Saturday, December 2, 2006

AND SO THE ENGINES OF 2006 BEGIN TO WIND DOWN...

Well once again my efforts at maintaining a regular blog presence have come to roadkill.

Sorry about that.

Basically since the 10/15 update, I've been busy as hell. Which is good, but it leaves me enjoying the current holiday season to a somewhat lesser degree than I normally do. Which is bad, since I tend not to enjoy the holidays anyway.

Well where have I been? In Toronto of course! I spent an incredible (and exhausting) four weeks up in the Great White North working on the set of George Romero's impending zombie film, DIARY OF THE DEAD. I don't normally subscribe the idea of "dream jobs", but how I can view that experience as anything else? It was hard work, but the cast & crew were fantastic folks, and the shoot ran extremely smooth with only a couple of the expected roadbumps encountered along the way.

I think the film is going to surprise people. It's as different from the other Living Dead films as you would expect. George has never made two films in the series that feel even remotely alike in terms of plot or tone, and DIARY will be no exception. It's a very experimental piece and based on the footage I've seen so far...I think we have a winner here.

Basically my job was to supervise all the videotaping of the behind-the-scenes action and conducting formal interviews for the eventual DVD release. I was blessed with a great cameraman, Graeme Potts, who gave it his all and provided me with over 20 plus hours of great footage from the shoot. Also working closely with executive producer John Harrison was a great experience as well. Those of you who read this blog, or know my history, know that my relationship with John has been a very rewarding one both personally and creatively since working on AFTEREFFECTS for him two years ago, and it was great to hang with him on the set and watch his interaction with George and the crew.

That interaction amongst the crew was one of the most rewarding aspects of being there. Everyone felt they were there to work with one of the best filmmakers alive, and the amount of respect everyone had for George was inspiring and very satisfying to see.

So over the next several months look for some short video segments to appear on the MySpace page for DIARY OF THE DEAD that will chronicle some of my time on the set. The first one (uncreatively titled "The First Week") is already up and in just over a week has logged over 11,000 views. That is both encouraging and a little scary. I enjoy doing on-camera work, but it can be a little scary putting yourself out there for the world to comment on. So far the feedback has been 99% positive, so it's looking good so far.

The next DIARY Diary will be up early next year. The film is just now entering post-production and the hunt for a North American distributor will begin soon enough. So there's plenty of time for more of my shennanigans in 2007. Hope you continue to enjoy them.

So what now? Well I have several projects in development at the moment and by Christmas I should have contracts in place, so I will be able to discuss them then. Until that time, have a happy holiday season, and look for another update from me before the year ends. That much I can promise!