My Movie has a First Name

Hello readers!

Who else is excited about Star Trek being out on DVD and Blu-Ray? Beam me up!

Updates:

Fundraiser Part Deux:

So first and foremost lets talk about the party/fundraiser/premiere on Saturday. About 22 people attended the first public screening of my latest short film "Marta's Last Exit" and I'm confident enough to say that it was a successful screening. Many people were very impressed with what I already knew, the videography from Jon Bowerbank (my DP for the feature) is simply breathtaking.

Also, many people complimented Angelina Leon's (my lead actress for the feature) amazing performance as the troubled teen title character. Everyone agreed her performance was so attention getting yet gracefully subtle. I couldn't agree more.

I feel the screening truly raised the level of excitement and anticipation for the feature to come. I for one am very excited to work with these two people and count myself fortunate to have them on board.

Aside from watching my short we also had appetizers, desserts, and drinks. But what a lot people enjoyed was the raffle. Here's who won

:

Prav Chandrasekaren won his choice of any of two DVD's from my collection I was selling at the event. Christina Giovannetti won a bottle of Sophia rose wine from the Francis Ford Coppola vineyard. Megan Johnson won a $25 gift certificate to Pride of the Mediterranean in Black Hawk. Amanda Gillespie Baker won a $50 gift certificate to Bijan in Walnut Creek

And finally the grand prize winner was Diana Camacho who won $10o gift certificate to Bay Grille in the Berkeley Marina.

Lastly, we had a silent auction where Amanda made out like a bandit by winning the Canon color printer/scanner/fax machine for $40! She also won two bottles of wine from napa valley vineyards for $25! Lucy Chung also made off with the William Sonoma Kitchen set for $30. Anthony Giovannetti won Johnson Bro.'s plate set for $30 and lastly, Prav won the Johnson Bro.'s tea cup set for $40.

Overall we raised just over $500 in profit towards the budget of the feature so thanks to all who came. I also want to thank those of you who knew you wouldn't make it but bought raffle tickets nonetheless. This really does help, but again my goal is to raise $10,000 from donations by the time we start shooting in June. So as of now we're about 10% there!

To help us get to that goal I'm currently planning another event for the very near future. This time Jon Bowerbank will be helping by co-planning a short film festival in San Francisco. We'll be screening "Marta's Last Exit" there for those of you who still want to see it as well as other local entries. We have a tentative date of December 11th or the 12th. So pencil us in on your calenders and here's the link to the Face Book "event" :

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180829541652&ref=nf

Grant Writing:

On Thursday last week I took a one time class on grant writing for filmmakers. It was offered by San Francisco Film Society which I've decided all local filmmakers should become a member of. This class taught me a lot about the preparation for applying to grants. What stuck out most from the class was just how much time an grant application will require. It's not something that can be filled out in an hour or a day.

Also, I learned about fiscal sponsorship. This, in a nutshell, allows filmmakers to collect money either through a grantor like a foundation or big business. And also allows for small time donations from individuals as well. The difference being is that once a film production is granted "fiscal sponsorship" anyone who donates money to that film can essentially write it off on their taxes (I am not an authorized financial planner, please consult with one before heeding this advice). The only problem with fiscal sponsorship (from my understanding of it) is one must be making a film for "non-profit" reasons. However, the teacher also mention a "hybrid" type of fiscal sponsorship which would allow one to receive "non-profit" grants and still attempt to sell the film for profit. But again I hope to get clarification of this by joining the SFFS and applying to their grant program.

Lastly, I learned there's a lot more emphasis for grants to be awarded to documentary films. While I would like to make a documentary one day, my first feature is going to be a narrative and my plan is to continue making narratives until I find a cause and or passion to pursue via a documentary. So this may be a challenge for me but I'm positive I'll be able to get some type of grant, if not for the production budget then definitely for post-production.

And the Winner is....

To say I've been struggling to name my feature would be like saying The Raiders have a hard time winning games, DUH! But alas after a very long trial and error process involving you oh so faithful readers I've come to a final selection. Thanks to everyone who participated in the voting process and also those of you who offered suggestions.

The envelope please. And the winner is....... Love, Concord

While two of my closest friends were adamantly against this title I feel it best encapsulates my feature film's story. This is a love story after all, and the use of Concord as a double entendre becomes clearer once you've read the script and discover more about the lead character Gerry.

So that's it the production has a name. Now allow me to mention that movies constantly evolve until the day they're finally screened and even then they may still change. Therefore, while I'm completely satisfied with this title it could change with a more suiting option I may discover in the editing room. But until then my movie is called Love, Concord.

Well that's all for this week folks. Next week I plan to write about visiting a professional movie set my producer, Virginia, is currently work on as script supervisor.

Have a great week everybody!

Forward!

-Gustavo