In-World War

Auditions and more...

This weekend are the first auditions.

Lots of progress:

- We have an audition space (thanks Link TV!). Still looking for actors.

- A couple of new Asst. Producers are coming on board to spread out the workland and we have students interested in being PAs.

- Entered the competition for the SFFS grant. We'll see but not holding my breath. At least we can say our project is shovel-ready....

- I've given up on Craigslist for posting the casting call. Their arcane filtering and flagging rules are about as transparent as a Papal Conclave.

- Did a last minute trip to LA over the past weekend to meet with a possible lead actor. He's great (though not an experienced actor) and somewhat well-known -- and a perfect fit for the role of Mary. I think it could work. He's a great guy and willing to try anything. Stay tuned.

Back to work.

Spreading our wings

The pace is picking up. We definitely need to expand the team to accommodate the workload. I'm still working full-time+ and June 29 is marching ever closer every day.

Here's a quick run-down of my current to-list:

- Find audition space in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley or otherwise nearby BART for the weekend of 2/28. All we need is a closed room that's at least 15'x15' or so (larger is better -- a conference room could work fine) and an indoor area that is separate for people to wait their turn. Email me if you have any leads.

- Help spread the word about the casting call. Know any interested actors? Check out the available roles.

- Sign up for fiscal sponsorship and seek a grant from the SFFS.

- Hire an assistant producer and/or co-producer -- plus a couple PAs to help with casting, location scouting and other tasks. Email me if interested.

- Start asking friends and family to support the project by buying a credit, donating to the cause and pre-ordering the DVD. That's a whole operation unto itself that I need to get moving on. Fiscal sponsorship will help since then it's tax deductible.

- Figure out why Craigslist won't let us post our casting call (grrrrr).

And on top of that I still need to work on the script.

Never a dull moment. Thank god I have time on the bus each day to work (with wifi!).

 Too bad my laptop is about to run out of juice. Welcome to indie filmmaking.

Casting has begun!

Today Mariel posted the first casting call and we have our first headshots from interested actors.

Here's the casting call -- pass it along to your actor friends.

There's no turning back now. I guess I need to finish the damn script. And raise a little money.

Production date set: June 29, 2009

After a weekend summit with Mariel, the casting director, we set the start of production for June 29.

I'm planning three weeks of San Francisco/Bay Area production and then about a week in New York. After my honeymoon in Europe in September, I'm hoping to stay over there for a week or two to pick up some scenes and get some 2nd unit type shots to fill in.

The first casting call comes out soon (tweaking it now).

And I'm pushing through on the next draft of the screenplay too.

The train is on the tracks.