Archive for the ‘From the Director’s Chair’ Category

There’s just one day to go before we foist the idea of Theatre of the Dead onto a largely unsuspecting public….

However, this doesn’t mean that what you see on the website has been thrown together in the last few days. Dan, John and I have been beavering away for several months now, getting TotD to a point where we feel confident in announcing “Yes, we are definitely doing this. It is going to happen.”

So how did we get here?

In April 2011, Warren Caulton, a Canberra-based filmmaker and stunt-guy extraordinaire, made a simple post on the Director’s Den Facebook group, a hangout for other local filmmakers. His reasoning was simple; there are a lot of talented short filmmakers in Canberra. So why have we never pooled our resources to start producing low-budget feature films?

The response on Facebook was encouraging, and on May 2nd 2011, the first meeting of what was to become the Canberra Feature Film Coalition was conducted.

Exactly what the CFFC was to be was the subject of much discussion. Eventually it was decided that it would be an affiliation of local filmmakers with the objective of helping shepherd local commercially-minded low-budget feature films into production, with an emphasis on horror, action and comedy.

Three feature-length scripts were put forward to be the first cab off the rank. The scripts were read and appraised by CFFC members, and in June 2011 it was decided that Theatre of the Dead, written and to be directed by myself, would be the first feature supported by the group.

TotD was now the subject of peer review within the group, identifying problems and weaknesses. Based on this, a new draft of the screenplay was written, and in July a table-read utilising several local actors was conducted, to see how the script was playing and timing out. In discussions following the read-through, a couple of major structural changes were suggested, and it was time for me to once again work on forging another draft.

During this time, Dan and John officially came on board as the film’s producers. They began sorting out and putting in place the business elements required for producing a saleable feature film. The CFFC became less involved as we shaped the direction of the production, opening negotiations for the hire of the principal location, discussing the requirements of other key crew members, and just recently, organising a photo shoot and makeup test to create the key art for the launch of the website and subsequent crowd-funding campaign.

And now we’re officially in pre-production. The script will continue to be tweaked as we approach the planned January 2012 shooting dates, especially once casting is complete and we can see what the actors bring to their characters. A crew needs to be locked in. I’m in the process of shotlisting and storyboarding the film. And of course, money needs to be raised. There’s plenty to keep us busy over the next few months.

And on top of all this, the three of us have day jobs to hold down.

So that’s where we’ve been. That’s how we got here. I’m looking forward to charting the journey over the next few months as we work towards bringing Theatre of the Dead to bloody, zombie-infested life.

Join us for the ride