EVAN'S BLOG - PART III

It was so very much fun working on GIRLFRIEND.

I've learned so much from this experience and working with the other actors. In my first film with Justin, THE REPLACEMENT CHILD, I really liked the other actors and others who worked on the film too, but I didn't get to be with them as much as I was with everyone from GIRLFRIEND since my part was very small. Working on GIRLFRIEND on our 20 day shoot, I felt more connected to my co-stars and everyone else on the film and had the chance to learn so much from them.

"THAT'S A WRAP," THE PARTY AND SAYING GOODBYE

The day came when the final scene was filmed and Justin said "That's a wrap!". It was fun to celebrate with everyone later that night at the wrap party, but I was also sad for it to end and to have to say goodbye to everyone. (Of course I didn't know then that I'd get to see a lot of these people later at TIFF).

Since then I've learned there was more to come, and not just Toronto. This is the 'after filming ends' work that I talked about.

I did know that Justin would be back in California with the film's editor, Jeff Castelluccio (who I hadn't met yet), editing the film. I understood that this was going to take some time, but I didn't know that I'd still have some fun stuff to do.

OUR TRIP TO NEW YORK (BROOKLYN), LOOPING/ADR

A few months later Justin called me and said he and I would need to travel to New York for some ADR (that stands for additional dialogue recording) or looping.

Boy was that a fun experience for me, and I learned a lot! Justin and I left Boston very early one morning, drove to New York and drove home later that same night.

In New York that day I was so happy to see my dear friend Shaun (my man!) again. Shaun introduced me to the film's editor Jeff Castelluccio (my friend) for the first time. Then I met Daniel Perlin from Perlin Studios where we would be working. Daniel is a very nice guy. Besides working with me on ADR he showed me and taught me a lot, also letting me hear how things would finally sound.

Our amazingly talented editor Jeff Castelluccio and I became fast and close friends. (Jeff and Shaun have been good friends for awhile). Jeff said he felt like he kind of knew me because he had been watching footage of me for months while editing. He is such a talented and gifted editor. He lives in L.A. now, but was originally from New York. He is a super friendly and funny guy. We have continued our friendship and still keep in touch. We have a lot of private jokes together. Jeff has the best laugh and I love to make him laugh (no matter what......!!!!) Sorry, private joke. I couldn't resist. If Jeff is reading this right now he's laughing A LOT!

After we finished our work at Perlin Studios, Justin, Shaun, Jeff and I went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant (I love Italian food and Mexican food). Craig Divino (my acting coach) who was living in N.Y. joined us for dinner when our work was done.

Later for dessert we went to another place and a longtime friend of mine and Justin's, Dan Zaitchik joined us. Dan, a Wayland classmate of ours, is pursuing his music career, living in New York now. It was such an incredibly fun day. Just like I was sad for filming to end, I wished this day didn't have to end. But, on the ride home Justin had a surprise in store for me.

First Justin and I spoke on the phone to producers Jerad and Kristina Anderson which was fun. Then Justin said he had to make another call. Justin knows that I am a huge fan and regular viewer of the soap opera 'Days of Our Lives' and that I was very familiar with two actors who had been on the show that Justin happened to know...

After Justin talked for a little while he said "There's someone here who wants to say hello to you." It was Rachel Melvin who had played the character Chelsea Brady! I was so excited to get to talk to her! It was a dream come true! We talked for 20-25 minutes and Rachel is so very nice. She and Blake Berris (who played the character Nick Fallon on DOOL) actually did voice-over work as soap opera actors on GIRLFRIEND. Since I'm a DOOL fan, that's really fun for me.

Since then, Rachel, Blake and I have emailed back and forth a few times. When Rachel first emailed me and said "I am very familiar with who you are.", I was so excited. Of course I was very familiar with who she and Blake are! They are both very nice people.

After arriving home from New York late that night, it was time to be patient again, or as Jerad and I always say, it was time to "Go with the flow!"

Check back soon for the next part of EVAN'S BLOG.

S

Something Very Cool Starts Now.

Hello to everyone who reads this blog. Today is the start of something very special.

A few weeks ago, I asked my good friend Evan Sneider if he would consider blogging about his experiences working as the star of GIRLFRIEND. Lucky for all of us, he accepted.

He has a lot to say and so I've decided to tease all of you and break it up into installments, the first of which will begin right now. So, without further ado, I turn it over to Mr. Sneider. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

AN INTRODUCTION

Shaun O'Banion (my man!) asked me if I would write something for his blog telling about my experience acting in and working on my first feature film.  I hope you enjoy reading it.  Thank you for making this offer to me, Shaun.  You're such a dear friend.
 
I've loved every minute of GIRLFRIEND.

Before acting in GIRLFRIEND, my first film work was in Justin Lerner's thesis film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD. Before that, my acting experience was in theater, but I'll tell you more about that later.

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. I've learned that it is the same when a movie is made.  It takes a lot of people to "put it together" (a lyric from my favorite composer, Stephen Sondheim).  Some people work on a movie way before filming starts, alot of people work during filming, and some others after filming ends, but first you need a script.  I thought I'd start by telling you my experience of the start of GIRLFRIEND..

THE BEGINNING

One day I had plans to go to lunch with my friends Justin Lerner and Dan Turnbull.  During lunch Justin and Dan started talking with me about doing a film that I would have a starring role in and wanted to know how I would feel about that.  This touched my heart SO much and it was a real WOW moment for me.  I was SO excited to think I would have this kind of opportunity.  I loved acting in THE REPLACEMENT CHILD, so to have the chance to act again with a really big role was SO incredible.  I told them that I would LOVE IT, and I couldn't wait to get started!

A funny thing happened later that night.  I was telling my Mom about my lunchtime conversation.  Knowing how the thought of starring in a movie would be a dream come true for me, and how unlikely things like that happen, she thought possibly I was doing some wishful thinking, or had misunderstood. She quickly learned it was really true.

But first, Justin had to write a script. The story of GIRLFRIEND. or more the character of Evan Grey is based on me, but GIRLFRIEND. is a work of fiction, not my true life story.  I have some things in common with my character, but many differences too.

After some script revisions Justin and others were busy with casting director Brad Gilmore, auditioning people and making many decisions.  More planning began with many people doing many things, more than I totally understand, but I know producers were busy needing to get $$$ and make alot of other arrangements and decisions, hiring many talented people so GIRLFRIEND. could actually be filmed.  It takes alot of people, not just actors to make a movie. 

I was so excited and looking forward to getting to work on the film.  To get to act and to get to meet and work with alot of new people.
I was very happy when I found out that I would actually have some things to do before filming began.  One was to help for casting and one was to help me prepare for my role.

CASTING

Justin called me one day to tell me they were going to be looking for the right person to play Simon and a few other roles too and were holding auditions.  Justin was flying east with producers Jerad and Krstina Anderson and our script supervisor Giulia Setembrino.  Our east coast producer Sarah Steinberg Heller would also be at the auditions. They wanted me to come to the auditions to help by "reading" with the children auditioning for the part of Simon.  They also wanted me to "read" with Seth Chatfield who they wanted for the part of Jeremy, Joe Turnbull who they wanted for the role of Willie Jones and Darren McDonald who they wanted for the role of Darren Jones, Willie's son. 

It was so much fun helping with the auditions.  It was such a fun day also because it was the first day that I met Jerad, Kristina, Sarah and Seth who have become such dear friends to me.  (I had already been good friends with Joe and Darren for a long time.)  Since Sarah and Seth live on the east coast, we've been able to see each other even after filming wrapped.  Everyone has been so wonderful to me.  I couldn't wait for the day when we'd be working together on the film.  On another day, I drove around with Justin and he showed me houses and other places in the area where we'd be shooting the film.  That was fun too.  On a seperate trip back to Wayland, Justin introduced me to Craig Divino, who was a friend of Justin's from Cornell.  Craig is a talented actor, but Justin wanted us to meet ahead of time because Craig was going to be my acting coach. (Craig had also worked as the fight co-ordinator on Justin's film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD).  We got to talk a little bit about relaxation exercises he wanted to teach me and also talked about what to expect when we started filming.  Craig was very helpful and I learned alot from him.  Craig and I have also talked with each other about our acting and theater work.

Check back for PART TWO: FILMiNG BEGINS.

Re: GIRLFRIEND MEETS INDIEGOGO.

Some of you have been wondering why, at this stage, we need to raise funding for GIRLFRIEND...

This may give you some indication: Kevin Smith revealed at Sundance last week that, due to the costs of marketing and publicity, it took 7 years for his first film (CLERKS) to get out of the red and into profit. That film cost, in total, $27,575.00. Think about that. A film which cost under thirty thousand dollars took SEVEN YEARS to turn a profit.

I bring up profit for only one reason: Because the costs of setting bookings, getting prints made, placing ads in local newspapers, buying ad time on tv, cutting a new trailer and making new versions of the poster... are in many cases more expensive than making the actual film.

Those of us who make indie films are used to the numbers that Kevin Smith spoke about. DAKOTA SKYE is not in profit yet. Hell, Paramount would have you believe they only recently broke into profit on TITANIC – a film which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide!

Profits, obviously, are what repay the costs I mentioned earlier. But, if you can’t get into enough theaters and DVD ends up your only option, the idea of repaying those costs virtually disintegrates.

So we had to think very carefully about what to do next.

We could have sat back and hoped that, in our initial playdates and cities, we'd make enough of a splash to prove that there is an audience for this film – an eager fanbase hungry for a story that is not a sequel or a set-up for a franchise; That there is still an interest in indie art-films, Jackson Rathbone’s career or even a film which offers a role to someone with a developmental disability in which he isn't playing just a character with a single line, but is, in fact, the star. We could've done that… waited patiently, holding our breath… but we didn't. We couldn't.

We want to share the film with you, the audience, and allow as many people to see it on a big screen as possible – to hold off the inevitable journey to DVD so that the film can be experienced, the way it was meant to be – in a darkened theater with a bucket of popcorn.

So wait, what does this mean? Basically, it means that your donation allows us to immediately confront the costs involved with marketing, publicity and preparing the film for release.

In the last few years, the film markets (like others) have turned, and getting your film out into the world got a lot more difficult. The model for how to do it has changed – but there isn’t really a new model to follow. It’s just kind of like, “hey, kid, figure out what you think works best for your film.”

Kevin Smith (who I mentioned earlier) is distributing his own film, charging $68.25 for nosebleed seats and up to $142.70 for a screening of RED STATE at Radio City Music Hall… and he’s not doing any publicity beyond Twitter - that's how much prints, marketing and publicity costs! To recoup the budget of his film (a little under $4 million), plus prints and a road trip, he needs to charge those prices for a venue with 5,931 seats (according to Wikipedia).

Our method, after a lot of thought and discussion was to come to you, our supporters – people who have been contacting us constantly to ask when and where they can see the film.

You are, arguably, a smaller group than, say, Kevin Smith’s View Askew fanbase, but no less mobilized. And so we have now partnered with IndieGoGo, one of the premiere crowd-sourcing sites on the web.



Believe me, I can see how this may have seemed odd to you at first, but with Sundance recently announcing a strategic partnership with Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing quickly becoming a great avenue for financing projects, we felt like there was no longer a stigma attached.

So there you have it. If you want to see the film, and you believe in what you’ve heard and seen in the trailer and online reviews… if you want to support as a fan of the various cast, or you just believe that Justin Lerner may be a filmmaker to keep your eye on… then do what feels right. If you’re flat broke, don’t feel bad. We understand… we’re indie filmmakers, remember?

Even if you can’t support the film monetarily, you can still help by spreading the word. If you send enough people this link, IndieGoGo or you paste the widget from the site into your email and your friends or family each make a small contribution, the movie may just come to your town anyway! And, in case you’ve forgotten, once we reach our goal, we hope to make a shared contribution to NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) and NDSC (National Down Syndrome Congress).

In closing I’ll just say thank you again… for your support and your belief in us and the film. The film is for you. We can't wait for you to see it.


Shaun

Re: The Toronto International Film Festival Pt. 2

I doubt that any of us slept much.

Probably a combination of the high from the first screening and the knowledge that a bunch more of the cast and crew would be arriving the morning of the 13th.


We began the packed day by cabbing over to the Intercontinental Hotel on Bloor Street, where a day of press had been set up by Jeremy Walker and Associates (our publicists for the Festival). It was definitely an odd feeling to be sitting in this chic hotel on a secured floor where actors like Jim Broadbent, Bruce Greenwood and the lovely Gemma Arterton were wandering back and forth doing press. Of course, they were surrounded by an army of publicists, assistants and make-up people. We were a bit more... contained.

If you've never been around a Press Junket, well. I'll go ahead and give you a sense of what it's like. They're all pretty much the same. Generally, the cast and director will check into a suite at the hotel where the junket is to take place. You're given a calendar of events for the day. Then, it'll either be one of two things: You cast and filmmaker will walk from room to room, with each room representing a different media outlet, or the cast and filmmaker will go to a single room with a camera already set up. The media people then come into the room, pop a tape into the camera, sit their on-air talent down opposite the star or cast member and they get about 5-10 minutes worth of questions. Quite often, your poster is set up on an easel. Sometimes, you're in front of a green screen.

For our press day, Evan was set to do a ton of press along with Jackson and Shannon. In our case, they would move from room to room.



Here is the actual interview with ET Canada (thanks to JrathboneInfo for posting):



Evan was handling everything amazingly well. It may seem like it would be easy, but it becomes exhausting and monotonous - mostly because the questions tend to be very similar, if not exactly the same. The media need "sound bites" they can use to tease the story, and then they'll only use a small portion of the actual interview. After a while, everything gets hazy. I once worked with someone (who shall remain nameless) who thought it might be fun to play a bit of a game with the press. In between each interview, he'd ask me for a word... any word, which he would then have to try to slip into the interview, no matter how awkward. I think one of the words I gave him was Asparagus. (He did it, by the way.)

Anyway. Evan was running (like most of us) on little to no sleep, but he was amazing. He had poise and charisma and everything you expect of a star. At lunch the group of us (Justin, Evan, Jerad, Kristina and I) walked over to the Four Seasons where Wayne/Lauren Film Company had set up a casual lunch. At this point, we were being trailed by columnist Steve Pond, who writes for The Wrap and was doing a story on Evan which you can find Here.

During the lunch, Evan spoke with Harvey Weinstein the fabled former head and founder of Miramax who now runs The Weinstein Company. Weinstein hadn't seen GIRLFRIEND, but they have a mutual friend in Amanda Plummer. Since Weinstein was sitting only a table away, Justin thought it might be cool if Evan introduced himself. Harvey seemed surprised by the occurrence, but we thought it was great. Near the end of lunch, Evan did another interview (for print) before we headed out for a few more on camera interviews. You can find those here and here (special thanks for luckyj525 for the links).

Finally, with interviews done (and with a few swag bags now attached to us), we headed down to the cast lounge in the lobby for our final publicity stop of the day. The TIFF Photocall. You know about this. Every year, Entertainment Weekly does nearly an entire issue on Sundance Film Festival Photo Calls. The video from this particular shoot was covered by The Wrap and Steve Pond.

Here are some of the great photos from the GIRLFRIEND press junket:





By that time, we had been running from hotel to hotel doing press for about 9 hours. It was time to head back to our hotel where Evan and Justin would do one final "phoner" or phone interview , before we'd get a proper meal (they only have hors d'oeuvres for the most part at the press junkets), have a little nap if we could and finally, get ready for the big night. Our second screening and our official Red Carpet After-Party.

Check back in for Pt. 3! More pictures! More video! More excitement!

S

Officially a Producer... Again; It All Begins.

So there I was, in prep on Katie's Song a short film I had agreed to produce for a close friend. Satch Watanabe, the writer/director, had written an interesting piece about a young woman with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) and her interaction with a man who she doesn't realize is her father... A man who abandoned her when she was just four years old.

After working on the script for several months, we had already begun the casting process. Satch had already cast the role of our lead (a fantastic young actress named Lana Shea), but we were still looking for someone to play her father as well as someone to play the role of Katie's boyfriend - a role that had been expanded at my suggestion. I reached out to an old friend of mine (a well respected acting coach) named Bobbie Chance (bobbychance.com) - I asked her if I might be able to come in and see some of her students work. My wife and I drove over to her studio in the Valley and sat in on one of the classes. The students put up their scenes in groups and by the end of the class, I had settled on a young guy I thought would work well with Lana. He was natural, never seemed to be "acting," and he was good looking.

When the class ended, he left pretty fast. I spoke quickly with my wife, getting her opinion on the young actor (as I often do about screenplays, or other things... she's a great sounding board) and with her approval of him, I basically chased him down. I caught up to him on the sidewalk and introduced myself. His name was Jerad Anderson. I told him I thought he was "very good." I asked him if he had a headshot and he said he'd get one from his car.

He came back moments later and I told him a little about the short film and what it would be. I talked about our shooting schedule and told him about what his role would be. I didn't offer the role, as I had to run it by Satch, but I was pretty sure Satch would trust my recommendation and cast him without a meeting.

A few weeks later, I was standing on the set in a loft in Santa Monica. We were shooting a key scene in which Katie and her boyfriend record a video for her website - a site to raise awareness about AML and to encourage people to sign up as Bone Marrow Donors. Satch had based the film on the discovery of a real woman named Michelle and her actual website.

Jerad had an audition that day and needed to break away, if I would let him. The short was so low-budget that I had taken on a variety of roles - one of which was First AD. I consulted with out Director of Photography, a really great guy (and super talented shooter) named Jon Edward Miller (http://www.jonedwardmiller.com/content.agent?page_name=Home) and reviewed the call sheet for the day. I estimated that Jerad could go away for about an hour. Based on our set-up time for the next shot, I knew we'd break for lunch before we completed the next scene and combining the time it would take to complete the scene, break for lunch and set-up Jerad's next shot, I figured he'd have more than enough time to make his audition and get back to set.

Things actually did time out pretty well... thanks to a bit of luck. Ian Nelson, our male lead in my last film (a great little feature called Dakota Skye) was at the same audition and after learning that Jerad was doing a project of mine, let Jerad go in ahead of him in order to help him make it back on time.

I guess Jerad was impressed with the way I ran the set. At wrap that day, he told me he had a feature he was developing and that they would have the money within the month. He asked if I'd be interested in reading the script and, perhaps, coming on as producer. I told him I'd love to read it.

Little did I know, that brief conversation would start me on a path that would carry me through the adventure of producing my second feature - a journey that began over 8 months ago and continues even as I write this... on a project called: Girlfriend