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10-1-00 "The First Official Footage!"

The Caroline Colorama was in full swing this weekend with over 1000 horses! I watched the parade and checked, the old time encampment. I even drove around the neighborhood shooting some great establishing shots of the fall colors. One particular spot would be a fabulous place for a house, maybe when I'm loaded? Am I getting nervous about it getting too cold to get some serious shooting in before winter? You betcha!!!! Casting is proving to be a major headache! I need to learn to be more of a people person. Oh ya, I'm also still storyboarding!

10-5-00 "Take Tom's Job and Shove it!!"

I am finding myself busier than usual at school. It doesn't help that I'm trying to create a web site for all my classes and individual sites for all of my advanced artists! Ya, I guess that would keep a person busy. I dropped off a handful of storyboards at Tom's for him to review. His new job totally sucks!!! We never get to contact each other like we did before he got canned!! We'd be a lot further if he still had that freedom to screw around a little! I guess he's making megabucks though so we'll see.

10-8-00 "Location Scouting!!"

Tom brought the kids up and we drove around scouting locations. We tried to find the perfect spot for our 'rock fence scene'. We also have a guy that works with his wife that is interested in helping out as an actor. We need to find our perfect Gary. He's a crutial character that doesn't even need to say much but is in all the major scenes. Let's just say, he gets killed a lot. Also, my cousin Joe is still interested in playing one of the brothers and he even suggested to me that he play them both as they are twins!? That's a good idea but I don't want the film to become too gimicky. I'm hoping we can get Joe's brother Shawn to demonstrate some of his thespian talents! Come on Shawn!! Tom's nieghbor Doug would make a great 'Gary' plus he'd probably like getting killing over and over! HHhhhmmmmm?

10-10-00 "Project Greenlight!!!"

Cousin Joe recently entered his screenplay 'Cabin Fever' into a national contest where the winner gets to actually direct their movie! I'm in the process of trying to get 'Stonecutter's Quest' retyped and ready for the contest also! The scripts can be no shorter than 90 pages and no longer than 130 pages. That means that I needed to cut out about 35 pages of script! Needless to say, I didn't get ANY storyboards done the past few days! Also, if you win the contest, HBO is doing a special on the movie you are making. It would be SO cool to see 'Stonecutter's' done and all the sets and costumes that I've got made already would be great visuals for a special! Maybe I should do a documentary on it?!

10-12-00 "Teacher's Award!!!"

I was honored by being nominated for the Herb Kohl Teacher's Award. I've been nominated twice now and have made it to the second stage of the selection process both times. Maybe this will be my year!! There is a lot of paper work to fill out though and my time is becoming more and more precious! I really am trying to do a great job in school this year. One of my biggest ambitions is to get that class web site up and running. It's coming along slowly but surely! I have read three scripts for 'Project Greenlight'. They were all OK but only one was truely a movie for me. I sent them all onto the next level just the same. I also read one of the suggestions for the scripts and they mentioned that they are only spending a million dollars on the movie and no more so don't bother with big budget epics. I guess 'Stonecutter's Quest' is out. If only they could see what I've been able to do with pennies!

10-15-00 "Casting Call?!!"

Tom and I are trying desperately to figure out how to do a proper casting call. He has contacted the Wisconsin Film Office and area colleges but we have yet to hear back from anyone. I can't tell you how anxious I am to begin shooting!!! It will be the final moment of truth! All the practice and all the previous knowledge will come together to create something great or something that isn't worth a hill of beans. I shot a few races for my brother this weekend and a guy is interested in having me shoot some footage for his shop. Heck, he even said he'd pay me and everything! Maybe that could be a way to recoupe some of the lost money from the first camera purchase. Where does that stand you may ask... well the crime has it's own detective assigned to it through the Waupaca County Sheriff's Office but nothing seems to be happening. I'll keep you posted.

10-17-00 "Overwhelmed?"

As the end of the first quarter at school starts to come to an end I am finding less and less time to get work done on the movie. It drives me nuts! What drives me even nuttier is the fact that I am so blasted anxious to start writting some more! I just can't let myself go though as I need to finish one project before I jump into another. It seems to be a bit of a pattern and I don't want to continue it! The guy that works with Tom's wife has contacted him again so his interest is still there...good! We'll have to find some time to meet up with him soon. Also... Comedy Sportz is starting up in a week or so but I don't know if I'll have time for it?! It's a great experience and you get to laugh with some wonderful people but, darn it, I've got some filming to do!

10-20-00 "Terror On The Fox!"

I checked out a few haunted houses tonight with my cousin Janice and her pals. We went down to Greenville to a pretty good one where, get this, the last ghoulie said,"See you later, Mr. Knitt!" to me on my way out!! Who the heck!! Talk about freaky! We also went up to Green Bay for the 'Terror on the Fox' haunted house. Holy crap!!!!! It was one of the best haunted houses I've ever been to! You start off with a mile long train ride where you get dropped off in the woods. Then you march through the woods to this massive house that pulsates to the music being played. It was incredible! I'm one of those guys that can't help but laugh through the whole thing... it was great! It brought back a lot of memories from my haunted house days. Also I was contacted by Mike at Comedy Sportz and he mentioned that they have purchased a Canon XL-1. He also mentioned that they will be renting it out. Holy crud! Now I'm going to need to find the time to get to those workshops!

10-22-00 "Wow, I need more days like this one!"

I started the day off working on web site stuff for school but decided to head up to Green Bay early to catch a movie. I stopped at the comic shop and made a few purchases then headed to the theatre to see what was playing. The only movie I wanted to see was "The Ladies' Man" and it was playing way too late so I decided to see what was playing on the other side of town. For some unknown reason I also decided to stop off at the grounds where they had the "Terror on the Fox" haunted house. I parked and walked down to the place where I met up with and talked to the head designer. His name is 'Beeker' and he was great! He gave me five free passes (a value of $50.00!) and a phone number if I was interested in acting in the house! I could even bring a few students if I wanted to! I might just have to do that! Then to cap off my already exciting day... I had an incredible time at Comedy City (formerly Comedy Sportz) and I met up with a little gal that works for a production company over there! They are trying to break into movies! A lot of attention was also drummed up with Mike and Ken who would be phenomenal actors! I dropped the script and some storyboard examples off for them to check out. Mike was very interested in doing some two camera shoots! An old buddy from the last workshop might be interested in doing some acting. HHhhhhhhmmm, might I have found yet another possible Gary? A lot is going on! Too many exclamation points?

10-25-00 "Official Casting Call and Deadline!!"

Tom has come through big time with the Casting post at the Wisconsin Film Office! Heck those folks over there will know him on a first name basis pretty soon! I can't say that the interest is pouring in but I can say that we have had several interested parties including a producer friend that Tom and I met back in Fondulac many moons ago!! On the same posting was the official deadline for the Madison Film Festival... December 19!! No later entries will be accepted! Holy crap! I thought we would have until February at least!!! Time to kick down and get funky! The film festival has been my main motivator all year long! It has been what I have been striving for... am I too late to get anything done? I hope not!

10-27-00 "Free Day!"

Well, I had the day off from school and I hoped to get something done for the film. I intended to get some shopping in for costumes (Tom's wife will insist that we call it wardrobing as she doesn't see how hunters can have costumes). I went to Good Will in search of the mighty blaze orange and came up completely empty handed! The costumes/wardrobes may end up costing us a few bucks after all. Tom's contact Jason continues to show tons of interest... we'll have to find a place for this guy. Niether of us knows what the heck he looks like yet though!

10-30-00 "Production Meetings!"

Tom and I are trying to set up a production meeting for this Thursday. We're hoping to put some elements into gear. Tom mentioned to me tonight that we will probably be getting some shooting in this weekend! That is exactly the statement I needed to hear!! I am now pretty psyched up! We're hoping to get some crutial 'Gary' scenes shot. I hope it all works out! I've got a buddy, Jon, that is definately interested in playing Gary now we need to work around everybody's schedules. Good luck! Had my second Comedy City workshop yesterday and it was a blast, as ussual! The gal from the production company never showed up for class two. Bummer! I was hoping we could work together as I may need to go to them for editing! She should have gotten back to me by now though so once again "Out of Whack Productions" gets stiffed!

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