Seven6 Productions, LLC

With the start of a new year, we always feel refreshed — a new beginning to accomplish things we didn’t get done last year and to accomplish new things.

So far, it’s been an excellent year!

I finished my first full length feature script, “Dangling The Carat”. It is a romantic comedy about a guy who gets his girlfriend a beautiful engagement ring - only to find out it is stolen. I just finished it this week. It needs some re-reading, re-writing, and tweaking. I’m letting it sit for a few days - then have several friends read it and give me feedback.

I’m not sure where I’ll go with it, but to finish a long script is a huge accomplishment for me.

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Then, I came across something that I’m very interested in and excited about. It’s claymation. You know Gumby and Pokey, Wallace and Grommet.

I’ve sculpted clay for many years now. I never gave it a thought to try claymation or stop-motion animation.
So that is my next adventure. I want to make a three minute stop-motion film. It’s something I’ll give myself a full year to complete.

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And another thing I’m working on is a full length feature about a crazy group of characters involved in murder. I’m doing this script with a partner. We hope to finish the first draft by the end of February. I’ll post more about it when I really get going. We don’t have a working title as yet.

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I’m finding that the Screenwriters meetup group has been very helpful in motivating me to continue to write. It’s so easy to just stop and forget about it. But going to the meetings each month, the people invigorate me and we all urge each other on.

Here’s the link:
http://screenwriters.meetup.com/249/

With the year ending soon, I look back and see that I accomplished some things on my list. On last thing I’m doing this year is entering the Peoria Film Festival - one short script (12 pg.) and one film. We’ll see how it goes. It is a local festival and I think only in its second year. I attended last year and found it a very nice festival.

In 2008, I will finish at least one feature screenplay and try to sell it - hopefully more than one. I am using the first three month of the year for intense writing. Maybe this time next year, I can tell everyone that - I SOLD MY SCRIPT!!!

I will also be entering my one film and other screenplays to Festival around the country in 2008 - fingers crossed.

To all …. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May all things beautiful come into your life this Holiday Season!

We made Top Five - no more said.

Since making a couple films, I’ve decided to take a hiatis and return to screenwriting. I have a couple screenplays done and will be entering them in several upcoming festivals. I’ve enjoyed seeing that my screenplays can be brought to the screen. They are cohesive. I do enjoy filmmaking and might try my hand at it again sometime. I’ll report back on how I do in the screenwriting festivals.

Submission accomplished. After our filming and editing - “Perfect Substitute” has been submitted to IFP/Phx for review. The films will be screened on November 1, 2007 at Harkins Scottsdale 101. In an email received, IFP/Phx said there were six films. I was surprised there were so few - but with many other film projects, challenges, etc. going on the past few months - maybe I shouldn’t be.

I am taking a hiatis from filmmaking until the new year. I am concentrating on getting my screenplay, “Elephant Grass” finished!!! With the Chris Soth system, I am going to give it a solid try this time. Then it will be submitted to anybody and everybody for sale.

Last night, we went to a APA mixer at Roy’s in Scottsdale. This was our first time attending. The event was successful. We met a lot of good people, exchanged a lot of biz cards, and had very good conversation. We’ll attend more of these mixers. Try to get to as many of these types of events as possible. Get your name out there, meet people, make contacts. Everyone is in the same boat pretty much - needing to get exposure and learn.

We went to the A3F screening last night. The theater for the HM was no where near filled. We saw 17 short films - mine included. I did not like the quality of the film on a large screen. I don’t know if they were compressed or what but on our large screen TV - the film was clear and crisp. Other than that, it looked and sounded pretty good. We then watched the Top 20. There were, in my opinion, only a couple films I thought worthy of noting. I felt many of them very poor quality in acting, filming, etc - and cannot figure out how they got the scores. That is something I really need to find out - voting criteria. If you can understand that - you can adapt. All in all though, I’m very happy with what we did. We learned a lot of things for our next films. We aren’t really in the film biz to be the hit of AZ. We want to see our screenplay come to life and that’s what we accomplished.

One other note - it seems like the A3F has found that trying to make a quality film in 24 hours is near impossible. They are thinking of extending their 48 hour challenge to 72 hours. This will insure that they get some quality films.

It’s strange that I’ve been wanting to make my first movie and made two!

The A3F group had a 24 HR. Film Challenge last Saturday. It was so much fun and pretty exciting. We went to the kick-off party on Friday night and got to meet a bunch of great people. There were over 200 people attending in a small bar area. So you met people one way or another. On Saturday, we got our Theme, Prop, and Line for the 24 HR challenge. So we went right to work writing and finding wardrobe and props. We finished in good time and got “ALMOST DEAD” submitted on time!

Then on Sunday night, we started shooting the IFP/Phx Fall Challenge with a theme of “Buddies”. We cast last week and got some fresh faces that we thought would work well together. We added a few extras and we were on our way. We met at 10PM at our coffeehouse location, set up and started shooting around 11 PM - and …. we finished by 2 AM — I feel in great time. Everyone worked so well together, took direction beautifully, and everything went off without a hitch. So, “PERFECT SUBSTITUTE” is finished and will be submitted to IFP/Phx next week. The coffeehouse we used for our location looks beautiful on film. I want to thank the McKays for letting us use it. If you are ever in Phoenix, stop by Mama Java’s Coffeehouse, 3619 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ for a cup of java and tell them Michele from Perfect Substitute sent you!

I have the bug now. I’ve learned so much about filmmaking in those two shoots. Organization is KEY!!!!!! If I can emphasize on element of filmmaking that can make or break you - it’s being organized. So much time is wasted if you are not ready to go at shoot time.

I edited both films (using Windows Movie Maker) and learned quite a bit as well. I need to work on lighting. I really need to take the time to set up the lighting perfectly. Right now, I’m using DIY stuff, but if I get going on this really seriously, I’ll buy a professional light kit. I was concerned about my mic that I purchased, but it worked fine. The DIY boom I made works great - try one - they are not costly at all, look pretty professional, and very easy to make.

So … all in all - I’m on cloud nine right now. I’m taking a little break to re-coup my sleep and energy, but I’ll be back making more films.

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Although my main focus is screenwriting - seeing my script on the screen is a goal of mine. The Internet is a wealth of knowledge for learning about screenwriting and filmmaking. Lighting is one of those areas I needed to understand. Today, I got to see a live seminar on scene lighting put on by a DP (Director of Photography) out of California. He was an excellent speaker. It was great to see lighting done in person and be able to ask questions of someone who actually has real, practical experience. Several other screenwriters attended the seminar as well. If you can attend any kind of film/screenwriting seminars (preferrably free or of minimal cost) - go to them. Learn all you can - it will help down the road.

I’ve been gone for a bit - vacations, other things, etc. but now I’m back on the screenwriting track. I wrote a couple more shorts. One being, Euthanasia Machine - a bit morbid but maybe timely at least as to what the future might bring.

And - I’m on two 48hr. film challenge teams. This ought to be fun, an education, and totally tiring! But, I want to see how these things go - how they are managed - what has to be done. Then maybe I’ll try one myself.

I’m also working on my Hawaii short. It’s hard work but fun. My mind goes round and round. Just like writing a script. And I have to put some music to it and that’s not easy to decide how it should feel. I’ll get it done though - and I’m sure will learn a lot. 

We went to see 10 shorts at the IFP June Cinema Lounge. Out of 10, I liked one. Some had very good ideas - and poor production - while others had poor ideas - and great production. Melding the two must be difficult. 

Our screenwriting group read our 3 minute film screenplays. All were pretty good. We scored each one and came up with the best four. Then the indie group will choose one to produce. I really hope it isn’t mine.

Well, that’s what I’ve been up to. I will write more often - probably about my 48hr. film experiences. 

1. Finish my feature screenplay - this is a major goal.

2. Make my shorts into films

3. Make an indie film and enter it in a festival

4. Do a 48 hour film challenge

5. Do a 24 hour film challenge

…. thinking of more, but the year is 1/3 over!