As people talk to me about this little movie-thingie (hey, did you know I made a movie?), I’m starting to seriously get hit with the same questions over and over again. As a result, here’s a special little FAQ blog entry, although I’m sure I’ll still be hit with these questions. If you have your own queries, feel free to drop them in the comments section.
What was the overall budget of the movie?
I can’t give a final budget yet because I’m still spending (money goes fast). Right now, I’d say we’re hitting about $16,000 roughly. The bulk of that went into the production costs, including crew. Most of the actors volunteered, and I didn’t pay for a single location (God Bless you, Golden Memories Comics & Toys). Another chunk of money went into insurance, and then the rest of the expenses were small things that added up fast (like lunches or props). Since I'm editing it myself, that's also saving some big bucks.
How did you afford this movie?
When I first planned on making the movie, I was going to go the investor route, and believe it or not, I had a guy who was interested. Eventually I went against the idea because I didn’t want to deal with an investor…the movie was going to be my burden and hopefully my financial reward. I have excellent credit, so I was able to get a loan from the Bank of America quite easily. I’ll be paying for this movie for the next few years but it’s not the most impossible task when you have a good job, you’re not married with children, you drive a crappy car, and you don’t own a home.
How’d you get your actors?
I wrote all about this in an earlier blog entry: I put up casting blurbs in Backstage (paid), Craigslist (free), Myspace (free), ActorsAcess.com (free), and a few other sites. They were all worth it…I got my lead Angela from a reference from my cousin who saw the Myspace ad, I got Jonathan from ActorsAccess, and Tim submitted a headshot from BackStage (I think…might be wrong on the last one).
How’d you get your crew?
Mike LaVoie came recommended to me as a Director of Photography from a friend who acted with him before. He and I teamed up, and he brought in the rest of the crew. His company is Counter Clockwise Productions, and he seems to get a lot of steady work from references alone.
How’d you get the comic store to let you film there?
I got the comic store by asking nicely. Man was I nervous though…I had already finished the script by that point and if the store said no, I might’ve just had to go write a new script. I will say that when the owner said “yes,” he was under the impression that it was a much smaller production (I didn’t purposely deceive him though, I would never do that). But he is an absolute kind soul and it’s still important to me to maintain a relationship with his business. I sent him and his family a nice thank you basket shortly after shooting and I try to get there every week for a kind hello.
“You must’ve been in Heaven while shooting this thing.”
Yes and no. I’ve already gushed about how awesome it was to work with great people, but while shooting, it was really hard to just stop and soak up the awesomeness of the whole thing. I was usually too busy doing three or four jobs at once and constantly troubleshooting. The stress at times brought out the worst in me, and at other times it brought out the best in me. I learned a lot about myself.
When will the movie be done?
Hard to say . . . I’m not racing for a specific deadline right now. I’ll say Spring 2008?
What are you going to do with the movie when it’s done?
Christ, I get this question the most. Basically, I’m going to show it to anyone willing to watch it and I’m going to send it to any address I find. I’ll submit to festivals big and small (from the Long Island Film Festival to Sundance), and I’ll send to networks (FX, HBO, etc), and I’ll send it to movie studios (Troma?), and I’ll send it to other corporations (Marvel Comics).
What are you hoping will come of this?
Well in a perfect world, it will somehow result in this movie getting paid off and me having the opportunity to make another one, maybe on a larger-scale. Realistically, I’ll take any sort of opportunities for growth that may come of it. Maybe this will get my foot in the door somewhere, maybe it will allow me to be a part of a bigger project, or maybe it’ll just give me a little name recognition. We’ll see. I’m trying to go in with low expectations right now.
Why’d the other actors stop posting on this blog?
Because they hate you.
I’m going to break a little news now…last night I whipped up some props that I’ll be using in an upcoming short film that’s tied to “Bagged and Boarded.” Stay tuned.
