I’ve kept busy since Cowtown. The total film festival submissions has now surpassed 37, a magic number. In days long gone, I used to submit like this all the time, all year round. As a got involved in post production full time, the time to seek out and focus on self promotion and marketing waned. I need to get back to it, not quite as much as the past, but definitely more than of late.
Accidental Art will make some rounds on the minor festival circuit, but will it crack any of the major festivals? I can only afford to send it to so many, plus I want to maximize its effectiveness. I want to plot a bigger roll out and a more significant and directed plan for what it is and what it will do.
This is the beginning of a new feature film, one that I hope to make in 2010. It’s the perfect low to no budget feature. Strangely, my entire year is filling up fast for projects. First I have a short I want to shoot in the very near future, one of the few short subjects I still have a passion for. It’s ambitious in its own way, but the stars need to align.
The spring is spoken for with Brandy’s documentary project. We want to shoot additional interviews, getting historical context, then we want to shoot some re-enactments. I guess the connexions made during HORRORS OF WAR will pay off again. I’ll direct the re-enactments and handle casting, but I’m producing for the whole thing. This project is enormous and the subject is crucially important. As much as I like the 10 minute demo we did for COWTOWN, it is far from perfect and needs a lot of work even as a demonstration of the whole. We need to raise money, but given the subject matter (Holocaust), and having a female director (Brandy), this opens up options that we otherwise might never have. I predict this project will be in post production for at least 6 months after any shoots we do. I want to find a dedicated editor to work on this instead of relying solely on Brandy or myself. It needs another point of view and someone with a fresh idea on how to approach the material.
The goal is to create a 58 minute version for PBS, then a longer 90-120 minute version for film festivals/DVD. If we can get it on local WOSU’s PBS affiliate, then I’ll pay to submit it to the regional Emmy’s to see if it can do anything. Anything we do with the documentary will help Brandy in selling her screenplay of the book/story.
In the late summer/early Fall I want to shoot another feature. Hopefully it will be Accidental Art, but if not, there are back up plans. In the mean time, it looks likely I’ll be doing 2 Cowtown Film Series in 2010. The responses were positive and some headway was made with local media and sponsorship. Combine that with full time work as an editor and 2010 looks to be a busy damn year for Sonnyboo and me.
I’ve got a shoot tomorrow for some video podcasts and a few other new items, but none of it is particularly narrative. One set of podcasts will be more instructional/informative style videos, taking advantage of all the B-Roll I have from behind the scenes of the 2009 shoots that haven’t really been utilized. The other will be a Short Film and Making Of podcast series about the short films. This is part of the new marketing stratagem of 2010.
There are a few other surprises and mini-projects for 2010, but all in good time. We’ll see what does and doesn’t pan out.
Stay Tuned,
Peter John Ross
