Short Film Update

"You've picked a very good time to make a short film". That seems to be the general consensus at the moment. "You've picked a bad time to make a short film" also seems to be a popular remark. So, which is it? Probably a bit of both. It's a very good time to make a short because, apart from the big budget films, there's not a lot of work out there and crew are twiddling their thumbs. It's a bad time to make a short because everyone is preoccupied with trying to get work, so unpaid gigs aren't overly appealing.

Luckily, people prefer to keep busy rather than sit around, and the notion of 'it's a very good time to make a short film' is definitely tipped in my favour. So, I've been running around getting the production together, and it's shaping up nicely. I've got an amazing crew on board that includes Ben Greenacre (line-producer), David Raedeker (DOP), Stuart Conran (SFX make-up) and Jeremy Zimmermann (casting). The actors are yet to be confirmed but I hope to have some exciting news on that front, soon.

It's all very energising and inspiring. No wonder people get obsessed or addicted by filmmaking. It's time consuming, sure, but also great fun, and the collaborative process provides a neat rush of creativity and adrenalin, especially for a writer who's been stuck indoors by himself for too long. It's all going well, and I'm bursting with excitement about the upcoming shoot and what the story can achieve.

The film is called ORIGIN. It's a supernatural drama about a woman who tries to keep her family together when her son falls ill after he's bitten by a mysterious creature.


FUND THE FILM!

As I get the key stages of the production organised, I'm doing one final shout-out for funding. You can be a part of the film by donating whatever you can afford, and in return, I'm offering various incentives and goodies. They break down like this:-

* Associate Producer
For £50, I will give you an Associate Producer credit, plus access to a video diary I'm making of the production process (which I've already started, up to video 4 at the moment). You also get an invite to the cast and crew premier, a DVD of the film, a copy of the script AND a booklet called 'Get Your Movie Made' which lists the contact details of 22 of the leading film companies in the UK.

* Special Thanks
£25 buys you a Special Thanks credit, the video diary, the DVD, the booklet and the script.

* Thanks
£10 gets you a Thanks credit, the booklet and the script.

Once you choose your level of donation, simply click the Donate button on the right (underneath the About Me section) and PayPal offers a variety of payment options, from credit card, bank account or PayPal direct. If you'd prefer to pay by cheque or cash, no problem, get in touch.

Thank you to EVERYONE who's donated already. You've all been so wonderfully generous and supportive, and your contribution has made a significant difference to the whole scale and ambition of the short film. I need to push it further now, to get the most out of my script, cast and crew, so if you haven't donated already but were always planning to, then now would be the ideal time. Naturally, I'll be blogging about my experience as I go but the video diary will provide an exclusive inside-track on how everything is shaping up.

3 weeks to filming! Better crack on...

THANKS!