"Dead Drop"

[dougspice]

DEAD DROP

TAGLINE
How far would you go to get back the one you love?

SYNOPSIS
Mark Granger never imagined that he would betray his country – until shadowy agents kidnapped his wife. Now, coerced into trading in secrets, he's in over his head and ready to do anything to get her back.
​

Written and Directed by Doug Spice
Produced by Doug Spice
Associate Producer Jasmine Moeller
Associate Producer Ryan Sturz

Director of Photography Natasha Bedu
Production Sound Nick Lentz
Production Assistant Aaron Bennett
Editor Keith Schwebel
Music by Austin Wintory

Special thanks to Charla Teeters at the Imperial County Film Commission, Maria Timpani at SAG, Brian Feeney, Mike Celestino, Kevin Schwebel and everyone here at Lead Balloon or elsewhere who reviewed scripts and edits and gave me notes along the way.


Want to read the script? HERE IT IS.

 

[dougspice]

Production updates!

– 01 February 2010: Pending final casting and a read-through by the actors, the script is now locked. This is the seventh or eight draft; it's a very different beast from when I started. It is also dramatically better – I cannot stress enough the importance of having a good feedback loop of smart people. Unfortunately, this is also the longest draft, at 6 5/8 pages. It is possible that the official festival version will be a little bit more confusing to some viewers than I'd like.

– 01 February 2010: Crew is coming together. Had a lengthy meeting with my DP last night, and bar some scheduling catastrophe that she has to check on, I am very excited. We are now totally on the same page as far as tone, style, color palette, movement, and so on. She's actually excited about the run-and-gun limitations I am imposing on her. It is my goal to shoot this movie with nothing but practicals, if possible. Lucky for me, 2/3 of it is daylight exteriors! In any case I know it will be gorgeous. Sound is on board, as are a few swing crew. We're going to do this whole thing with about a half dozen person crew, I think. As much as anything I'm using this as a testbed to see how fast we can work and what images we can get with this small of a crew and almost no budget.

– 02 February 2010: Cast read-through was a great success and casting for the two principal roles is now final. I'm excited to be working with these guys.

– 12 February 2010: We wrapped principal photography Wednesday and the footage is now off to my editor! Poster is up and BTS stills have been added.

– 17 February 2010: We have wrapped all production! Tonight I will be viewing the first rough cut of the film.

– 21 February 2010: Picture lock! The edit of the 6-minute version is complete.

– 24 February 2010: The film has been handed off to the capable hands of composer Austin Wintory.

– 25 February 2010: All VFX are now complete!

 

[dougspice]

Cast!

Chris Starr as Mark Granger

From the script:

Our driver walks hurriedly to the side of the cafe:  MARK, 
clean-cut but haggard, 30.  Hard to pick out of a lineup. 
Capable, a Type-A pushed to his limits, on shaky ground.

Bud Watson as Solomon Teague

From the script:

The man standing here, TEAGUE.  Corpulent.  Sweaty.  
Everything about him unappealing.  But there’s that flash of 
genius in his eyes, a weird smack of charm.

Alisha Seaton as Celia Granger

From the script:

CELIA, young, beautiful, but exhausted and grungy.  
A trooper in extraordinary circumstances.

 

[dougspice]

Some BTS stills (all photos courtesy Aaron Bennett):

This is our camera. It may be a bit silly, but it is ours. Unless you're speaking in terms of literal ownership, in which case it isn't.

Myself and Ryan Sturz observe the shot while Nick Lentz prepares to taze Natasha Bedu in the head for no good reason.

People in the desert doing something shady. Imagine that.

I try not to get hit by yet another car while Natasha Bedu and Nick Lentz don't do anything to help whatsoever.

Nick Lentz reviews a shot with me because I told him it would look cool. Probably, it was actually a rickroll.

I direct the hell out of some serious action, in a way that is not at all posed, I swear.

The enormity of the sky makes all of our futile gestures as humans unimaginably irrelevant, yet again.

I direct Chris Starr while Natasha Bedu and Nick Lentz do the whole crew thing.

Natasha Bedu shows me an elegant frame, full of promise and hope.

Nick Lentz and Natasha Bedu bring the flavor.

Chris Starr and Bud Watson rehearse their showdown. This moment was so pure and raw that we decided it would be a disservice to actually film it.

Bud Watson lifts yet another luxury coupe. Later he discovers he has no way to drive them all back to L.A.

 

[dougspice]

Grabs!

 

[ZazaCast]

We're going to do this whole thing with about a half dozen person crew, I think. As much as anything I'm using this as a testbed to see how fast we can work and what images we can get with this small of a crew and almost no budget.

First...welcome to the fest!

Second...you think a 6 person crew is SMALL? Damn, I'd be overjoyed to have a crew of one!:shocked:

 

[dougspice]

Yeah, I guess it's all relative. I've found I'm most comfortable with a crew of 15 or so. I've done much larger shoots and definitely much smaller. But I find with less than 10 people it can be pretty hard to keep track of everything and stay focused on the task at hand, especially on location. When I'm directing I like to concentrate on just that and nothing else – but life is imperfect after all!

Thanks for the welcome! Excited to be a part of it.

 

[Nitsuj]

Welcome in. I'll be using my cast as the crew for this one. Well pretty much always been the case. Maybe I should start looking for some crew. hehe.

 

[MSpencer]

man the only budget we had was 60 bucks for lunch. haha good luck though..

 

[Rodney V. Smith]

Doug!!! Good to see you in this fest. I was wondering if you were goign to throw down this tme around. Welcome!

Now: where's your poster? :-D You of all peopl I;d expect to have one already on the way...

 

[dougspice]

Gotta take some photos to make the poster, can't take the photos until I'm at the location, location is 3 hours away. So we'll have to remember to grab those on the shoot day! Coin flip says we forget to do it.

 

[Alan H. Chang]

You'll make it Doug. Rain or shine.

 

[Scott F]

Welcome to the fest. I like the title. (Not to be confused with the song DeadStop by Negative Approach)

I'm laughing at all the "crew" comments. Yeah, a lot of us are running lean and mean for this fest.

 

[Rodney V. Smith]

Gotta take some photos to make the poster, can't take the photos until I'm at the location, location is 3 hours away. So we'll have to remember to grab those on the shoot day! Coin flip says we forget to do it.

I wont let you forget. My current mission is to rag on you til you get a poster. :grin:

 

[ZazaCast]

Yeah, I guess it's all relative.

I don't have that many relatives in the area!:grin:

I've found I'm most comfortable with a crew of 15 or so. I've done much larger shoots and definitely much smaller. But I find with less than 10 people it can be pretty hard to keep track of everything and stay focused on the task at hand, especially on location. When I'm directing I like to concentrate on just that and nothing else – but life is imperfect after all!

I guess some of us have to be better at multitasking by necessity.:beer:
This one should prove to be in the top of the heap, can't wait to see it!

By the by... did that Kickstart project ever fly? (I think that was you...if not I apoloigze)

 

[dougspice]

Yeah, that was me. We got about 40% funded but not enough to get over the top. We're still looking at other funding approaches.

I totally respect that you guys are going it alone. In a lot of ways I miss the days when I did that, just me and maybe one other person and BAM it's a movie. But with the amount of effort it takes to do a film, it's just not worth it for me to do that anymore – there are too many things that I forget, too many factors that fall by the wayside. I'm a very forgetful person.

Part of the purpose of this film is to serve as a calling card and a promo for a similar feature-length film I want to do. If I'm going to be going out with it and asking for people to invest in it and in me it had better be pretty focused, pretty professional. I think it's remarkable that you can really do that now with very limited assets. I don't mean to give the impression I'm spending thousands of dollars on this movie... I haven't done the math but my total budget is probably close to $1000 – and a lot of that is hotel rooms since we're so far from home!

Anyway, that's part of what I like about these fests - there's such a wide spectrum of participation, people who have wildly different experience and perspectives on what film is and what you need to make a film. It's a lot more interesting than if everyone was working from the same palette.

 

[ZazaCast]

Yeah, that was me. We got about 40% funded but not enough to get over the top. We're still looking at other funding approaches.

I totally respect that you guys are going it alone. In a lot of ways I miss the days when I did that, just me and maybe one other person and BAM it's a movie. But with the amount of effort it takes to do a film, it's just not worth it for me to do that anymore – there are too many things that I forget, too many factors that fall by the wayside. I'm a very forgetful person.

Part of the purpose of this film is to serve as a calling card and a promo for a similar feature-length film I want to do. If I'm going to be going out with it and asking for people to invest in it and in me it had better be pretty focused, pretty professional. I think it's remarkable that you can really do that now with very limited assets. I don't mean to give the impression I'm spending thousands of dollars on this movie... I haven't done the math but my total budget is probably close to $1000 – and a lot of that is hotel rooms since we're so far from home!

Anyway, that's part of what I like about these fests - there's such a wide spectrum of participation, people who have wildly different experience and perspectives on what film is and what you need to make a film. It's a lot more interesting than if everyone was working from the same palette.

Sorry to hear about the kickstart project... but you should keep at it, I loved the trailer! That looks like a great film to me.

I agree, there's plenty of room for all of us...I like have guys like you around so I can learn. Knock it out of the park!

 

[dougspice]

I had the first face-to-face readthrough/pseudo-audition with the principal actors today. I was a little worried going into it.

I've worked with Chris before, he is a terrific actor who brings a ton of intelligence and perception to his roles. He's always willing to give back and forth with character motivation and backstory and does his homework. But, it's been about 2 years since the last time I worked with him, and there's always that chance that a role just won't click.

Bud is new to me, based on a personal recommendation. I met with him for lunch and we discussed the role (as well as boating, reality TV, the weather in Tennessee, and lord knows what else) but didn't do a real audition. I knew I liked him and the presence he could bring to the role, but I didn't know for sure if he would be a fit. With not very many days left before shooting, I would be in trouble if this didn't work out.

I'm happy to say they both performed fantastically and cemented my casting instinct on the spot. The first reading was of course a bit rough, a bit different from my initial intent, but it showed me we were in the ballpark and that both these guys could bring something interesting to the table. One of the best parts of working with actors is that moment when they show up with something completely different from what you expected/intended, but that just works. We had a couple little tiny moments like that in the half-dozen or so times we ran the scene. I feel like I'm standing on solid ground.

One role left to cast. I feel sorry for the poor young lady that gets this very lucrative part – it's going to be an unusual amount of standing around and waiting for very little screen time. But maybe that will help her get into character as a person who's been kidnapped!

 

[Nemesis TS]

Good luck Doug, I thought I started late... Your movie is right up my alley.

The good luck is for your 2/3 outside day shots... We have clouds and rain a comin. My shoot was cut in half due to weather and I wish I had those extra days back.

Looking forward to seeing it.

 

[dougspice]

Thanks man! It is a bit of a late start but I just didn't have an idea that really grabbed me until about two weeks ago. But I work better under pressure anyway.

Weather forecast says partly cloudy to sunny next week... rain supposedly gone by Monday. Doesn't really matter – whatever it is, we'll make it work!