Roll The Credits... [FST 495]: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

Film Festival Submission Plan

There were a few factors that went into deciding which film festivals we would submit to. First and foremost, we feel our film is pointless to exhibit unless someone from the group is able to attend, especially at film festivals outside of North Carolina. While the topic is localized, the message is useful to any state with an incentive, but at first glance, people may see it is about North Carolina and film enthusiasts and supporters may not feel a personal connection to it. Having one of us in attendance to discuss the film and the movement would be more beneficial to the success of the film. For the most part we kept the festivals within driving distance, with a few exceptions. We also wanted to aim for representation in our respective home states (Seattle Shorts Film Festival for Sarah & Reel Independent Film Extravaganza for Connor).

The second factor was the date of the film festival. Since the Film Tax Incentive is set to expire in January 2015, we need to screen the film prior to that in order to build support. That being said, we have a limited time frame based on submission deadlines.

Orlando Film Festival is a program that is by filmmakers, for filmmakers. More importantly, they are extremely welcoming and encouraging to student filmmakers. This festival is a great outlet for educational outreach as well.

River's Edge International Film Festival attracts people who are serious about the art of film; attending the festival would create opportunities to educate others about incentive programs/supporting their local programs as well as networking with people who are equally passionate about the topic of our film.
Cucalorus Film Festival- no brainer :) The support we've received from local film industry members out of Wilmington has been incredible. During the production process, the community has been super supportive and resourceful; screening the film here would show that their efforts have not gone unnoticed and we're all in this fight together!
Petaluma International Film Festival- California representation! The big dogs in California are the ones with the choice. They decide where they want to make their films and we need to make them understand why North Carolina needs to stay in the mix. Of course they do not decide if the incentive stays or goes, but their support could be a deciding factor for the NC Government.
Indie Memphis Film Festival- Top 20 event by Southern Tourist Society; the publicity we could receive from screening here would not only benefit our own film careers, but would also increase awareness of the our ever-growing film industry.
Underexposed Film Festival YC- the title says it all; the situation with the NC Film Tax Incentive is definitely underexposed right now. This festival will be a great way to gain exposure and also get support from a neighboring community.
Asheville Cinema Festival- Similarly to why we want to show at Cucalorus, the North Carolina film community is what this documentary is all about. We want to spread the love for NC Film!

Festival Name

Submission Date

Deadline (Ea/Reg/Lt/Ext.)

Submission Fee

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Production Update: Week of March 23

This week, our focus is on securing the right, credible interviews that will strengthen our story. Our Tuesday interview was with Beth Becka (which has been rescheduled to next Tuesday due to her illness), acting coach/owner of Insight School of Acting in Wilmington. She is extremely passionate about the industry here and the the acting jobs created help support her business as more and more people are seeking training to help further their career.

Our Indiegogo promo video is live and we have received awesome feedback for it. We're putting the final touches on the trailer and will have the official trailer by Friday. The deadline for me to submit the trailer to the RiverRun Pitch Fest is Friday, so that will be a top priority this week.

We've had to go back to the drawing boards to truly find the story we want to express. We've re-evaluated our interviewees and have since switched gears a bit in regards to who we are interviewing. I've contacted CBS Publicity to try and get permission to film on the Under The Dome set, local actress Sydney Penny (All My Children, The Bold and The Beautiful) for an interview, Marty Siu who has an extremely successful casting company, MJ Hilton, assistant to the producer on Under The Dome, Albert Hedgepeth III- Emmy Award winning cinematographer/sound recordist, and Connor has contacted some other individuals in the community.

What we've come to realize is, 45 of the 50 US States have film incentives. The big dogs in L.A. have options and I guarantee it doesn't make a difference to them if North Carolina loses the Film Tax Incentive or not- they'll just move on to the next state. To the people here in North Carolina, however, it's a huge deal; it's their livelihood, their state's economy, their culture. With our film, it's our job to make it matter, not just to North Carolinians, but to the big dogs in the film industry and the government.

#SaveNCFilm

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Production Update: Week of March 9th

Immediately after returning from Spring Break, we jumped right back into the project full swing. We had our weekly Monday meeting as usual to regroup and come up with a plan of attack for the upcoming weeks. We finally got the Indiegogo Campaign up and started promoting our Facebook page like crazy. In the past 3 days, we've gained over 330 supporters on Facebook and raised $410 through Indiegogo! The support from friends and family has been incredible, but I'm overwhelmed by the growing support and positive reinforcement we've received from the North Carolina Film Community and other kind strangers from all over. We're not just making a film, we're fueling a growing movement! We finished off the meeting by editing our interview questions for the following day and preparing Tuesday's shooting schedule.

On Tuesday, I had class until 3:15, so the plan was for Connor and Robert to head over to Screen Gems at noon to shoot some B-Roll and begin setting up for our 3:30 interview with Johnny Griffin, Wilmington Regional Film Commissioner. My professor was so gracious to let me leave class early so I could get to Screen Gems in time to help set up. The interview went well, although we experienced some issues with sound that we will hopefully be able to fix, otherwise we may have to schedule a second interview with Johnny.

At 4:30, we hit the lot for a quick interview with Kyle Linderman, a Screen Gems employee in the lighting & grip department. Then it was over to the editing lab to sort through dailies & prep for editing.

At 9:00 we interviewed Shaun O'Rourke, a local actor and driver currently working on Under The Dome. Shaun was extremely insightful and passionate about the Film Tax Incentive issue & I think his interview is going to be received well by our audience.

We're now in talks with Beth Becka, owner of Insight School of Acting, who would like to share her story with us and will allow us to film her acting class, which consists of many actors who would no longer have acting opportunities should the Film Tax Incentive expire.

Production Update: Before/During Spring Break

Prior to Spring Break, we made some progress on our marketing and outreach projects. We filmed a segment for our Facebook/Indiegogo/future website that features Robert, Connor, and myself discussing North Carolina's jeopardized film industry, what our plans are for Keep It Rolling, and asking people for their support. That video is currently being edited and will be up within the next week. We also had a mini photoshoot for the film poster & our pictures that will accompany our bios on the website.

We also planned out the donation amounts/perks and the informational section for the Indiegogo Campaign page. Our plan was to finalize everything and go live over Spring Break, but we ended up waiting until we all were back on Monday so we could all meet in person...working from 3 time zones/2 countries is easier said than done! We were able to launch our Facebook page over break and I did some research on partnering with the NC Production Alliance to support each others causes and find people who would be willing to share their testimonies with us. I have yet to hear back from Katy Feinberg, one of the founders of the advocacy group, but will continue to try to get in contact with someone from the NCPA to work with us.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

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Production Update- Raleigh shoot

We got the ball rolling a few weeks ago with an interview with Aaron Syrett, NC Film Commissioner/Director. Robert, Connor and I made the trek up to Raleigh for the day to shoot some B-Roll of the capital and get the interview- we even managed to get a job offer from Boylan Bridge Brewpub (sorry Zach, we're entering your territory now). The interview was insightful and Aaron gave us some great leads for more people and places to get information from.

We definitely learned a valuable lesson in location scouting. Since we were unable to scout out the film office prior to filming, we requested some pictures of the film office to get a better idea of what we were working with. They were able to reserve a conference room for us, and the pictures helped us out immensely, however, the conference room was much smaller than we expected. It was a tight fit to get all the equipment set up, but we managed to get everything we needed.