Goals and Other Medicine

I've reached my first milestone... of course beside finishing the script. April is the month of money and I will be using my gift of gab to dig up financing for Fire in the Pulpit. I reached my first goal by the date in the calendar. I marked my calendar with this goal months ago.... and when I looked back on it and realized I actually reached it, it gave me a great feeling... don't you love reaching goals?

This week I will be getting my Kickstarter site up and running, my entry to the American Black Film festival for How to Make a Baby out the door (thanks Frank!) and breaking down Fire in the Pulpit to a directors script phew! All while working 50 hours this week. A filmmaker's job is never done. But reaching a goal has given me a good dose of much needed pep that I needed and I'm looking forward to reaching many more goals in the coming weeks.

Today its stormy weather... but I feel good! I feel so good I'll use some cheesy clip art today.

I'm joining script frenzy!

For the month of April thousands of writers from all across the globe will be joining in on script frenzy!

I'm writing a Japanese horror film Akashio more coming soon



http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/user/805889

It's Cake Time! Official Shooting Dates

Wow, so my producer and I have settled on shooting dates. Fire in the Pulpit will be shot June 17th thru July 1st in Decatur, GA. It feels surreal, but having the dates solid and blocked out in my calendar makes the shoot even more real.

Finalizing any tweeks to the script is being done and I've got my script breakdown. I feel confident, and professional. The shoot is going to go off without a hitch (well, there will be hitches as with all productions) But so much prep and planning is happening in the next few months that those hitches will be nothing major.



Prepping a movie is like baking a cake.

The script is the recipe - it's taken time to perfect, passed down from other great scriptwriters in the past. To get my recipe just right I did trials, short films and web shows and wrote on spec under my own time and with no promise of pay just for the experience

The greenlight is the pre-heating - Deciding to go into this production over the many other scripts I have written was a deliberate choice, I looked at subject matter, budget, and the impact my first feature will have on the tone for the rest of my filmmaking life

The pre-production is mixing the ingredients - Getting the script ready to shoot, planning shots, storyboarding, casting, location scouting, locking down everything... the most important part. Too much of an ingredient here and you might destroy yourself mentally, too little and you might get a film that was a pain to even make. Just the right amount of preparation and the right ingredients will make shooting an excellent experience.

Production - BAKING! All the prep, all the planning, all the budgeting comes together into something that looks like total chaos, but is the funnest and best part of the process

Entering Post Production - let it cool! If you put the frosting on too fast, it will melt and who really wants to eat that cake. You must evaluate the footage, the shots, the composition and get prepared to bring it all together

Editing - The Icing on this cake, editing can actually make or break it all. I've seen indie films that could have possibly been saved with a better editing job. Its unfortunate to shoot and then mess up a film after the fact. It all comes together, the sound, the look, the feel, the pacing, everything in the editing!

Distribution - The cherry on top. I'm not really a fan of those canned cherries, but I digress. If everything comes together from pre-to post then the distribution is the sweet sweet cherry on top. People will want your film, they will buy the chance to show it to their audiences, negotiate deals, put up your posters, and make you realize it was all worth while

Channeling the funding gods

This week in filmmaking my task is to channel the funding gods. I am working hard on my personal financing goal and will have it reached by May. Aside from that putting together pitch packages for my individual funders (who don't exactly know they are funders yet :) is my daunting task. It will take alot of research and planning... or not. Perhaps just my smile will help to open those doors, I don't know yet but I'm already looking forward to April which I have dubbed Super Savers Month. Save Save Save.


In other news a new draft of the script will be completed soon to Fire in the Pulpit, and I'm already looking forward to choosing the second feature to shoot. I would love for it to be God's Gift to Women, a quirky comedy thats been shelved and really needs to be made. I have allowed myself to be distracted, but getting back to the focus is happening as of riiiiight.... NOW!!!

this week in filmmaking

The major accomplishment for me this week has been getting a script breakdown which let's me know what props and wardrobe I need and how much each actor will be working during shooting. I'm beginning to visualize how the shoot weeks will go and I'm excited that I've given myself this much time to pre-plan. After a very successful trip to Decatur to see exactly where I will be shooting, I'm pumped. And now with my executive producer coordinating up north I can focus on the journey of film financing, which should be an interesting journey all on its own. Its 4 months til picture up!!!

Fire in the Pulpit Update

This film is going to make some heads roll, when I tell people what it's about I get mixed responses. Alot say it's necessary, some seem afraid, and from the hate email I received when I put an ad out for a producer up in Atlanta, some will burn torches and witch hunt. But it all excites me. I'm ready to put content out there to the world that reflects not only my view point, but addresses an important subject matter and will envoke meaningful dialogue amongst it's viewers. I chose this as my first feature film instead of one of my cheesey horror scripts, or writing a corny action flick because I see a need for it. It effects my community and is a very taboo subject. Creatively it will help establish my voice, which is most important (actually whats most important is making money from it so I can keep going!)

I have my producer, Dany up in Decatur waiting on me to come next weekend so we can secure the main location. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, I'm literally going in head first! In the meantime much of my focus is on film funding, because the script is solid and ready to go. If anyone knows of any good film funding sites send them my way!

I'm back and on the grind.... NOW IS THE TIME

Hello all, I'm back to writing, producing, and blogging. After literally taking a trip across the country, I am in a different place mentally. 4 days, alone, in a car = alot of thinking!

I can sort of see the rest of this year, and it's exciting to me. While driving I had the pleasure of reading rebel without a crew. Thats right, I read and drive at the same time (a manual car none the less, can we say skilled?) Anyhoo I figured driving and reading would be the best time to get into the book as much of America is a wasteland. Nothing, no houses, no people, no animals (that I could see whisking by at 80mph)... just nothing but land. If you are a filmmaker or a writer and you've never driven across this country I recommend it highly, seeing it will change you.

Anyway I read the book, and did some mental writing/developing of concepts, and some planning for my first feature film. And it's all coming together very nicely. What I learned from reading Robert Rodriguez's book was priceless. It gave me such a creative boost, and such a ego boost just from reading his journey into film. I have felt lost, trying to figure out how to get into the exclusive Hollywood club, but I had it backwards, Hollywood needs to get into me!

I will learn from the master of indie filmmaking as I embark on the journey of writing/producing/directing my first feature film this year, because if I don't I might as well go to K-mart and put on a vest and check out customers because I will never be a filmmaker if I don't do it now!