Saturday, February 26, 2011

Jodelle Ferland to Play Lizzy in Locked in a Garage Band, the movie


Once again I'm blogging from the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. This time, I'm on my way to LA for Elton John's Oscars Party tomorrow! WOOHOO!

But in other exciting news, Jodelle Micah Ferland has agreed to play Lizzy in our movie, Locked in a Garage Band. Jodelle played Bree Tanner in Twilight Eclipse, and Sharon/Elissa in Silent Hill. She's been in a tonne of tv shows & movies, so check out her IMDB page to see her full resume.

Needless to say, we're really excited! We have another actor from the Twilight movies reading the script, and we're working on casting a few more of the lead characters with other stars. I'm looking forward to meeting up with some actors this weekend - watch this space!

6 more days on our kickstarter campaign.
Please keep spreading the word & getting those pledges in! We're 19% of the way there, so this is going to take one heck of a push to make it to 100%.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

How Local Media Attention Can Help Independent Filmmakers

Remember the front page article by Michael D Reid in our local newspaper, the Times Colonist, a little while back? That one article opened up a tonne of doors for us. Thought I'd let you in on all the amazing things that came as a result of that article.


1. Garage Bands Rally Around the Movie, Locked in a Garage Band.
First off, Devin Perfect, of the local band, Handsome Distraction, contacted us and offered to help by hosting a fundraiser gig with local garage bands. We went for a quick drink, chatted more about the movie and his band and our similar philosophies around indie music & movies. Very cool guy!

In the end, we agreed that he could go all out in getting local bands to rock out here in Victoria at Lucky Bar, and in exchange Jen & I would do our very best to promote Handsome Distraction. That was a no-brainer for us. The band's name is awesome, and you gotta love garage bands rallying around a movie about a garage band getting locked in their garage for a day.

Jen's already re-written the script so Handsome Distraction is mentioned a few times (in context - the garage band who gets locked in the garage has an upcoming gig where they open for Handsome Distraction...see? Makes perfect sense right?!) And we're stoked about the gig here in town. Local band, Everybody Left & guests will perform on March 9th at Lucky Bar. RSVP here:http://on.fb.me/hx5QNH

2. We hired a Production Coordinator who rocks!

Emily Silver came a'knocking! Emily went to film school (Jen & I didn't) and has been working for the past few years on her other passions - rowing & coaching. After reading the article, Emily's boss encouraged her to contact us & offer to volunteer so that she could pursue her first true love - filmmaking. We met up for coffee and hit it off immediately. Her film school experience really helps us with the nitty-gritty details that we would miss otherwise. For now, Emily's volunteering as the Production Coordinator but I really hope we can actually afford to pay her soon. That would rock.

3. Money, money, money!
We got a tonne more pledges on our kickstarter campaign & emails of encouragement. So sweet! One person even mailed us a card with a cheque because she wasn't technically inclined enough to figure out the kickstarter pledges. Awesome. Cheques are great people! So's cash. ;-)

4. More articles to come!
I met Michael D Reid in person at the Victoria Film Festival a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned that I was invited to Sir Elton John's Oscars viewing party by an angel investor. What a great story eh? Michael just contacted me and asked if he could do a follow-up story on Tuesday following the Oscars and of course I said "You BETCHA!" He'll be phoning me the morning after and getting in a quick interview as I head to the airport in LA to come back home to Victoria, BC. Wonder what will happen as a result of that article? WOOHOO!

I guess the point here is that every little bit of media attention helps. The more you put yourself out there, the more you'll get in return. We are so blessed!

I tear up with gratitude when I think about all the incredible people who believe in us, want our movie to succeed & will do whatever they can to help. From a small pledge on kickstarter, to a newspaper article, to a fundraising gig, to an invite to Elton's party where the movers & shakers play, to a large pledge on kickstarter, to a Twilight star being cast (watch this space Twi-hards!)...it's all so overwhelming & FRIKKIN' FANTASTIC! Woohoo! Thanks everyone. You seriously ROCK!

The Sound of Awesome.mov



Just changed the name of our beatbox teaser to "The Sound of Awesome" - recommended to me by a fellow filmmaker with more experience with you tube.

Let's hope it helps it go viral!

9 more days left on our kickstarter campaign, and I'm not going to freak out that we're not at 25% yet. I head to LA on Saturday for Sir Elton John's Oscars Viewing Party - and I'm on a mission to get someone there to tweet the campaign. Shameless? Sure. I figure with enough champagne in me, I'll get the nerve to ask someone. Who? No idea. Watch this space!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Roller Coaster Continues

I'm sitting on the ferry, traveling from Vancouver back to Victoria, British Columbia. Figured I'd use the free wireless to update y'all on today's emotional roller coaster ride.

I started the day without much sleep last night - I have this irrational, and completely irritating habit of not being able to sleep the night before I travel. I have no idea why this happens. I'm usually a really great sleeper (and napper too!), but in any case, this morning I was off to a bit of a rough start.

I headed over to Jen's place to pick her up, with just enough time to catch the ferry. I had an important meeting with a producer in Vancouver, and since we live on an island we have take a ferry and if we miss it, we have to wait 2 hours until the next one. So I arrived with the clock ticking, only to find out that Jen had 2 sick kids at home, and a duty day at one of the kids'pre-school. ARGH! Her hubby couldn't do the duty day as he needs a new police check, so our hands were tied. After a mild freak-out (on my end), and a few outbursts of "God Dangit! We were going to get SO much done on the ferry!" and some other swear words... I sucked it up and went on my lonesome.

side note: I should tell you here that I'm a new driver. So, driving in Vancouver isn't really my cup of tea just yet.

Anyway, I made it to the meeting after 3 hours of travel, and it rocked. Seriously, this producer was awesome at helping me learn what I need to know, and with offering free advice & contacts for me to follow up with. SCORE! He helped me to realize that there is indeed money out there for us, and all I need to do is ask for it. Double-score! Being in Canada does make it easier for indie filmmaking. Or so I'm told anyway. I'll get on his suggestions tomorrow.

I also had a conversation with a movie star's mother today. We're trying to book her daughter for our little movie, and let me tell you - talking to a star's mom is the same as talking to any mom - they all just want to know that their kids are awesome. Same as teaching in inner city schools really. I'm happy to say that she loved our script as well. Woohoo! More conversations to come I'm sure.

To finish the day, I went to meet up with our Director of Photography, at the IKEA restaurant - because sadly, we don't have an Ikea on Vancouver Island, and it was the only place I thought I knew how to get to without getting lost. And lost I got. So very lost.

It took me 2 hours to meet him, after breaking down in a parking lot (I'm not even kidding - I wailed! And boy oh boy, am I ever happy the star's mom didn't hear the f-bombs I dropped!). Our poor DP was waiting forever for me! What a great guy. I heard loads of stories about what he's working on now, particularly about directors smoking joints on set while he waits for them to get back on task.

Second side note: Seriously? Seriously?! We are so going to ROCK this movie if that's what happens out there on other indie sets. We're 2 women, one a former-innercity-school teacher, the other a mom with a masters degree, a photography background and 3 kids - we're focused, driven and on task, and ... sober on set. Um, yeah - no wonder so many people want to work with us!

And now, here we are. I'm back on the ferry. This time it's rocking back & forth, which is really rare for this journey. I can't wait to get home, get back to focusing on the kickstarter campaign, and get back to bed. Tomorrow I'll rock the new ideas, get my dress fitted for Elton John's Oscars Party (is that for real?!), meet up with a great friend and one of our most supportive investors and hang out with Jen and the kids. WOOHOO!

See how it's all up...down...up...down...and loop-di-loop?

Friday, February 11, 2011

How to Get Hired and How to Get Fired on Independent Film Productions

Check it out! I finally wrote my blog post for Karen & David's blog, Film Courage.

What are you waiting for? It's not here. It's over there!

Please leave a comment if you read it so I know I am not talking to myself (not that I don't, I definitely do talk to myself. A lot).

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Actors Review the Script

We have a story consultant who's working with Jen (the writer/director in our team) but figured it was time to send the actors and a couple of movie industry friends the script as it is now.

Here are the emails I've received so far:

"Omg, omg,omg...

This was fantastic Victoria. I was expecting it to be good but I was honestly blown away.

I was lying here reading it by myself and laughing out loud...a lot.
'This shit just got real' is a killer line.

Can't wait to see the finished product."


"OMG OMG OMG
the best.

I can't wait to do this.
THIS IS THE BEST!!!

mmm-whah!"

"Omg!!! I love it!! Soo funny :) this is gonna be fun, u have some good writin skillz ma-lady"

And in other news, it looks like I'm going to be in LA on February 27th heading off to an Oscars party. Woohooo!