Okay so I know I didn't post last week and for all two of my readers out there, apologies. So what happened last week...? Well last week I put in a few calls and had the local universities send out some ads about me crewing up for my film project. Got a few responses thus far and waiting until the end of this week to contact folks after I gather up a few more resumes. I tell you, getting the money to do this film has been a true test of my faith and patience. It's like sometimes I feel like I should just give it up and that I'm never going to make my September deadline to try to get at least a rough copy of it done to submit to Sundance. Then I'll get a donation of $160 and will get back motivated although I'm still a ways off from my $5500 budget.
There is some good news for this week. I was driving to get some take out at one of my favorite restaurants in Encino and took the short cut to get there. The same short cut I use to get there almost every time. But this time it hit me that this is the road the kids in my story drive down before they get into their fatal accident. Although there are certain parts of the road that have palm trees since the location is right across from a golf course, there is a long stretch where it's just random green trees and dirt.
Perfect for the scene I have in mind and perfect that it's not one of the busiest streets in LA so hopefully it won't be a problem to do the night shoot the script calls for. The plan is to stay ambiguous with the location of my story since I want folks to feel like this same story could be in any city, state, or town.
Well folks, that's all the news I have for now. Hopefully I'll have even better news next week.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL ENTRY #102
Okay so after taking last week off to write a pilot to submit to Fox this week I'm back on here to give y'all the spill on what's happening with my short film project. So I've been pretty much scouting locations for this project for sometime now and had a location in mind but the person who owns it kept on giving me the cold sholder so I pretty much gave up on it. Which has turned out to be a a great thing because if I had actually gotten that location I wouldn't have found a location that is EXACTLY what I envisioned when I wrote the script.
So I was out and about last week and stopped by the Red Cross to check out their multipurpose room to see if I could possibly film it there. After dropping by there, I quickly discovered that I really wasn't feeling it. I mean I'm from North Carolina where the Red Cross is usually in it's own building so I was a little disappointed when I got there and realized that they were nestled inside of a business park. So I left there and headed over to do a little work when somehow I made a wrong turn and ended up on a street that I had never been down before. While on this street, I happened to ride by this little park and something just told me to stop...So I did.
Once inside, I spoke with the young lady who worked there and she allowed me to give myself a little tour of the building. Downstairs I found two rooms that would be the center where the kids in my movie meet up with the convicts. Upstairs I found a room that I could easily turn into the bedroom scene from the beginning of the script. Outside, I found a charming courtyard that would be where the juvenile delinquents in my film go and hang at before they go into the program. And here's the kicker...they had SODA MACHINES!!! Y'all just don't know how worried I was about having to find somewhere that had a soda machine or about the possibility of having to find a soda machine to use for one of the most important scenes in my film where my main character befriends another main character.
Oh and another fun fact about this location is that the screenwriters of the Wizard of Oz used to live here...Totally cool!
I really think this is the place that I was destined to find and shoot this film at. Now all I have to do is come up with the money I'll need for the permits to shoot there. And that's where you all come in. I'm still trying to get to $5500 and so far I seem to be stuck at $1800. All I've been asking folks to do is to make a donation of $10 or $20 bucks...or more if you can afford it. I guarantee this is gonna be a hot project once it gets going and you all will definitely be thanked in a very profound way (-:
Donations can be made above and here's a link that shows pics of this wonderful location I found...
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-9-shadow-ranch.html
So I was out and about last week and stopped by the Red Cross to check out their multipurpose room to see if I could possibly film it there. After dropping by there, I quickly discovered that I really wasn't feeling it. I mean I'm from North Carolina where the Red Cross is usually in it's own building so I was a little disappointed when I got there and realized that they were nestled inside of a business park. So I left there and headed over to do a little work when somehow I made a wrong turn and ended up on a street that I had never been down before. While on this street, I happened to ride by this little park and something just told me to stop...So I did.
Once inside, I spoke with the young lady who worked there and she allowed me to give myself a little tour of the building. Downstairs I found two rooms that would be the center where the kids in my movie meet up with the convicts. Upstairs I found a room that I could easily turn into the bedroom scene from the beginning of the script. Outside, I found a charming courtyard that would be where the juvenile delinquents in my film go and hang at before they go into the program. And here's the kicker...they had SODA MACHINES!!! Y'all just don't know how worried I was about having to find somewhere that had a soda machine or about the possibility of having to find a soda machine to use for one of the most important scenes in my film where my main character befriends another main character.
Oh and another fun fact about this location is that the screenwriters of the Wizard of Oz used to live here...Totally cool!
I really think this is the place that I was destined to find and shoot this film at. Now all I have to do is come up with the money I'll need for the permits to shoot there. And that's where you all come in. I'm still trying to get to $5500 and so far I seem to be stuck at $1800. All I've been asking folks to do is to make a donation of $10 or $20 bucks...or more if you can afford it. I guarantee this is gonna be a hot project once it gets going and you all will definitely be thanked in a very profound way (-:
Donations can be made above and here's a link that shows pics of this wonderful location I found...
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-9-shadow-ranch.html
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
THE J.H. GUNN PROJECT JOURNAL...ENTRY #101
So, folks have been asking what's new with me and this upcoming short film project I'm working so hard on. Well, as you know, I've been fundraising like crazy and applying to grants to try to get enough money to start production. So far I'm up to $1730 with around $3770 to go. Every donation I get keeps me motivated and makes the wheels churn a little faster so thanks to those who've donated!
As far as movie stuff, I've started looking for locations where I plan to film. Been letting some industry folks read the script so hopefully they'll be anxiously awaiting the finished product :-). Had an exec from Warner Bros. personally call last week to tell me how much he enjoyed the script, so that was big. I've been calling around to youth detention centers to find some kids to interview for the documentary portion of the film. Plan to start shooting that in the next few weeks.
Patiently waiting to see if Hollywood gets turned up on it's heels again at the end of this month if the actors go on strike. This should not effect my film since my project is so small and will not be union unless I decided to go that route. Which would definitely be a no if they decide to go on strike. I would just use non union actors...something I've been kinda leaning towards anyways.
Anyhoo, this is the first of plenty of updates to come about the status of "The J.H. Gunn Project." I'm gonna try to post something new every week to let y'all know the progress I'm making with it. Again, thanks to all of you who've made donations and thanks to everyone for your support. Keep checking back for updates.
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