!

Then I had to prepare and submit two applications for funding to make music videos by the 23rd. I'm producing music videos for two local bands "naked i" and "Mo Sayk", as a way of raising seed money for the film.
I'm also looking for 3-4 bands for the June 11th deadline, as we'd like to do as many as possible before we start principal photography on the film.

We are now about four months away and I NEED to get funding happening! I'm doing up a budget based on deferrels, but that'll entail a whole new repayment schedule. A woman's work is never done. Anybody have any money they don't need? Any at all? Anyone need a business loss for tax purposes? You can carry forward prior year earnings to cover it and lower your previous taxes. (at least I think you can. you used to be able to)

Then there's this week's deadline. Tomorrow I have a development application for CJOH to get a little money to write my next film. Or one of my next films.

Friday is also the deadline to notify the NFB that you intend to propose a project for the Aboriginal Film Development somethingorother. So I'm working on a film idea for that. It's real deadline is May 12th. Plenty of time! At least, these days it seems like plenty of time. LOL

Getting ready for auditions and meetings

Well, the auditions are in a week, and things are getting busy. 70 actors, meetings with the DOP, a band or three, the photographer, a couple of potential investors.... and that's just monday and tuesday!!

You can buy me a scotch now.

The intro: Me, my Mom & a Whistle, the movie!

The start of a great thing!!
Ok, so now I'm starting active preproduction for "Me, my Mom, and a Whistle", script by Lisa Meuser (Muses Productions) and directed by Gemini Nominated Scott Eldridge.

As you might be able to tell, I'm pretty excited! This looks like it's going to be utterly amazing!

I've been putting together a fabulous package:
Lisa is a successful playwright, who's adapted the screenplay from her own sold out stage play of the same name.
I've gotten the rights to my favourite Good Lovelies' song (http://www.goodlovelies.com/home.html)
and signed multi-award winning cinematographer Nena Toth.
I'm in negotiations with another band to get a song written for the opening credits.

We're currently preparing for 2 days of auditions, and already the quality of applications is stunning! At the risk of sounding like I appprove of the current econimic situation, hard times does seem to mean better actors applying for low budget indies, probably because the big funding entities are so nervous right now.

Check us out at ( http://bit.ly/d1fa4) And at (http://bit.ly/11I0yg) and (http://bit.ly/kpKkJ)

We're looking into as much private investment and as few government hoops as possible. With all the cuts to Arts funding that have been done, and more being discussed, as well as the ever-changing qualifications, it just seems so much easier to do without the big boys. Not to mention it's a chance for investors to make money off of what is bound to be a great comedy.

If you're interested in helping fund the development or getting your name in the credits, go to ( http://bit.ly/d1fa4)
If you want to submit music for consideration for the soundtrack, go to (http://bit.ly/3d9u)