The long (LONG) road...

Thought I'd share that with you.

You're looking at a shot of the main monitor in the finishing suite at Optix Digital Pictures in Toronto where, today, I supervised the TV version cut of THE STORM my first feature film.

Reason I thought I'd post it is because of the time stamp (date) you see at the bottom.

September 29, 2009

Today's date.

No biggie right?

Mind you, if you were aware (as I so painfully am) of the fact that I 'locked' the final version of THE STORM back in early March 2007 you'd see that date and feel the significance of it.

WE'RE TALKING TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER!!

And the TV edit is just being done now and we've just now signed an agreement that should see our wee film hit select theaters in the U.S and the Worldwide market on TV and DVD in time for Halloween 2010.

THREE AND A HALF YEARS LATER!!

Talk about your 'long road home...'

It's almost unbelievable in some ways.  I mean, I knew it was hard to write, produce and direct your own independent film.  I knew it was virtually impossible for that film to ever see the light of day in terms of mainstream distribution, but that said--like every other first-time filmmaker--my hope was that we could be the exception.

And we worked hard, with the realities of the shoot, with the production value, with the story, with the cut and especially with the post-production (score, special effects, sound design, color correction and mastering) to try and set ourselves up to deliver something outstanding for the segment of the market we knew our film would eventually inhabit.

Along the way we had the film set up, and it fell apart, then re-set up, and it fell apart and in the midst of that process we've kept working to build our rep, build our contacts, build our slate and get ourselves into situations where we can meet people who can point us to the right people in the hopes that they might respond to our small, first-time film.

I think a key lesson in this for me (beyond the obvious ones related to the 'doing' of the thing in the first place) has been that everything you do, and I do mean EVERYTHING, can work together to help the things you do find their way in the World.

This means that everything is connected.  Nothing is wasted.  

You have to stay positive in the face of constant doubt and rejection and keep believing that, eventually, the thing you've done will find it's place.

I'll keep you posted on how things develop but thought I'd let you know today was a satisfying day.  My hope is that you will have some satisfying days soon as you keep at it, and keep at it, and...

Keep at it.

T

In good company...

FROM: 'THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL' DIR. SCOTT DERRICKSON

FROM 'THE STORM' DIR. TODD CANTELON

From the 'aint that cool' files....

My homee 'The Sphere' sent me this pic today.  It's from the trailer to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL a big-budget blockbuster coming soon from Scott Derrickson the director who brought you THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE.

What's cool about it is how eerily similar the two shots are--in concept and (even--dare I say?) execution despite the fact that the one has a budget (by the time you factor in production and marketing) that's probably a thousand times that of my wee film.

($200,000 x 1000 = $200,000,000)

A film called THE STORM--an 'itty bitty', feature-length, first-time microbudget supernatural-thriller I directed in early 2006 that we finished in 2007 and which is currently being sold in L.A.

I'm encouraged 'cause it feels like I'm at least somewhat connected to the zeitgeist, you know?

And surviving as someone who communicates for a living (from the pulpit or for the screen) means having sensibilities that--for whatever miraculous reason--just happen to connect with what the (mass) audience is feeling.

Cool.

T

If we all work together...

Together, together...

Any of you remember that song from Sunday school?

Man.

Interesting couple weeks since last I've written here.  Had a 'whoops, your TV show might be cancelled...' moment, worked through it (along with my intrepid executive producing biz-partner) pitched past it and closed a final 'yes' with a real 'whiz bang' pitch meeting with the top execs from the network.  I could tell within minutes, by the temperature in the room, that things were going to be o.k. 

And they were.  The execs were really happy, we got a final 'greenlight' and lived to fight another day.

Had the final set comps for both shows approved and boy oh boy do they ever look awesome.

Oh, and in other late breaking news, (and this is confidential so don't go talking or blogging about it or anything...) it looks like I might have found a key partnership in L.A to help us get 'THE STORM' distributed and explore setting up some of our other projects.  I realize that's an awfully nebulous comment, but I'll give you more once things lock down on that front.  Needless to say, I was very encouraged to get some positive feedback on our first wee feature-film.

As part of our development process I've currently got three scripts in the works; here's what I mean by 'in the works':

One is being re-written by a screenwriter I know in Austin.  He's been working on his interpretation of a script I wrote a year and a half ago or so, for the past month.  We decided to have him start work on it after he and I talked at length (and he gave me pages and pages of notes) about what he thought was working and what wasn't.  I really felt like he had a good 'sense' of the story and a good 'take' on where it should/could go.  So I'll see his first draft end of this week.

The second film is at concept stage right now, with ideas being batted back and forth between a Seattle-based screenwriter and I.  The story that is taking shape is based on an idea I had four years ago and shared with him recently.  He really took to it and we've been sending lengthy emails back and forth with things getting more and more exciting with each email.

The third script is one I'm writing based on an idea I had a few years ago and which got a bite out of L.A last week.  I'm currently outlining, locked the first pass at the story structure today, will expand on it tomorrow and maybe start writing end of the week.  Fun to be back at it as a 'writer' for a bit.

The reason I'm blogging on this is to simply testify to the amazing experience of working with talented people, people who are smarter than me, more creative, and willing to bend their talent to craft a story that I've been part of birthing.  I'm very thankful to be starting this process.  It feels like I'm starting to play with 'the pros' and I deeply appreciate the opportunity.

What's interesting to me is how, so far, the collaborative process seems a little more streamlined in show biz than it is in Church work.  I've always thought (and others have written) that the volunteer-based nature of Church is what makes it particularly difficult; the idea being that when you're not paying people it's hard to demand things of them.  I'm not sure if that answer is totally sufficient.  See, on the second script I'm working on, the other writer and I are working for free, simply because we love it.  We have interest in giving birth to the story to be sure, but at the root of it we're in it because we love this.  He's an atheist, I'm a preacher turned producer and we're getting along great, finding shared passion in story crafting trying to build something that 'speaks' on a deep level, and it's a beautiful thing.

I wonder sometimes about passion in the Christian community.  I wonder how hot under the collar our preachers and congregants are.  I wonder how much their faith MATTERS to them, cause, to the people I'm working with, what we're working on MATTERS and I find that tremendously humbling and challenging at the same time.

T

Finally...

So the trailer for my first film is (you said it) FINALLY up online.

You can check it out at www.thestormiscoming.com then select 'THE FILM' then 'TRAILER' and it's all yours.

The thing about it that's both incredibly satisfying and deeply humbling at the same time is just how friggin' long it's taken to get from 'there' to 'here'.

I wrote the film October 2005.

We set it up November December 2005.  Shot it February, March 2006.  Cut it summer 2006. Finessed it fall 2006.  Screened it for the first time February 2007.  Took in the reaction and tweaked some things March 2006...

Then we ran out of money.

The rest of 2007 was about the most insecure, difficult, 'beats taking' year I've ever experienced.

Throughout it (and in the midst of trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do about that pesky little thing called 'feeding your family'...) I kept working on it, little by little, pushing it ahead one inch at a time.  My business partner (everybody needs one of those, f'real...) kept pushing too, working like a madman to try and get our tax credits back from the government.  

Three audits later, we got the money and I was able to get people working on the thing again.

That was fall 2007.

Between then and now we've had the site built and launched, and have toiled through three versions of the trailer (from concept, to rough cut, to final cut, to sound design, to scrapping it, to new concept, to rough cut, to final cut, to sound design, to scrapping it, to third concept, rough cut, fine cut, mastering cut [where it really started to come together], to the final two passes at a sound design that would make my business partner AND my wife happy).

Now that's a tall order.  Anyway, I sat them down (one at a time) to watch it.  And they liked it. Felt that we finally had something worth proceeding with.

That was two weeks ago.

And today it went out to a bunch of folks in 'the biz', real decision makers who were going to decide whether or not to work with us in helping to take the film to market based on whether or not they liked the trailer.

Can you feel the tension?

It's about the craziest, most prolonged period of uncertainty and stress I can remember.

Then tonight, sitting with my wife watching 'American Idol', I popped into my office to check my email and there it was.

A response from L.A.

(let's let the anticipation build a moment...)

And...

They LOVED it!

Want to take it into their contacts at two major studios.

How awesome is that?

Trust my wife to be a 'wife'.  She's like; "Why can't they just say 'yes' and cut us a cheque already?"  Poor baby, this whole journey has been so hard on her.  She looks at me.  "You always knew, didn't you?  You knew the trailer would be the thing."

How can you do this if you don't 'know'?

If you don't believe in your story (and your 'belief' is double-minded at best 'cause you doubt then believe then doubt then believe at least seven times a day)  If you don't love it.  Nobody else will.

Keep in mind now (all you would-be filmmakers out there) that I'm not saying that the thing I love is the best thing ever.  I love my kids.  When they're good.  When they're bad.  I love them just the same.  I love my movie.

My simple, humble, not all that it could be... (or as my outspoken script supervisor told me on set night 17 of principal photography; "Good enough but far from good...")

--Yeah, thanks.  I needed that.  On second thought.  SHUT UP!--

...Movie.  I love it.  For what it was going to be.  For what it isn't and, most of all, for what it is and for all the people who made it that way.

I love it and I love them.

And L.A (in the first small, but oh-so-important way) loves it too.

Can you believe it?

Cool.

So, having passed that first (after so many) test, we get to live to try and fight another day.

Day 775 of deciding to make a movie.

Oh boy.

T