Update

Been awhile since my last blog. If any of you read it on a semi-regular basis, I apologize.

In addition to posting some of my general thoughts, I thought I'd make this more of a blow by blow account of some of stuff small production companies do. Maybe some of you would appreciate an inside look at it, I don't know. All it costs is my typing time, right?

Here are some updates on where we're at:

1. I've been touring festivals with Midnight Clear, having some good screenings. It's very important for any aspiring filmmaker to do the festival circuit thing at some point. Of course, you have to make a film that gets accepted into festivals, which isn't easy. I've been on both sides. My first short got rejected EVERYWHERE, it was depressing.

Midnight Clear's been odd, though. Frustrating and joyous at different times. The first festival I submitted to was Sundance, and it was a very rough cut. We found out that we basically got as close as you can get without actually getting in, and that they loved the film. Out of 2000 entries, we were in the top 5% considered. Two days after the rejection, which was also oddly encouraging, we were accepted into Cinequest, a great festival I'd really wanted to get into. And a week later, we were accepted into Sedona, another really good festival. So I was flying high, I figured we'd dominate the festival circuit.

Then the rejection laters came, from festivals big and small. Very disheartening. And now we're getting accepted into a few more, including three in one weekend coming up (Oklahoma City, Boston, and Waterfront). Just goes to show there's no rhyme or reason to it.

2. Still developing "Mountain," my passion project. Got a few different financial options, we'll see what happens. Our basic plan is to budget the project between $3 and $4 million, with up to $1 million to a lead "name" actor. The lead role is so juicy that we think we can get someone really good. FYI, my top choices are Josh Lucas, Christian Bale, and Woody Harrelson, with Hugh Jackman as my miracle option. Longshots, I know, but hey. Woody's not the biggest name around, but I've envisioned him in this role since the script began four years ago, and he'd be amazing in it. The movie is Matewan meets The Apostle. If you haven't heard of Matewan, it's set in the 1920's mountains of Virginia, during the coal miner's strike.

3. We've been talking with a couple of studios about about the possibility of a multi-picture deal. Right now there's tremendous interest in faith-based projects, and while my goal isn't to slide into the "Christian movie" factory the studios are running right now, I don't want to miss out on a good opportunity to get movies made. My Dad wrote a successful book series called "Soon," and there's some interest at a few places in turning them into movies. Doing that, along with Mountain, could make for a nice long-term relationship, where the studio puts up half of the budget for each production, we bring in the other half. It'd be nice to find a home.

As of now there's particular interest from two places, so we'll see how it goes. One company in particular REALLY loves Mountain, even though it's a difficult project to market.

Will keep you posted...