Well some interesting things have happened in the last few days. Nothing is set in stone yet but it looks pretty promissing.

A friend (My cinematograpgher) called me up to tell me he was recently given a shot at a producers position with a studio in South Fl. that he works with.(The same ones that let me use their stuff for "Fender Bender" and who co-produced "Redemption") They just got a new investor and he wants two features (one Urban, one Horror) to be shot and completed by July of this year. He asked if I wanted to write and direct the Horror. "Sure." I said. "He is only giving us a limited budget though." He told me. "Oh, how much?" "Only $8,000." I was like "$8,000!! We normally make stuff for like $20, and besides a good budget for a Horror on this level is $5,000." "I know!" He said all excited.

So the deal is I am going to the Palm Beach International Film Festival for the premiere of our HD feature "Redemption" next week and we will pitch him then. Im not doing "Within The Woods" because it would cost to much but this guy has distribution set in place and said he needs like 2 dozen pictures a year. Deliver on this one and the next budget could be $25,000-$50,000 and up from there.

Anyway keep your fingers crossed and say a few prayers. Oh, and BTW it will not be a slasher film. That is actually what they sugested and I just cringed. The script I am writing is tenativley titled "Devil Springs" and is about a fictional town in Florida where a "crypt keeper" type narrator takes us on three stories of terror. All I can say is there will be a Zombie daughter, an apocalyptic demon and his very special suitcase, and evil encarnet playing phone pranks on an unsuspecting victim. According to what they are saying if we get the go ahead this could be in video stores as early as July or August.

It's just funny, I work on so many things, put many eggs in many baskets and then I get a call out of the blue. Now granted I got that call beause of the relationship I formed with my cinematographer. He is being tossed in the fire, told to "Deliver or else." and he knows he can count o me to deliver the Horror. "How good will it be?" Hard to say, it is a VERY small window to make it in (We are alotted a 2 1/2 week shoot schedule) Probablly no original music (library stuff licensed for the film) other than maybe a band track for the end crdits, and I am writing it with as simple a locations as I can but if nothing else two of the stories were shorts I wrote and thought I would never get to shoot. That in itself is worth it. I'll keep you posted.

R. Michael

Dude that is so great to hear man I know it gives me hope of one day getting something going for me too and Im sure it does others on this site. Good luck and let us know every detail as soon as you get it!

Congrats Tizz. Sounds like a great opportunity.

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

Way to go Tizzy! That sounds very promising dude. I'm sure you will be able to deliver. Your description of the movie reminds me of this John Carpenter film I saw awhile back. He was some morgue keeper/dead guy or something and he told different stories (one had Mark Hamil go ape nuts with an eye implant hehe). I usually enjoy those type of movies though. Keep us updated

Good luck and keep us posted.

P.S. Is 80% of the budget your fee? Heh! J/K

Oh, good luck at the premiere.

That sounds like an excellent potential opportunity.

Nota "Keeps his cool so as not to jin.... Errr... just because" Mono

good luck with it tizzy

and 8000 dollar Is A EXTREMELY low budget for a feature....damn...well its shot on DV...but still

hey, best luck. I know exactly what you mean about working really hard in one area, then some break comes from something completely separate. That actually happened to me this week too. ..but not nearly as cool as you.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dr. Sivad:
Good luck and keep us posted.

P.S. Is 80% of the budget your fee? Heh! J/K

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Now that you mention it....

Actually I get nothing up front that I don't make. In otherwords we are bassically handed $8,000 and told if we make it for $5,000 the rest goes in our pockets. I just need enough to cover the work I miss. Im not greedy.... yet.

Hoeks: In the real world $8,000 isnt much for a feature BUT... the average aceptable amount for a MiniDV Horror is actually $5,000. Many believe anymore and your taken a good risk of seeig no return. The difference is distribution is already in place with numbers "assured" by the distributor.

All the production and post production stuff is bassically free since the studio owns several DVX100's with P+S adapters, primes, 16' jib, dollies, stedi-cam, HMI's, ect. We already have almost all the cast and crew, al who are working for food and we just need a few locations. By far the most expensive aspect will be the make-up FX. I want professional work and Im willing to apy for it. By default the next budget will have to go up if nothing else so that I can pay the people who were so kind as to volunteer this time. We should actually be able to amke a killer little flick though, despite the fact that the first draft of the script will bassically be the shooting script... but what are ya gonna do?

Thanks for the support all, and thanks Rob for not Ji... er, well.

I'll keep you posted.
R. Michael

ohhhh I did not know that the camera + lenses are for free. I just rented 3 35mm prime lenses and that already costs a fortune. What about lights and all? Dolly? steady cam and what not?

If everything is provided, then there is still food and transportation. I am planing my first super 16mm color shoot for next fall and I will be close to 5k with a 8 min short

quote:

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Originally posted by Hoeks:
ohhhh I did not know that the camera + lenses are for free. I just rented 3 35mm prime lenses and that already costs a fortune. What about lights and all? Dolly? steady cam and what not?

If everything is provided, then there is still food and transportation. I am planing my first super 16mm color shoot for next fall and I will be close to 5k with a 8 min short

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Yeah They have everything, Dollies, 16' fully remote jib, car rigs, stedi-cam, HMI's, Lowell, Kino-flos the works. Transportation: Most live in the area and we will be tossing some gas money they're way, and car pooling will most likley be implemented. As to food, yeah I dont skimp on that, especially when folks are working for free although we usually get a few local restaraunts to donate some meals.

Even the post is all covered so it is a pretty staright 8k. It goes quick but ive done more with less so we will see how it goes.
R. Michael

Tizzy please don't take this personal just a honest question.

If this "studio" has all these things why wouldn't they just fine a bigger director? It would seem a company with all these assets would have had plenty of directors, writers, ect in the past.

quote:

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Originally posted by Titus:
Tizzy please don't take this personal just a honest question.

If this "studio" has all these things why wouldn't they just fine a bigger director? It would seem a company with all these assets would have had plenty of directors, writers, ect in the past.

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No that is actually a very good question for which i have a good answer.

The studio is small and does mainly TV commercials and music videos. The owner makes good money at it but does all the directing himself. He just recently got into making movies. He has writen and directed 3 features and produced our HD feature "Redemption". He was there when I took over the shoot when everyone else was crashing (including him) and figured out how to get 4 days worth of shooting done in 2 1/2. My Cinematographer has been working with him as his steady employment and bugging him to let hi produce. He had recently got distribution set up and then this new investor. He simply ca not make as many films as they want by himself. So he gave the first two to my buddy (as he is in post on his last two and writing another) plus he doe'snt really know Horror. My friend said he was going to ask me and he was all for it (the owner had asked me to write a Horror before but there was no guarantee there would be financing so i did'nt bother)

So there it is. He had seen my stuff and me in action and liked it, plus he knew i had a better handle on Horror then he so.... here i am. Again, sometimes it is just important to work ####### the crappy stuff (like several music videos i worked on with him for chump change) just because it could lead to something.
R. Michael

Thank you for answering that for me.