Cast Almost Complete

Hello readers!

Lots to update, but real quick "LET'S GO THUNDER! BEAT LA!"

Updates:

Many Roles Cast This Weekend

I'm very excited to announce that four people were cast over the weekend for major supporting roles in Love, Concord. Let me tell you about them starting in alphabetical order.

And the Role of Tony Goes to....

Zachary Garcia! Zachary was introduced to me by my producer Virginia McCarthy. Zachary's parents have been friends with Virginia for years and when I was struggling to find a Tony, she mentioned to me she felt her friend's son Zachary would be great. So while I was in LA a few weeks ago for a conference I auditioned Zach with my lead Jorge Diaz. At the audition I could see they had great chemistry right off the bat. So after talking it over with my other producers and reviewing the footage of the audition I realized he would be perfect.

So Zach will be our third southern Californian to join the cast. He's currently a freshmen student at the University of Redlands and is actively pursuing a potential double major in mathematics and creative writing. Zachary has also wants to learn more about filmmaking and had told me he wanted to volunteer as a production assistant should he not get the part, which I'm sure we'll still be able to accommodate that request. Welcome aboard Zachary!

And the Role of Gerry's Mom Goes to....

Nancy Ofelia Lemmel! I met Nancy through www.sfcasting.com and I can't plug or thank them enough. From the get go Nancy seemed like a very friendly and intelligent person when I spoke to her over the phone to set up our first audition. But when she came to audition she truly blew me and my Jimmy, my c0-producer, away! I was pretty sure I had just met the woman who would play Gerry's Mom, but me being the rationalist that I am set out to see more women just in case. Well in doing so all it did was further cement the fact that Nancy is amazing.

Therefore, this weekend I set up a call back audition with her and Jorge and again her performance simply moved everyone in the room. Jorge was practically brought to tears. After the audition all the actors and producers agreed she was too perfect to not offer the role. So it gives me great pleasure to announce she has accepted the role and has joined the cast. Welcome aboard Nancy!

And the Role of Peter Goes to....

Blake Rosier! Once again I have to give props to the SFCasting gods as they were the ones who put Blake before me. Blake was one of the quickest casting decisions we made. We really struggled finding red headed actors and I was determined to give this role to a red head. But sure enough on a last ditch effort I tried calling Blake one last time, as the first time I either left a message on the wrong person's voicemail or he never got my message.

Sure enough Blake answered and met with me, Kristin, and Jimmy on Saturday. After the first take of the audition we were already laughing in our seats. Blake just grasped the character so well and had both the mental and physical performance down we had to have him meet Jorge for a quick call back. The very next day Blake came back ran the scene with Jorge and once again had everyone, including a very giggly Angelina, laughing in there seats. So I am both very relieved and excited to have Blake, a local Martinez thespian, on the cast. Welcome aboard Blake!

And the Role of Caitlin Goes to....

Logan Svenson. Our third and, certainly not least, SF Casting lucky drawing is Logan. While I must say we saw a lot of amazingly talented "Caitlins" Logan really felt like the right choice. We knew it would be a hard choice after seeing Logan's first audition, but on her call back with both Angelina and Jorge we were quite certain she was our Caitlin.

Logan's background is full of both acting and modeling experiences. In fact she shot a short film the day before she came in for h

er call back and still was full of energy. We are really excited to have her on our amazing cast and know that she's certainly going to be a star! Welcome aboard Logan!

New Indiegogo Perk!

Many of you may have already seen the indiegogo profile Love, Concord currently has. But whether you have or haven't here's another reason to check it out and donate! The first 25 people to donate $25 will recieve a free 30 minute massage from professional massager Joe Cruz. The only limit is that you have to be in the Bay Area to receive the perk, so all you LA folk who follow the blog as long as you can travel at your own cost to the Bay Area yo

u're still free to donate and receive this perk. Joe is a certified and fully ensured massager and offers various types of massages through his business JCruz Massage Co. He can be reached at jcruz272@yahoo.com for those of you looking an experienced massager. Once again, here's the link to the indiegogo profile:

http://www.indiegogo.com/love-concord

Well that's all for now folks. I've got a lot of paperwork to prepare for the first day of shooting which feels like it's just around the corner. So until next time....

Forward!

-Gustavo

Schedule Prepping

Hello readers!

Not much of a hockey fan anymore (back in the 90's NHL Hockey on Super Nintendo made me an arm chair fan) but I defiantly still like the Sharks. And I really hope they finally make it to the Stanley Cup Finals!

Updates:

Comedy Night Fundraiser

Once again for those of you who haven't heard the next fundraising event will be a stand up comedy night on Friday May 7th. It will be at 125 9th Street Independent Film Center in San Francisco and doors will open at 8pm. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. And now let me give mucho props to my producer Kristin Youell for

the awesome digital flyer she created with a friend (thanks friend of Kristin who's name I forgot!). See you there!

Speaking of Props

To all my fellow Concord High alumni out there, do any of you have any CHS memorabilia like shirts, sweatshirts, posters, mugs, flags, etc. that you wouldn't mind loaning to me for the sake of my feature film? If so please contact me as I need to start gathering props together for the various classroom scenes I have in my movie. I will of course take great care of your stuff and inventory each item as to make sure it goes back to its proper owner. Plus I'll put your name in the credits too.

In Process of Scheduling Shoot

I'm at the point where I've locked the script and will now focus on planning my shots for each scene. In doing this it will allow me to better estimate and schedule how long we'll need to shoot scenes and more importantly how long we'll need to be a location. I'll begin with what's called "lining the script." What this means is I go through the script and for each scene I draw a line from the top of the page to a certain point, then name and describe that line as a shot I intend to shoot on the set. The goal is to "line" a scene so that no part of it is left "unlined." This then shows you what your "coverage" of a scene will be and allows you, again, to plan the logistics of the shoot.

After I line the entire script I plan to go back and attempt to draw storyboards for as many of the scenes as I can. Hitchcock use to storyboard almost every scene in his films and he bragged that doing so allowed him to direct the movie before he even arrived to the set. I have also story boarded almost all my short films and also find its a truly beneficial to running an efficient set.

Latest Cast Member

Last and certainly not least I'd like to introduce our latest cast member Lauren West. Lauren will be playing the part of a "DVC Tour Guide." The back story about Lauren is that I met her at my bank. She works as a teller there, and as I was depositing my checks from the first film fundraiser she asked me what my fundraiser was for and I explained. She then explained how she'd always wanted to try acting so I gave her my email address and we kept in touch. Lauren came to my film festival fundraiser and once I began holding casting sessions she enthusiastically tried out. While she may have less experience to some of the actors I've worked with before, Lauren truly impressed me with her enthusiasm for my project and most importantly with her reliability. So I'm happy to welcome her aboard and look forward to shooting her small yet important scene. Welcome aboard Lauren!

Well that's all for this week folks. Got 101 things to do for the film so I better get at it. Have a great week! Until next time....

Forward!

-Gustavo

A Networking Weekend

Hello readers!

Woo hoo! Two weeks without soda and consistently hitting the gym has been beneficial! So please keep the encouragement coming. Lets jump in.

Updates:

National Association of Independent Latino Producers

NALIP holds an annual conference to bring together Latino filmmakers from around the country to learn more about the industry of movies and television. This year it was held at the beautiful Loews Hotel in Santa Monica, and yours truly flew out to attend the event. First off allow me to thank my friend and fellow filmmaker/actor Miguel Angel for being the first person to inform me about NALIP and encouraging me to attend. And I'm glad I did!

At the conference I sat in on various presentations and lectures from a session on the do's and don'ts of starting a production company to hearing HBO executives talk about what they're "looking for" in original productions. As an official attendee I also was allowed to sit in on a small round table discussion with working Latino professionals in the industry.

But perhaps the best aspect of the NALIP weekend was the ability to network with literally hundreds of fellow Latino filmmakers from all over the country. I even reconnected with people I had worked with in my LMU film school days such as the actress from my thesis film, Kathreen Castaneda, fellow LMU alumni Stuart Altman who is currently pitching his feature film script to various studios, and of course getting to work and plan our project with Miguel.

Overall it was a great weekend and I highly encourage any Latino interested and serious about breaking into the industry to attend next years. I unquestionably will!

Another Producer Joins the Ranks!

On another very exciting note, another producer has come onboard the feature whom I'm really excited to be working with. Her name is Susie Talebi and our connection goes back to the first day of film school in the Fall of 2001. Susie was accepted and enrolled in my same Film Production program and we became friends and colleagues very quickly as we both inevitably worked on many student films and projects together.

During our third year at LMU Susie found a job at Sony Pictures and took a leave of absence from school to follow the great job opportunity she'd landed. She did that for a couple years and eventually returned to LMU to finish her masters and thesis film. She currently works for a production company in LA and we reconnected through the miracle that is Face Book. Susie, has already been giving me great advice on how to plan the production aspect of the film and her connections through her work with film distributors and studios will undoubtedly be beneficial. Welcome aboard Susie!

New Indiegogo Video

I had the opportunity to meet with Jorge Diaz on Monday to do an audition, that went very well by the way, and to also work on aspects of Jorge's character Gerry. But we also had a chance to shoot another promotional video for our Indiegogo profile page and I'd like to share it with my faithful blog readers! Again we're doing pretty good with raising funds on Indiegogo but we could use a lot more small donations. So once again please share the link to friends and family.

Don't Forget the Love, Concord Comedy Fundraiser!

If you haven't marked your calendars yet grab a pen and note down May 7th at 8pm. Again this will be a comedy showcase of six comedians and one hilarious MC! Tickets are only $10 if you buy in advance and will be $12 at the door. We'll be having an informal after party at 111 Mina Bar and Art Gallery. If you haven't gotten an Evite yet here's the Face Book invitation link:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111479145543593&ref=mf

Or email us at Loveconcord@gmail.com to get a personal Evite. See you there!

Well that's all for now. Until next week!

Forward!

-Gustavo

Camera Selected

Hello readers!

A's are off to a good start and I'm loving it! Let's jump in!

Updates

Fundraising Reminders

In case you missed it last week we launched an Indiegogo profile to promote Love, Concord but to also better raise funds. On the first day alone we raised about $180 which is awesome! But since then we've slowed down. Therefore, I'd like to remind all you loyal readers that no amount is too small (I think technically you have to donate a min of $1) so if you're holding back because you don't want to look cheap, then donate anonymously. And know that we'd rather receive a $1 donation then no donation. If money is tight, and it understandably is with almost everyone, then help out by emailing the indiegogo website to 10 of your friends. That would be a huge help!

Furthermore, let me remind you that this money we're trying to raise will primarily go toward paying and feeding cast and crew. As of now, almost every crew position and cast member is strictly volunteering their time to the production, therefore raising this money would allow me to at least offer some compensation to the crew rather than them simply working for no pay. Some of the funds would potentially go to the cost of locations as well. While we're working hard to get as many locations for free or "bartered" for, there will undoubtedly be some locations we simply have to rent. Again, while our current budget will enable us to get the project done, having the extra funds would be a huge morale booster to my cast and crew and thus further solidify our chances of completing the project as anticipated.

Here's the link and the video in case you missed it.

http://www.indigogo.com/Love-Concord

And the Winning Camera is....

For a while I've been testing and debating what camera to use to shoot my first feature and I'm happy to say we've finally made a selection. Our primary "A" camera will be the Canon 7D. This camera has truly proven it's ability to shoot in various lighting conditions with consistent beauty. But mostly what put me over the edge is it's ability to use various lenses and its awesome shallow depth of field. For all you non-techy people out there, a shallow depth of field allows one to shoot more professionally framed shots where something can be in focus in the foreground while the background be nicely out of focus. Thus gently pushing the viewers attention to what the filmmakers want them to see.

The other great and exciting news is we have an official "B" camera which is the 7D's little brother, the Canon T2i. This camera's video specs are identical to the bigger and pricer 7D, however, it's smaller, cheaper, and shoots on SD cards instead of compact flash. So with the help of Bryan Navarro, a former student of mine who owns a T2i, I was able to do side by side tests of the two cameras in both indoor and outdoor settings. And having looked at the footage side by side I simply can't tell the difference. They match and they both look fantastic so we have our 2nd camera for the production shoot.

Check out the footage yourself and see if you can see any difference.

Well that does it for this week folks! Enjoy the weekend and until next week...

Forward!

-Gustavo

Major Announcement

Hello readers!

Hope everyone had a great April fools. For those of you who got tricked by our Face Book Fan Page all I can say is "hehehehehe!" So I'm writing a 2nd article this week to make a major announcement so lets get to it!

Here we GoGo!

Ever since our first fundraiser we've been make really good strides in raising money for Love, Concord. But as grateful as I've been of my supporters and the money we've raised, it still isn't coming in fast enough and in large enough amounts to make a dent in the ideal budget I'm hoping to have by June 13th. Therefore, I've discovered a website which I hope will help better publicize the project's endeavor to raise more money and thus better guarantee our ability to get to the end of the principal photography. While I'm confident I can make this movie on the limited budget we've gathered thus far, reaching the goal or raising $50,000 by June 13th will drastically improve our ability to make the film a reality.

So please visit the link to our new up and running Indiegogo profile and please make a donation. Every bit helps. For instance, if half the population of Concord donated $1 we'd automatically reach our goal to raise $50,000 with a lot extra to boot! While I know we're in a recession and times are tough for most people's budget, we truly believe we have an impressive film in the making here so please help see it come to life by donating whatever you can spare. If you can't make a donation, then please help the cause by spreading the word about our Indiegogo website. Email all your contacts, post it on your blog, Face Book page, etc. and know that not only I will be appreciative of your help, but my crew and cast will also.

For those of you who do plan to make donations the website has all the details of what you need to do. Plus there are perks for those of you who make large donations starting at $50 and all the way up to $2500.

Here's the link and let the donations begin!

http://www.indiegogo.com/Love-Concord

Thank you all in advance for your support. Stay tuned next week for more announcements and a brief article on my tests with the Canon 7D and its baby brother the Canon T2i.

Until then....

Forward!

-Gustavo