The experience of The $1,000 Feature can be summed up by a guy named Mike and a boatload of Philly Cheesesteaks.

Mike is a guy who makes things happen. He’s been part of the Digitribe crew and extended family since, well, the beginning. He’s good people. For this project, Mike has offered to do battle with the demon of Craft Services, and we have graciously ceded the task. See, when trying to stretch $1,000 into a movie, feeding people is a concern. A big one. Run some quick match calculations. I’ll wait.

“Let’s see. McDonald’s for 15 people is about $100 a day. Times ten days of shooting. Equals…… bugger.”

The math is never great, but Mike is working to make it tolerable. At our last several production meetings, he’s stormed in near the end of things with plastic grocery sacks and a wild look in his eye, like Ben Gunn sprung loose from the Food Lion. “I’ve found a way to feed ten people on $30,” he’ll say one week. “Fifteen people, $20,” he’ll say the next. I’m afraid of where this trend might be leading.

"25 people for $1."

"30 people for a net profit of 25 cents."

"39 people by sacrificing the 40th."

It was as I noshed on his latest concoction – super filling, super good cheesesteaks for some mere fraction of actual money – that it dawned on me. This is as good as it gets, baby.

We might be insane for taking on such a daunting challenge as making this film on ten Ben Franklins, but I couldn’t be more excited by what I’m seeing out of our crew. This is homespun, hand-crafted movie making. In past films, the answer to every problem was inevitably money. More lights, more equipment, more, more, more. In this film, we’re discovering new ways to answer every question and solve every riddle. You should hear Jason’s theory on lighting streets at night.

We are getting closer to wrapping up pre-production on the $1000 Feature Film. Over the last several weeks we have been struggling mostly with locations and props - spending our weekly production meetings tracking down various set options that were appropriate and free. (For a glimpse into this process as it relates to props, check out Andy's recent blog post.) We are finally close to closing that door, which means we are closer to an actual plan of how we are going to shoot this thing.

Next, its time to lock down a tentative shooting schedule, and start to staff up. We're looking for crew help of all types. If you are local to Atlanta, willing to work hard and show up day after day ... leave us a comment. Also, be on the lookout in the coming days for an official announcement regarding Open Call Auditions this month!
More soon.

The Uncanny Valley Podcast left three dead in its mindless rampage through downtown Tokyo this week. Due to the untold billions in property damage and the gallons of sedative used to subdue the podcast, it will be forced to miss its normally scheduled release date. Barring any unforseen complications or giant moth attacks, the podcast will return at its next scheduled release date, somewhere around April 14.

I'm more of a "classical" George Lucas fan. Classic Lucas gave us Indiana Jones and Star Wars and the wackiness of THX-1138. Modern Lucas gave us midichlorians, whiny Vader, and Indy vs. Aliens. I consider my position to be one of considerable strength.

One quirk I've consistently given Lucas hell for, though, is one I'm reconsidering. I never understood, and actually outright loathed, his obsession with creating these digital, video-game locations to put his actors into. It's difficult to drag out a proper performance, it overwhelms the story, and, worst of all, it just doesn't look or feel real.

After a few weeks of working on locations for the $1000 Feature Film, I'm definitely not saying I want to paint every wall in the DigiCave green, throw some actors up against them, and who-gives-a-shit if they can't act, they'll act poorly in an awesome location. I'm not ready to say all of that... but I get it.

Finding locations is hard work. You start with words on a page, a loose description of a building or a field or a towering spire of obsidian rock. Most of the time, these words do not correspond to any real life spot, but rather one the writer dreamed up out of the mulch pile in his or her mind. Sometimes, as was the case with many of the 1KF's locations, the spot is some dimly remembered set from the writer's childhood, something that may or may not even remain in existence. In either case, it's now the crew's duty to take these vague specifics and translate them into an actual real-world location. To do this, they simply have to find the 20 or 30 perfect spots, narrowed down from every physical location on the surface of the earth.

We wanted to let everyone know that we have been invited to screen two of our recent short films at a local event this Saturday, March 22nd.

FILMAtlanta is sponsoring the One Day SHOOT Films Festival at the Clarkston Community Center a few miles East of Atlanta. A host of local filmmakers will be screening films they have completed recently, and it should be a lot of fun.

We'll be screening After and The Statement of Randolph Carter, and we will of course have a table set up with some Geekin' stuff.

You should definitely come hang out with us. John Morehead has promised to sneak in some booze in his crotch.