Shot the final scenes for the new trailer last night; I'll be posting it on the web Monday morning. Despite it being 35 seconds shorter, everyone's actually getting more screen time. Crazy stuff, editing.

If anyone wants to make a cameo in the new music video Send Me a Postcard, write me...or just show up. We're shooting in Bethesda August 22nd, meeting at my office beforehand. Be Sixties.

Well...initial planning of the interviews didn't go so well, but I'd like to try again...many people contacted me expressing interest, we just couldn't get them all together at once. Perhaps in early July we can try again?

New Baltica trailer in the next two weeks. Baltica dvd's should be ready soon after that.

Early Saturday and Sunday mornings in Bethesda are quite beautiful actually, and the lighting's perfect: let me know your schedule, and we'll do those Baltica interviews immediately.

What I envision is this: for this mini-doc, we cut from VO/footage of the trailer to you (introducing yourself, answering questions about the film, the shoot itself, divulging anecdotes, etc.) and then cut to your relevant scenes (or outtakes). Good stuff.

A rough timeline: I'm traveling to New Orleans May 21st to speak with Poppy Z. Brite about a possible VO, and then I'm going to LA in late June. I plan on taking several dozen extremely polished, professional presskits along with me on both trips...this DVD Studio Pro software is absolutely fucking amazing. Can you say, "Baltica trailer in DTS"?

For those still checking this page (which should be all of you, dammit!), I am going to film a sort of "behind the scenes/documentary" thing for Baltica, and I would like to interview John, Gabby, Jessica, and Ryan, and the leads of course. It'll be short, probably a ten minute reel, and it's going on the Baltica promo dvd. Contact me asap!

More treatment on the way.

Scary, how much can change in a month. Ok, no more PC...I have (fortuitously) moved upwards and onwards to a Mac, and aside from certain inflexibilities (like the Panther layout, AVI formats, and my patience), things are looking good: I've transferred my data, I'm learning Final Cut, and Mohawk Adam continues to show the trailer at Club Orpheus...how cool is that man?

Newer, spiffier version of the trailer coming soon, I swear.

Baltica is not dead! Ordered a new hard drive for the workstation, which will (fingers crossed) be here by Monday...that means: I won't have to wait around two months trying to raise the $1300 for dvd copies; I can tweak the trailer and make it even better before sending it out; I will be upgrading to Adobe Premiere Pro, which allows me to mix in Dolby Digital 5.1 (oh yeah); I can start editing again. This, my comrades, is cause for happy dance. Now is dancing!

Starting some new projects as well, so if anyone wants to help, let me know.

Q: How do you make God laugh?
A: Make a plan.

My workstation, my temple of multimedia where I have worshipped diligently and often for over six years, has just died. There are three hard drives acting in tandem within...one of them went belly-up. Joined the Farplane. Shuffled off this mortal...anyway. So the other two should be fine. And hopefully whatever was on the bad drive isn't wholly irreplaceable. Yeah, one hopes.

Which leaves me without something to stare at, night after night. Can't work, can't edit, can't burn dvd's...and, if and when I get it up and running again, we're talking about a frame-by-frame reconstruction of up to thirty music videos, including the Nocturne, Wendy, and Baltica trailers. (Sure I have them burned onto dvd somewhere, and sure I could rip the VOB files from somewhere, but the raw AVI's, the "master files," are probably gone.)

Guess it's time to break out the drawings again...they really deserve to be finished. And for the curious, I started transcribing the movie treatment here.

Yesterday I burned 20 copies of the trailer onto dvd...after the initial rendering, it only takes two or three minutes to burn each one. Therefore, I have decided to eschew a professional duplication in favor of making about 50 copies a week myself. I'll still have labels printed up somewhere, but this decision saves me about $800.

Have we really been working on this thing for six months now?

The Baltica trailer is now up...tell a friend, tell a lover, smack a total stranger upside the head...and enjoy.

Well, the edit's done...just need to do the titles. For the record, my pc crashed seven times last night, and six this morning. Oh yeah, and I got four hours of sleep. What day is today? What's my name? Who the hell are you?!

Wow. All kinds of wow.

Jess, Melissa: thank you for making this happen. When this takes off, it's going to be because of you guys. Your hair and make-up skills were infinitely beyond any of my expectations, and you were a joy to have around. I can't wait to work with you again. And Jess, admit it...you rock.

Tess and Nikki: your patience and support (and acting--thanks, Tess!) were deeply appreciated. Special thanks to Nikki for all the help, and for saving my ass with the continuity.

John, Ryan, and Elizabeth: thank you so much for the last minute support and ultimate badness. You were incredible. John, you were a drug gang of one. Elizabeth: sexy pin-up goth is definitely you. Ryan, my boy...thanks for everything, and especially for being there for me. See you in NY.

Gabby and Wendy: It was a pleasure and honor to have you on board, but seeing you guys finally square off...damn. The whole "Fight evil with evil" genre has nothing on you two. Soon all shall know your hotness, and despair.

Trent: thanks for being a part of this, and for completing the scene with your sweet, sweet car. You have great druglord taste, and great goth potential.

Chris, Kari, Max: my excellent crew. Thank you for helping me realize this cool/sexy/disturbing vision (and for letting me use the surprising talents of Celeste and Adam). Your patience and trust mean everything; I'm very lucky to have you as my living, breathing characters.

And Wendy again: for the inspiration, and endless dedication.

We have the official blessing of MCPD. We have cold but mostly sunny weather. We have guns, weapons, and thugs. We have awesome costumes, make-up, and even a PA.

Fingers crossed, knock on wood, praise be to Spielberg, I think we're set.

Noise permits, location permits, and scheduling conflicts permitting, we'll be shooting this Sunday. With luck, we will have make-up artists, gorgeous military extras, and Mr. John Barry as Ultimate Bad Motherfucker (i.e., gothic drug/gang leader). It should work something like this:

• 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.: Jessica, Wendy, Gabby, John and extras to meet in Bethesda and prep the action scenes.
• 2:00 - 5:00: Bethesda shooting (literally).
• 6:00 - 9:00: Wendy, Max, Chris, Kari to meet at my house to prep evening shoot/film interior pick-ups.
• 10:00 - 11:00(ish): Baltimore club re-shoots.

Still waiting on word for the Poe's grave location permit, so it's on the back-burner for now; since it's just Wendy anyway, she and I can shoot in and out at a moment's notice.

I am trying to stay positive about things, but I wish people would hurry up and get back to me about the permits and so forth. [starting to sweat]

The burning question: when are we filming? Truthfully, I don't know. The trailer will go out before the end of January, and discussions and negotiations will (or won't) occur shortly thereafter; assuming things look rosy, and with a few months of quality pre-production, we can look to shoot in July (or later, depending on your availability).

I know that this film can be done for $50,000, but just barely, and it wouldn't be anywhere near the film that I had in mind, but I'd settle for that by the end of May. I learned from my first film, and from the disasters of others: do not shoot until you have all the money. Which also means you'll actually get paid when we finish principle photography...no deferred payments this time. But again, only when we get the funding. And (fingers crossed) some important backing. And of course, the more money we raise, the higher everyone's wages.

I hope this doesn't put too much of a damper on your medium/long term plans. I just don't want to rush this too much; my total budget for the trailer alone is almost $3000...I want this fucker to look damn good. But I also don't want to hold anyone back from lucrative opportunities, or otherwise tie you down. And you guys, well...you're essential. You're the characters in my head now.

Have a great weekend!

First, the bad news: no trailer today. There's plenty of footage, just not enough action to give any sense of continuity. The good news: I'll be filming the Baltimore skyline these next few nights, and we'll be doing minimal pick-ups the same weekend as the action shots, January 9th/10th or 10th/11th...please check your schedules and drop me a line.

Max, Kari, Chris: we'll be re-shooting the crew@club scenes. For Wendy, the scenes at Poe's grave. There will be fight scenes, and those must-have shots of blank firing weapons. We will have noise permits, MCPD supervision, hardcore gothic thugs (some female!), and even new music (after tinkering, I found the other music was just...too angry).

And so I beg you, have patience; it'll be worth the wait. And don't forget payday is Jan. 30th.

I'm still in the throes of a vicious cold that started last Monday night, but I've been busy; the footage is great. I'm thinking of filming two or three pickups, nothing major, just people walking into a room, that sort of thing. I'll post the incomplete trailer Wednesday, and you'll see what I mean.

Hope everyone had an excellent holiday...or at least avoided getting sick.

You guys fucking rocked. I am a zombie. More later.

Sorry, meant to update yesterday...I'll be calling everyone to confirm, but Max and Kari, I'll see you tonight around 9, bring two sets of clothes and some bedtime-wear.

Sunday I'll see everyone between 9 and 10 a.m., we'll have some breakfast and discuss the shoot. Bring three sets of clothes, and bedtime-wear, and be ready to drive around a bit. The last shots will be around midnight at a club in Baltimore, so Wendy and Christopher, you don't have to spend the night, but let me know if you are.

Monday, I'll see Wendy and Christopher around 10 a.m., and Kari around 7 or 8 p.m.? Bring two sets of clothes, bedtime-wear, and Wendy, whatever tops you want to bring with Those Pants. Yowza.

I'm so excited, I might have to start punching. See you guys soon.

Ok...Max & Kari...if I could get both of you Saturday evening for a few hours, that will work fine. This is how it will play out, essentially:

Saturday night (from 9 p.m. til midnight-ish) we'll shoot crew scenes with Nick and Del (and finish those scenes with Steven and the creature on Monday). Saturday we'll also shoot scenes where Nick or Del appear alone.

Sunday (starting at 10 a.m.) we'll try to squeeze in as many location shoots as possible (including finding the creature, and dancing in Baltimore) while also trying to use the night for interiors. It's going to tight, folks...if I can keep you til 1 or 2 a.m. at the latest, we should be fine.

Monday (starting at 10 a.m)...more scenes with the creature, scenes with the creature and Steven, and scenes with the creature and Del when Kari becomes available later on. There is one scene I would like to do that will involve some driving and timing, but we'll have to see.

I should have a complete shooting schedule by Friday. There won't be any scripted dialogue, but the characters will be talking/arguing/etc. The sexy, elaborate location scenes (drug deals, gun/creature fights, city nightscapes) will be shot at a later date.

Max, Kari: let me know how late I can keep you Sunday night, and if you are possibly available Saturday night (after 8). I just need to nail down everyone's availability so I can set the schedule. Also, you'll probably only need two to three costume changes.

Club clothes: some samples. Also check out Taboo@Club Orpheus, but beware...lots of pics to sort through.

More soon.

Interesting, the things one must do in order to shoot guns for a film....

The earliest indication I have for a schedule, is that we will convene ridiculously early Sunday morning, location shoot all day Sunday, try and squeeze in some interior scenes Sunday night, and do interiors all day Monday, and well into Monday night, if you guys can swing that. (If we can't wrangle the actual shooting of guns that weekend, it's ok, since we'll only need Wendy and some thugs to shoot at her, and we can arrange that another time.)

Kari, Max, Chris: you're going to need 4 day costumes, 1 "clubbing" costume, and 2 costumes for night/bedtime. Kathleen: 2 day costumes.

So far we have about three extras; again, if you know anyone who'd be interested or might fit a part, let me know. (Kari, tell Adam he's in, we just have to figure out who he'll be and when we'll need him.)

I'm contacting various offices to see about shooting firearms in Montgomery County and using the catacombs at the Baltimore church where Poe's buried...cool location if we can swing it.

Chris & Wendy: I'd like to have you both stay the night on the 21st, since you're way far away and stuff. Let me know if that's a problem.

I'll be looking to fill in certain minor roles in the next few days (murder victim, gang member, club goer, etc.); if you know any friends, associates or interested parties who'd like to help (and be in a trailer viewed by 200 celebs, producers, and studios), please let me know ASAP.

Excellent! We are on for the weekend of the 20th, 21st, and 22nd. I know some people will be unavailable one or two of those days, but we'll work around it. I'm working on a schedule now, and will be e-mailing some scenes after that.

Homework! Wendy: lots of stretching, and start doing push-ups. Everyone else: rent and watch Lost in La Mancha. This is required viewing!

Ok. We're looking at a 48 hour shoot, preferably consecutive. I would like to try and arrange a shooting schedule in the four day window (Friday through Monday) somewhere on December 12, 13, 14, 15, or possibly 19, 20, 21, 22. Please let me know which two dates work best for you, and we'll go from there. Location details to follow.

Hope everyone had an excellent holiday, and remember to call me if you have any questions. Also, the trailer will be available for everyone on dvd January 1.