Production Diary: Stockholm Santa

It's very exciting times, folks! Stockholm Santa is marching steadily toward production! In this thread
I'm going to document our journey from pre-through-post-production. As tempting as it is to just talk
up the project and make myself sound all super-professional, I'm gong to be as honest as I can here
about how this film is actually getting made.

At best it will be a place for some people to learn something, even if it's what not to do. At worst, well,
there will be a record so that the world will know how and when we died, and what we died fighting for.

Let's start with the basics, for those of you who aren't familiar with the project.

StockholmSanta.png


Download and read the full 8-page script here: http://www.sammigirl.com/santa/StockholmSanta.pdf

Brief Synopsis:
After briefly encountering and falling in love with a mysterious girl, young Brady goes on a mission to
find out who she is and where she came from. His yearning to find her leads him to do something he
never thought he would do: kidnap Santa Claus.

Who's on Board so far?

Sammi Stephans - Director and de-facto Producer

Ernest Worthing (yes, THAT Ernest Worthing!) - Director of Photography
http://http://www.ernestworthing.com/

Mike Farnham - Assistant Director

Joseph Weindl (aka CrackerFunk) - Editor

Dan Scott (aka Wheatgrinder) - Special Effects

Catering and Kraft Services - My Mom

What's have we got done?

The budget has been made, not met, and slashed. All props are either already bought or will be borrowed/donated.
My parents have agreed (to my wonderful surprise) to kick in a little cash plus pay for the food. Everyone
listed above is a volunteer, and the actors will be, too. Most of the meager budget I've got is going to pay
a sound person $50/day.

The script has been broken down and scheduled for a two-day shoot. However since the lead and one of the
other three actors are children, we're going to have a crew call for the day before to get the shots planned.
This way (fingers crossed) we can keep the hours for the kids to a reasonable amount.

schedule.JPG

Day One of shooting we've got 3 5/8 pages; Day Two we've got 4 7/8

[more to follow...]
 
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Current Moving Parts:

Locations - My AD and I are talking to owners from 3 homes, nothing is nailed down yet but it should
be soon. I've also got one fallback-ultra-last-resort location if worse comes to worst.

Casting - Talking to my aunt who is Exc. Director of a great community theatre group in the suburbs.
Knock on wood everything works out to tap that talent pool and use their space for auditions. In addition
I'll be posting casting notices on the usual web places once I've worked out a date/place to audition. Shooting
for a audition date around the end of this month.

Shot List - Just got started on it. Almost 1/3 through.

What Else?

Crewing Up - Gotta place an ad for a Sound Mixer/Boom Op. Still deciding whether I want to interview PA's
just to have some extra hands around. Advice?

[That's all I can think of for the moment. More later :)]
 
Excellent! Happy to hear you're going forward and it's great to see you teaming up with Ernest!

Also, will you accept a cashier's check? (need addy to send it to) I do not have a way to donate online.
 
Thanks, friends!

And I'm happy to announce that another IT member has jumped ship... err, come on board. Cracker Funk = Editor :D


Excellent! Happy to hear you're going forward and it's great to see you teaming up with Ernest!

Also, will you accept a cashier's check? (need addy to send it to) I do not have a way to donate online.

Honey, I would accept a paper bag ;) PMing you.

Thanks for the support!
 
Thanks, friends!

And I'm happy to announce that another IT member has jumped ship... err, come on board. Cracker Funk = Editor :D

I'd like an Executive/Super British Producer credit please :yes:

EDIT: Could you post a direct link on here for donations, I've been clicking that PayPal button for about a fortnight...
 
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It's like the IndieTalk All-Stars. :yes: Break a leg, team!

Hell yeah! Thanks!

I'd like an Executive/Super British Producer credit please :yes:

EDIT: Could you post a direct link on here for donations, I've been clicking that PayPal button for about a fortnight...

haha! How about 'Senior Executive in Charge of Tea and Biscuits'?

Donate here!

Let me know if the link doesn't work, I just grabbed the URL that pops up when you click the 'donate' button on my site.
 
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