Northwest Production Blog

Tonight, SIFF Cinema, MTV, and director Lynn Shelton will bring together Seattle musicians, moviemakers, media, movers and shakers to preview MTV’s $5 Cover Seattle series, shot in the city’s clubs, bars, crash pads, and streets and showcasing Seattle’s musical diversity.

·         Who: MTV, director Lynn Shelton, Mayor’s Office of Film + Music Director James Keblas, filmmakers John Jeffcoat and Sue Corcoran, cast and crew, and many members of the bands featured in the series including Maldives, Champagne Champagne, The Lights, Moondoggies, Sean Nelson, and more!

·         What: Get a sneak peek at $5 Cover: Seattle premiering online later this year. The rocking MTV musical series, directed by Humpday’s award-winning director Lynn Shelton and featuring thirteen up and coming bands, offers an improvised, immersive look at one wild weekend in Seattle.

·         Where: SIFF Cinema - 321 Mercer Street, McCaw Hall, Seattle Center

·         When: Monday, March 1, 7:00pm, with an after-party beginning at 9:00pm

The NW Film Financing series continues with its third installment, “Film Distribution.”

Led by Gary Rubin, president and founder of First Independent Pictures, this seminar is designed to provide Oregon filmmakers with expert advice on how to effectively fund, market and distribute their projects. Participants learn about the current state of distribution, marketing, acquisitions and finance, new and conventional distribution “windows,” and social media’s growing role in indie marketing.

Afternoon panels feature business and legal experts, such as: Danny Costa, independent digital distribution consultant and acquisitions for The Orchard; Gene Zimmerman, acquisition and distribution to home video; and Justine Avera, commercial insurance professional and risk management consultant at JNA Risk Managers, among several others.

The Details:
NW Film Financing 3: Film Distribution
Saturday, February 20th
8:30 am to 5:00 pm
White Stag Building Event Space
70 NW Couch, Portland
Open to the public
OMPA Member (and affiliates) discount: Tickets only $29 until February 19th
$59 non-members

Purchase tickets now at http://nwff3distribution.eventbrite.com.

The NW Film Financing series is sponsored by Gales Creek Insurance, in association with the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network and the Governor’s Office of Film and Television. The distribution seminar is also sponsored by Ater Wynne LLP, Crave Catering, The Mark Spencer Hotel, Gearhead Grip & Electric, and Pacific Grip & Lighting, with support from Picture This Production Services and the Portland Mayor’s Office of Film and Video.

Women In Film Seattle has announced the launch of a newly created 2010 Professional Grant. The new grant will award one deserving woman filmmaker’s project $1,000 in cash, as well as in-kind donations from the Northwest film industry, promotional support through Women In Film (WIF) and a theatrical screening of the finished piece.

The grant is open to current or new professional Women In Film members in the Seattle Chapter. Submissions are underway now with a final application deadline of March 1st, 2010. For details, visit www.womeninfilm-seattle.org/scholarships.htm.

A movie called The Pregnancy Pact is currently airing on Lifetime Movie Network. The film dramatizes a Massachusetts high school teen pact to get pregnant together and raise the babies as a family without fathers.

But before The Pregnancy Pact there was BUMPS, produced in Portland and directed by filmmaker Bob Moricz. It was screened at Portland’s Clinton Street Theater in August of 2009.

The budget for the film was non-existent. The cast was composed of teen unknowns. The film was shot in three days. Yet BUMPS delves into the psychology and relationships of these teens in a far more succinct and dramatic manner than The Pregnancy Pact.

Here’s what a few critics have had to say about BUMPS:

“This is what independent cinema is really about.”
- Jeff Guay, PDX PIPELINE

“Intriguing.”
- Gary Morris, Bright Lights After Dark

“… mixes Larry Clark-style exploitation, Heathers-like satire and a willfully cheap aesthetic pioneered by the Kuchar brothers and Kenneth Anger.”
- Stan Hall, The Oregonian

The film is available to view for free on Vimeo at www.vimeo.com/899057. For more information, visit www.bobmoricz.com.

On Saturday, February 6, and Sunday, February 7, Women In Film is presenting a workshop with acclaimed writer/producer Brian McDonald. Here are the details:

WHO: Brian McDonald turned his award winning script of White Face into an award winning film. It won the Slamdance Audience Award for best short film and was picked up for distribution by Hypnotic Films and shown on both HBO and Cinemax.  McDonald, a sought after writing teacher, has taught a highly acclaimed story structure class at 911 Media Arts Center and the Hugo House.  Known in the industry as a “story” guy, he’s also taught several  6-week seminars on story  construction at Pixar, as well as at the George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic company.

WHAT: Learn the secrets of Dickens, Steinbeck and Billy Wilder in this popular workshop.  The seminar is for screenwriters, novelists, playwrights or anyone who is telling a fictional story.  This master class is to a writer what anatomy class is to an illustrator.  You will learn how to construct a story from the ground up by examining classic films and stories.

Pricing structure: $195.00 for Professional Members, $235 for Associate members, friends/students, $245.00 for non WIF-members. Brunch will be provided.

WHEN: Saturday, February 6 (11am – 4pm); Sunday, February 7 (10am – 1pm).

WHERE: Spitfire (back room), 2219 4th Ave., Seattle, WA 98121; (206) 441-7966.

For additional information, e-mail Vanessa Eng at vanessarocks@gmail.com or register online now at www.womeninfilm-seattle.org.

This just in from Pyramide Productions, a Kirkland, Washington-based video production company:

“We are looking for editors with specialties in Vegas (3+ years of experience required).

We hire our editors as Independent Contractors on an hourly basis ($20 - $25/hr). We will be in immediate need of editors at the beginning of February but will also hold editors in our database for future use—our business ramps up in Feb through the summer and anticipate needing 3 solid Vegas editors.

Again, 3+ years of experience is required.

Please send us your resume and (if applicable) a link to your reel so we can see your work (as an editor).

Thank you!

Pyramide Productions”

If interested, contact Cassidy Dimon at cdimon@pyramideproductions.com.

Portland filmmaker Brian Belefant unveils his latest film, Burning Passion, tonight, January 19th, at the Bagdad Theater as part of Northwest Filmmakers Night.
The event, which features short films by regional filmmakers, begins at 7pm and is open to all ages. The cost at the door is $3. For more information on the event, visit www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=9&id=1117&eventid=75217, and for more on Belefant and his films, visit www.belefant.com.

The hit television series Leverage, which will begin shooting its third season in Portland this March, has some casting opportunities for “athletic or burly men to play cops, security guards and thugs.”

Lana Veenker Casting is organizing a “Leverage Thug Informational Meeting” for adult males who fit the profile and want a job as a background performer on the show. Veenker says that martial arts and military backgrounds are in high demand, as well as ethnic diversity, for the thug and cop roles. Height is not important (in fact, in some cases, shorter men are at an advantage), but an athletic, burly or muscular frame is.

Details are as follows:
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
7:00-8:30 PM

University of Oregon - Portland
White Stag Block
70 NW Couch Street
Portland, OR 97209

Attendance is free, but interested parties must RSVP at leveragethug.eventbrite.com in order to be admitted, as space is limited.

EMP|SFM in partnership with SIFF will present the fifth annual Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival (SFFSFF) on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at the Seattle Cinerama Theater. The festival brings together industry professionals in filmmaking and the genres of science fiction and fantasy to encourage and support new, creative additions to science fiction and fantasy cinema arts. 10 short films will screen in the first session (4:00pm – 6:00pm); 10 short films will screen in the second session (7:00pm – 9:00pm). An awards ceremony follows the second session. Films have been posted to the website. Tickets are available now online to purchase.

SFFSFF 2010 Website
www.empsfm.org/filmfestival

SFFSFF 2010 Trailer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl-G31ZaYFs

SFFSFF Purchase Tickets
http://www.siff.net/presents/seriesDetail.aspx?FID=159

SFFSFF Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_Fantasy_Short_Film_Festival

WashingtonFilmWorks recently launched a YouTube channel, which includes videos from their 2009 Viral Video Campaign. The campaign solicited local filmmakers to create 30- and 60-second commercials promoting Washington State as a great place for motion picture, commercial and television production.

Final videos from Mark O’Connell, Will Chase & Lucien Flynn, Staci Bernstein & Ilona Rossman Ho, and Philip Rezek & Michael Welty are available for viewing.

For more information, visit www.washingtonfilmworks.org and to view the videos, visit www.youtube.com/user/Wafilmworks#p/u/3/owW4vIzXzCU.