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Pre-production on DEADWOOD PARK is moving along just right... I can tell because I am overwhelmed with work!
The most recent burst of activity has been arranging the auditions for the movie. While this may seem like a simple task, auditions are actually the culmination of many weeks of work. First, a location needed to be secured for holding the auditions. This is tricky because I don’t want to hold casting in someone’s living room or basement. But I don’t have the money to pay for a space either. So I searched far and wide for a professional office space (two rooms: one waiting room and one conference room sized area to actually hold the one-on-one auditions in).
I found the perfect facility: The Broadcast Center in St. Louis. This is a learning facility, designed to prep students for work in radio, television, and video production. And I get the place for one weekend... FREE. In exchange, I was asked to be a guest speaker for a video production and editing class. I did the guest-speaking appearance about two weeks ago and it was fairly painless. I’m not big on public speaking, but all the students were cool and appreciative of my presence there. Now, at the end of May, we will hold auditions for DEADWOOD PARK at The Broadcast Center... free of charge.
After the location was secured and the audition dates were set, the real work began. It took me several long days to coordinate our communication with the St. Louis acting community. I had to design the audition info flyers and set up on-line details for actors to access... and then make all the arrangements to get this info out to all who would be interested. (Big thanks to Jeremy and Todd for helping with this!) By the end of it all, my mind was numb, my eyes hurt I was so exhausted, and my wife was very sad because I’d virtually ignored her throughout the entire process of setting up these auditions.
Last week I took a “day off” for the first time in months... and by “day off” I mean I only worked a five hour day. Then I went home to drink Tecate, eat Mexican food, and watch Mario Bava and Jean Rollin DVD’s. Also, the day before my “day off,” I finally got to spend quality time with my wife (but you’ll not get those details here... pervert).
Other aspects of pre-production are moving forward. The movie is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do... It is taking on a life of it’s own. The St. Louis acting community is now becoming aware of the project. Special construction for our main sets is nearly complete. Conceptual artists are submitting sketches to me for various sets that are to be built in miniature. We are still scouting locations. We are making progress with various investors. And I’m still pounding away at the screenplay.
In addition to my Wicked Pixel Cinema movie making, I also own a post-production and DVD authoring company called Thrill Ride Media. This takes up much of my time, as any small business will do. On one hand, it is a wonderful thing to be earning a living editing on an Avid and authoring up to four DVD projects a month. But Thrill Ride Media can also cause much stress. For example, a couple of weeks ago, we were authoring the DVD of Steve Ballot’s cult hit THE BRIDE OF FRANK. This project was very complex and hampered by poor communication. The authoring went weeks over schedule. This alone is stressful... I feel the pressure from the distribution company who has a release date set for this title... I feel pressure to complete the project in a way that pleases the filmmaker... I feel pressure just because I want to take pride in the work I do... and – mostly – I feel pressure because for many days I am coordinating DVD menu changes and constantly re-encoding video segments... when what I really want to be doing (NEED to be doing) is working on that DEADWOOD PARK screenplay. I am on the phone daily with Ballot, trying to complete this DVD job, while emails are piling up from DEADWOOD PARK production staff asking “Is the first draft done yet? When can I read it?” These people need that script in order to do their jobs, so now I’m holding them back.... and yet, I refuse to slop through the DVD authoring of Ballot’s movie just to get it out the door quickly. I have a responsibility to him as well as to my DEADWOOD PARK team. There just ain’t enough hours in the day...
By the way, the DVD of THE BRIDE OF FRANK is packed with bonus features that should delight any depraved fan of that flick. So be on the lookout for THE BRIDE OF FRANK on DVD this summer!
Back to DEADWOOD PARK... It’s all coming together. I have an incredibly supportive team around me. Things would feel a little less destructive to me if there were more hours in the day, or if I could survive on no sleep at all... but for the most part, DEADWOOD PARK is progressing just as it should.
Thanks for reading!
-Eric Stanze
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