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Part Three

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21 May 2002

01 December 2001 -12am NEW ENTRY

The "Shower" scene with Scott and Samnatha is tomorrow. It should be interesting. I have to thank Dawn for finding us the location. On a good note, the Studio is getting it's own space this coming month, so it might make things a little easier to shoot. I am trying to break out of the bad habit of staying up all night before I do a shoot. The schedule has gotten a bit behind moreso than I would like. The movie looks good, so I can't complain, but I just wish I could move things along quicker.

Eager to actually get in the editing bay with this one. I have managed to work out a lot of the shoots. I didn't get Jay to storyboard this one like with "Blood Kiss" and "Little Girl." The ideal was to finish this quickly. Well, that ideal has been thrown out the window. I think without a real budget, it is hard to get into a quick shoot. The actors do have their day jobs (not that I blame them).

01 December 2001 -Almost 9am

It'll be a nice day. I get to work with Dawn again. Although I really got to get out of the habit of staying up all night before a shoot. I put up some More clips from the Movie on the Site. I have to really learn how to convert them where they look nice and come up quickly. The footage is still a little rough in some places and makes me wish I had lit certain things brighter. I can do it in post, but the footgae will be grainy. Which will fit the story, I just have to keep it consistent. I'll have the gang footage grainy and Samantha and Scott's stuff will be a bit slicker.

Ed just called me. he is going to help out with the shoot. Which is good. I could use the hand and I haven't seen Ed in awhile. Still debating about going out to Ray's for this audition before the shoot. Got to run around and straighten out the cell phone. Damn Sprint.

Well, I'm off...

03 December 2001 - 5am

Have to get with some of my producer later today about the Studio Space. It seems to be going well. Thanks to Dawn and her guy Brian, we got the "shower" scene done. We did the second part first and it went well. The first part turned out totally different than the script, but it went well. Fletch (Bill Fletcher) continues to surprise me. Which is a good thing.

Got the "Boom Boom Boom Trailer" up on the site.

I am behind on the production and I officially say, no more movies without a budget. It is good to have all the dedicated people, but it is hard to schedule around the actor's day jobs. Still the movie looks good. Which is the main thing.

30 December 2001

I remember talking to Lisa a few weeks back and she asked was I sure Jiyan was coming back into town to finish up his shots. Sure. I had faith in the kid. I am glad he did not let me down. He came back in and did his scenes like a pro. Even took a bullet for me (so to speak).

It was the first time I had seen Lisa in a while, so we got a chance to play catch up and then we had work to do. We shot at MDI.

The Barrow boys (Jerry and Dean) were there and so was Adam. It was the last scene for Adam and Jerry.

There are still a few key scenes to finish up. With Samantha and Scott and finally the Mr. Epps and Mr. Gipps footage. It has almost been two different movies.

I had to take some time away and deal with the business side of Prelude2Cinema. Lost our main sponsor, so now we have to do the Investor thing (which is part of the Studio Membership Drive). I knew the search for private and corporate sponsorship was coming. I thought I could finish up the shooting of "Dare You" before I had to deal with that. My friend, David Manocchio, asked me do I like dealing with the business side or the creative side? I think I told him, I'd like to step away from directing and just produce for a while. I'd definitely like the chance to do just one thing, but it doesn't seem to work out that way.

David just finished his digital feature. He gave me a brief, but memorable cameo in it. I had to learn some stunts in order to get through the scene. It went well, but I got a little bruised up.

Two of my girls from We Know Talent (Holly and Heather Sherman) are going to be in a digital short from MDI. I'm doing 2nd or 3rd camera on the short. And I still have to finish the edit from the shorts I shot a while back with Andrea G and Sora Kim-Johnson.

So, what has this to do with "Dare You?" Everything and Nothing. I am juggling things somewhat well, but after the first of the year, I'll have to bring aboard income and sell off a piece of the company for some capital. That whole endeavor will take up some time which is going to take time away from editing "Dare You," but with a solid influx of cash, I can hopefully pay someone else to edit the movie instead of me. I don't mind handing off things to others. I just need the others to be there for me.

30 January 2002

OK, I am officially pissed with the way the production has been going. I was supposed to be finished shooting, but conflicting schedules have dragged the movie on. One of my leads had dropped off the face of the Earth and I have to do some rewrites to finish up the movie next month. My producers has me involved in funding the company and so I will be putting on the suit and tie and holding networking meetings these next few months, so "Dare You" has to be finished in the next few weeks. This is the last feature to go into production.

Everything right now is focused on funding the company and picking up movies for our distribution arm.

It is a miracle that I got shot what I did so far. I am glad Jiyan came back in town and we did his stuff. Lisa has been great to work with. So were the Barrow brothers (Dean and Jerry). Other people were great as well, until they stopped returning phone calls. Although, we have been working on a volunteer basis, so I have no one to blame but myself. The reality of being a director is, you have to take fault whatever the cause. it is after all my movie.

Still, it makes a good case for my arguement with my producers about doing movies with "real" budgets and no more of this "Hey, gang, let's put on a show."

Of course, the main thing right now is to finish "Dare you." I have no desire to recast and reshoot some key scenes. We have been shooting pretty much in order, so it is possible to write out a main character, but I did want to stick with the story the way it was written.

Oh well, in February, the shooting will be done. Rewrites are in order. Editing has begun and then I can get down to the business details of the Company. I am actually looking forward to getting out from behind the camera.

01 February, 2002

Ernest Hemingway once said about writing, that you have to kill your darlings. Well, since I can't schedule one of my actors, I will have to kill them off and add a new character to enter the story. My producers said shooting has to end by the first weekof March 2002. There is a lot of work to do with the Studio Campaign, so the movie productions will be taking a backseat to raising funds for the Studio. Which will be fine with me. I just wish I could have got this completed as it was written.

Oh well, the rewrites give me a chance to add some more action to the movie.

Oh well, I did get a chance to meet some people and learn some lessons. I was the type of director who liked giving key roles to first timers, but no more of that. Never again.

11 April, 2002

We have been focused on the TV Show, so we have not been here in a while. There are a few shoots left to do. Some action shots, which require a bit of planning. Editing has begun and the footage looks good. Now, that we are moving into our Space, we will be able to focus and finish up some shoots.

Not that we haven't been helped by some great people letting us use their space (like MDI and North Coast Central Casting), but "God, bless the child who has own."

I still wish I could have finished the movie the way it was written, but sometimes that does not happen. This is the last movie project we work on though.

21 May, 2002 NEW ENTRY

I have to be somewhere at 7am, so like always I am up at 12:53am. I really have to cut that out. I have been meaning to update the site for the last two weeks. Yet, I have been doing some investor meetings and production meetings on the TV Series. Still I have not forgotten the movie. I am looking into editing. A lot of the scenes were shot only one way, so editing shouldn't take too long. Now, a few words on the opening sequence. It changed from the script which had dialogue where Anna flirts with Jerry and Dean, yet sometimes all you need is a beautiful woman in a tight black dress and a pool table.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OPENING SEQUENCE.