Friday, December 16, 2011

Walty 'Round Town

Here I am with Yasmin Lee of The Hangover 2 this past Sunday night at her going away party in LA...

The Return of Walty

Well, damn.

Here's the deal:  The producer put Secret of the Amazon and the documentary on hold, due to the state of the economy. Millionaires are holding onto their money for a while. They assure me they remain committed, so it looks like late 2012 before the production is back on schedule. Of course, that also means raising a budget for the GSR feature went nowhere. The good news is that the Canadian company keeps my thriller The Devil's Mill (retitled Damnation for release) in their production hopper!

But I ain't sitting on my ass!

Having recently acquired a better camera, I am now pursuing projects I can go straight to the distributor with and also market on DVD via my company website. Can't let the dead economy in California keep you down, that's what I say. There are always resources and people willing to commit. As frustrating as this year has been (false starts), the coming year is promising. I have already decided what the next No Budget movie will be and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The new film I am keeping under wraps until well enough into the production to produce a trailer, which I'll release here. I will say that I finished the screenplay last night, have produced some production art and started on the shot list and storyboards tonight. Also, as of this afternoon, I landed my three principal actors -- which means I have seven with four to go. The film will, of course, be shot in the greater Inland Empire, using local talent. It will also feature an original score! In some ways it is not as ambitious as the previous films, yet it also covers some familiar territory, both factors in why it's actually going to be somewhat easier to produce and FINISH.

Finishing is the key thing here. The disappointment of spending a year in development/pre-production hell and then being delayed has made me determined to achieve a goal. That goal is a completed motion picture and a major motivator is that my equipment upgrade changes the game: I can actually get the new one entered into festivals, distributed via cable and small art house cinemas and sell on DVD.

So, I have returned! Look for more regular posts here as the project proceeds...