Brace yourself, this is gonna be a long one. Im tired, Im sore, my head hurts... And I couldnt be happier. Yesterday morning, J-KIC Productions began shooting our first pilot. We spent almost 3 months in pre-production. Between the two of us, Lee Burns and myself put in more time on this than any project weve ever attempted. We took the script from a five minute short and turned it into a 22 minute long one. Then came the idea to try to go further. Not just shoot a short film, but, instead, turn it into a TV show. Writing these characters, I kinda fell in love with them, and didnt want to see it end with just a few minutes. I wanted to see them over and over again. We knew wed need help. So we put out some feelers to see if anyone could help us. Boom! We have a meeting with Kia Row and Kelsy Davis of Azure Blue Entertainment LLC. They agreed to come on board, with Kia as my First AD and Kelsy as a camera operator/Asst. DP. As we continued to put a plan in place, I decided to begin the casting process. I contacted Krissy Notes, an amazing actress I had the pleasure of working with on Blind, and someone who I literally wrote the part of Jenny for. Never had anyone else in mind. Shes just that good. Id watch her dehydrate fruit, shes that good. She agreed, and we were off. Next, I sent the script out to Carl W Childers. Id sent him an early version a few months back, just to see if he liked it. So I shot him a message and waited desperately to see if he wanted to do it. Soon, I got a three word reply: Lets do it. Friggin awesome! So now, I had to find the rest of the cast. Id had my eye on someone, a phenomenally talented actress named Ali Froid. I sent her a message, then finally caught up with her at Get Connected. We talked, I sent her a copy of the script, then a few days later, got her reply. She was in. I couldnt be happier. From there, the search was on for the other two characters. I put the word out, and people responded. First, based off of a sterling recommendation, I watched Lance Camarillo kill it. From the moment he opened his mouth, I knew Mike was born. I wanted to reach out to one more actress. Michelle hadnt been decided yet, but then I got an idea that would turn out amazing. I reached out to Robin Yip, someone else I had met at Get Connected, to she if shed be interested. I sent her the script and, again, waited. If you know Robin, shes got amazing wit, and I was ecstatic when she said yes. Finally, I needed a small, but pivotal part filled, one that is really, really funny. @Lexi Blevins came in and made me friggin laugh with her twist on it, and she was in right away. It was a good choice. So then it came time to fill out the crew. Based on a glowing recommendation from Carl, I contacted Ando Poore and Katie Mae Poore about coming on board, doing sound and slate respectively. They read the script and liked it so boom! That was gtg. Next up, I needed a script supervisor. I shot a message to Tessie Wilmot, whom Bobby M Peoples had introduced me to. I asked her to come on and yay! She said yes! And she brought her awesome husband Kip along for the ride! We started getting messages for other positions, and next thing ya know Blair Winders agreed to come on board as First AC. She had a great set of qualifications and was interested in killing it with us. Soon, Lori Seidler agreed to come in as Set designer/PA. She really knew what she was going to do, and we were so happy to have her. Finally, I contacted Kimberly Donyale and asked her flat out to work with us as a PA. Id been wanting to work with her since I met her at GC as well. Woot! So yesterday, we began our shoot. And Im here to tell you: It. Was. Amazing. Dear lord, at the work and effort that went into this shoot, and the way that everyone amped up their game...I am truly in awe. We got on set at 7:30 am two days in a row, and worked our asses off. We set up more shots than we had ever before. We worked longer than ever. And it shows. This isnt a crap shoot. This is the single best thing weve ever shot. And considering that I am beyond proud of everything else, thats saying a lot. At the same time all of this was going on, Luciana Hailstock and Javion Hailstock, as well as Mary Ruffus stepped up to help on the homefront side of things. I cant thank them enough. Finally,my astounding wife, Christina Ward. Her support is the thing that pushes me through. It guides me and strengthens me. It keeps me on he path and makes me do better. I cannot properly say thank you. I dont have the words. There are so many others that stepped in the last couple of days. Meredith Kurbel Makeup Artistry jumped in when our usual MUA Meagan DeAnne Uplifted had a terrible accident (we love you Meagan!) Debra Adams came in and gave us some awesome hair. Sharon Standridge, Craig Standridge, Ashleigh Woodall, Amanda Lea Reno and Allen Daniel came in and were some awesome extras (Allen = Glen lololol). I truthfully could not have done this without you. I know this is a ridiculously long post, but I just had to say thank you to everyone involved (I hope I didnt miss anyone but sweet lord there were so many!) and let you all know,we will keep on trucking. We arent stopping til the day is won. Next up, post production with James Terrell and Vincent Levy Bryant for some amazing original music. Lets go! #allforrecall
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 00:53:27 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015