A couple weeks ago I got back from one of the most jam-packed 10-days of my life. I flew in to Cincinnati, Ohio (where we’ll be filming my upcoming feature “40 Miles” this fall) to accomplish about a hundred separate things, among them, final auditions (see my last post), initial location scouting, meetings with Cincinnati City officials, regional and state film offices, unions, and meetings with various potential cast and crew (department heads), including our Production Design team, Armourer, Costume Designer, etc.

We spent the better part of the first three days doing nothing but auditions for 12 to 14 hours each day, and then I would go back to my room and spend the next 6 hours reviewing audition tapes. So that was pretty much if for those days. I managed to take a day and make it up to Detroit for a wonderful surprise family gathering (for my Grandmother), while taking conference calls and meets both on the way there and back… kind of crazy, you don’t know how much you miss your car’s built-in blue-tooth adapter until you do an 8-hour drive without it (my car in LA has it built in, unfortunately, this one did not). All that just to say, it was somewhat exhausting.  When I did get back to Cincinnati we (my Production Coordinator/Cinci Location Manager, Lindsay and I) spent the better part of the next week taking meetings and driving all over the place looking at potential locations for the film. Some of the biggest set-pieces/locations we were already aware of (and was one of several big reasons for selecting Cincinnati), but many of the additional locations (we have 18 total in this film) we knew would be a bit more difficult to find.  The key thing to remember here is that a big reason for selecting Cincinnati as well is that I wanted the scope of this film to feel “real”, ie: I want to shoot it on actual downtown city streets, not on sets or backlots or with tons of CGI mumbo-jumbo, I want the film to feel “naturally” epic (not the Lord of the Rings kind of way, though I do love those movies), and allow me to simply tilt the camera UP and see a real 40-story building there. Scale and realism are very important to me, as is, of course, keeping our film on budget.

Before I start going into this a bit more, let me explain what we’re looking for in the context of the film. “40 Miles” is a post-apocalyptic  thriller (with some horror-esk elements) while it’s not a zombie movie, the closest thing I can mention to the visual style of the film would be “28 Days Later”, ie: it’s not ten years after some event, whatever has happened, it’s recent, and much of the world is dead.  That’s about all I can say without giving away too much (and honestly one of the only similarities to “28 Days Later” that my film has, other than having a number in the title… just realized that, lol). It does still fit into that “post-apocalyptic, thriller, horror” genre, but my hope is to create a new take on it, and I’m pretty confident you’ll be happy with the results. 🙂

So, back to it here: The Location Scouting process actually started long before I ever flew in to town, several months before actually.  We sent a general list of locations and descriptions needed for the film to our local Location Manager (as well as the regional Film Commission) to help in initial searching for locations, they then did some digging on their own and began sending me back several hundred photos of various locations throughout the region which may fit the descriptions I’m looking for (as stated in the script).  The general concept being that the locations that looked closest to what I have in mind for the film we would visit while I was in town and see if any of them are “winners”.  The trick here is that we’re looking for a LOT of things when doing scouting, first and foremost the location has to have the “look” I’m going for, but beyond that it has to have the specific elements we need to make the movie work logistically. IE: we need a specific building on a specific street for a specific sequence, all those elements need to fall into place at once, it’s not just the look, it’s having all the right pieces the scene calls for all at the one place (or the ability for us to bring in the lacking pieces).

Here’s another huge “logistics” example that we’ve been running into problems with: For one of the huge climactic scenes in the film, we’ll have to shut down three full city-blocks for several days. Now, this wouldn’t be much of an issue on a backlot, but for us filming on public roads in a real working city, with local businesses, shops, bars & restaurants, lining the sides of the streets, it can get VERY complicated, you can’t just tell them that their stores have to stay closed for a week. At this stage, re-routing traffic for a week from like 5 main cross-streets is the easy part. Between that, working out logistics with using live weapons, stunts, and effects on public  (downtown city) streets,  needing to have an additional full block(s) closed off in different days over a month’s time just for base-camp/production trucks/trailers etc downtown… I think you’re starting to get the picture.

All that said though, we had a wonderful meeting with Cincinnati city officials about that (and our many other production needs) and they have been extremely supportive in helping us accomplish our goals with the least direct-impact on daily life for the city-dwelling public. They offered some great options in more easily workable parts of the city, and are backing the production all the way. Fear not Cincinnatians, your city officials are good people working hard to keep everyone happy!  I really was quite impressed by that meeting, and want to thank each of them for their wonderful past and continued support as we move forward with the production this fall. This is yet another reason we choose Cincinnati over many other cities that we considered, they are just more open to working with productions because they don’t have them as frequently.

That said, without giving away too much about specific locations or more story concepts, we got some wonderful ideas for locations and saw tons of interesting options. We still have a long way to go on selecting all our finals and locking them down, but all in all, I’d say it was a pretty successful, albeit insanely-packed trip.

Thanks again to everyone who made the trip possible and successful! I’m looking forward to being back in a couple short weeks/months with a whole production behind me!

Tags: 40 Miles, Films // Add Comment »

We have added an official page on Facebook where you can get regular updates on the production of “40 Miles”. I’ll be continuing to post my extended/detailed updates here on my blog as things progress, but for brief “up to the minute” updates from both myself, cast and crew of the film, make sure you follow (like) it on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/40-MILES/

Tags: 40 Miles, Films // Add Comment »

It’s kind of funny that the times people most want to keep up with me I’m the hardest to follow. My blog seems to be no exception to this, but I’m doing my best to keep current, so you’ll likely see many more frequent posts as we get closer to production on many of my on-going projects, including “40 Miles” (40M).

That said, so many AMAIZING things have happened in the past few weeks that it seems as though God is trying to tell me something.  After several delays in the pre-production process on my first (Directorial) feature “40 Miles” (which were somewhat expected), earlier this month I was finally able to make it out to Cincinnati (where we’ll be shooting the film this fall) for the “final” round of in-person casting/auditions. Since the film is already “sold” (we have distribution attached in all mediums) and the fact that the film is somewhat of a “genre” piece (which is nice as they tend to sell well on their own, without the need for known “stars”) I decided to cast the film with relative unknowns and in doing so we did an “open” call initially just in the greater Cincinnati region (with the intention of opening the call up nationally after the first few weeks). We had such an overwhelming response, with more than 2,200 submitting to the initial local call in less than 2 weeks, that we actually dumped the national call altogether… over the course of the next month we did a series of video-auditions long-distance to further cut the group down to fewer than 80, which were then brought in to audition in person (for me and my casting team) for the 14 available speaking rolls.

This is not the first time we’ve done this kind of audition (first round submitting only headshots/resumes, second round sending in video taped monologues, via online video services and third/final round being the in-person, pre-scheduled auditions) but I must admit I was thoroughly impressed at how efficient and effective this process ran.  I had a VERY limited time to get through so many people while I was in town, but managed to get through all 80, including call-backs in 27 solid hours of auditions (spread out over two and a half days).

As long and as hard as auditions can be on those running them, I have to say that they couldn’t have gone smoother, or honestly, better. I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to my Production Coordinator, Lindsay, and my entire casting team for pulling it off on their own time, in between other jobs. These guys are seriously awesome.

Now, I’ve written about my personal casting process before (LINK), but all that being said, as a Writer/Director, the audition process is honestly a really exciting time, it has a certain meaning, a significance to it. To me, as the Director and Writer of the project, it signifies that next step, that “proof” that the film is really happening, and that it all of the sudden has meaning, it’s now much more than just about “my project”.  Bringing in actors and seeing actors play and “become” those characters that I’ve written is a touching thing and when you see that person that you know is right, that IS the character you created and brings them to life. There’s a moment there when you know… you finally believe that this is truly happening.  Talented actors are much harder to find than one would believe. There are millions of “would be” actors out there, but few who truly have the talent and the passion to make a story real. Uncertainty or concern that you made the wrong choice is always a part of the game, especially when there are a number of highly talented actors involved (as was the case with these auditions, specifically with the lead), but when it comes down to it, when you find just that right person, you know it.

For me it was honestly a very tough choice, I knew what I wanted and I also knew that what I wanted was likely impossible to find. I have very high expectations of my actors and very specific, detailed mental images of what my characters look like and how they act, but even more than that, when an actor comes into the room I try to see not only the immediate performance, but look to see the potential of where that actor could go, what they can become. That said, I also always surround myself with a variety of people in the audition room and always listen to each of their opinions on each actor before I make up my mind. And while I rarely, if ever agree with everyone in the audition room (this time was no exception) I appreciate every comment given and take each seriously. In the case of casting my lead(s) in this film, I saw not only the performance, but also the potential beyond the first performance, which I’ll admit, is not always easy to see, and a big reason for call backs.

Once I had my lead, the rest of my key cast just seemed to fall into place in my mind, they’re all extremely talented in their own right, and when things “click” they just plain “click.” I may have, yet again, chosen the more difficult road with casting (I’ll have to explain this later), but the funny thing is, I know it’s the right one and my co-workers now know it too.  To be honest, it’s not the first time I’ve cast some amazing “unknown” talent out of the blue, to the point where I now have people asking me for advice on casting left and right… fact is, I’m no genius, I’m just a very opinionated person, and when it comes down to it, it really is just a matter of opinion, I am a Director… I just know what I’m looking for and I can generally recognize when I’ve found it. It’s that simple. Everything else is secondary, the potential complications, the plans, even the story. If other people happen to like my choices as well, (which they often seem too) then it just makes the film that much more likely to succeed.  As much as I’d love too, I can’t tell you who the cast is quite yet (we’re honestly still finalizing much of the supporting cast), but I can say that we will be “officially” announcing the project and the cast here in a few short weeks.

So, after all that’s said, if you’re looking for my advice on the matter, when it comes to casting a film, as a Writer/Director, don’t let anyone else make the decisions, make sure you’re very specific (to yourself) about what you’re looking for BEFORE going in and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. Pick specific people that don’t just agree with you on everything, LISTEN to other’s opinions and take them seriously, their different outlooks on a character are just like that of your potential audience. In the end, it’s still your choice, you have to choose who is right for your character and for your film. When you find them, you’ll know it.

Tags: 40 Miles, Films // 1 Comment »

There’s some very strong truths to the saying “Good things come to those who wait”.  As fast as things move and change in this industry, it’s funny sometimes how hard it can be to just sit back and be patient.  And in Hollywood, patience has a whole new meaning.

Now, before I go on here, it’s important to understand something about me… I’m a “doer”, no matter how difficult the task or how unlikely the odds, I’m the kind of person that once I’m passionate about something, I’ll set my mind to it and drive full steam ahead until I accomplish my goal, no matter how hard the task or how long it takes.  That said, since my move to LA, this industry has been giving me an extended lesson in patience. With as much as has been going on in my life over the past year, and how busy I seem to always be (I pulled another 23 hour day yesterday, the second such back-to-back day this week, and won’t likely be the last) there are even more, bigger things on the horizon, some of which have been in the works for more than a year.  Now, I’d generally consider myself a pretty patient person, but even the most patient of people can get frustrated or even give up after months or even years of “imminent” possibilities, waiting for that phone call that you know is coming, but you don’t know when, could be tomorrow, could be three years from now.   I found that most people who are new to this industry just don’t seem to understand (as I didn’t prior to jumping head-long into this biz), its that in Hollywood patience has a whole new meaning… here, patience can often mean years of waiting, whether it be for a deal to make that next big project, or even simply waiting to hear word on whether or not that 15^th draft you sent back to the studio for notes (after 8-months of back and forth) is finally the one they like.

Now, it would be unfair for me to write about “Hollywood Patience” without mentioning this: I’ve worked very hard and I’ve had the incredible support of many wonderful people which has made me EXTREMELY fortunate to be in a position which countless industry folk have told me is some 10+ years ahead of where I should be at my age, but even so, that doesn’t make the waiting any easier.  Sometimes you just have to tell yourself that whenever that call comes, it comes. Until then, keep busy and no matter what, never stop working toward your goal. When that call does eventually come, you need to be ready, but even more so, when the call comes, understand that no matter how long you’ve waited, the answer could still be “no”.  Deals fall through, people change their minds, life happens… and happens more frequently than anyone would like.  Don’t wait around hoping to get an answer on just one project, instead, get a dozen more out there in the meantime, you’ve got the time, there’s no reason not to.

All that just to say, if you’re reading this and are to take anything from it, I’d hope it would be this: First is that patience is a universal necessity, and a quality you MUST have to succeed in this business, and Second, patience is NOT the same a laziness… you’ll always be waiting for something, what you choose to do with the time while you’re waiting can and often will make the difference between getting that “Yes” or “No” answer when the call does finally come.  Last but not least, Third, never forget that there will be 1,000 “No’s” to every 1 “Yes”, so don’t be discouraged from getting “no” after “no”, it only takes one “yes” for everything to change.  In this industry, the people who persevere, prosper. Never forget it.

Tags: Q&A, Randomness // Add Comment »

Hey guys… so, we’re starting the casting stage for the first of several feature projects here.  I’ve included below a copy of the Casting Call/Notice that is going out in the midwest right now, note that we’re only casting locally at this point, but will likely expand to a nation-wide call here in the next few weeks.

———————-

FEATURE CASTING NOTICE

Los Angeles-based production company Star Com Productions, LLC is announcing an OPEN CAST CALL.

Star Com is looking for NEW FACES (preferably non-union), based in the greater Cincinnati/Tri-State area for their upcoming feature film “40 Miles” which will be filmed on location in Cincinnati, Ohio (and the surrounding region) this summer, and will be released nation-wide next year. Star Com is accepting SUBMISSIONS only at this time for Lead/Principle, Supporting, and Featured roles, if the casting team decides you may fit what the production is looking for you will be contacted with additional information and to schedule a formal audition. If you fit one of the roles below please E-Mail a CURRENT headshot and acting resume ONLY (with Measurements, Phone, E-Mail and current Permanent Address) to the e-mail address listed at the bottom of this notice – include in the SUBJECT line of your e-mail “40 Miles Casting – [Name of Role(s) Submitting For]”. Please do NOT submit if you do not specifically fit one or more of the roles listed below, and do not call in or physically mail any materials to us, due to the high volume of submissions we receive, any such inquiries will be ignored. This specific casting call is for residents of the Greater Cincinnati/Tri-State Region only, do not submit if you do not currently reside in this region, and/or cannot be in this region for a formal (in person) audition on short notice. **If you are based outside of this region (including LA/NY) DO NOT submit to this call! A national call will take place at a later date.** While prior acting experience is greatly appreciated, it is not required, however, a high level of professionalism is a must. All roles are paid standard rates.

–Project Details–
Title: “40 Miles”
Description: Current Day Post-Apocalyptic Thriller in the vein of “28 Days Later” (though this is not a zombie film)

**ROLES CASTING**
(do not submit if you do not fit one of these descriptions)

Lead/Principles
JEN – 16-17, Female, Caucasian, slim, no taller than 5’10
LIAM – 35, Male, Caucasian or African American (IE Jeremy Renner or similar type look/build)
KAREN – 35-39, Female, Caucasian, Jen’s Mother (IE Jodie Foster, Jennifer Morrison or similar type look/build)

Supporting
NATE – 28, Male, Caucasian or African American, Male Nurse
SAM – 25, Female, Caucasian, college-educated “Blond Bombshell”
JOSS – 32, Male, Caucasian, waiter at a classy restaurant
ED – 55, Male, Caucasian or African American, trade/office technician, not “fit”
JOEY – 24, Male, Any Ethnicity, slim, not muscular

Featured
RANDY – 17-19, Male, Caucasian, Jen’s Boyfriend (average build, no body-builders, no 22+ year-olds please)
LYN – 45-55, Female, Any Ethnicity
MAGGIE – 3, Female, Caucasian
CASSIE – 13, Female, Caucasian
TYLER – 10-11, Male, Caucasian
DARREN – 38-42, Male, Caucasian, Jen’s Father

If you fit one or more of the above roles please E-MAIL “CASTING@STARCOMPRODUCTIONS.NET” a current headshot and resume ONLY (with Measurements, Phone, E-Mail and current Permanent Address) – include in the SUBJECT line of your e-mail “40 Miles Casting – [Name of Role(s) Submitting For]”.

**Parents must submit on behalf of anyone under the age of 18**

Tags: Films, Randomness // Add Comment »

This post is intended for those non-Los Angelino, non-industry folk out there.  You may have heard that (compared to life in the Midwest) or really any non-major city, life in Los Angeles, and in the film and entertainment industries in general, move at the speed of lightning.  There’s something to be said about the need to live in a city like LA to actually truly get anywhere as an aspiring artist.  SO much can happen in a day, a week, in LA that it’s honestly just hard to even comprehend it if you’ve never lived here or actually worked daily in the biz.  I meet new crazy awesome people every day, work on different shows, develop new projects, new prospects with new and old friends and co-workers.  The crazy thing is that a great deal of amazing things happen here (seemingly) completely on a whim.  I get phone calls (or texts) every week from different people, writers, producers, whatever saying “lets meet up in 20min…” and we start a new project, or they bring me on for some new thing they’re already working on.  Deals are made here in minutes, not weeks, not years. Deals are measured in projects, not time-frames.  If I say no to a random spur of the moment meeting, I may never know what I missed out on (could be nothing, or could be a career-changing opportunity).  The fact is, as much as this industry likes to tout it’s “rules” and the “do’s and don’t” of what it takes to “climb” the so-called ladder to get where you want to be in the industry… the true fact is that (at least in my experience) the single most wonderful thing about this industry is that there really are NO rules.   Studios and agents and marketing companies want you to THINK there are rules, but when the rubber meets the road, anything is possible, it’s just a matter of who you know, and who you meet that can make it all possible.  Just about everyone who’s ever made it “big” in this industry (regardless of their profession or current title) has some crazy (or wildly simple) story to tell as to how they got there.  I can’t tell you how many times people told me that they “just met this one guy a few years ago and everything changed… that’s how I got to where I am now”.  Even people who started out in the mail-rooms at studios (and are now major executives) have similar stories, for at least one I’ve meet, it took less than 5 years to get there.  It’s always a struggle in the beginning, and its rarely “quick”… most if not all of the stories I hear (and am personally experiencing) are stories of broke, struggling artists who refuse to let go of their passions, through the years of living with little to nothing, and one day, everything just started to change.   To make this very clear, there may be the amazing “miracle” stories out there, but most of these “miracle” success stories in this biz (and most of the stories people won’t tell you) started out with years of long hard work… the fact is, just to say it bluntly… there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to “make it big” in this industry, and 98% of them never will.  As fast and as tough as this business can be, through it all it’s the people who are 100% passionate and 500% dedicated that succeed… and I don’t mean “Strike it rich”, or become famous… far from it, I mean those are the people who become  working members of this industry, the people everyone looks up to, the people everyone trusts, everyone first call’s when a new opportunity arises and in the end, some are the people you may eventually recognize in the credits of all those movies and shows you see every year.

Passion, complete dedication, and personality are what set apart the “wannabe’s” from the success stories.  Don’t forget there’s always a thousand other people just waiting in line to take your place, so be yourself, go above and beyond the call on every job, and don’t ever give someone a reason to think twice about you or your work and you’ll always be the first one they call.

This city, this industry moves at the speed of light, if you blink you may miss your opportunity, if you’re not here, you may never get one, but most of all, if you half-ass anything, people will know it.  It’s 100% all the time or nothing. Take it or leave it.  I can’t tell you how many times I hear about would-be actors or directors, writers, musicians or whatnot, whomever, moving out here expecting to “make it big” or “be a star” only to move back home to the “comfortable” Midwest to live with their parents after just a few months or even a few years because they “ran out of money” or it was just simply “too hard”.  You can’t forget that working in entertainment is a JOB, it’s long, hard work, and rarely pays well (sometimes, not at all). This industry has a way of weeding people out, but it’s not through some secret program and it’s usually even less about talent… true passion,  honest personality, and complete perseverance is where it starts and the lack thereof is exactly where it ends.

I may not be an expert on the matter, I am still, and always will be learning… but if there’s one thing I’ve experienced and truly taken to heart over the past several years, it’s that.

Tags: Movie Life Lessons, Q&A, Randomness, Uncategorized // 1 Comment »

So, as most of you probably noticed, I’ve have some server-issues which resulted in my blog being down for the better part of the past 6-months.  I’m now on a new host and everything is back up and running!  There’s SO much to cover, lots and lots of exciting new things in the works since I last posted back in October… I’ve added several new posts to catch up for lost time already, so check those out, and since we’re going into pre-production on my feature here very soon, I’ll have a LOT more to share in the coming weeks and months!  The blog is back, so stay tuned!  (to catch up, the new posts start in Dec 09, just scroll down).

Best,

JC.

Tags: Randomness, Uncategorized // Add Comment »

It’s official, I’ve completed the first draft of “40M”, my cross-genre SciFi/Horror/Thriller that goes into production this summer, and I have to say, I’m definitely getting faster at it. I conceptualized this film in about two months and wrote it (cover to cover) in about 14 days. That’s a personal record.  For those of you who may not know, every writer generally has their own unique process of developing and writing out their screenplays. As far as I’m concerned, I like to have EVERYTHING worked out ahead of time…  I’ll start with a basic story/idea I like, develop a bunch of characters and bio’s and then get back to how to conceptualize the story itself. Since I’m also a director, I have a tendency to imagine everything visually, I basically construct the entire film in my head (and on dozens of pages of hand-written, scribbled notes to remind me of specifics) before I ever actually sit down and write a single word.  By doing it that way, the “conceptualization” stage is what ends up taking up the longest time, but the great thing is, once I’ve got the characters and story all visualized in my head, sitting down to write it all out on paper just comes naturally, and spitting out 90+ pages in a week or two isn’t out of the question.

So… now we’re on to the notes process and bundles of joyous re-writes! (not too crazy about this part… but it’s important).

Tags: Films // Add Comment »

Ladies and Gents, exciting news, as you may already know if you’ve been following this blog for a bit, I’ve had the pleasure of producing a large number of films and directing a select few shorts, commercials and music vids, etc… so I’m very excited to announce that an indie feature film of mine, which for now we’ll just call, “40M” (this is not the actual title) was just financed this past week!  The film, which I’ll be Directing, Writing, and Executive Producing shoots this summer and already has domestic Home Video, TV, and (national) limited theatrical distribution attached!  You have no idea how excited I am. I don’t have an exact start date or release date for you quite yet, but based on the current plan, my (wild) guess is that it will likely hit theaters either around the late 2010 holiday season or (more likely) sometime in early 2011, but don’t hold me to that, things in this industry are about as predictable as a squirrel on steroids and ironically enough,  I probably won’t have any say as to what date is chosen for the final release since that’s up to our other producers, the distributor and marketing peeps.

Now on to actually writing of the darn screenplay… yes, I actually got a film green lit, with distribution attached WITHOUT a script.  Don’t ask me how, it’s top secret (haha), but hey, no complaints.  I’ll keep you all updated as things progress and, of course, I’ll do my best to give you updates as we begin the production process here in a few months. Stay Tuned!

Tags: Films // 1 Comment »

So, as of today, I now officially have a TV Show in development at a major studio.  Funny thing is, I wouldn’t have guessed it. It’s about the last thing I thought I’d have going for me at this point in my career, but hey, no complaints! Unfortunately, I can’t really say much of anything about the show yet, since we’re SO early in the game, there’s much work to be done and I’m honestly not sure what (if anything) else I’m permitted say… but hey, this whole “secrecy” thing is pretty nifty though isn’t it? Good times! More updates later.

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »