Do as Robert does...

For those who don't know, we are planning on shooting "Straight On Till Morning" in two parts. Doing the intro and road trip section of the movie this fall, and doing the rest of it in the spring (at an awesome location we have access too).

So, I was thinking, maybe we're crazy to be shooting the movie in two pieces. Maybe we should just shoot the opening and hold off. Maybe it's nuts to try to do that...

... and then I was reading about Grindhouse (Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Terrantino's flick) and it said that In Planet terror and sin city, Robert planned both movies to be shot in two pieces. With a large break in production so he could edit the footage he had and plan out the next stage of the production!

Shit. If RR did it, then we are on the right track!

Trust the instincts.
Rock on
CraigO

It has begun...

So the pre-production continues (wow this is a lot of work! :), but we're finally FINALLY coming up to shooting. In fact, when I was in colorado a couple weeks ago I shot some travel footage. I'm so excited! It's really beautiful up there and I'm glad we're going to be shooting the road trip for real. Taking David and Kaitlin from LA to Chicago and back. So we can shoot them in the real locations and real places they're supposed to be. And to give Mother Nature a chance to give us some of the amazing beauty that only she can.

Here's the first "production still" shot on I70 in western Colorado.

Ahhh... the joys of pre-production!

My buddy (and fellow producer on "Straight On Till Morning") found this video and it pretty much sums up how things are going right now with SOTM.

And the site its on www.xtranormal.com is pretty awesome too. Enjoy!

Casting, Crewing and Locations pt. 1

Hey Team,

So we're in the thick of it. So much to do and it's lot of fun (mostly).
We've had more auditions, this time for Virgil. Talk about brave actors to come in there and do improvs for us with no lines. To create characters based on the couple paragraphs we gave them (and the script if they were able to read it). It's been exciting and I have lots of respect for them. Being an actor is tough and to be in that room and see all the people that walk in that door to a room full of (most likely) strangers, and put yourself out there is a challenge. The ones who make a choice and commit to it fully, and connect with the "reader" in the room are the ones who make the strongest impressions, but even the ones who don't go all the way I have to give props to for going into that situation.

On top of that I'm starting to interview Director's Of Photography. On past projects I've always been my own DP, which is something I really enjoy doing, but for this one I know it'll look better and be better if I let someone else unleash their skills in that department. So of the 13 people I've contacted hopefully one of them will be a perfect match for personality, creativity, style and skill.

And we're looking for locations... so if you know of any 3 story (or 2 story with peaked ceiling attic) houses in the desert somewhere around LA (or anywhere really) that we could use, please shoot me an email and let me know.

Thanks!
Craig O

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Thank you EVERYONE who pledged to support "Straight On Till Morning". The outpouring of support and excitement has been amazing. 80 backers. $22,206. Success. Amazing.

All of you deserve a great big hug from me and the rest of the SOTM team. We're so thankful to all of you. This campaign was a very important part of the overall budget for the film, and with this and what we had before we are now able to set a start date to begin shooting. The thank you you will receive in the credits of the film is heartfelt and well deserved. Everyone who pledged will get in the credits.

Stay tuned here as we post updates on the project. Casting, locations, plans etc. We'll post things here as well as at the official blog.

Either way, "Straight On Till Morning" will exist in better form because of all of you.
From the bottom of our hearts, Thank you.

Craig O, Laurel, Brian, Neal, Laura, Greg, Tom, Kimo, Liz and more to come

Our Sincerest Thank You

Thank you,

Thank you so much for the amazing, fantastic, awesome, humbling pledges that have led to the "Straight On Till Morning" kickstarter campaign being successful!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to EVERYONE who's pledged we reached our goal! Yahoo!!!!!!!! It really has been amazing to see all this support for our little horror movie. It's going to be an exciting journey, and I hope we can make it live up to everyone's expectations.

In addition to our sincerest thanks, a number of you had mentioned in email or in person your desire to still pledge the project, so I wanted to let you know you only have until THIS FRIDAY, June 18, at 11:55pm PST to do so. The link is below, and it's super fast and easy to do. Though we've reached the goal set at Kickstarter this is not our entire production budget. So every penny pledged, even now, will be used on the film for all sorts of purposes: to increase the quality of the makeup f/x, to pay for food (I love food! :), lodging or sets, costumes or props, stunts and more.

KICKSTARTER LINK: http://kck.st/cZnK3u

Again: THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for your kind support.

Sincerely
Craig O and the SOTM team

PS: There are still investor opportunities available if you'd like to be involved in the movie to an even larger capacity. Just email me and we can discuss the options.

Auditions Round 1

So we've had 3 days of auditions for the roles of Lilly, Rubin and David in the last two weeks. It's been a really wonderful experience. Seeing all these talented actors and actresses coming in and reading. Each with their own unique take on the characters and where they would take them. It's an exciting process.

Despite having shot over 20 short films in the past few years, I actually haven't had auditions for any of my films since my rarely seen first feature "All The Days Undone", shot in 1999. And this time around we've got a great casting director, Greg Phelan helping out and setting up all these auditions. We're doing it at a place called CAZT in the heart of Hollywood. And all the headshots and resume's are being submitted online (which is very different from getting hundreds or thousands of headshots in the mail!).

And we've had some Amazing actors and actresses come in. It wouldn't be proper to mention names, but the headshots have been very well known actors and actresses from cool horror movies, action movies, TV-shows past and present. In addition to many talented unknowns as well (but people who deserve to be known :)

Now, not everyone has it all together, and of course some are stronger actors than others, but still, I have such respect for people who can walk into a room full of (usually) strangers, and put themselves out there. It's really cool to watch.

So we've got more auditions coming in the next few weeks, and then callbacks. We're focusing on the larger roles now: David, Lilly and Rubin. Then we'll look for our Virgil. Then cast the smaller, though very important other roles.

This is so exciting!
CraigO

More on Straight On Till Morning's Kickstarter campaingn

Hey Team,

Thanks so much to all of you who have supported "Straight On Till Morning" so far! It's been amazing how generous everyone's been with pledges and contributions for our independent horror feature film. This past week has been particularly amazing!

But we're not there yet: We've only got until JUNE 18, FRIDAY at 11:55pm to raise the rest.
We're at $12,857 of our $18,222. And this is ALL OR NOTHING. If we don't make it, we get nothing, and you're charged nothing.

Now 12 days might seem a short time to raise another $5,000+, but it really isn't so bad at all. Every pledge from $10-$250 makes a huge difference, adds up, and makes this film more of a reality. You'll even get cool things like pre-ordered DVD's of the film, Blu-Rays, Movie posters or visits to the set depending on your level of involvement.

For more about Kickstarter, here's a video our lead actress Laurel Marlantes, and I did talking about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTQnSQEvi1w

So if you've pledged already, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If you've been thinking of supporting, we wanted to let you know that the deadline is fast approaching and every dollar counts. Just click the link below and it'll take you right there:

KICKSTARTER LINK: http://kck.st/cZnK3u

Thank you all, we're so excited about this movie and about having you all involved.
And for the support over the past few years.

Straight on till Morning!
CraigO
www.SOTMmovie.com

Today is a new day!

Your Greatest Day!
By Steve Maraboli

Today is a new day!
What can you do today to make it your greatest day?
Shake things up today.
Take time to think about all the things you are grateful for.
Call a friend and make them laugh.
Let go of past regrets and future insecurities.
Stop validating your victim mentality.
Embrace the immeasurable power you have been blessed with.
Say goodbye to people who mean you harm.
Surround yourself with positive people.
Excuse yourself from any relationship that is hurtful.
Understand that you are here to grow, to learn, to love, and be loved.
Do something you've wanted to do but always talked yourself out of.
Share your dreams and thoughts with someone close to you.
Remind yourself that you are beautiful, powerful, and created by love.
Today you have the opportunity to do so much!
You can choose to make it the same ol' same ol' or you can make it great.
Choose to make it great. Today is a new day.
Make today your greatest day! ...then do it again tomorrow.


In Closing

"Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day." ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The "Straight On Till Morning" kickstarter launch!

One of our plans for raising some of the additional funding for shooting "Straight On Till Morning" this summer is to enlist the power of the internet, friends, strangers, and social networks with Kickstarter.com. The video above tells you a bit about the project and how it all comes together. The link below takes you directly to the kickstarter campaign if you'd like to learn more or to pledge to support the film.

DIRECT LINK TO OUR KICKSTARTER PAGE: http://kck.st/cZnK3u

Rock on

Archive of my film courage interview...

If you missed the interview about "Straight On Till Morning" on Film Courage sunday, you can check it out at the link below.

Film Courage Interview at LATalkRadio.com


Rock on

LINK (If above doesn't work):
http://filmcourage.podbean.com/2010/05/11/filmmaker-craig-ouellette-on-la-talk-radios-film-courage-ep-57/

Special Kickstarter Promotion...5/10/10 Only!

Here's a special bonus incentive to pledge $250 or more to the "Straight On Till Morning" kickstarter campaign. (http://kck.st/cZnK3u)
Reel Productions movie scheduling software. Courtesy of FirstGlance Films and David Branin & Karen Worden of Film Courage.

Thanks so much!
CraigO

Film Courage Interview...Today!

Just a reminder, that I'll be on the internet radio show film courage today. Gonna be talking about "Straight On TIll Morning" and more! Tune in if you can. :)

www.LAtalkRadio.com.
Channel 2
"Film Courage"

12 NOON PST - 1pm PST.

Archived tomorrow on at
www.Podbean.com.
Search for "Film Courage".

Rock on
CraigO

Film Courage Radio

So I've been asked by David Branin and Karen Worden to appear on their LA Talk Radio show "Film Courage" on Mother's day (go Mom, I miss you!).

That's Sunday, May 9th at NOON PST. Goto www.latalkradio.com, and "Film Courage" is on channel 2. If you want to tweet in questions on the day, use @filmcourage

It'll be put up on Podbean.com after that to be enjoyed forever! :)

We're going to be discussing "Straight On Till Morning", the kickstarter campaign, the casting, crewing and making of an independent film. I'm really excited. It's super cool of them to offer me the spot on the air. Hopefully it'll be entertaining and fun.

Would love to hear what you think about how it all goes.

CraigO

Kickstarter Begins

So the official "Straight On Till Morning" kickstarter campaign has begun. We've got until June 18 to raise money to help with the production of the feature film. It's an exciting prospect which will give whoever likes a chance to take part in the film and get some cool SOTM stuff in return.

If you're interested, check out the link above, tell your friends, and thanks so much.

Stolen Cars and Movies...

So team,

Some piece of shit stole my car from my PARKING SPOT IN MY HOME on Easter Morning.
Yep...

So guess what happens to the money I had saved up for a movie called Straight On Till Morning?

Yep.

I get to buy a car. That means we are even FURTHER from our goal of shooting this movie.

Now, for some reason, I'm more depressed about this than pissed. It's such a random thing, I just don't know what I can even do about it. I guess if you see a :

94, white Honda Civic 4door with dark tinted windows, Texas Plates, SXR-052. A taped on drivers side rear view mirror.

Call the cops. Follow the fuckers. And help us out. Cause no car means the movie just got harder. Like it wasn't hard enough as it was.

CraigO

Film Courage Interactive

So last night I attended the third "Film Courage Interactive" event at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles. The event is run by David Branin & Karen Worden (www.Filmcourage.com). They put on a weekly radio show where they interview indie filmmakers, and now they've expanded it to this monthly screening event where they show REAL indie films. Not 5,000,000 dollar indie films, but little ones. $10,000 or $20,000 movies. The kind of movies that so many of us are making but don't have a chance to show in theaters as easily because we don't have some name actor in the movie.

Anyway, it's a really cool event. It's in it's infancey, but they are doing a great job of getting people out to chat, meet each other, watch some true indie films, often with a Q&A afterwards, and then they have what we have affectionately called "filmmaker group therapy" where whoever would like to tells who they are, what they're working on and lessons they've learned or problems they face.

I've me a number of really cool folks there this time and last time. People working on indie films at various stages. Some in preproduction like us with "Straight On Till Morning". Some all finished, festival favorites who are looking for distribution like "Scenesters".

If you're an indie filmmaker in LA, I highly recommend coming out, and getting inspired, or at least meeting some cool folks, making movies, that aren't full of shit. :)

And if you can't make it, check out the Film Courage radio show, noon on Sundays. (or archived to enjoy whenever you like).

Is it time for Pre-Production yet?

So...

we've been busy. Interviewing producers. Getting the website, facebook and twitter infastructure up and running for "Straight On Till Morning". Working...nice to have some of that finally after a really slow spring. We've got lots of ideas of what to do next, and just need to put in all the work and do all the stuff it takes to get it done.

I had a big idea for something to write right now and I seem to have forgotten it.

Anyway...watched "Lost Boys" in honor of Corey Haim's death last week. So weird to think he's only a few years older than me, but had done so much in entertainment and then was sort of forgotten. I had a friend who was cast in the lead in a film opposite him last fall, and then they ended up recasting HIM because he wasn't a big enough draw anymore. It's sad really to think that all someone's hard work and all we do can become irrelevant to the people doing stuff in the future. That they'll look back and remember it fondly. And eventually people will hardly remember or even know who we were. After all, how many movie stars from the 30's can you list off? And how many of them have you actually seen in a film? I know I can't do very many.

Guess that's why it's always important to have family and friends and loved ones so close. To really inspire a son or daughter or niece or nephew or something. That the human connection matters most since all of our work will crumble to dust. Then again so will people...

hmmm....this all seems kinda depressing, but I'm actually just thinking about it. Not to be sad about it, but just to think about how BIG the world is, and how tiny what we do in it is. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. Not at all.

The "Straight On Till Morning" Poster...

Here it is!

The One Sheet Poster for "Straight On Till Morning". I'm so pumped! This looks so much better than I thought it would thanks to Natalie Young our photographer, and Lonny Chant who did the titles. To Brian Erzen for his keen eye and for hooking me up with Lonny in the first place. And to all of you who were giving your thoughts and opinions on which struck you as best.

So now we have a poster...for a movie that hasn't been shot yet. We also have a number of other images, many of which you can see as background of the "finished" website www.SOTMmovie.com.

Looking at the images gets me excited to tell the story of David & Kaitlin. Hopefully it'll get other's excited to work on or see the movie. Of course by doing this and asking for all sorts of opinions, I was reminded of the fact that everyone has their favorites and their vision of how things should go, and even though seeking advice is always wise, in the end I've got to make my own choices and own decisions and sink or swim with them. As my good buddy Dan Kraus said in one of my many emails asking for opinions about fonts, blood color levels and more: "This looks great...but you gotta start trusting yourself! you don't need opinions on this small stuff -- you got it goin on, bro!"

Thanks Dan.

Producers...and more Producers...

So I'm at the stage of interviewing Producers.

It's exciting. Really. No, really it is.

Okay, it's not super exciting. Meeting new people is, but trying to sort out the truth from the fast talk is interesting. After all, whoever this is that joins the team has to be trustworthy, a problem solver, creative, knowledgeable and frankly fun to be around. After all we're going to be hanging out A LOT in the next year.

A whole lot.

I just watched "CASINO" tonight, first time I'd ever seen it. And the whole movie is about trust, and that's what it's going to be with me, Neal, Laurel and whoever this Producer is. It'll be exactly the same (well, minus the baseball bats, exploding cars and gunshots).

Still it's scary, and exciting. Up to this point I've been the sole producer essentially on almost everything I've done. I've produced, directed, shot, edited, often written. It's not that I'm a control freak, I actually enjoy watching all the cool creativity and work people put into a project. I like to see everything, and understand it the best I can, but I know there are people who can do certain things much better than I can, and it's awesome to watch it happen.

Like the photo poster shoot. Sure, I could have taken the pictures, and they probably would have turned out pretty good, but Natalie Young blew it up! (not like the car in casino). Everytime I look at the pictures I go "wow". And now we have Lonny Chant helping with the titles and graphic design.

Anyway...

Producers.

Producer.

Looking for that person who wants to get involved, see's the value of this project, falls in love with David and Kaitlin like I have and wants to make this mother of a movie no matter what.

Do you know the Producer?