"Sleeper" by Matt Sconce and Mark Aro

Larry R said:
Mark, I wondered if you guys had made any connections with Mayor Autry. I saw him on TV a while back, talking about filmmaking in the central valley.

I've got my fingers crossed!!
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Thanks Larry! We go into the meeting in an hour. I have my resume, Stricken, and photos from several of the sets I have been on showing Mark and I in Action as well as stills from Stricken. I have dressed nicely, and hopefully, Mark and I will come across as professionals and make a good first impression. First impressions are critical. :thumbsup:
 
YES! I LOVE MAKING FILMS!!!

Well, the meeting went very well.

I had a client show up yesterday and I edited video from 6:00 pm last night to 5:30 am this morning and she got on a plane to Maryland at 6:30 and I went home. Long story short, I was dragging my butt, wondering if I was going to be worth a damn for our meeting at noon. Well a few hours sleep does wonders. The meeting with the Film Comissioner went really well. He was very excited and supportive and in short, we have verbal approval on permits and they will have paperwork for us to review in the next day or so and permits in two weeks or so. Which works great for us with our current shooting schedule.

Permits will cost us nothing and if we need to block off a street or something, all we have to pay for is the cops that will need to be placed at the barricades ($70 an hour). We wont need that for our project (this time), but the first thought through my head was "Crap, I wonder if we can pull off a car chase.....?", but I reeled it back in and kept repeating... "Stick to the plan!"

Matt is swamped with work right now so there will probably be more from him later, but in short... the film Comish likes us... he loves the fact that we aren't two guys with a $100 camcorder and delusions of grandeur. They are very supportive and committed to making Filmmaking in Central California, cost effective and attractive to filmakers.

It rocks for us, because we are in on the ground floor with this new initiative so hopefully we will make a good impression and make them look good as well as create a relationship that will make our future projects run smoothly. It doesn't hurt that our Mayor has ties to Hollywood and he sees the benefit of not only filming in this area, but creating resources and services that make it easy for filmgoers to work in this area.

Sorry for being long-winded! :grin: Can you tell that I (we) are excited.

More soon...
 
Larry R said:
Mark, I wondered if you guys had made any connections with Mayor Autry. I saw him on TV a while back, talking about filmmaking in the central valley.

I've got my fingers crossed!!
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Larry,

I don't know if we have expressed it here, but Matt and I both work in local broadcasting. The Mayor and the Police Chief we in a couple of weeks ago for a live 11:00 news interview on Gang Task Force or something like that I was stuck at the office working late. I normally have the news playing in the background, but I was focused on getting my work done and getting home to my family. My wife called and said, "Are you watching the news... is it LIVE? Is the Mayor their?" In short, I ceased an opportunity, escorted him to his car and plugged our project. He was very supportive. He said that they would do everything in the power to help us be successful with our project(s). Well It took a couple of weeks to hear back, but so far he is as good as his word!

The funny thing is... the side project that I just edited last night was produced by a good friend of his and the main figure through out the 7 minute promotional piece is Mayor Autry. Hopefully she will share it when she gets back and if it goes well, we may develop a relationship with him as well that could of course benefit our future projects and hopefully our city we see some success and good press too... so HOPEFULLY we wont suck and embarrass everyone. NO PRESSURE EH! :undecided
 
Fantastic!
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Larry R said:
If this film is half as good as STRICKEN, then it won't suck. This is going to be fantastic!! :thumbsup:
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In my opinion...this film will bury Stricken. That is alot coming from me, the guy who made it! That is why this is so exciting! Just wait. Woohoo!
Shooting dates are locked down and wardrobe is progressing. I am busy and stressed a bit but what is new? This is awesome stuff!:engel017:
 
Larry R said:
If this film is half as good as STRICKEN, then it won't suck. This is going to be fantastic!! :thumbsup:
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Thanks for the encouragement. I think that most everyone will be pleasantly surprised. I say most everyone because there is always someone who wont like it... but bottom line for us is at the end of the day if WE enjoy watching it... then it was worth the effort. I never want to make films to please other people, but if it is something that I would watch, then that is a good start. :D
 
LOCATION CONFIRMED!!!!


One of our key locations in Downtown Fresno was approved by the owner today! It gets REALLY rough at night so we will have police at the shoot.

The other location is owned by the city and we have been assured we can film there. So most of our locations are locked and loaded!

A new lens and a couple other equipment purchases came in recently so our gear has been upgraded. We now have the capability to adjust iris, focus and zoom from the bottom of our crane.

Things are continuing to line up. :grin: :beer:
 
Now that the locations are almost locked in, we finally have time to focus on refining the final draft of the script. Tonight is the night we can finally lock down the story dialogue. I'll let you know how it goes!
 
Matt - wear body armour, or better yet, buy some of that bullet proof clothing that drug lords wear, well, okay, they are a bit pricey, so back to body armour. You be careful, now, ya hear? The moment you hear a "whizzz" sound, duck! Good luck.
 
GREAT NEWS, GUYS!! Congrats! So nice to have good connections. Way to use those networking skills!
 
Charli said:
Matt - wear body armour, or better yet, buy some of that bullet proof clothing that drug lords wear, well, okay, they are a bit pricey, so back to body armour. You be careful, now, ya hear? The moment you hear a "whizzz" sound, duck! Good luck.
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This is hilarious! I will do my best to not get killed before delivering Sleeper, and if Mark and I do get shot, hopefully it is in the arm or something and not the HVX.
We were walking to take BTS shots today of one location and we walked behind a building into an alleyway to find that there were several thugs sitting there, obviously not wanting to be disturbed. Mark and I kept walking but we both agreed that if they had attacked, I would chuck the HVX to Mark and he would run like the blazes. I would stay and sacrifice my body for my beloved camera....haha, just kidding, I have three black belts so we really should have turned the camera on and taped the outcome.
But yes Charli, if I hear whizzes I will hit the dirt. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but it is also true that the Bullet is mightier than my fist. :violent5:
RebeccaD said:
GREAT NEWS, GUYS!! Congrats! So nice to have good connections. Way to use those networking skills!
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Thank! We are really trying. It would be a joy to work with you someday. I respect your work a lot. It is amazing how things are lining up for Mark and I to work together. Great things are happening and we have discovered you have to get out there and make them happen. pound the pavement and take "Talking about it" to "doing something about it". Everyone in this contest is doing the same thing and I respect these contests for that. They help people make things instead of simply dream. That is how I felt after Stricken and I know Mark and I will feel the same way after Sleeper.:thumbsup: :grin:


UPDATE ON PROGRESS:

POSTER CONCEPTS DONE! STORY STREAMLINED AND LOCKED! STORYBOARD ROUGHS PROGRESSING. SCRIPT PROGRESSING. MOST LOCATIONS LOCKED. CAST. EQUIPMENT PURCHASED AND DELIVERED. CREW AQUIRED. SHOOTING DATES LOCKED.:engel017:
 
What Matt is not telling is that his Dad is a Sheriff and he will be armed, he has another sheriff friend that will most likely be there and will be armed and if all goes well his two NINJA SWORD fighting buddies (No Really!!!) will be there and Matt, oh humble Matt is no slouch either. Mark on the other hand has been sitting at a computer for over a decade and if I could fight through a mouse or game controller, I would be super ninja dude but unfortunately that is not the case.

However, the mischievous side of me is tempted to inadvertently start something and like Matt mentioned, turn the camera on and see what happens. But alas, the real thing is rarely as interesting as make believe. It is usually over too fast..... hmmm we always have 60 fps. But then there is the whole concience and morality thing! No.... I will stay focussed. :happy:
 
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Sweet guys, sounds like things are really falling into place for this one. I really liked Stricken so I can't wait to see what you do for this one.

Matt, what kind of lens did you get?
 
jeremytuttle said:
Sweet guys, sounds like things are really falling into place for this one. I really liked Stricken so I can't wait to see what you do for this one.

Matt, what kind of lens did you get?
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Thanks Jeremy! I just purchased a Nikon 28mm f/2.8 lens. I have shot everything to this point with a 50 mm on the M2 adapter. Now I also have a 28 which will allow us wider shots and more creative freedom. We also intermix HVX stock shots. If you do it right, no one notices. This is how Stricken was done. :tongue:
 
:violin:
LUCK FAVORS THE BOLD

Well if I take anything away from this experience it will be the above statement. I have always said that it is not always the most talented, gifted or creative that find success, but rather it is the bold. Those that go for broke all the time and with every failing get back up and try again. Those that are not timid or worried about what people will say or whether they will hear NO! Every success or rather every door that has opened to us lately (and there are so many) is due to BOLDNESS.

Well we am putting this statement to the test. We encourage you all to do the same. Hold nothing back, put everything you can imagine into what you do and most of all don't be afraid to hear NO. You will and if you realize that now and move on, the more success you are bound to have. The quicker you get the NO's over with, the quicker you will get to the YES's. NO wont kill you and it should never stop you from trying but FEAR will kill your dreams and your plans. So we are testing the above statement once again.

I am biting my nails. I have been struggling with the thought of our musical score. Music can make or break a film. It is as vital as the visuals and story are. I have a friend/former associate that I have worked with a couple of times over the years and I really would like to get him to do our music. Our wives are much closer than we are, we are both reclusive in our own ways, so we seldom talk. He is a very big fish in the gaming industry and in my opinion one of the best if not the best composer in gaming today. He has won more awards than you can imagine (not just in gaming) and when it gets right down to it, he is very talented.

Well last night Matt and I were working on the script and doing some concepts for the poster all while talking about music. Matt mentioned several very talented folks here on the list and I just keep going back to my friend. Literally as we were discussing this a friend of Matt's called and told us that he knows of the perfect guy to do our music.... your guessed it, it was my friend. Well the hesitation is that we are very low budget, as I am sure most of you are and I would almost feel embarrassed to ask this guy to work for nothing, but I just can't get it out of my head. So I finally summoned the courage and sent him an email and just asked him what he would charge and would he be interested and more importantly available.

Well I haven't heard back yet, but I feel a little better now that I finally approached him directly. Either way we will keep going, but I will be glad when we hear one way or another. Please keep us in your thoughts.

More to come...
 
There is truth to the statement, "You have not because you ask not". And, if you don't ask, then you've already received your answer.

Good luck on landing the talent you feel will best serve your project.
 
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