I'm Producing a Movie!

 Talk about self-indulgent. A blog about me and what I'm doing...

Very long first sentence: I wanted to chronicle my journey as a film producer and because we feel it might be in poor taste to publicize the making of a movie when the WGA (writers guild of America) and SAG (actors) are on strike to gain fair working conditions and fair wages and controlled use of Artificial Intelligence, I wanted to make this journey private to anyone who reads my blog, not shout out to the world that Indie film is continuing with this strike with non-union workers.

I'm not union, as a writer, actress or anything else. The film I'm producing is non-union.

Backstory: I wrote a script called BRAVING RAPIDS (maybe 3 years ago) on a suggestion from my then manager that producers were looking for family movies. I can't remember if she liked it or not but she didn't take it on, stopped managing and when I was asked for a script with heart in January, I sent the producer, Erich, the script. It's the story of a little girl wrestling with adoption abandonment issues who goes on a family river rafting trip and finds a wolf cub. At the end of the trip she must give up the cub to the authorities/sanctuary and realizes that placing someone you love with a better life isn't abandonment.

Erich liked/loved the script, had his investor read it and anyone else who could pretty much insure that the finished movie would be sold, aired, and then we signed contracts with me as one of the producers. There are 4 producers, FYI. We managed to find the BEST CAST in Utah and maybe anywhere, and are so excited they've joined this project. I love everyone that was chosen! 

I spent about 347 hours scouting for a puppy to play the wolf cub and knew it would be a last minute call because, as I kept telling Erich in June, "the puppy we want hasn't been born yet." We hit the jackpot with a Siberian Husky puppy tentatively named GREEN GIRL who we now refer to as Rapids. She and her owner will join us next week in Provo to film for a week for live shots of the wolf cub. When the puppy sleeps, we will use a fake cub who is now sleeping on my bed at our producer Air B&B. 

Stay tuned for the real puppy photos!

Sunday, I flew to Utah and am now sequestered inside a small Air B&B doing pre-production work before filming begins tomorrow. Up until now, I've been home working on getting permits to film at parks, securing filming insurance, lending my hand to casting and consulting, finding the puppy. The  script was locked before the writers strike but as a producer, I'm allowed to make changes to suit filming and of course, being non-union, I'm within my rights.

Yesterday I hit the ground running getting props, set décor and supplies. It was an 8-5 day of thrift stores, Walmart, Target, Lowes, Walgreens, Trader Joes, Big 5 and various other stores to find things obscure like a pink elephant stuffed animal, battery operated fans (it's 100 degrees in Provo!) and a dream catcher. I returned to the house/headquarters at 5 pm with a car loaded to the roof with stuff. 

Today, we will pickup the RV which will be our traveling headquarters and bathroom in remote areas, shop with the other producer, Melanie, at Costco for crafty (snacks and drinks). I'll then hit the thrift stores again and set dress one of the bedrooms at the Air B&B for tomorrow's filming of a scene with a little girl awaking from a nightmare. Lots of pink and purple stuff for a 10 year old girl's bedroom!

Also, working on finalizing permits, securing the house for filming the final scene and supporting Erich so he can be free to unleash his creative genius for this story. 

I'm excited! More later...

LATER: 9 pm. Tomorrow we shoot. We just had a lightning storm here in Orem Utah with a double rainbow over the house so I'm taking that as a good sign. 

Got the RV today from one of our cast and I love our choice for the male lead as Nick Swiftwater who owns the RV. Andrew seems to be a super nice guy and offered his great house for our wrap party already and if that isn't trust, I don't know what is. He's flying to LA tomorrow for a KIA commercial but luckily we don't need him for a few days and Erich worked it out on the master schedule so no one is Nick-less. Also, talked to a rafting expert today, Taylor, who works at the operation where we're renting rafts and he was great! He'll be on the set at the river for our river scenes at the top of next month and offered to take us down the river to scout locations and I'M IN!!!

Our DOP (Director of Photography) Neil, is in the house tonight and just returned from a documentary shoot on various rivers from Montana to the Pacific Ocean with two paddlers and is a really interesting dude! I can't believe I get to be a part of this.

I spent several hours today decorating Grace's room for her bedroom scenes for tomorrow. I think it looks cute but you'll tell me when the movie comes out. I hope to return some of the stuff we kept price tags on, cheapskate that I am.

Today was another day of shopping but also phone calls, permits, financials, food shopping, decorating and now sleeping...

Kim Out!