On Thanksgiving…on the doorstep
Thanksgiving’s here, and Pam is still in the kitchen as the wee hours thin,
baking pies and prepping stuffing and handling all the other turkey day
kitchen-work as we get ready for the family to trek over for the second
Thanksgiving we’re hosting. One of our neighbors’ll also be spending the day
with us, so we’re looking forward to a good day of overeating, guzzling egg
nog, watching football morning-til-night, and then celebrating my nephew’s
birthday as well as my Mom’s. Gonna be a long day, but a good one.
Especially given that the past couple of weeks have seen things progress
steadily on Visions of Sarah, my ghost story film, and we’re right on the
doorstep of getting this to happen. The film production company is pretty
excited, the guy putting together the financing is so behind the project
that he’s getting involved with it himself, and he has clients calling him
to set up meetings and to see what’s happening with the project. So, while
nothing’s set in stone and there are still lots of things that need to fall
into place, I’m a helluva lot closer than I’ve ever been to any sort of real
filmmaking opportunity, and the budget that’s being talked about is the kind
of money that makes my head spin. It’s uncertain when I’ll need to fly to NY
for some face-to-face meetings, but it’s entirely possible that part of the
financing will be in place before Xmas, which is something that would really
open up the doors to moving ahead. Being able to get more producers on
board, a top-notch UPM, and a casting director would literally mean that we
could begin location scouting right after the holidays, and as talent signs
on, begin to set production dates for principal photography.
While all this is going on, we’ve also been looking into just how we’re
gonna shoot this monster. And, all involved have agreed that the best way to
do it is going to be with the Red One camera system, as opposed to the
Scarlet or another prosumer-quality rig, so we’ve begun working out the lens
packages we’ll need for a true 2 camera shoot, with all the technical
equipment necessary to make a run at a theatrical release. No cutting
corners, or having to rely on the indie filmmaking tricks I employed to give
The Bunker better production value than I ever could’ve afforded. This one
will in all likelihood be a full union shoot, full SAG, fully insured, the
whole nine yards. I’ve been in contact with the agents for two Oscar
winners, with the agents for Lance Henriksen and Lili Taylor, with the
management for Robert Englund, and others, getting prices, rough schedules
for 2010, digging into the detail work that we should soon be handing over
to a casting director, but which was necessary in order to put together our
budget.
There’s still things to be worked out. The rights fees and the fees for the
screenplay haven’t made anybody blink. Checking out the Director’s Guild of
America site, if we go full-DGA the director’s fee would be beyond my
wildest dreams, and that, too, isn’t making any of the people involved have
any second thoughts. Dave’s put together this kind of financing before,
along with a ton of things that have budgets I could make 20 films for, and
he’s pretty damned confident that this thing is gonna come together.
Being this close? Pretty damned cool. Being this close with people I can
actually trust? Makes it twice as good. Having a full crew and a team of
pros that’ll eliminate the need to be concerned about somebody not pulling
their weight? That might be the best thing of all once we roll cameras.
Fingers crossed, that’ll be sooner, rather than later.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody, particularly our men and women serving in the
armed forces, be it here at home or overseas. Your sacrifice is recognized
by more people than you can possibly imagine. To everyone else, enjoy your
turkey day festivities, whatever & wherever they may be. Safe travel if you’re
on the move, and from all of us at Chanting Monks Studios & Sight Unseen
Pictures, a happy and healthy holiday for you all. (Except the Denver
Broncos and their fans. Healthy still goes, but I’m hoping Happy ain’t on
the menu as you’re facing the Giants. Holidays or not, you gotta draw the
line somewhere…)
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C’mon and follow me on Twitter, where you can monitor the progress on
Visions of Sarah, hear me bitch about football, extoll the virtues of Cheez
Whiz, and other amusing stuff.
http://www.twitter.com/josephmonks
For film-stuff exclusively, follow Sight Unseen Pictures for all things
movies:
http://www.twitter.com/SightUnseenPics
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Currently listening to: Beloved by VNV Nation
