(no, this is not an April Fools thingy, even though today is 4/1)
I've been developing several ideas/scripts (Stranger Than Hollywood, new project with Jennifer Blakemore, etc.) for my fiction feature #2 (actually distributed beyond DC fiction features that is, 1999's Wild Diner does not count for this purpose, thus '06/'08's Date Number One is fiction feature #1). Out of those, the first project to be shot, the fiction feature #2, is a movie that we are calling, for the moment, Movie About An Actress (working title). The star is Kami Locklear, a DC area (Baltimore to be exact) actress that I saw audition at Stonehenge on Sat 3/29. Script meetings, some rehearsals & some shooting even (b-roll & behind the scenes/making of stuff) - this week.
Current production schedule: Script & other development work - April, Rehearsals & filming - May, Filming - June, Editing - July.
This movie is not going to take 2-4 years to finish (unlike DNO); I expect to be able to submit the flick to festivals starting in August.
Since the "jump starting an indie filmmaking career through a 100% indie/DIY/no festivals/self-distribution route" was proven as a useful & viable approach through Date Number One in '06 - '07 (20 or so screenings - including in Seattle & NYC, handful of good reviews from blogs, and the DVD coming this month = DIY success :), Actress will be submitted to festivals, and I think I am more open to collaborating with distributors on this one (will figure all that stuff out in a couple of months, when the film is done). However, with the DNO self-distro experience & knowledge on hand, I am totally cool w/ self-distributing Actress, and in fact the economics of the project is set up w/ the self-distribution possibility firmly in mind.
Actress will cost less than $5,000 to make ($5K over the course of 3-5 months is manageable for me & my friends who will be paying for this flick). That money will be spent on cast & crew, & then creating DVDs, plus initial marketing. I am not in a hurry to switch to HD since MiniDV worked well for me on DNO; thus Actress will be a MiniDV project. Primary route of recouping $s spent on the project will be DVD sales (since that is the only route that is very easily accessible to me). DIY screenings will be used as a marketing & publicity tool. And like I said above, we'll see about festivals & working with other distributors.
Yes, there will be several significant roles for minority actors in this movie (since I quite often complain about the relative lack of minorities in indie/real indie movies - although that is slowly changing; see Medicine for Melancholy, Robot Stories, etc.). And I am going to try to work in some actors from DNO into Actress; we'll see - based on availability, etc. Plus more actors from 'henge, and if necessary, auditions just for Actress roles will be held in the DC area (will post info. on any Actress auditions at this blog, for anyone interested).
I think that's about it for now. More as things get done. Actress site & blog is here. I'll talk about plot & themes, etc. in May or later - when the movie is done.
Very exciting to be able to start work on a new movie.
The "old movie" :), fiction feature #1, Date Number One, is definitely going to be available on DVD this month. I am shooting for 4/15 as the date that I will be able to ship out DVDs to people. Once I know that date is 100% the exact date of DNO DVD availability, I'll post the ordering info.
Will update/clean-up all the blogs & sites of mine after the DNO DVD is out, in a few days.
It's April in DC, the sun is shining, so it is time to make a new movie :)
More on Actress soon.
- Sujewa
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