Time for a quick one...

Hey.
So many things have been spinning these days in a great way! I am almost finished making and gathering the promo stuff for 'ninety-one'....posters, postcards, pins, a fan page. I will put a link to the fan page here. And the cherry - a trailer - it will be posted here as well...
So a very quick update....gotta run, finish the press kit and ship off the film to Newport today.
Back soon.........
Jill

WOOO HOOO!!!

Finally some GREAT news....'Ninety-one' has been accepted into it's first festival. We will be premiering at the Newport Beach Film Festival in California. It is in it's 11th year and runs April 22nd to the 29th. I am really excited to be screening at this festival because my friend, collaborator and co-producer of this film, Elliot V. Kotek has been a guest speaker at this festival on a number of occasions. He speaks very highly of Newport and this year he is helping them program a spotlight on Australia - his native country.

NBFF will be a unique experience as in a way both Elliot and I will have two films screening there - 'Ninety-one' and the documentry'140'. We both contributed a segment to '140' (you will find a link to the 140 film blog on this site) a film that was conceived by filmmaker Frank Kelly which gathered 140 filmmakers from around the world through twitter - to film 140 seconds at the same time on the same day. I have yet to see the film but from what I am told it is quiet emotional so I can't wait. It's gonna be one hell of a festival!!

Other good things have been happening....I have locked picture on my new short (which Elliot wrote) 'Little Larry'. I am heading in to do the color correct on Tuesday....then finish up the music and sound mix. The response so far from vetting has been very positive so I am looking forward to sharing the finished film with everyone.

I wrapped up shooting 'Score: A Hockey Musical'....shadowing Mike was great and the film was a blast to work on!! The whole entire cast and crew are so excited to see the finished product. I am going to continue my shadowing - head into the edit etc...Look out for it coming to a theater near you in October.

The book option that Avi and I were working on fell through which is really disappointing as I know I could have (we could have) made a really great film. However it was not to be so we are back looking and I am back writing. I have been thinking a lot about this one idea and am going to start writing this week!

I shot a PSA for The Princess Margaret's Weekend Walk to End Women's Cancers the weekend before we wrapped Score. It is a music video (kind of a Glee like number minus the big production value but with a lot of heart) set to "These Boots Are Made For Walking". We are going viral with it in the next couple of weeks. It was a ton of fun to shoot and very inspirational. The people I have met on this project really make you think about how lucky you are and remind you that you have to live each moment. I am excited to see where we can take this and to raise a ton of awareness not just for women's cancers but cancer in general. I am sure these days you would be hard pressed to find someone who has not been touched by this disease.

So them mammoth long over due update....till the next one....and one of the days I will figure out how to upload an album of photos and post 'em. Stay tuned.

Look Who's back......

Well, well, well.....it has been far too long. I have felt kinda stuck as I unfortunately don't have much new to report on 'ninety-one'. However I have now decided - to heck with it - I will just talk in general about my projects and leave it all under the same banner. I did start this blog for 'ninety-one' but to also share my thoughts and experiences of film-making.

So....here is the update.

I am still submitting 'ninety-one' - the response from all who have seen the film has been wonderful and I know that once we get that first festival things will take off from there...so come on!

The 'day job' got in the way a little....Copper (tune in ABC/Global in March). That did not put a damper on progress - I shot a new short called 'Little Larry'. I am just editing with Kyle right now. It was written by a friend of mine Elliot Kotek whom I met at the Bahamas International Film Festival when 'moment' was screening there. Elliot is a multi-talented guy - writer, artist, actor....really there is nothing he can't do. He has recently renewed his post at Moving Pictures Magazine as Editor-at-Large and has a website/blog called NoA - The Nation Of Artists -http://social.thenationofartists.com/. My plug for Elliot.

'Little Larry' is a comedy of sorts. The main character Larry was originally a boy but in my version - with a little effort - I convinced Elliot to let me turn Larry into a girl. Her name though has remained Larry. Kyle and I are now sending out the cut to a select group of people for vetting. We will be waiting patiently to hear back...

Even better news is that I have hooked up with a new producer. Tired of doing it a lot of it myself. Although I have had invaluable help on my films to date I needed to find someone to help me kick it up a notch and take it to the next level. So I have teamed up with Avi Federgreen. Avi has worked his way up through the industry to finally land on top if the indie producer pile in Canada. He had three films at TIFF this year - Leslie My Name Is Evil, High Life (I saw it last weekend as it opened in limited release - a must see!) and Hungry Hills. So Avi and I are looking for projects and are in the process of optioning a novel so we can make my first feature film together! I have told him that by September 2012 I want to have made a feature....I (we) am doing my best to make that happen!

Last but not least....I am shadowing Mike McGowan on his new film 'Score: A Hockey Musical'. We go to camera in a week and at that point I will be taking on the script supervising duties as well as shadowing. We have been in prep for the last 3 weeks and it has been a crazy ride - locations, casting, singing - the list goes on. I am having fun and learning some interesting things. I excited to start shooting. Avi is producing with Mike. I worked with Mike a few years back on his very sweet film 'Saint Ralph'. He is a great filmmaker and a really nice person.

I am also working on setting up an official Staggerdwheel website. So you will finally be able to find all info pertaining to my projects in one place. Yes - I am moving into the world of grown-up presentation.

Best get back to wrapping up this edit session.

Later.

September already!?

Say it's not so....where has the time gone??

My show has been keeping me super busy but in between I am trying to find the time to get stuff done with 'ninety-one' among other things.

The biggest news is that I finally got a chance to host a cast and crew screening and it was a huge success!! It seems, I am very happy to report, that people really liked the film. They were moved by it, had questions about it and were taken enough by these 5 characters to ask for more. Everyone is asking about a feature. I am not sure it gets better than that!! So thank you everyone - for coming out in support!

I am still waiting on festivals but you know how that game goes.....

In the mean time I have a hiatus this week and I am away writing.... procrastinating?...no writing! It is the first time I have left the city to write and I think it is a really good thing for me....well so far anyway.

I promise there will be more to come.....
Jill

The waiting game.

Well - the waiting game is the name of the game. So far I have made about 9 submissions to festivals. So fingers crossed!

Over the Canada Day weekend (ok mid-week) get-a-way to Ottawa we screened 'ninety-one' for a small group of friends and family. We wanted to say thank you for the support. Sylvie (exc-producer) and Suesan (co-writer/co-producer) hosted the party at Suesan's house. It was a really nice evening - full of well wishes, love and support. The response to the film was terrific! One of the attendees was Tom Shoebridge (friend of Suesan's - his daughter is a filmmaker as well). Tom founded the film school: Canadian Screen Training Centre - now in it's 28th year. I had just met Tom that evening and he is a lovely man and he gave 'ninety-one' two thumbs up so, you know, pretty pleased with that one. All of this makes me even more curious to see how the festivals will receive it.

In the mean time it is back to more submissions, getting more of the press-kit stuff together, finding a place and time to finally host my cast and crew screening, sending off my clip to Frank for the 140 project, developing a stage play, thinking about shooting a short with script I didn't write, getting down to writing one (or all) of the 3 features I am working on and finally on to a 'day' job. I am starting work on a new TV show next week - Copper - a Grey's Anatomy for cops. You will find it in the future on Global in Canada and ABC in the US.

I think I have my work cut out for me - so I better get cracking! Later......

Yippie - It's Done!!

Brendan Wall (Ben) and
Shauna MacDonald (Simone) hard at work.







So I just had a family gathering over an extended long weekend....But now I am back and even better - so is the film. I am pleased to announce that 'ninety-one' is now complete and I have already made a few submissions to some film festivals.

These photos are from the week before, the sound mix and the tiny little bit of ADR we had to do. I never did ADR on my last film so it was interesting and fun, especially since we didn't have the pressure of having a lot to do. Not to mention some of the dialogue was off screen so that also made it easier. I am still learning about sound mixes but I feel like I am continuing to grow which is great.

You know it's funny - almost everyone working on this project in the post end of things has at some point pushed the film towards the more serious or heavy side and I have fought them on it - feeling like the story and performances will carry the audience where they are supposed to be. Again it all comes back to trusting the story you have told and the film you have made.

I am really excited to see what happens to 'ninety-one' and am very proud of the results. All the hard work that everyone has put into making this film possible has been fantastic. Thank you.

Over the weekend I showed the film to my mother and I was touched by her reaction. When you finally see the film you will understand.

So it is on to a new stage - wish us luck with the festival submissions and stay tuned to this spot for updates! xo

Round two.

Well last week was a big learning curve for me. The most important thing I took away was to 'know your film' and 'trust you that you know your film'.

This end of production...the post end with color corrects and sound mixes, as I have mentioned is the area I am not as familiar with, so help and guidance was what I needed. I had my color correct session and through a series of conversations, suggestions and compromises found myself when I left unsure of what we had done. It did not feel right. Now it is not anyone's fault and we were all there to do what we thought was best - agendas can sometimes be different. With that said though I found that after sleeping on it and showing the results of the session to someone close to the film I trusted I realized I had some changes to make. I know I did the right thing. It looks and feels right now and I am really happy with the end result.

So let my lesson be a lesson to all of you out there feeling the pressure of making important decisions regarding your film. You have lived with the film longer then anyone else. At times that can be a bad thing as it might be hard to have perspective but it can also make the difference in situations like these. I learned that sometimes no matter what you have talked about - pulled and selected for reference before making your film - in color palette or what have you - when all is said and done, what does the film you actually shot and edited say to you. Does where you thought you were in the beginning really hold true when you are done? I found that 'Ninety-one' become its own being irrespective of what intentions I had for it. That is not to say that I didn't make the film I set out to make it is just to say that it is now it's own life force and speaks to me from that point.

Thank you to those who indulged me last week, I really took a lot with me.

So bring on the this new one. I am ready!