Quick Teaser Update

We're still preoccupied with the prep for the West Hollywood Book Fair where we have a booth. Look for a blog this time next week with a date for the teaser to be uploaded and a timeline for all kinds of extra goodies! The fund raising campaign will begin in a couple of weeks!

Post Teaser Shoot Doings and Plans

The biggest question of the last couple of weeks as been when will the teaser trailer go up? It will be the first or second week in October when we launch or fundraising campaign on Indiegogo.com. The video will only be running on the campaign page until after the fundraising is over. Then, it will go up on DraggonTV's Youtube page. There also will be more images put up on this site, but we will save some for the campaign page. We will also have some mini interviews with the cast. There has to be a reason for fans of all sorts to come to the page, after all.

Meanwhile, we have been very busy scouting locations for the full shoot. I was, in fact, visiting downtown LA locations the week after the trailer shoot. We have almost every location that we need for the script we have in mind. I have one or two more places I'd like to visit before we actually write the script and set the budgets. That last bit brings up a couple of questions we've been asked.

First, we aren't writing the script solely on the resources we can find within out price range. The script will spring from two stories in the upcoming Demonspawn anthology. We expect that to come out in November. We know enough about the elements in those stories to figure out budget items like locations, cast, props, costumes, etc. I completely forgot to mention that in my initial blog about budgets, so the confusion is entirely because of me. And the other question is about the fundraising's outcome on whether or not we actually do the shoot. The reason we're going with Indiegogo.com as opposed to Kickstarter.com is because with Kickstarter if the campaign is even a dollar short of its goal, nothing is paid out. With Indiegogo.com, the campaign is paid out whatever is raised by the end of the fund raising period. Thus, we are building a three tier budget. There is a best case scenario where we are only limited by time to get what we want shot. We would go for a stunt coordinator who does wire work so Simon can really leap about with Joe in his arms. We'd really like to have Simon's fangs done by a dentist like we had for Demon Under Glass. Those are more comfortable and thin enough to allow Simon to speak without a lisp. 

There is the middle budget where we get some of the bells and whistles and cut back on others. And then there is the bare minimum budget where we'd have to get really creative, but we could still get something done and have it look good. Below that minimum, we are not willing to turn the key in the engine. The shoot will be a SAG project, so we want to maintain a professional level of production values and a decent level of pay for cast and crew. It's also important on a shoot that will always be pressed for time that everyone working is well fed and comfortable at the various locations. We're not sure what those levels are yet. We will have basic budget numbers posted as part of the campaign, so donors will know where the money is going.

The next couple of weeks will mean a lot of touring locations and interviewing crew candidates. We're deliberately picking a time of year to shoot when most of the industry is quiet. That gives us a fairly nice sized pool of people to choose from in each position where we have a vacancy. Some slots are already filled. I have found almost all of the locations that we will need. Only one remains elusive. I plan to work on that in the next week or so. I'd prefer a real life location for the gastropub, but Los Angeles is so jaded about shoots. They believe that even if a project is low budget, that couldn't possibly apply to their rates. And a claim of giving a place exposure is met with a roll of the eyes. A good yelp review can be seen by thousands of potential customers without costing an establishment any down time. I am seeing claims by businesses that they are film friendly on the LA film Commission site. They claim is that these businesses want to stem the flow of runaway productions. It sounds good. I plan to check them out with an optimistic outlook.

I'll report on my results the next time.

New Updates Coming Soon!

We've been busy with some of our other hats of late, but the trailer is well under way with the editing. Meanwhile, I have been scouting locations and talking about casting. A complete update will be posted by Sunday.

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