New Crew and budget

Well, my first big foray into excel seems successful. We have a detailed line item budget. And it was surprisingly good news. The show can be pulled off for $23,000, I believe. Which puts us within $8,000, which is very doable. I'm quite confident we can raise that money in the coming months.

As well, I had been concerned about what our maximum budget might be, if everything I dream of comes to fruition. That absolutely can not exceed $40,000, if the investment break-down is to work. The good news is that we are still several thousand dollars under 40K, even when I dream extravagantly.

Okay, so that's all good news. But now do you want the frickin' great news?!

It looks like we have ourselves an arcade game designer. Yeah, that's right, straight up, we are going to have our very own Disembody flash game that is playable online at our website and on a stand-alone arcade machine in the theater.
Oh my heck! Could I be more excited? I don't think so. This is going to be fabulous.
Our designer is a gentleman named Mitch Cichocki. I hope to have bio info up for him on the site soon.
In the meantime, if I'm not mistaken, his myspace page (if I'm not mistaken that it is indeed his) suggests he's right up the 23E alley: his musical selection is Xenakis.

What else has happened this week?

The website is growing and getting stronger.
My interior designers gave me a budget for the theater interior and it is very reasonable. Have I mentioned how fabulous they are?

And speaking of fabulous, have I mentioned how fabulous Amy Sampson is? She not only hooked us up with Mitch, but also with her friend Jean who is submitting a trailer for the show. She also has supplied us with a fair amount of clothing. This will be going out to our embroiderer next week to be branded with our logos.
And she has been invaluable in finding investors.
Hence her executive producer status on the project. This could not happen without her enthusiastic assistance.

Jonny and I have also been talking a lot lately about a couple of additional aspects of the project. He suggested an online time clock so that we can actually track the amount of time that goes into a contemporary art work. This is a brilliant idea. And even though I'm a little concerned about where it could lead (jealousy), I think it's too brilliant an idea not to play around with.
As well, he's counseling me on making a slight change to the crew payout system. It would be an optional change that people could make. For now, that's all I'll say about that.

Finally, this is still in the air, but we have the possibility of bringing a puppeteer onboard for the week of the shoot. Skye and I are super excited by the idea, but still ahve to work out a lot of details.

I'm Back!

Yeah, well, I hope so anyway.

Many apologies folks. The move out of our SOMA offices to the new Richmond District facilities was hectic. That married to the holiday season, a recent spate of stormy weather, and limited internet connectivity in our new studio (the telco should be here today to install the dsl) drew us away from the web and our faithful blogging.

Hmm, truth be told, my distaste for all things computer while my thesis writing hangs over my neck was a bigger issue.

The pix are the old 23E Studios, btw.


Anyway, a catch up note now:

Susan and I spoke via email a few times over the break and I should have the dates for the show soon.
I am meeting Chris, the architect, tomorrow to look at his renderings and fly-through. Below is a few seconds of the fly-through, which looks very good. I think we will have a very strong package for marketing and raising funds in the coming months.



As well, Stel Valavanis is on board (to my great honor, he really liked the idea) to design and install the audio and video elements. He has much of the gear we'll need. And though it's probably not worth shipping from Chicago, he does know what we'll need to rent, and most importantly, knows how to get it all up and running smoothly and beautifully.

As well, I spoke with David G today, and the one thing I will just keep coming back to about Disembody is the incredible quality of the crew we have assembled. This film is going to be superb.

So, though we are behind schedule on fundraising, everything is looking up otherwise. The coming months will be all about marketing and investments.
In early Feb or late January I will be holding the first full crew meeting to go over everything.
Oh, and there should be a new, better website by then, as well. Erin and Johnny visited over the holiday and they are fucking geniuses. Hiring them was a real coup.

So, as '08 slips into our hands, 23E is looking forward to a stunning new project come Summer/Fall.

Ciao

Thesis is in

Yeah, like you all care, but I disappeared and stopped working on Disembody for a few days while I focussed exclusively on my thesis, so...

Today we got the paperwork in to the Hollywood Reporter about the movie.

My imdb resume is online now.

I may pop for a photo. It's an extra $30, but...
wouldn't it be nice to have production shots?

Got a call from Jonny today. He pointed out that I need to LLC 23E Studios. SO that's on the list now.
He also encouraged em to get him and Erin the info they need for the website.
We are rapidly approaching our shoot dates people!

Not much else to report.

Still no architect. Fucking amazing. I need to put Lockhart on finding a set designer.