Nighthawks is now on YouTube

Here it is folks. Nighthawks is now on YouTube. Please feel free to share. Thank you to cast and crew for all your hard work, support and patience.

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IMDB page is up.

Yes! We now have an IMDB page. The sad news is is that when I entered in all the cast and crew information with 'Withoutabox' for the Toronto International Film Festival application I assumed all the information would be forwarded to IMDB when the page was created. I was wrong. So I have to re-enter everything and we won't see results for at least a week or more. That being said it's all in the works and that's a good thing. Again if anybody sees any errors on my part let me know and I'll deal with it as quickly as I can.

Another long overdue update

Well, after many fun and challenging days of shooting (and re-shooting) and untold hours of editing the project has been compiled to the point that we can start considering the film festival circuit. It's still in what's termed a rough cut stage with a bit more work to do but it's in a much more snappy and presentable state than the overlong first rough cut.

Music rights are in the works with 'Jets Overhead' and I'm still working on the 'Heartache People' song with Warner/Chappell. Michael Goudge (the fine actor who played Isaac) is also on board to provide songs from his next CD from his band 'The Amortals'. I'll soon provide a link to their Myspace page.

First entry on the festival circuit is The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Yup, the big one here in North America. Fingers are crossed big time on this one. The extra bonus of even entering TIFF is that 'Nighthawks' will be granted it's own page on IMDB. Can't wait! When it's up and running please inform me if you see any mistakes I might have made in the cast and crew entries. I have to admit to a bit of scrambling and late nights for the last couple of days so I might have made some errors.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank everybody again for participating in 'Nighthawks'. It was a great pleasure meeting and working with all of you and I hope you please keep in touch. For now I wish each and everyone of you the greatest level of success and good fortune in the years to come.

Roles for Nighthawks

This is just a reminder for those who have contacted me in regards to roles for Nighthawks. It's true that I've started casting for some of the roles in the first installment of the project but there are many roles I've yet to fill for the next couple of episodes so, please, don't feel your being overlooked as I will be contacting you for reads once this all gets underway. If everything goes as planned this may go on for sometime with some very interesting and out there stories.

Another casting session

A big 'thank you' to all who showed up for the last auditions. Now it's time for round 2. A pretty notice like the previous one will be posted shortly but in a nutshell it will be at Cinevic again this Saturday, Aug.1 from 10 am to 5 pm. Stay tuned.

Non Union Casting Call:

Nighthawks – Independent Feature Film

Written & Directed By: Art Messenger

Produced By: Robyn Unwin, Melissa de Haan, Jordan Clark

DATE:  

FRIDAY JULY 24^th, 2009 5PM-10PM &

SATURDAY JULY 25^th, 2009 9AM-4PM

LOCATION:

Cinevic Society of Independent Filmmakers
2202 Douglas St
Victoria BC

The following is a call for the upcoming project entitled "Nighthawks" which is the story of Lee, a returning Afghan vet who, after returning to his rural home, makes the decision to pursue his artistic hopes in the city. Guided by a childhood friend Lee comes to the city and soon meets fellow artistic bohemians who share the same hopes and aspirations he does all the while dealing with the realities of living in the hard world of urban street life; a world fraught with drugs, violence and emotional pitfalls. Lee's experiences of dealing with the homeless, the addicted and the disenfranchised lead him to better understand the world around him, his art and, most importantly, himself

Role		Gender/ Age
Dylan Principal		Male 25-35	Both mischievous and irreverent Dylan is still capable of insight and thoughtfulness. Lee's best friend since childhood.
Sam Principal		Female 20-30	Somewhat hard around the edges Sam is a woman used to a certain amount freedom and has no problem 'calling 'em as she sees 'em'.
Carm Principal		Female 20-30	Carm has an exotic flair who, like Sam, prefers to call her own shots but generally has a more gentle demeanor. Sam's closest friend.
Barbara Principal		Female 35-45	Barbara is a local gallery owner who's interest in the arts almost matches her 'cougarish' nature. Outwardly confident and chic she's most comfortable when she 'lets her hair down'.
Isaac Principal		Male 25-35	Isaac is the local tough guy who has his hand in drugs, prostitution etc. Isaac's ambitions to climb the crime ladder leads to confrontations with Lee and his friends.
Tom Supporting Male 55-65			Tom is Lee's father. A rugged hardworking country man with a wry sense of humour.
Pete Supporting Male 20-30			Lee's brother. Pete is somewhat more stoic than Lee with a more 'common sense' approach to life.
Stacy Supporting Female 20-30			Young and beautiful Stacy is the love Lee leaves behind. Feisty and usually good humoured Stacy has a bit of a rough and tumble aspect to her.
Kyle Supporting		Male 20-25	Lee's younger brother. Kyle has an adventurous streak and has been known to get in trouble on a few occasions.
Chris Supporting	Male 35+Chris has been living on the streets for some time. There is a certain sageness and gentleness that belies what we might perceive would be the case considering how hard life must be for him.

Please book your time through jclark@highbanks.ca 

You may also show up during the times specified – we will get you in as soon as possible. 

Sides will be provided beforehand for confirmed appointments and also at the casting sessions.

For more information please visit www.nighthawksonline.blogspot.com

Thank you.

Congrats to fellow filmmakers

I'd like to send out a hearty congratulations to both Jim Knox and Louie Lawless on the completion of principal photography for their respective projects which happen to be feature lengths as well. I was lucky enough to be involved in Jim's shoot and was blown away by the professionalism and work ethic of both cast and crew. I heard the same was true for Louie's shoot as well. 

Jordan Clark, one of the co-producers fro "Nighthawks" is in the final stages of post production for his latest documentary "The Aswang Phenomenon" which I was privileged to see at a recent screening. Just goes to prove that Victoria is loaded with very talented and and hardworking members of the filmmaking community.  

Long overdue update

Sorry about the lengthy delay in updating the old blog. Much has been happening in the last little while that put it on the back burner more or less. Some may already know this but the project was put in a bit of jeopardy due to a change of City of Victoria permit policies. On the surface it appeared so bad I was even contemplating taking "Nighthawks" to Vancouver. Luckily these proposed changes have been put off until the fall and even with that I've been assured by the city that it won't be as draconian as it first appeared. So Victoria is still a 'go'. That being said the casting process is going to proceed in earnest very shortly. Confirmation from Cinevic that their space will be available for Friday the 24th evening and Saturday the 25th day is all that's needed to get the ball rolling so stay tuned. Ana de Lara and Melissa de Haan will be sending out notices shortly. 

Scheduling change

Seems that due to a couple of circumstances I'm going to have to push back my scheduled start date of early July to probably the end of July at the earliest. First reason is the decision to use a new camera whose low production numbers and unanticipated popularity has made it a very hard to get item. I've pre-ordered two and I know for sure I'm getting one which is good but I won't get my hands on it until the beginning of July and our DOP, Dan Carruthers, and I are going to have to spend time getting to know the thing inside and out. The plus of this is that we may very well be the first to put out a feature with such a camera which will help marketing the film that much easier.

The other reason is that my friend and colleague, Jim Knox, is shooting a feature in June and finishing on July 1. This didn't at first seem to conflict with my project and I'm even co-producing on his but what's come to light is that key personnel that are working on Jim's will not have the time for pre-production planning on mine. This includes Dan and his crew and Art Dept. people. amongst others, hence my decision to push things back a few weeks. I'll certainly let you know how things are going.    

Dusting off the blog

Catching up time. Have spent far too much time researching the marketing aspects of the project. Everything that's turned up and all the advice I've been generously endowed with is that the only thing that should be concentrated on at this moment is the feature length pilot idea. So here's the game plan. I 'sew' together the script that's circulating out there at the moment with content I have already written for future episodes as well as writing what would have been termed 'The Beginning'. That was already in the process of being written so no problems there. I still plan to start shooting in early July but there may be a little hitch in that as I have kind of gambled on the release date of a particular camera which is being produced in frighteningly low numbers. I've pre-ordered it some time ago but that doesn't insure anything. Competition to get one of these is the camera geeks equivalent to a 3 for 1 bra sale at Walmart. Not pretty. This project will be one of the first feature films shot on this kind of camera which is and looks like a simple DSLR, I kid you not.

Other news: I 'm pleased to announce that Ana de Lara has graciously announced that she'd love to help out with the casting process. Within a 1/2 hour of saying 'yes' she had already worked out one of the problems I'd been having for some time. Thanks Ana. With Ana on board we can really begin the casting process in earnest while I take care of the writing and more of that nasty paperwork. 

 

Casting Soon

Hi all. Been talking to other filmmakers around town recently and it sounds like I wasn't the only one busy with other projects in the last little while. Congrats to all that got another shoot under their belt.

I'm starting some reads next week and will be in touch shortly about trying to arrange a schedule. My plan is to do small groups at a time so that there isn't that awkward 'bottleneck' feel when reads are, supposedly, done like clockwork. This process may take two weeks but we'll get it done. Some of the roles are for the still incomplete 3rd episode but I have enough material that 'sides' shouldn't be an issue. 

I'm Back

My apologies to everybody that's been following this blog. For the last few weeks I was involved in the pre-production as 1st AD for Bryan Skinner's new project. In a strange quirk of fate I also ended up as one of the Executive Producers as well. Not a combo I'd recommend for new filmmakers as it just absorbs all sorts of time and energy but I also have no regrets as this is going to be one wonderful little film once finished in post and working with a great, cast, crew and director is always a welcome opportunity.

Now that I've got that behind me it's full bore ahead with putting everything together for "Nighthawks". I promise to be in touch soon with casting details and a progress report on times and schedules.

Broadcaster

Good news, bad news time. There is a broadcaster that is at least willing to have a look at "Nighthawks" which is good, of course. The bad news is that if, admittedly a big if, they are interested in pursuing it they would most likely insist on setting it up with a known producer who would in turn pass it along to a known production company which would mean their own casting and crew. Not so good. With all this in mind I think I'll keep plugging on my 3 episode approach and cut some of the footage into a feature length which can be entered into festivals and be used as a calling card for all those involved, including myself. If after that they are still interested in a series then everybody who helped with the feature would have at least a chance of being asked to go further with it. So, in the meantime, I've been trying to put a budget together for the shoot. You'd think it would be easier considering the amount of '$0.00's I've been entering on each line. Any rich uncles out there?

Indiecine

For any readers of this blog who are fellow filmmakers I've added a link to 'Indiecine' in the links section. A friend and I have started a short, intensive course which should help all would-be filmmakers understand the steps required in achieving their goals. I'll let the website speak for itself but if I were to sum things up in a nut shell it would be that we would encourage analyzing any project from a feasibility standpoint and to provide an understanding as to how important the proper documentation is when it comes to marketing said project so that an audience will have the opportunity to actually 'see' the final product.

Broadening The Scope

Thanks to the good fortune of having advice from some industry professionals and with the positive feedback I'm getting for the script I've decided to broaden the scope of the upcoming shoot. All in all I hope to have the first three episodes shot by sometime in the fall. Except for the pilot I plan to work the shoot as a series of vignettes or shorts that, for the most part, can be shot on a weekend, in the evenings or in a timeframe that doesn't over tax peoples schedules or their goodwill. There is another core group of characters to be introduced so casting is still very much up in the air. For the moment I have to suspend the meet and greets I wanted until I have a solid gameplan in place for the project.

With all the footage we'll have in the can I will be able to do what I wanted to do from the start; a feature length which will qualify for more film festivals while still having material for a broadcaster if the series idea finds an interested party. Lots of work ahead.

More email fun

I'm afraid I have email problems again. I believe Shaw is doing an upgrade to their High Speed in my neighbourhood which may be the cause. I know I've sent out emails to a number of people but they don't show up in my 'outbox' so my assumption is they're just floating out in cyberspace. I'll be working on this but keep watching the blog for updates.

Musical Good News

I just received some good news from the fine folks at Warner-Chappell. I've been given the greenlight to use Blues Hall of Famer, Nick Gravenites' song "Heartache People" for the online trailer and for Film Festival use. It would be hard to describe how important I feel this song is in the project as it says everything I can't about it. It still cost a bit which means I'll be forced to eat Kibbles and Bits for the next little while but there you have it.

I still have to make sure that the license is okay for Canada and a few other legalees things but it looks good for now. 

I've added a link to the iTunes store for you to be able to download the song if you so desire. 

Progress to date

First, my apologies for not keeping the blog up to date. Much ado at the moment. One of the things is determining the method with which we'll be shooting the project. If we go one way we can start earlier if we go another it will have to wait a little bit. In the meantime I'd like to meet each and everyone of our potential cast members just to get acquainted a little. Then on to some auditions and reads. Expect phone calls or emails in the next few days.

As I stated in earlier blogs I was unable to get all characters in the pilot I would have liked. Most of them won't surface 'til episodes 2 or 3 but I'd still like to meet. When it comes time for reads I have samples of some of the future character's dialogue. Failing that I might have you read for another role just to have a look. 

Unions and Guilds

As much as I support and admire the work of guilds and unions the sad fact is I've had to push back the inclusion of some very talented actors because of the lack of budget to live up to their terms even with a low budget agreement waiver. If any actors interested in the project are ACTRA or UBCP members, or plan to join soon, please let me know as soon as you can. It won't stop me from considering you but I might have to push back your inclusion until Episode 3 or later when, if picked up, there will be a 'real' budget in place. Thanks for your understanding in this.