The Ghost and 105F

The hardships of Southern California continue into October, today is expected to be at least 105F and this after a summer that averaged around 95F and often well over 100F. But it's not unusual either and the week-end looks like back to 80's temps.

The worst part is that I rarely want to leave my place to venture out into the blazing heat. And that meant I had to work harder and longer which I don't always care for.

But we move on.

I'm now working with Joe Thornton, an Alberta producer, on Ghostkeeper 2, as I mentioned in other blogs. We have a good working budget of $1.7 million but also allowing for changes in the budget which could cover a wide range.

This is because the $1.7 is our ideal budget and in this business you rarely get the ideal amount of money. And it doesn't matter how big or small your budget is, it will be cut somewhere along the line.

At $1.7, we can do a full union shoot for four 5-day weeks. Some films do 6-day weeks and in our case it would amount to 18 days rather than 20.  There would be a savings there that would amount to lower the budget.

However, I have found that 6-day weeks are just too tiring for a realistic crew. By saying realistic, I mean a crew of at least 20 people and not those made by 5 or 6 people. Working 6 days at a time tires the crew, they never really get a chance to rest as the 7th day often means doing laundry, catching up on your home and a lot of other issues.

With 5 days, it gives the crew a week-end to rest and catch up with their lives.

But it all depends on how much funding we can find. This is the usual thing for indie films with no studio backing them. And that is a good thing and a bad thing. The bad thing is that you have to compromise your "vision" as one might say.

So I can't get that great crane shot or a special f/x that would stand out.

But less money means more imagination. At least that's the saying. On Ghostkeeper 1980 we needed an optical effect for a point-of-view shot of the lead actress. We were looking through her eyes as the room in front of her begins to bend and curve.

But we couldn't afford that effect so instead, John the DP held a wide angle filter near the lens of a handeld Arri 35mm camera and turned it back and forth while I held the camera and filmed the point of view.

Imagination.

And that takes us back to now. 

Joe is working out the Canadian financing opportunities, of which there are many in Canada and since he's a local producer in Calgary, he will have access to several different funds, that if done right, could give us a fair amount of the budget.

And my side needs to bring in a U.S. distributor and also financing so we're still a long way from a start date which just maybe December 2012.