Principal Photography Completed

Last night filming for Jimmy Said was completed. Although there was rain and some snow in the forecast originally, the skies stayed clear and the past two nights we were able to shoot a number of items which will really enhance the movie we already have. We almost didn't know how to handle ourselves without the rain we were so encumbered with in May.

Patrick, Jim and I really are so grateful to our awesome crew and cast for bringing their dedication and skills to the set of Jimmy Said, making this all possible. There is still much to be done in post so feel free to send me care packages for Jim who will no doubt be spending endless hours in his editing suite and I will see that he gets them! He likes Pepsi and his favorite food is, well,...food.

We will let you know how things are going!

Rain, rain go away, Jimmy Said wants to play!

After our fair share of setbacks, not the least being what has to have been record-setting rainfall, we are proud to announce we are very close to finishing principal photography for JIMMY SAID. Although we still have quite a bit ahead of us in post production, it is really exciting to see all of the various elements of pre-production and filming start to come together in the editing suite.

Although our casting process had taken a bit longer than we had planned, it proved to be beneficial in many ways. We learned quite a bit about what you want from an actor (hint: talent isn’t everything!) and were able to gain a strong sense of finding the right actor for individual roles, a skill that will benefit us in future productions. JIMMY SAID boasts one of the best casts assembled in Colorado independent filmmaking. Not only are they incredibly talented, but also their dedication and professionalism have been invaluable. I might continue sending them emails in the middle of the night, just for ‘old times sake.’ ;-)

Another exhilarating part of this production has been the people behind the scenes who have put forth much-appreciated time and effort even though we are a low-budget production. From Paul Trantow who not only brought his mad photography skills but also became invaluable on set, to Ken Jones and Jake Newsom whose contributions have considerably enhanced the authenticity and quality in the look and feel of our film, to the dedicated crew who withstood many a rainy night and many a claustrophobic day in a tight space, to the city of Louisville (including a variety of residents, businesses, and the fantastic police department), we are incredibly grateful. This by no means is all encompassing, there are countless others to whom we are very thankful and we look forward to seeing you all when we are able to bring JIMMY SAID to the big screen.

In the meantime, check back for updates on the progress of production (we have just about 2-3 more days of shooting remaining) and to keep up on how things go in post. We hope to have a trailer soon that we can screen in various venues including EFP at the Bug.

Finding Mayberry

My apologies, I do not know blog etiquette, so this is likely to be longer than it should be. I have a million other things I need to do before the close of business today, but thought I would take a few minutes to share some of our experiences in Louisville. 

Location scouting has been, for me, the most overwhelming part of this process we call pre-production. However, I am finding it quite rewarding in many ways too. We have an interesting dynamic because we are not a student film trying to get by guerilla style, and we do not have studio funding. So conversations with business owners or individuals who have a location we might be interested in shooting at oftentimes are a lot of explanation with a dead end, or even when they are willing and sometimes encouraging, we run into issues like availability, sound and traffic. 

One location we can not do without is our Mayberry (though our town has a different name). Knowing there are little strips of 'small town Main Street' throughout the Denver area, Patrick sent me in search of just the right one. We have cast and crew coming in from all over Denver and surrounding areas including Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. So part of what I wanted to do was find a site that was as centrally located as possible. What I should have done was- start with the obvious. After hours of weeks of calls and driving and gas tanks of scouting and searching online, I finally asked Patrick to come up to where I live in the city of Louisville. But could it be this obvious? Could our location be right here? After driving through downtown Main Street and around the surrounding residential area he called me and confirmed what I was hoping - we had found our Mayberry. 

The most beautiful part of any small town, like this one, is not the buildings, but the people.  And there is certainly a civic pride I get to enjoy when I walk into a business and tell them about JIMMY SAID and ask to shoot in their parking lot or outside their storefront and they say "Sure, what's the movie about?" Or, "that's fine, just let me know when you need me to be there." 

My first burst of encouragement was when I met with Tom MacKenzie, a local realtor. The business he showed me unfortunately would not work for what we needed. But instead of getting in his car and leaving, he walked me down the street and pointed out other possibilities and even put me in touch with a couple of other people he thought might be able help us with finding our locations. 

Since then, I have also had the pleasure of meeting Robert at Umberto's. They actually have a hearse on their lot! How cool is that? And there is Henry who owns, well, Henry's. Many of the businesses you will see on our partners page as things continue to develop, and I assure you there will be many of their names in our 'Thank Yous.' 

But I have to share the introduction that inspired me to finally post a blog amid all the craziness and details I need to be tending to. Today I walked into Hank's Model Trains and met Hank. He said it was no problem, he would be happy to let us shoot on his property. And then he smiled and said, "You won't believe this, but I used to be a DP for Walt Disney. Yep, I used to shoot the News Reel for the Mickey Mouse Club show. But that was before you were born." Then with a laugh he went on to tell me how he used to film stories in Europe about little kids and how much he enjoyed it until he was let go when there were budget cuts. He became an engineer and transplanted to Colorado with Ball Corporation and then retired and opened up his model train shop in little old Louisville. 

There are times when I think I should sell my car or something so I could afford to pay someone else to handle finding our locations, but then I get to meet someone like Hank and am glad I did not give up on my search for Mayberry.  

House

We've been searching for weeks for the perfect house...we needed one that looked like a house in a small town and was one of those ranch-style homes that was built shortly after World War II. It had to have a detached garage and a basement. A big kitchen was a plus. It had to be empty and it had to be in a relatively quiet neighborhood. And it had to fit within the confines of our budget. We saw a lot of houses that kind of worked, but whenever the realtor or homeowner heard we were big-time filmmakers (ha!), they suddenly needed $2,000 for a month's rental on their house that has sat unoccupied for the last six months. Frankly, the movie could not move forward without a house.

So anyway, Mona (she's one of MaryLee's army of Producer's Assistants) drove by her grandparents' old house and saw it was for sale. A few days later, we have our house! How cool is it that we will be shooting in one of our team's grandparents' old house? Very.

I'll post a picture as soon as I download from my camera.

Paddy

Elliot and Finnegan's Zebra Adventure

So far the highlight of this whole process happened last night. After printing up some revised pages (blue pages for those of you who might be keeping track of such things), Elliot - my five year-old son - said he wanted to write a script. I asked him what he wanted to write it about and he said 'zebras.' So, with very little help from Dad, he told me what to write and and together we wrote a 2 1/2 page script called, "Elliot and Finnegan's Zebra Adventure." Three of our actors were coming to my house to rehearse and they read the script out loud for Elliot, who noticed that Jack ad-libbed a line. A great moment for Elliot and me, to be sure.

I'm still trying to figure out how to post the script on this site, though I'm sure Elliot already knows how to do it.

Oh, and we had a really great rehearsal, too.

Paddy

Our first table read

Although we haven't finished casting for Jimmy Said, we did bring some of our actors together on Sunday morning. It's been a couple of months since we've really worked on the script as we've been casting, securing locations, raising money, assembling our crew and all the other essentials needed to make a movie. All that other stuff feels, at times, like, well, work. The table read was a much needed shot in our creative arms and has really re-energized the team. It was great hearing the words from many of the actors you'll be seeing on the big screen...so we have officially started the process of bringing the characters to life. This is the fun part and doesn't in the least feel like, well, you know.

Paddy

Snow Day!

Saturday, April 18th, was to be our first 'official' get-together for the bulk of our cast (I'll post more on the casting process later). We scheduled the first table read of the script for 9:00 a.m., but, as is tradition in Colorado, a very heavy Spring storm dropped at least a foot of snow on us on the night before. I'm sure it will all melt away by Tuesday. We've rescheduled the read for Sunday, but unfortunately, a few of our actors are unavailable.

Now originally, Jimmy Said was to begin principal photography back in March, but we decided to wait until April because we were worried about the potential for bad weather during our weekend shoots. As it turns out, the weather in March was perfect! The shoot was moved again until May due to scheduling conflicts with some of the crew and a few of the actors. This has turned out to be a blessing because the weather on most weekends in April have been dreadul. 

Ah the vagaries of indie filmmaking!

Paddy

Welcome!

On behalf of the entire Jimmy Said production team, I'd like to say 'welcome' to our production blog. We're kind of new to this whole 'blogging' thing, but we're sure we'll catch on soon enough. 

We'll be posting updates on the pre-production process (casting, location scouting, crew meetings, rehearsals, etc.), as well as comments during the shoot, the post-production phase and our efforts to market Jimmy Said to movie distributors. You'll also get to know the people involved in making our movie.

For those of you who don't know, Jimmy Said is an independently-produced feature-length motion picture about a couple of small town crooks who steal a lot more than they bargained for. It's a suspense-thriller with a ton of dark (and often inappropriate) humor.

We're assembling an 'all-star' cast and crew from Denver's amazing filmmaking talent. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in May of 2009.

Anyway, we're glad you're checking in with us and we look forward to producing a kick-ass movie in every sense of the word.

Thanks!

Patrick 'Paddy' Sheridan

writer/director/producer