"Last Days" The Mini Web-Series

An eventful week’s gone by; so let me catch you up!

The following Thursday; Sabrina, Nestor and I met with Sandra Rojas. She, having produced 3 other short films, was interested in our project “Last Days”. Sabrina had approached her a little while back with the script of the 6^th episode (all that was completed at the time) in hopes to get her to help us produce the pilot. Sandra read the pilot with us and then we discussed options for funding. By the end of the meeting, I felt reassured to have someone on board as a producer who knew that aspect of the business! We, all three, were impressed with her knowledge and suggestions as to where to begin- but first- a budget needs to be made. Sandra will be looking over the pilot and draw up a budget for us to formulate around. So I’ll be posting that once we’ve looked it over!

Though only having gone on one location scouting, Sabrina has been on a few more. The one I went on was a fun ride. Nestor drove Sabrina and I to Riverview. Riverview is an old semi-abandoned Asylum with large fenced-in grounds that have several little clusters of buildings; some of which are boarded shut and very atmospheric! On rolling into the grounds, there is a notice right outside the entrance that warns against taking pictures without permission. So, no pictures were taken other than mental ones, grin, but we definitely saw a lot of potential and it got my imagination going too; writing ideas for later.

Another site was a block stretch of small residential bungalows all boarded up for demolition. You can so see clusters of Infected standing about with a group of survivors holed up in one of the homes; trying desperately to figure out a way around them. Unfortunately, it’s due for demolition weeks before we can set up a shoot date, but again, got the juices going.

As I mentioned before, last Sunday was the beginning of our casting auditions for the pilot of the series. The replies have been pouring in! We started the day at 9:30am and went through the day to 6pm. We had no pause of auditions with little no-shows! Of the talent we saw that day, it would have made a boring blooper’s reel, grin, because everyone brought their “A” game; including a separate couple who even went so far as to come in costume! A few of our auditioners surprised us with alternate possibilities for some of the characters and that turned out to be an interesting avenue of discussion. Sandeep, our Casting Director, has been busy all week managing the heavy incoming flow of resumes to fill up our casting weekend starting this Saturday February 11^th, 2012. Tomorrow, we start the day at 8:45am! We will be auditioning at 400 W Hastings at a VFS building, so head on by in case you missed the casting call; Sandeep will be greeting the actors near the entrance, maybe she will be able to slip you in! Signing off, J