Sounds familar?

Strange how things come back.

I started this blog in 2009 with a plan to make a movie. It was called Travel Day and it was supposed to be the first feature-length movie for Shirley Petchprapa, a very talented director and camera-person. It was an unusual step for me as I mostly want to direct my scripts.

But in this instance, I would produce it and Shirley would direct. But it never came to be. We came close with a Manitoba producer who was "hot"at the time. But he suddenly became "not hot" when he disappeared. The project never came back from that.

But the blog continued and in doing so, gave a pretty detailed picture of how hard it is to try to make a movie.

So here I am again.

Ghostkeeper 2 "Never Go Back".
 So what's the difference between Travel and and GKPR 2?

The big one is this;

I'm not a first-timer. I've directed Ghostkeeper 1980 as well as some video movies for TV. And I've improved as a writer with 18 credits behind me of produced films as well as episodic TV shows.

I tried to raise funds last year but realized the budget was, at $2 million, just a little too much by today's standards. This is the era of the Canon SLR which can shoot HD video as good as most video cameras, even though the 5D is a still camera.

This translates into a camera that is easily moved around which in turn makes the day go faster and makes the schedule shorter, which in turn requires less money and which means less crew, which again means less money. Voila.

So my first step is to cut the budget down to around $750,000, maybe even lower. My 2nd step is to re-do my original proposition. I'm also getting some storyboards to make investors more secure that this is real.

But producing is a lonely job for a few reasons, the biggest being;

Nobody gives a damn.

A producer has to go to people who really don't want or need his movie; he/she has to get them to put money into something they don't want to.

And he/she has to get them to do it quickly.

I also have a strong fan base of Ghostkeeper fans who will offer more encouragement to consider dishing out $750,000. And the fact that sales are good is an indication to investors that a sequel will work. So, as Bill Murray said in Caddyshack, "I got that goin' for me".

But there's pressure on a date to film. The Deer Lodge Hotel, which is very enthusiastic, is closed for a few weeks in early winter, to prepare for the ski season and that few weeks would be perfect for us to film in. That way we don't interrupt the tourists and guests and they don't interfere with us.

But can I raise the money that soon?

That's the question.