I realize I haven’t posted in a few weeks, and no, it has little to do with me being terribly busy elsewhere, although that does often tend to be a problem. I’ve worked very hard to clear much of my schedule over the past (and coming) few weeks in order to allow me to complete one of two specific scripts that have been mulling around in my brain for the better part of the past 4 years. I’ve been asked by a surprisingly large amount of people (mainly people I’ve worked with in the past) when I’d be doing my next project and what it would be. There is a very simple answer to that question, I’m currently deep into the writing stage of a film I’ve tentatively titled “Slipping Away”, a feature film which I intend to be my feature directorial debut and (hopefully) a large-scale international release. “Slipping Away” is a complex cross-genre film integrating strong elements of Drama with that of a Supernatural Thriller, and that’s all I’ll be saying about it at this time. As I said earlier, though I’ve had this film in my head for the past 4-years, I’m still in the process of putting it all down on paper (which I likely still have a good month to go script-wise), and at this VERY early stage, there are a good deal more steps to consider in the production process before anything more about the film itself can be officially announced.  One more thing I can say is that this will likely be a very large production and I have already begun to approach a few potential producers about the project. I do not have a potential release date, or any information about producers, cast or crew at this time, so stay tuned, as things come together and we’re ready to make things public, I’ll be sure to post official updates here. For now, it’s back to the writing room. Note: I will still be checking my e-mail and posting a few more Q&A posts over the next few weeks, and I’ll be sure to post any new happenings with my other projects as they come up. 

Ok, and sense I know someone is bound to read this post 10 times and come up with this question, I’ll try to answer it here first… yes, it does say above that I’m working on one of “two” scripts, and no, I won’t tell you what the other one is and why I’m actively working on two of them, but wouldn’t you like to know?

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My film “The End of All Things” is now (finally) listed on the Internet Movie DataBase, or IMDb.com. Here is a direct link to the listing: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1230533/ While many of my projects are not listed with IMDb, it would be great if all of you who have had a chance to see the film would take a quick minute and rate it. While the IMDb “weighted” rating system is notorious for being wildly inaccurate, it still helps to have as many votes as possible as eventually the true rating will become a bit difficult to ignore, so whatever your opinion of the film, please rate it! Thanks!

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Ok now, seriously, how many more ridiculous blog-post titles can I make up about “The End of All Things” movie? I don’t really know, but it’s fun and I’m on a role, so I guess I’ll just go with it. For those of you who have been keeping track of the progress of my last short-film “The End of All Things”, I’m happy to say we’re nearly there! The nearly-finished film screened as a work-in-progress at the oxford film fest just this past weekend and was extremely well received. The final score came in just the week before, (which was composed & conducted by multiple award-winner Douglas Romayne, and recorded/performed by members of the Hollywood Symphony a little over two weeks ago), and is just amazing to say it lightly. I’ll be sitting down with my sound designer once or twice more within the next couple weeks for the final mix-down, and the film will be completely “complete”. (There are “quote” marks around “complete” very intentionally, but if you’re a filmmaker, I’m sure you know how this goes). Even though we don’t have a “final” version of the film yet, I’ve already been approached several times about other potential festival screenings and presentations, so I’m quite excited to see where this film ends up going, as I know the 100+ cast and crew are also watching as intently as I am. I’m extremely happy with the way the film has come out, but as with all indie projects, it’s always a toss-up to see what will come of it. Either way, I will definitely be pursuing the festival route with this film, as it is truly a indie “festival film”, so it will be exciting to see what both audiences and critics alike have to say about “The End of All Things”. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

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We have finally started the final production step for The End of All Things, which is that of Sound Design and Music Scoring. I’m delighted to say that my good friend and film composer Douglas Romayne, who produced the multiple award-winning score for my last film (Freedomland – as well as Buffy, Angel and many others) is returning to score EOAT. We had our first of many scoring discussions last week, and as always, I can’t wait to see what kind of new magic Douglas works with this picture. He is also truly a pleasure to work with, albeit long-distance (as I’m in Ohio, and he’s in Los Angeles). In addition to the score, I’ve also had my first of many sessions with my sound designer Chris Feran, who is also a great find, he’s been doing sound work for many years and has a wonderful ear when it comes to building a soundscape from a blank page. With that said, I’ll be working with the both of them on a regular basis over the next few weeks, as we’ve got a lot to accomplish in a short time, but I’m happy to say that we’re still right on-track for our April 12th world-premiere date. I’ll be sure to post a few more updates later as things progress and we get closer to the premiere.

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It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted, but I guess that’s what happens when you’re a crazy-busy person trying to do 14 things at once. Ok, a quick update on the Oxford International Film Festival from the “Underground” (or rather just from my unique perspective at the festival’s director). We will be announcing the complete program of films and events on February 15th (in less than one week), so it’s been a crazy few weeks for us, as we work to finalize the program. This year the festival will be over triple the size, we’ll be featuring over 100 new films, including the addition of a, multiple venues, vendors, an outdoor concert-series, twice the panels, 3-times the guests, and including a few much larger films and premiere’s than we’ve ever had in the past. The guest list alone is honestly impressive, but all I can say right now is that if whether or not you’ve been to this festival before, this is going to be a whole new ball-game. This year we’re also adding an entirely new interactive online program guide to the festival website, which will allow you to search through the whole program, build your own online schedule for the festival, rate films, post your own reviews, read director’s blogs, see photo-galleries and clips from the films online, and share it all with your friends via export to your Myspace and Facebook profiles, or even to your mobile device! The complete program, including list of films and filmmakers in attendance will be released and posted online this Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 3:00am sharp. Tickets for all events and screenings will go on-sale the same day. A complete list of speakers and celebrity guests will be released on March 1st, 2008. I strongly suggest that you do not wait to purchase your tickets, event passes this year are going to disappear very quickly!

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My short film “Freedomland” just won “Gold Medal” at the 2008 Park City Film Music Festival, which took place in Park City, Utah along-side the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals January 17-27. The film won a Gold Medal, which is their festival’s highest award for a short film. Though this is the film’s third festival, this is the first time it has screened in competition, so it goes without saying that I am extatic about the win, and give kudos to Douglas Romayne (the film’s composer) for his amazing, award-winning score. “Freedomland” is now officially a “Critically Acclaimed, Award-Winning Film!”

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I just got notified that my film “Freedomland” (which FilmThreat.com gave “4-STARS”) just got accepted to screen at the Park City Film Music Festival, and will screen along-side the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals in Park City, UT over the next 2 weeks. The PCFMF is a festival that specifically honors achievement in film music and as an official selection “Freedomland” is being considered for almost a dozen awards, including “Best Music in a Short Film”, and “Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement by a Composer in 2007”. On top of that, Douglas Romayne, the composer for the film, has been invited to give a workshop at the festival and will be present during the screenings. As we’re currently in the stages of finalizing our own program for the Oxford Int’l Film Fest, as much as I’d like to, I will unfortunately not be able to attend the Park City event in person, but please root the film on, and if you happen to be attending, (or coming to go to Sundance) please walk across the street, say “Hi” to Douglas, and vote for the film to receive an audience award! The full festival program can be found on their website at www.parkcityfilmmusicfestival.com.

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We just recently wrapped principle photography on my latest film “The End of All Things”. For the size and type of production, the shoot went really well, and the dailies were just amazing. I’ve seen the raw footage and all I have to say is: I can’t wait to see this thing actually finished, it’s going to be incredible. There’s a lot to say about dedication and talent when it comes to your cast and crew, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to each of the over 100 cast and crew that worked on the project. I know I’ve said it before, but just in case any of you happen to read this, you guys are awesome! If you want to get small taste of what the film will look like, there is a rough “teaser trailer” up on the official site HERE. We’ve already started the editing process and we’re on-track for our April 11th premiere date at the Oxford International Film Festival. More info on this to come.

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I think we’ll shoot. Since we’re gearing up to begin principle photography on my next film “The End of All Things” (EOAT) this weekend, I’ve had a few people ask me why I have chosen to make this specific film, now. To be honest with you, I’ve had this film in my head for almost two years now as a film that I really wanted to do, but up until this point I wasn’t confident that I could pull-off a film of this scale on the budget I knew I’d have to work with. My view on filmmaking in general is that you should only make a film that you can viably produce to quality on the budget you’ve got. What I mean is that, if you’re trying to make a Sci-Fi flick with a ton of special effects on a shoe-string budget, there’s no way you’re going to get anything good out of it, no matter how hard you try, you’re just wasting your time and everyone else’s (and this applies to films of any size and budget, not just indie films) just because you’ve got a great idea doesn’t mean it’s plausible right now. Keep in mind that I’ve got nothing against big-budget movies, I love ’em, but I still have the same opinion. The way I see it, if you can’t do it right, then don’t bother doing it at all.
That’s the outlook I have had for a good long time, and when put in the context of “End of All Things” I think you’ll get where I’m coming from. EOAT is a film that at takes place surrounding the events of multiple bombs going-off on a college campus, which by nature, to do it right requires the un-restricted use of a major college campus, about 60 extras, the shutting-down of major campus buildings, streets, a ridiculously large lead cast and crew of experienced hands, and a heck of a lot of physical effects and effects makeup to go along with it. This script in particular also requires the use of metro-busses and simulated traffic accidents, I think you get the point. Now, don’t get me wrong when I say that you can get inventive when shooting on a low-budget, but if you think about EOAT and how inventive you’d have to be to fake all that, it suddenly becomes a different film altogether, which is what I wanted to avoid, and hence, put off the project until now.
With that said, I’m really quite excited about how far we’ve come in a few short weeks since casting was completed. Not only do we have the entire support of the local university (Miami University of Ohio) but we’ve got busses donated, and local officials and police behind it 100%, which is just excellent. We even managed to get the buses on loan to us free of charge, I mean hey, you can’t beat that.Web Link:

www.starcomproductions.net/theendmovie

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For those of you who haven’t been following my train of thought for the last 2-years (yeah, why would you), I wrote and directed a great little short-film entitled “Freedomland” last year which has been beginning to pop up at a few film festivals this year. Anyhow, to keep a long story from getting longer, the film just got its first “real” review from a critic at FilmThreat.com, who gave the film “4-Stars” calling it “Stirring”, “Poignant”, and “Awe-Inspiring.” Though I’ve had reviews written about my work before, I’ve never had anything I’ve directed officially reviewed until now, and I have to say, I’m not too upset about the outcome. You can now see the trailer for the film online at the film’s official site HERE, and you can read the full FilmThreat.com review by clicking HERE. Enjoy!

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