The pitch, and a crude cartoon!

Beth's been wanting to see what I did to some of her drawings so here it goes.

But before that, just some updates. I was not a finalist for the Capstone Grant, but I am very glad my friends and classmates Jamie, Alex, and Chris. Everyone who knows who I am talking about should give them a big high-five. I wish them all the best of luck.

I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be when I found out the news that I wasn't a finalist. In fact, it was a bit of a relief, because it meant one less thing to worry about. On top of casting, other classes, and worrying if my financial aid is going to come through, I just did not need the added stress of having to do another pitch. And my production is minimal anyway, so I'd probably end up just wasting most of what would be given to me. I know why I wasn't a finalist - my pitch just was not that good. But I really have to thank Christina, my producer, for being there. Christina did the best she could on short notice. I feel bad for dragging her through that when it probably wasn't necessary for her to be there.

Anyway, I actually animated some of the storyboards for the pitch, but not all of them were used since I there was only so much time and I didn't want to bore them with a strange video:

The video illustrates some of the camera motions and actor blocking I am going for. Hopefully this is doable because the end result will look pretty cool in real life. At least in my mind.


Stark white backgrounds, minimalist set design with some camera movement. A campy, cartoon-ish tone.

Thanks again to Beth for drawing a lot of these up.

Next post will be about casting. We had our first one over the weekend, and I am currently waiting on the audition video to make an overall assessment.

Till next time!

Lots of updates today. First week of school, what can I say?

During the first week of school I asked myself if I had bitten off more than I can chew with 4 classes, each involving their own special amount of attention from me. I probably did and I will likely learn this by the end of the semester. Right now I am just going to take things as they come to me.

New draft of the script here. After hearing some of the lines out loud of the previous draft, a lot of things didn't gel with me, so I included some more character development in places that I thought should need it, while also deleting or shortening scenes, and trying to keep some of the funny in it too.

One thing that a lot of people have been commenting on the script is that Dr. Shakespeare's name is too distracting. Perhaps if you read it off the page, seeing "Shakespeare" every two or three lines would be distracting. Though characters only say it once or twice throughout the whole script. When we reach the end product it won't as distracting as people currently think it is. That's a promise.

And as for why he's named Shakespeare.. Well, that's a good question. Many things go unexplained in the film, kind of like when someone gets shot in a cartoon and nobody gets hurt. In one scene, for example, Junior brings up the question of where they get all the donor bodies from - the film nor any character ever offers an explanation. The film is intentionally full of questions without answers. His name is one of those questions.

Pitch is next week. I'm making a powerpoint including some storyboards that Beth and I drew up, plus it one or two that I've animated. I'll post those after the pitch along with how the pitch went next post. I will have one of my producers join me for it as well.

What's that? I have producers? After searching high and low for a producer, I now have two:
Welcome Christina Hebert and Lindsay Garvin to the project! They will offer logistic and scheduling advice as well as recruiting a talented crew for me.

Chris Tharp has graciously signed on to DP. He'll be recruiting his own camera crew and I'm very excited to be working with them as well.

Matt Deicke has also been working hard for me as well as my casting director. He's been immensely helpful and we even have a casting session set up at Full Sail on September 5th. We hope to have a big turnout. I have even posted ads on various local casting websites.

Some bad news with my Production Designer, Sara. Her school schedule doesn't allow her as much free time as she'd hoped so she had to resign. Completely understandable. But luckily, her boyfriend, Mike Santini, is prepared and available to take over the position. Sara will be taking an advisory role from now on, but I appreciate all the effort she has already put into the project.

That's all for now folks. I will let you know what happens after the pitch!

The crew so far.

The newest, more final version of the script can be downloaded here. Fixed typos and a new ending!

What? New ending? What's wrong with the old one? I'll talk about that when I have a slower week.

There were a few snags in recruiting crew. Kind of feeling like I'm running behind, but I hope to have my key players set by the first Capstone class: Producer, Production Designer, DP, and 1st Assistant Director.

So far let's list everyone who's signed on 100%:
Production Designer: Sara Englehardt
Set Builder/Key Grip: Jayson Caissie
Storyboard Artist: Beth Stuebben

Not a bad start, I don't think. Sara was the Production Designer on A Beautiful Belly, a local UCF-affiliated feature that I had the distinct pleasure of working on over the summer. We met to talk about the script earlier this week and she had some amazing ideas. Jason and Beth are both good friends of mine with their own special skills, and I've done a lot with them this week as well.

I had a producer, but now I don't. I've sent out emails to prospective people interested, based on a list received from Lisa Cook, and some friends for possible referrals. So far I've gotten about 3 bites and I'm waiting to hear back from them. I'm talking to someone about Cinematography, though I have not had a chance to meet with them. Same goes for the 1st A.D. position.

I've completed the storyboards with Beth, so hopefully I will have those available to post soon!

Storytelling and Response.

I've been reading a lot of John Kricfalusi's blog (http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/) and he's been updating about the difficulty of pitching when his ideas of storytelling are different from the executives. Essentially how they use technical jargon and formulas to avoid genuinely good ideas.

In THE SHAKESPEARE PROCEDURE, the intention behind how it was written is to use cartoon structures in a live action short. I'm using the brain transplants as a vehicle for gags. Plain and simple. No complicated formulas, no real "arcs" just fun (or my definition of it).

So I've been shopping the script around, trying to get people behind the project. I really need a strong Producer to help organize things a bit, and get more people behind it. Someone who isn't going to flake on me. Someone who is going to really get behind the project as much as I am.

And I do feel really strongly about the project.

Some of the responses so far to those who have read the script, which have gotten me really optimistic:
"WHAT THE EFF?"
"I thought it was funny and cute. Should get some laughs"
"I get the comedy, but I think it also lends itself to creepy, eerie atmosphere."

I'm talking with someone about creating storyboards to use for pitching. Stay tuned.