Flicker flicker, intermission is at an end

Lots of stuff happened this past weekend. Very little of it was Bleach-related, but you should still care. Believe me, you should care. I shall explain why...in a bit.

First off: Played Halo 3, at long, long last. Hot damn! An amazing ending (or IS IT?!) to a classic scifi series. And that's all I have to say about that.

Next: Saturday evening found us (Alex, Aneta and myself) once again in Barnes and Noble, about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Woohoo!

With Bleach in the wrapping-up stage, we've begun to move on to a new project. We're doing it correctly this time. Be afraid.

Bleach was a spur of the moment thing: conceived in June of this year, Alex and Aneta's twisted love-child of a film was entirely written, filmed, and edited in 4 months (June-September is 4 months. I learned that in school!). We filmed when the actors had days off from work. It did not have a script. It did not have a budget. It had a cast made of our closest high school friends. Fun, yes, and effective, but decidedly unprofessional. It's a film by high school students.

Our new film (yet untitled) is slated to be filmed in 2010. Aneta has two years to write/rewrite/rerewrite/perfect the script; filming will take three weeks (working all day, every day, for those 3 weeks); editing will go on through our senior year in college. It WILL have a script. It WILL have a budget of approximately $50,000 (more on this later- keep in mind that you're reading the producer's blog. Much bitching will undoubtedly occur). It will have a cast of paid actors (with actual acting experience!). The bottom line is that we're being very, very professional here. It's a film by college students, directed by a genuine film major.

Holy crap, it's gonna be big!

Of course, that means we actually have to do shit now.

• I was given the title of producer in Bleach because I drove people around, bought lunch once, and was around a lot of the time. Now, I have to manage a budget (of a lot of money). I have to manage a goddamn production company to keep us from getting sued and losing all the money we don't, as college students, have. I have to come up with a way of getting us $50,000 to start with. So much for the Physics degree.


• Aneta has to write a script. Bleach had no script; Aneta was given the title of writer because it was her twisted fantasies that gave way to Bleach's story. There's a big difference between telling someone your ideas and writing a whole script. Is this gonna work? Aneta says it won't be a problem, and Alex has faith, so I guess that's good enough for me.


• Alex is filling in our gaps. A good film, apparently, has 4 people at the top: 2 creative ones, and 2 money-minded ones. Since Aneta and I are one each (take a stab at which ones), he has to be two drastically different people. I think the purchase of several hats is in order: a beret and a bowler hat. He could wear them one at a time, or perhaps both at once (assuming, of course, that the effects don't cancel each other out. If that is the case, a new beret-bowler hybrid may need to be created. I don't want to play God).

So back to my part as producer. Our estimated required budget is $50,000, split up roughly into:

NEW EQUIPMENT: $10,000 (The low-quality look worked well for Bleach, but it won't for this one)
CAST: $10,000 (according to Aneta, it'll be a big cast. I just wish I could instill the fear of god into her)
EDITING: $20,000 (since we're filming in digital, Alex assures me that much converting must be done to get it festival- and DVD release-ready. This could easily go up)
OTHER: $10,000 (such as food, festival entry fees, gas, location fees, costumes, makeup, etc.)

Our supposed plan of gaining this money:
Profits from Bleach: $100
Donations: The rest of it

I spy, with my eye, something that is ENTIRELY IMPLAUSIBLE!

We have a few alternative, if not entirely dependable, methods to reduce the amount of donations needed.

1. Grants: Alex is a film major, and colleges love giving kids money to make themsleves look good. Hope?


2. Book: Alex and I came up with a FANTASTIC idea for an easy-to-write book that only we could possibly ever write. It has a great amount of appeal, so we're optimistic about raising a few hundred by selling it online. This project will serve the dual purpose of making us money and keeping us busy while we wait for Aneta to do her thang. I'll be talking about this later, I know it. (Here's a little something for the present: our title is "An Orange for William". It will be the stuff of legends)


3. Various illegal activities: proposed fundraisers have included muggings, burglary, bank robberies, and illegally collecting on property insurance. This is perhaps the most reliable source of income.

That's everything for now. Will post more as these budding projects take a little more shape.