My Small Planet.

A long time ago...

2010-06-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

So... I'm updating my blog. I haven't done it in a while and I need to get back into doing it with more regularity. So... here it is.

Most importantly... my family is happy and healthy. We just moved into a wonderful new house and couldn't be happier.

On the movie front things are going just as well. We have about 4 more weeks of post production on Wake Before I Die. This included color correction, sound mixing, and promotional materials. From there we will be sending it out to a few interested parties and going from there. All we know for sure at this point is... it's a blast of a popcorn movie with great performances from Portland actors and crew. Our composer is busy at work writing the score... which will be monumental in the success of the film. This is easily the most accessible and entertaining movie we've made until now. Very excited for people to see it. Information about WBID screening and news will be updated at www.wakebeforeidie.com as it gets closer to completion. Keep an eye out!

In the next month we'll also be transitioning into our next projects. Needless to say we are very excited about the possibilities of what's up and coming. Our most ambitious projects to date... but that's never slowed us down before.

Look for the full skinny on what's happening next at: www.pollutedpictures.com

That's all for now... much more to come!

Until then...

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

2009-10-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

So... it's been a crazy couple of weeks.

First, I've decided to shoot a few scenes for some fabulous actors looking to diversify their reels. It will give me an opportunity to not only diversify myself but also work with some new people in the field that I love. I have decided to only do five scenes so that I can fully focus on the scenes and make them as fantastic as they can possibly be. That being said... I look forward to the possibility of shooting a few more next year at some point.

Then there is Hope. I am currently editing the project and will be finishing a cut by month's end. Great performances from great people. Working with high caliber actors makes my job a lot easier in post... and for that I cannot thank them enough. The score is about to be written and then mixed into the deliverables. This is a huge departure for me but I am so proud of the product. I look forward to sharing footage in the upcoming days.

On Nov. 3rd my brother Jason and I start adapting my dad's book 'My Soul to Take' to screenplay format. This will be the first screenplay that my brother and I will be writing together and we are both looking forward to it very much. We will also be making our debut as co-directors. We've never really enjoyed the 'brother' moniker on films but we really do work well together so it absolutely makes sense. Our good friend Robert Blanche has signed on to Produce the movie as well. We really all just think similarly and are all focused on the project as a stepping stone to bigger and better worlds of filmmaking. This is our next movie... and we are VERY excited about it. We are loosely planning on shooting early 2010. We'll know more specifics in the upcoming weeks. I'll be sure to keep you posted. :)

Jason and I have also been tapped to be on a panel on Nov. 6th. You can find out more information here: http://jcomm.uoregon.edu/whatisfilm/program/about-the-conference

My last feature film 'Pray for Hell' is being released by Cinema Epoch on Nov. 10th. The movie will be playing at the Clinton Street Theater from Nov. 1st - 5th. We are currently planning a DVD release party for Sunday the 1st. I'll keep you posted on the details. In the meantime... if you haven't had a chance please consider pre-ordering the film or put in in your Netflix cue at the links below. If you've already done so please go back and write a review of the film on either site as well. The more people that write, comment, and rate the film the better. Whatever you can do would be appreciated. Check it out!

Pray for Hell @ Amazon!

Pray for Hell @ Netflix!

Lastly a personal note. My dad had a mild stroke on Saturday. It was a scary few days. I've spent the countless last hours contemplating my father, his life, and his effect on mine. He raised us on movies and in church. We would go to church 3 days a week in one capacity or another learning about the bible and all things faith based. Then on a Saturday night my father would sit us down and show us a 16MM print of Night of the Living Dead. Just before he would turn out the lights and start up the projector he would sit us down and tell us about the making of the movie. He was our own personal guide to all things film making. He would tell us of the hardships and eventual joys of telling stories on film and I wouldn't change a thing about my upbringing in hindsight. He and my mother are the source of my faith and he alone is to blame for the monster that I am... a filmmaker. And I thank him for it.

That being said... my dad is home and is healing. It'll take time to recover... but I am so thankful that I see in his eyes the man that I love so dearly. He'll make a full recovery and be there to root us on as we continue down our very long path toward our goals of having not just a career but a filmography. Not everything we've done is great... nor will everything we do from this point forward... but what we will know is that we are shooting for the stars that we saw in our father's eyes all those years ago in front of that huge, white, 4:3 screen on the wall. Movies are threaded within our DNA and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you Dad. I love you.

Whew... that was a lot.

That's it. That's all. I'll update soon.

New frame grabs. 10.11.09

2009-10-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Frame grabs 10.07.09

2009-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hope frame grabs 10-04-09

2009-10-04T15:58:00.001-07:00

Here are the frame grabs from last night's shoot of the feature length film 'Hope.'

Sneak Peek of DVD!

2009-09-29T10:29:00.001-07:00

Pre-order now at www.amazon.com! Releases 11.10.09.

My next feature length 'original' screenplay.

2009-09-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the character list for Polluted Pictures first feature length film out of the gate in 2010:

1 Hostess

8 Healthy

2 Rejects

2 Undesirables

2 Orderlies

2 Men with Shotguns

1 Corporation

1 Incurable

1 Cured

The imagination wanders...

2009-08-20T10:15:00.001-07:00

August 18th screen grabs!

2009-08-18T23:17:00.002-07:00

August 17th frame grabs!

2009-08-18T13:14:00.001-07:00

8/16/09 Frame grabs from the feature film 'Hope!'

2009-08-17T01:16:00.002-07:00

New frame grabs.

2009-08-13T19:21:00.001-07:00

New frame grabs.

2009-08-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Danny Bruno is fantastic. Check out these new frame grabs from the feature length film 'Hope.'

'Hope' frame grabs!

2009-08-11T10:16:00.001-07:00

Motor Home screen grabs!

2009-05-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

May 17th, 2009

Screen grabs 5/16.

2009-05-17T12:00:00.001-07:00

Day 2 screen grabs.

2009-05-16T13:06:00.001-07:00

My Soul To Take Stills!

2009-05-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

So here are the first frame grabs. Enjoy! :)

My Soul to Take AND American Disciples.

2009-05-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

So a lot has been going on lately. Here's my attempt at a catching everyone up.

First off I'm getting really excited to shoot the 5 scenes of My Soul To Take starting this Thursday night the 14th. We had a great table read on Saturday and I'm just so thankful for everyone who is helping us realize this movie. Great talent... awesome people. We shoot the diner scene Thursday with Harold and Benedict. Then we shoot a couple of freaky scenes Friday night with Harold, Audrey, Cheyenne, and Elijah. These are the "getting to know the family" scenes... as well as the family in peril scenes. FUN. Then Saturday night we shoot the "burial" scene. This scene is with Harold, Benedict, and Elijah. Needless to say... this is gonna be the fun late night shoot. Can you say dry ice fog machine anyone? Then we shoot the creepy trailer scene on Sunday with Harold, Marilyn, and Abigail. This one is my personal favorite... my brother wrote a hell of a scene. Very excited.

We also just got into a pretty awesome 23" HD monitoring solution that I'm very excited about as well as a very cool director's viewfinder. Getting all of my other equipment back in one place this week. Dolly and jib arm should be back in order by the shoot on Friday as well as all of the lighting equipment etc.

Next, my brother and I have been hired on to co-photograph the upcoming feature film "American Disciples" written and directed by Anthony Pierce. My brother and I meet the crew on Wednesday and couldn't be more optimistic and excited. They have put together quite a cast for this mother.

Kristina Klebe	...	Lucille
David Fine	...	Bonkers
Michelle Page	...	Lacy
Jeffrey Weissman	...	Doctor
Robert Blanche	...	Liam Mahony
George Katt	...	Joe Mahony
Larry Laverty	...	Uncle Jack
Joshua Anderson	...	Benny Mahony
Geno Romo	...	The Hustla
Matt Dotson	...	Dick Mahony
Justin Isaiah Ezell Hall	...	Clay

... and that's just to name a few! I'll know so much more by Wednesday... and then the heavy lifting starts bright and early Monday the 18th! Shoot begins May 20th and then I'll have some CRAZY updates. :)

That's it for now... I'll be in touch soon!

Equipment list.

2009-05-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

So we just got done compiling an equipment list for insurance purposes and here's the official list of what Pollluted Pictures has got to work with.

Sony PMW-EX1 HD Camcorder
4 8 Gig SxS cards. (30 minutes of 1080p per card)
Letus Elite DOF adapter.
85mm Prime Zeiss Lens
50mm Prime Zeiss Lens
35mm Prime Zeiss Lens
28mm Prime Zeiss Lens
20mm Prime Nikon Lens
Redrock MicroMattebox
Redrock Follow Focus
7 inch HD LCD Monitor
Eagle Systems dolly.
Travato 10 ft. jib arm. (Attaches to Dolly.)
2 Lowell Pro DP Kits.

On Set 17 inch Apple MacBook Pro running FCS 2 and Adobe CS3 Production Suite.
eSATA Hard Drive adapter for on set editing.
2 1 Gig eSATA Hard Drives for on set editing.

2 8-core Mac Pro editing stations running Final Cut Studio 2 and Adobe CS3 Production Suite.
Each system is running 10 Gigs of RAM.
Matrox MXO breakout box for HD monitoring.
Apple 30 inch displays and 23' inch displays for monitoring.

Update.

2009-05-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

So here is the status/situation of my upcoming films:

My Soul To Take: Shooting 5 scenes with my brother and I Co-Directing and Co-Producing. We are shooting these scenes for financing with the hope of shooting the feature this fall. It is based on our father's book of the same name. The scenes star Harold Phillips, Audrey Walker, Benedict Herrman, Marilyn Faith Hickey, Elijah Nelson, Abigail Van Dyke, and Cheyenne Canfield. They will be shot May 14-17 and will be completed by the end of the month.

Miracle on Ninth Ave.: This is a film that I was hired to write, direct, and produce. It is the story of an eccentric Polish immigrant and his amazing battle with cancer. It has not been completely cast yet but it stars Danny Bruno as Leon Zend and Robert Blanche as Mark Ziemer. Final casting will take place in June and shooting will take place the end of July through early August. Completed in November.

Silent Partners: This is my next personal project. It is an original screenplay based on a story that I had 5 years ago. I am truly very excited about this film. It is unlike anything I have ever done before and am ready to knock it out of the park. It's about that time. This film has not been cast but is being Co-Produced by my brother Jason, myself, and Robert Blanche. Written and Directed by ME. We begin co-financing for this and my brother's next feature in November.

Jason Freeman's "Untitled" project: My brother is currently writing his next feature and even though it does have a title... I'm gonna let him unvail it when the time is right. :) This will also be a Co-Production of myself, Jason, and Robert Blanche. JASON will be directing as well as being the sole writer. Co-financing will also begin the same time as Silent Partners in November. Both this and Silent Partners will be shot back to back in February '10.

Prepare to be surprised. :)

Sooo....

2009-04-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

So a whole lot has been going on in the last week.

First off I'm so excited about who has come on as our Producer on my brother and I's next two personal feature films. Robert Blanche has been one of my very best friends ever since I first worked with him in 2003. He's been there through the good, the bad, and the ugly. He is the only person that I can imagine doing the job that needs to be done on these next two movies. The upcoming Polluted Picture films are not only our most ambitious to date... but also our most mainstream fair. These films will push the envelope for what can be accomplished in our small film community for a modest budget.

Next I'm very excited that the final piece of our camera equipment came in today. The above picture is of the camera as it stands now. Very cool. My brother and I will be shooting a "test scene" in the upcoming weeks. I'll be sure to upload this as soon as it is all finished.

Now... on to "My Soul To Take." We are currently looking for locations including a run down trailer house. If anyone knows of one... let me know! :) Harold Phillips has signed on as the lead in the film and the shooting will take place the middle of May. We are shooting 4 scenes for investors... very fun shoot with great people. Couldn't ask for anything better.

That's all for now. I've got a whole lot more fun stuff in the works but want to make sure it's all ironed out before I lay it on the table. :)

Very proud of all of my friends that are getting jobs on all of the local television and feature length films. Keep it up!

Until next time...

1st Official Blog!

2009-04-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

So there is a lot going on in my world so I needed a good way to communicate it all to anyone that cares. Here it is... a lowdown of what is happening in my world in '09 and '10.

1st Project: I have been hired to write/direct/produce a film currently entitled "Miracle on Ninth Ave." It is the story of Leon Zend, an eccentric Polish immigrant, who lived an amazing life in Denver, Colorado. I've been doing research and writing the script for 3 months now. It is going to be a really fun project and am glad to have Danny Bruno on board playing the lead role. We begin casting next month and shoot in July. This movie will be completed by the end of September.

2nd Project: Next month my brother and I will be producing/directing 3 scenes from an adapted screenplay of one of my father's books, starring Harold Phillips. It is entitled "My Soul to Take" and is about:

"a pastor and his family beginning to make a Northwest town their home, and a series of sinister events that suggests that it might not be as idyllic as they had first imagined.

Secret rituals at midnight, strange spiritual obsessions, and personal threats toward anyone who would dare to confront an age-old evil.

He quickly realizes that he must not only prepare his new congregation to face the assault, but also fortify his own as the evil seeks to invade and shake their home to its very foundation."

We are shooting these scenes for potential investors to not only see the quality of the product but to get an overall tone of the feature length film. This will be a part of an investor package and sent around the country to already interested parties.

3rd Project: I am currently writing my next PERSONAL feature film that is currently "untitled." We are planning on shooting this the first quarter of '10. Details will be coming soon about this project. All I can say is BE EXCITED!

4th Project: My brother is in the process of writing his next PERSONAL feature film that is currently "untitled." We are planning on shooting this the first quarter of '10 as well. All I can say is... this mother is bad to the bone... I'll keep you posted on project as well. Needless to say... he's the talented brother so watch out!

So that is it... that is all. I'll update this blog as soon as information deems necessary... which will most likely be soon.

Thanks for your interest and we'll be talking again soon!

Todd