Sat 12th January saw the auditions for The Shoot at Bennetts Bar in Birmingham town centre.   We booked the Board Room from 12 midday until six but were so busy we didn't get out until nearly seven, with hardly a moment in between auditions!   We met some really tallented people, as well as a few interesting characters who livened up our day, and would like to thank all of them for attending.  

As director, I thought it important to give the actors the opportunity to present the character as they'd interpreted it, then throw some ideas at them to see how they coped with changes.   This was increadibley useful as I got to see many different takes on our characters and I have to admit that I'll be stealing a few ideas from some of the candidates who didn't get the roles. We taped the auditions and I've promised to let the actors who know who's won the roles later today, so expect an anouncement soon.

Yesterday we met Joe from the Lickey Hills Park and he drove us round in a jeep, showing us potential locations.   It was great fun bounding round the place in a 4x4 and exploring some of the less well-known areas.   We saw some great places and have chosen a location for our final show-down.   Along the way we saw a great gothic Tim Burton-esq looking fallen tree that will doubtless be walked under by our characters on their journey!

Today saw the last of our auditionees arrive from Huddersfield to have a go at the role of Peter.   We worked for quite a while on the character and I'm happy to announce that Jordan Greenhough is the first official cast member to accept an offer to be in our film.   Biography and a photo will follow shortly!

Next it's off to tell my first choices that they're in, and sadly, let some very talented people down.   Wish me luck!

I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year's break?   Production never really stopped here, although it did slow down just long enough for some turkey and red wine!

We finished the year with a visit to the wonderful Lickey Hills Park, which includes acres of wooded land perfect for the final section of The Shoot.   Writer Tony, TV director Jess, nature expert Sam, me and the dog Bess spent ages walking round the forest scouting out possible locations, many of which we may even be able to find again due to Tony's frankly marvelous GPS phone/map thing!   I wore completely the wrong shoes for a frosty day in the country and slipped over everywhere until I was presented with a Gandalf-staff.   Note to self - invest in proper outdoor shoes before we start filming.

After a couple of hours walking and one very happy dog later, we discovered the visitor centre where the wonderful people offered us a guided tour round the rest of the park in a Land Rover, free use of their facilities during filming and their cafe to use as a location for the fist segment of the film.   We left in great spirits and are very much looking forward to the tour next week!

This year started with us getting official confirmation that we can use the Lickey Hills location and Director of Photography Ed signing on board.   Good stuff!   We've had to change the shooting dates to accommodate the park and have therefore lost a couple of people who were going to help out - many thanks for your support Jaffa, it won't be the same without you.

The auditions are now fixed for Sat 12th Jan and the response has been good so far.   I've broken the script into sections and sent them out to the relevant people - we've been given the back room in a city-centre wine-bar to use for the afternoon and people are coming from as far away as London and Vienna, as well as locally.   I am looking forward to meeting them all and seeing how they bring our characters to life.

We now have the script locked down and are advertising on Mandy.com and various Facebook audition sites for cast.  Lee has recommended a Director of Photography, who I'm really excited to get in touch with.  We've still got several production places to fill, especially camera operator and art department, including a make-up artist.

Things are coming together though, Tony (the writer) and I are going to visit Fullrange Media tomorrow to look at equipment we might like to use and have another meeting with Lee.  I'm busy working on the camera script and looking for a location to hold the auditions.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Today is mostly a quick update on what we're up to at the moment and to let you know how our current projects are going. 

We've recently completed a promotional DVD for the DanceXchange at Birmingham's Hippodrome - the Celebration Project.  After two years their Dance Artist in Residence project was coming to an end and dx wanted to send it off in style with a huge dance extravaganza incorporating hundreds of people the project has benefited over the years.  We were proud to help them celebrate by creating a commemorative DVD of the show and a series of mini-documentaries exploring their goals and achievements.

We are in the late editing stages of two exciting pieces of theatre -Richard Alston Dance Company's new highlights video for their US tour and the stage recording of Teatro Kismet OperA's The Snow Queen, a magical re-telling of the Hans Christian Anderson story.

Just yesterday we welcomed Lee Kemp on board as producer for our new short film, The Shoot.  We're very excited by this and have decided on audition dates for any budding actors out there - Saturday 5th January.  Get in touch through the contacts page if you would like details of where to go in Birmingham.  We're set to film on the 9th and 10th Feb, with some weekend rehearsals beforehand so please bear that in mind.  We'd also love to hear from people interested in crewing.