Is this really gonna happen?

One of the constants in this business is; Am I gonna actually get to make this movie?". They say actors get the most rejections and this is evident in the speeches they make at any award ceremony. You'd think they found a cure for cancer.

And after that it could arguably be writers, given that their pitches and outlines and screenplays are more than often turned down than made. And sometimes even when the script is bought or optioned, it never gets made.

At least writers get turned down because of their writing, actors get turned down because of the way they look. For example I remember Melissa Leo (who won Best Supporting this year) from a series called Homicide back in 1993 and said to myself, she's not pretty but she's pretty damn good as an actor. And finally it paid off but it took years.

My friends are saying this Ghostkeeper windfall that seems to come to me without me even asking, is the fruit of the many years I've put into this business. And I admit it feels good to get some attention although Ghostkeeper isn't the story I'm burning to tell. You know that it's Emperor of Mars.

But somehow I feel I owe it to the old Ghostkeeper, because that movie led me to a pretty good 30 years, up and down to be sure, but always moving forward.

So why am I so worried that it'll all fall down.

Because that's the general rule. 

Even now, as I write the new proposal (which I'll post soon), there are moments when I wonder if it will really happen. That Catholic school part of me says that just when everything is going good... "you're gonna die". Or something like that.

And a director friend doesn't help when he says "Be careful crossing streets".

Age is definitely a factor, when I was 22 I would take any dare and expect to win every time. But years and a few accidents on mountain bikes and bad TV shows made me a little more mortal. Not to mention losing both parents over the last 10 years.

As someone once said, "you're next".

I have to admit that this Ghostkeeper remake is probably the most confident project I've had in years, the pieces are falling together faster than I can keep count. So what else can I worry about?

Well, what if one or more of the actors still alive, don't want to be in the movie or we can't find them anymore? The answer is simply "change the script". But one of the corners I'm putting myself in is this; if only one element changes, I could be stuck.

What can happen?

1. One or more of the actors can't/won't be in it. Having the 4 original actors in the movie is crucial.
2. The hotel decides not to give us the permission to film there.
3. There's no snow in that window of 6 weeks when the hotel closes for awhile.
4. We can't find all the funding in time.

Also I have written and directed 3 movies, and had complete freedom on all of them. Now, if we have a funding distributor, they're gonna want to be on set standing behind me all the time and watching those damn monitors.

But for now, I guess I am moving forward, because that's the only thing I know, never go backwards, you just tend to fall alot.


(Mon: new details)


 

Packaging Ghostkeeper

Okay, so I've now finished the screenplay for Ghostkeeper 2, although it seems that any reference to a "Sequel" is not advisable these days. Rather it's a "remake" which is a term that suggests that rather than a copy, it's a whole new movie. With remakes popular (True Grit being notably the best one), I'll go with whatever the distributor things is best.

Not that they always know.

Now I begin to create a package, which, if you read the first Travel Day blogs here, way back in August of 2009, will get a really good idea of what a package should have. Trouble is, I never found the funds necessary for Travel Day.

So why do I think I can get $$ this time?

Travel Day had two Oscar nominees interested in it and that helped alot. But it was a classic "indie" film, a character drama, often referred to as non-genre. It's not family, comedy, romcom (romantic comedy), action, horror or suspense-thriller. All of those are genres. Movies like Winter's Bone, 127 Days, Wendy and Lucy, these are not genre films.

And thus, not as appealing to the distributors.

In addition we had a first-time director in Shirley, who is perfectly capable of directing a feature, in fact more talented than most of the directors I know. But every first time director faces this challenge. The fact that she was a woman also makes it a little harder. In spite of changes in attitude and Kathryn Bigelow winning an Oscar for an action film last year, women still face what is still a man's world.

These objections are often overcome but in our case, it didn't help. Also, a major investor pulled out at the last minute as well, which was the biggest loss. And weather was key to the story so by early spring, it was simply too late to try to make Travel Day until winter came back. I am still committed to producing a feature for Shirley.

Now compare that to Ghostkeeper 2.

For one, I wrote and directed the 1980 Ghostkeeper and produced it through my own company, Badland Pictures. A budget of $650,00 was raised due to a Canadian tax shelter (note: not tax credit which is popular now in Canada and US). The tax shelter then was 100%, which meant that each of the 6 investors could write off their investment completely.

This tax credit was incredible for the Canadian film industry as it began building an real industry rather than just a handful of filmmakers struggling to find money. But, as with all good things, lawyers and accountants got into it and pretty soon a $5 million budget had $2 million going to the suits rather than the movie. So Canada cancelled it.

It lasted from 1975 to 1985 and I got my money in 1980 for Ghostkeeper.

It was also my first feature, after writing and directing scores of commercials and documentaries but the big reason for investors giving me money was that I had a great money-finder who was a born salesman. Something I'm not. That and the fact that it was a horror film and shot in winter. The tax shelter ended at the end of each year and so most of the money was raised around then as rich people realized they had to find some tax shelters.


So where does that put me now?

After 30 years, I have written or rewritten 18 movies and directed 3. There is also a small cult following for the movie, which began in Britain. I've had some offers to re-release the 1980 version but I didn't have a good copy. Somewhere along the way I lost track of the original 35mm prints and negs.

But in January, a distributor called me to say he found a 35mm print and wanted to distribute the 1980 film. I said yes. And now I have finished the screenplay and also did a full budget, 22 pages worth. This week I spend on a proposal outlining everything. You might want to go to the proposal we had for Travel Day, it's still posted on the left hand side of this page under Materials.

So far I also have two of the original actors, the original DP and the original PM, (Director of Photography & Production Manager). I need to find the other two actresses, Georgie Collins and Sherry McFadden, Georgie must be in her 80's and Sherry may have married. But they all are crucial to the story.

Another cast member was Les Kimber, actually a PM himself but he started in the business as an actor. Les passed away a few years ago. His photo will be in the new movie.

And lastly I have a distributor both for Ghostkeeper 1 and 2 as well as offers to distribute from Canada, France and Great Britain. If I can't raise money with all these elements I might as well quit. Well, maybe not quit.

So once again I launch into an impossible task, to get money from people who don't want to give me money and spend it on something that they don't want to spend on and won't see until it's finished.


(Thurs: Progress?)

Bittersweet - Heading Home

Unless you follow us on Twitter (Julia, Yuriy), you probably don't even know that we're headed home this weekend. Being a sad topic, we haven't been bringing it up too often on the blog. Now as we sit at the airport with a 12 hour layover in Seoul (before heading to Seattle), there's no avoiding the topic. Instead of being negative about it, we decided to come up with a happy list of all the things we're looking forward to at home.

- friends & family -- first and foremost!

- meeting our new niece, Liana (Yuriy's brother welcomed his 1st baby on 02/11) 

- our very own Ikea bed -- better than any hotel bed

- having a closet 

- free internet at all times (we're usually hunting for cafes with internet in every city we visit and get deeply disappointed when our hotels don't have wireless)

- tennis

- rock climbing

- mountain biking

- kayaking (what can I say.... we haven't been very active these past 6 months)

- driving our own cars (on the right side of the road!)

- cell phone service -- I don't know if I remember how to text fast

- cooking at home

- a washing machine

- Starbucks -- we made a promise not to have it abroad (even though its all over the place), though we cheated once on Christmas Day

- church & worship -- we've been listening to sermon podcasts, but it's not nearly the same as being there every Sunday

- mama's cooking

- nieces and nephews

- our hammock on the balcony

- teriyaki restaurants (Yuriy's fave lunch and Seattle has loads of them)

- decorating our first home together -- we lived separately prior to the wedding and can't wait to combine our tastes

- riding bikes together

- garage saling this summer

- having a blow drier and hair straightener (just Julia... hopefully)

- revisiting our favorite happy hour restaurants -- lamb burgers at Barolo, in particular

- a decent shower 

- jigsaw puzzles -- one of our favorite things to do on a quiet evening at home

- a fireplace (goes well with the puzzles)

- my guitar (Julia)

- having an office desk

- getting mail (and digging through the pile from the last 6 months)

- customer service at businesses -- America does it best

- legally changing my last name to Manchik (Julia)

- wearing my engagement ring (Julia) -- didn't want to take major bling traveling so I took it off and left it at home just 3 days after the wedding!

- wild blackberries -- only in sweet ol' Washington State

- sending off our first shop orders!

- having a coffee pot at home -- and no more Nescafe! (so many countries served this instant crap when you ordered coffee)

- buying Yuriy a new car -- we sold his before the trip 

- buying new electronics -- laptops, phones, iPad (we've fallen behind from the pack)

- snowboarding (Julia) & skiing (Yuriy)

See? There's a lot to look forward to! (and a lot we'll miss... like exploring new cities, eating yummy food every day, taking photos of charming streets/buildings, meeting new people, learning history, touring the world's biggest cities, sleeping in late, having long days with no plans, warm summer weather, laying on beaches......)

It's mind boggling that we will be home in Seattle by Sunday afternoon. It seems like it's all part of an old past life, but nope, it's the life that still exists.

Just so you know, we have a LOT left to blog about. We somehow fell behind on our posting (maybe we were busy traveling and enjoying ourselves) and are still writing about our time in Ukraine which was in December. Sifting through thousands of photos and writing about such incredible experiences can only be rushed so much. Since December, a lot has happened. We left blistery cold Europe for sunny Asia (visiting Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia) and completed our around-the-world-trip by driving down the Australian coast (checking out Sydney, Melbourne, and everything in between). So you can probably imagine how many photos we've accumulated! We can't wait to share it all here, so stick around. 

Now we have a 10 hour flight to catch and some tears to wipe away. 

- Julia and Yuriy

Winners Announced

Thanks for the awesome response to our first ever giveaway! We asked you to share the travel destination you're currently dreaming about and had quite the time reading through your entries. Made us wish we weren't going home so darn soon. It was especially rad to see people share destinations that they're now thinking about thanks to our blog. 

We still feel giddy because we can't believe we have a real functioning online shop. It feels really cool and we're glad we put the time into it, even if it ate up some of our vacation time. Every time we argue about something lately, we like to use the leverage line "oh yeah? well I have a shop" (even though it belongs to both of us). Big big thanks to our first customers on the site (one all the way from Paris!)... you brought huge smiles to our faces!

Without further ado, we'd like to announce our two giveaway winners. You should have received an email from us so you can choose your t-shirt and print. If you didn't win, hopefully you know where you can pick one up. :)

Lost a day...

Somehow I lost a day, and realized I missed my second post. Working hard on the budget for Ghostkeeper 2, which I hope to keep under $2 million which is realistic, considering that the first one cost $650,000 which with inflation is now about $1.7 million.

Lots more Monday.... things are happening.

Shop Giveaway

Thank you for joining us for the launch of our new travel shop, Handle With Care! To celebrate, we are giving away some goodies from the shop to our readers. 

You can enter to win a free t-shirt or a photo print of your choice by leaving a comment below. Please include your name, email, and the travel destination you're currently dreaming about (if you'd rather not publicly post your email address, shoot us an email). We would love to get your ideas for future trips. Two winners will be chosen at random. Giveaway ends March 3rd at 10pm PST.

If you're just browsing the site, make sure to pick up a free wallpaper! 

Sign up for our e-mail newsletter here to get updates on new products and promotions.  

Join Our Mailing List

We have so much to be happy about right now. Thank you for being here.

- Julia & Yuriy

It's here!

We are so excited to share a new website with you today-- Handle With Care Shop!

In our shop you will find photograph prints, postcards, t-shirts, and travel-themed free wallpapers. All of our products have been photographed and designed by us, Julia and Yuriy.

As we blog our experience and images here, we have had a great response from people all over the world who relive their travels through our trip or are adding new cities to their dream travel list. So often people say they are inspired by what we’re doing and wish they could do the same. All we can say in response is “you can”. We choose to put travel as a priority over other things in life (like a big house or a fancy couch... let's be honest, we're coming home broke). The hardest part is deciding to go. When we hear about our friends out and about, it pushes us to make our next travel plans. We hope that our travel journaling will inspire you to take a break from your life, hard as it may be, and plot your next getaway (even if secretly at first).

We have created a handful of t-shirts based on our travels and photographs. Through these keepsakes, we get to share our travels and you get to hold onto something that will (hopefully) inspire you to pack your suitcase. If you wear one of our t-shirts or have a photography print in your office, it will serve as a physical reminder to make room in your demanding life for travel. The world is big and life is short so we really believe in getting a start on traveling while we’re young.

Thank you for joining us and supporting our adventures. We have the most fun, positive, and adventurous blog readers!

We couldn’t see the world and experience so many cultures without a need to give back. 15% of all profits from Handle With Care Shop will be donated to help people around the world. The organization we donate to will change with time based upon needs. 

Currently we are supporting His Kids Too, a Christian organization serving orphans, street children, the disabled, the poor, and suffering people of Ukraine. 100% of donations benefit orphans in Ukraine. 

We were both born in Ukraine but grew up in the States and recently took our first trip back. It felt good to reconnect to our roots but was hard to see the poverty and underdevelopment of our country. This trip inspired us to help Ukraine. 

Now go check out the new shop and please let us know what you think! We've been working on this for the past few months while traveling-- designing t-shirts, finding someone to make them, shuffling through thousands of photos to choose which ones to print. And while you're browsing the site, make sure to pick up a free wallpaper!

The first 30 comments on this post will receive a free postcard from our shop. All you have to do is send us an email with your mailing address.

Come back later today (& bring your friends!) for a chance to win a free t-shirt and photography print of your choice.

- Julia & Yuriy