Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Indiegogo Update

Hello. We have less than two weeks remaining in our Indiegogo campaign and could still use all the help we can get.


Here's a refresher on how it works. When you donate you donate at a certain level and get whatever reward is offered at that level. The more you donate, the cooler your reward. At the $100 level we're offering a USB thumb drive made from our KILLER's THUMB!
That's going to look sweet jutting out the side of your Macbook Pro! If you and your officemates pool your money and donate $2,500 you'll get one of the original Pig Masks (the one I was going to keep for myself!) designed and manufactured by Peter Orr. I will sign it and I'll force the cast to sign it! It will really dress up your office.
I see you...

Now, you might click to Indiegogo and see we've raised $1000 toward a $10,000 goal and say to yourself, "That seems unlikely". Don't let that deter you from donating! $10,000 was a goal that would have allowed us to use more FX than we now will, but if we could raise an addition $4,000 we could scrape by (barely). Indiegogo does not require projects to meet their goal to get the donations. If you donate to through your Paypal we get that donation immediately, you'll know you're getting a reward, and the following people will be able to eat:
Brian Sutherland
Jesse Lee Keeter
Alison Monda
Bjorn Whitney
Trin Miller
David Nail
Jordin Buttenob
Tessa Marie Archer
These are real people with real appetites. Don't they look hungry? Consider donating now at http://indiegogo.com/Horror-Film-Reunion to make sure they get fed their kibble. 

Thank you!

Be seeing you...








Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Meet the new Lucy!

Today I have the pleasure of introducing our newest cast member, Tessa Marie Archer! Tessa will take on the role of Lucy.
Tessa Marie Archer as Lucy

Tessa brings a wealth of acting experience to the role, on stage and on camera, including time as Belle from Beauty And The Beast at Hong Kong Disneyland. She has also portrayed Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Kim Possible at The Walt Disney World Resort. 

Tessa is currently starring in the web series Glitch (produced by Reunion's leading man, Brian Sutherland) with fellow Reunion cast members Jesse Lee Keeter and Trin Miller. Head over to Facebook to give Glitch a "Like".

Welcome to Reunion, Tessa! 



Sunday, July 10, 2011

You Can Help Make a Horror Movie!

It's been a long ride to get this point. We've had nearly a year of pre-production. A successful three month Kickstarter campaign that ended last December. We've cast our actors. We've (well, Bandersnatch) has molded heads. Locations have been secured. A teaser trailer was shot and released. And the script fought me every step of the way through the final re-write but finally succumbed to a beheading that left it twenty pages lighter and a whole lot tighter.

And now, with less than three weeks to go before we begin the shoot in earnest (one scene was shot on June 27th), we need your help to make Reunion be the best little horror movie it can be.

While our Kickstarter campaign gave us a great start, that money has been spent. Special FX and makeup costs (a must for the kind of blood bath we're aiming for) have ended up being a little more than we anticipated (and worth every penny!). And, we're proud to say, every one of those pennies has stayed in the Seattle area, going to the talented folks at Bandersnatch Studios (they are nicer than anyone you've ever met who spends their days up to their elbows in gore).  We've supported schools by shooting (and paying, happily, for the privilege) a scene at Centralia High School (my alma mater!). We've hired the gifted Seattle Central Community College graduate (soon to be no more - check out The Stranger's article about the travesty by clicking on this link) Christian Sorensen Hansen to serve as the Director of Photography, ensuring the film will look amazing. And the biggest chunk of our money went to a local Normandy Park family. For the month of August we'll be renting the house (for our principal interiors, where 90% of the film takes place) they've been trying to sell, putting some money in their pocket while they try to find long term tenants. The rest of the Kickstarter cash has gone to props, insurance, rental space for auditions, and gear rental.


So, as we near the start of production, we still need to scrounge up some more scratch, if you know what I mean. That will go to cover food costs (we have a cast of eight and about that many crew to feed for most of August and a couple of days in July, no small expense). We also need extra money to cover set dressing, additional props, possibly more makeup stuff (the blood never stops flowing!), and even a little bit for our actors, who we will work to the bone. 


This is a micro-budget production (by most standards we'd be considered no-budget) so we're stretching our dollars as much as we can. But every little bit extra helps (and we really need to feed people, or, you know, they'll die for real).


We are currently running our second crowd-sourced funding campaign, this time through Indiegogo. As I write this post there is just under three weeks left in our campaign.

If you would like to help get an independently produced horror film made, please consider donating as little as $5. Every donation gets a reward. Even if you can't donate, or have donated but want to do more, you can still help us by getting the word out to anyone you think might want to see their name in the credits of a horror movie.

We have brand new rewards this time around. If you donate $100 you will get a THUMB DRIVE. "Big whoop" I hear you sayin'. Big whoop indeed. This is a THUMB drive. As in, a USB flash drive, in a THUMB! Our killer's thumb, to be precise. Believe me, you want this thing sticking out of your Macbook Pro when you're writing your novel at the fair trade coffee house. Check it:
And, to top it all off, I'm personally adding a new reward right now. Only one of these will be offered. The first (and only) person (or persons, if you work in an office and want to pool your dough) to donate $2500 will get one of the original pig masks designed and constructed by the amazing Peter Orr just for Reunion. See a little of the masks in action in our teaser trailer:


I'm offering my personal mask, the one prop I most want to take home myself. I will sign it. I will force Jesse Lee Keeter, our bad guy, to sign it. The rest of the cast will sign it. And you can display it on your mantle, in your office, over your toilet, wherever you see fit.

So check out our Indiegogo, donate as little as $5, and help us get the word out. There's still twenty days (as I write this) to make Reunion as disgusting as it ought to be. Help us make it happen.

Be seeing you...

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Dreaded "Scheduling Conflict" Strikes Again

One thing about no-budget feature film productions is that they invariably end up with a tight schedule. Juggling the availability of eight actors in the dog days of August is tough, even when not dealing with continuity-challenging blood baths (which we are!).

And so it is that we must, regretfully, part ways with Jen Page, who had been slated to play Lucy.


While we're sad to see her go and that you won't get to see her in Reunion, there are plenty of other ways to get your Jen Page fix. And you totally should.


Jen is a key part of Project London


Their website describes the movie like this:Project London is an independent, almost no-budget, feature-length, live action movie with vivid, intense, and marrow-vibrating visual effects and animations created with the open source software Blender (and other traditional software) and 250 (or so) worldwide volunteers. It’s led byThe Triumvirate and set in Seattle, Washington. 


Jen also stars in the web series (with Reunion's Trin Miller!) The Dirty Do Gooders.
You can check out Episode 1 here: http://www.dirtydogooders.com/full-episodes/.


For more on Jen Page and the projects mentioned here, visit the following links and be sure to "Like" Project London, The Dirty Do Gooders, and Jen Page on Facebook.


http://projectlondonmovie.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ProjectLondon
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/07/play/filmmaking-goes-open-source
http://www.dirtydogooders.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dirty-Do-Gooders/
https://www.facebook.com/thejenpage

Best of luck, Jen! You'll be missed, but we'll try to spill lots of blood without you. First pint's in your honor!


Be seeing you...

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Reunion Teaser Trailer


Long time, no post. Damn. I thought I was going to do better. Oh well. The re-write I had been working on fought back hard and took a while to overcome. But that's done and now we're busy rushing toward production, which begins in earnest on July 28 and continues, basically without pause, through August. 
We did shoot one scene already, on June 27th. It was a half day shoot that didn't require any of our principal actors. It was a nice way to ease into production. Shoot for four and a half hours and then take a month off. Nice.
Of course, we haven't really taken a month off. We finally found our principal location (interiors only -- exteriors we'll shoot later at a separate location). The script breakdown was completed last week and Matt's been furiously trying to work around actor availability (we love our actors!) to schedule the rest of the shoot. We also will be checking in soon with Bandersnatch to see how our makeup fx are coming along. 
Our lovely costume designer, Megan Lacki, has nearly finished work on the first two dresses our actresses will wear.

As July rolls on props need to be acquired. Set dressing needs to be figured out. Storyboards must appear out of nowhere (meaning I'm sick of drawing them). 
But, things are coming along and we couldn't be more excited to finally get started on the actual production side of things.
And now, here's a teaser! 

Be seeing you...