With less than two weeks to go (yikes!), it’s way past time that we finalized our cast and crew roster for this year’s 48 Hour Film Project DC. Once again we’re going for it, and we’d love to make sure that we’re giving everyone a fair chance at participating. So if you haven’t let us know if you’d like to be on the team this year (or if your availability has changed since last we spoke), be sure to drop us a line ASAP. If we’ve worked with you before, then no worries — but if not (or if your skill set has changed of late), be sure to include a breakdown of your experience so that we can best assess your skills. (Bonus points for online reels — though it’s not a requirement.) Since, as always, we’ll be looking to fill particular slots, we often can’t find a place for everyone — and that goes for both cast and crew — but it never hurts to give it a shot!

And, of course, we can use help from everyone in a few critical areas, such as potential shooting locations, unusual costumes and interesting props, specialized equipment, and really just about anything else that might make this weekend’s creative venture a rousing success. Know a local business owner who’d love some publicity in exchange for having a film crew on hand? Have a lead on an assortment of period outfits? Got a collection of medieval weaponry just gathering dust? Have a ranch that would be perfect for shooting that long-overdue Western? Let us know!

In other quick news, be sure to keep an ear out for this month’s Tohubohu Producer Podcast, in which we’ll chat with a few team leaders about their 48 Hour Film Project experiences — as well as sitting down with a very special guest who has some unique insight into the process. (Ooh, suspense!) The episode should go live a few days before the competition weekend, so be sure to set up your iTunes subscriptions now (and catch up on those back episodes).

And as if that weren’t enough, for all of you struggling screenwriters out there (and I know there are a lot of you), be sure to check out the biweekly Writers’ Round-Table, sponsored by Kevin Good of Crisis Lab. It’s a great opportunity to garner real-time feedback on script pages as a diverse group of writers (and the roster changes from session to session) perform live script readings of your works-in-progress and provide immediate reactions. As of this writing, there are still a couple of slots available for this week’s session — so check out Crisis Lab’s Writers’ Round-Table page for full details and to reserve a spot. (Space is limited!)

Okay, that’s it for now — I look forward to hearing back from many of you soon. Let’s make a movie!

All right, so it’s been a while since we sent out an update, but please don’t take that to mean that things have been quiet. True, we don’t have a whole lot of production or other news since the Peer Awards (still working on finalizing “The Lake”), but in the meantime, we’ve been shouting like a couple of madmen.

Let me explain… in addition to producing “professional-quality independent entertainment,” one of our original objectives in establishing Tohubohu Productions was to give people an opportunity to learn more about the craft of filmmaking. And the Tohubohu Producer Podcast is one way of expanding that education beyond just the periodic on-the-job production. And so far, it’s been going pretty well: As of today, we’ve got five solid episodes under our belts since our relaunch in November, and we’ve managed to stick to our planned once-monthly production schedule. So if you’ve been holding off on subscribing — wanting to make sure we actually kept going with this — then I’m afraid you’re out of excuses. But the great thing is that you can go back and catch up on previous episodes at your convenience! You’ll have a chance to hear highlights such as:

• The top 10 essentials for a 48 Hour Film Project production
• An overview of DSLR filmmaking with special guest BigTony
• A discussion of film festival submission strategies
• A detailed interview with “The Lake” writer/co-director/co-producer Tara Garwood

And this month, in addition to Bjorn and Bill’s Academy Awards recap, you’ll get to hear about the films that inspired some of the DMV’s top independent filmmakers — with contributions from Francis Abbey, Lonnie Martin, Ron Newcomb, and Kevin Good. Moreover, you’ll hear about several upcoming events, such as the “audition competition” Monologue Madness, the filmmaking adventure that is Genre Wars, and a biweekly Writers’ Round-Table for screenwriting critiques. You can visit the podcast site for more information and detailed show notes, or subscribe (free) via the iTunes Store (where you can also rate the program).

Moving forward, we’d love to get your input. Since this is intended to be helpful to the DC-area independent filmmaking community, we want to know what will be most useful to you the listener. What do you want to hear about? Who would you like to hear from? Would you like to join in on a topic of your expertise? Send your suggestions — or other feedback — to us directly at podcast@tohubohu.tv.

Of course, we’ll likely be spending a fair amount of time across the next few episodes gearing up for one of our big regular events: The 48 Hour Film Project. Registration for the DC competition begins this week. So in addition to soliciting podcast topic areas around the Project, consider this Tohubohu’s first official call for participation. Want to try throwing your hat into the ring for the team this year? Or participating on another team and want to share your experience? Drop us a line and let us know.

Let the filmmaking commence!

Just wanted to pass along a quick note to let everyone know that in another absolutely stunning evening, Tohubohu took home several awards at the 2011 TIVA Peer Awards, held last month at the National Press Club!

• Bronze Award: 48HFP — Directing, “All Roads Lead Away” (William R. Coughlan, director)
• Bronze Award: 48HFP — Overall, “All Roads Lead Away” (Pam W. Coughlan, producer, and William R. Coughlan, executive producer)
• Bronze Award: Editing — Fiction Short, “Green House” (William R. Coughlan and Brad Hartland, editors)
• Bronze Award: Independent Short, “Green House” (Pam W. Coughlan, producer, and William R. Coughlan, executive producer)
• Silver Award: 48HFP — Directing, “Please Forward” (William R. Coughlan, director)
• Silver Award: 48HFP — Overall, “Quite Contrary” (Nello DeBlasio, director, Bjorn Munson, producer, and William R. Coughlan, executive producer)
• Silver Award: Editing — Fiction Short, “Touched by a Lawyer” (William R. Coughlan, Brad Hartland, and Colin Heichman, editors)

Sincerest congratulations to everyone involved in all of these productions! The event itself was a blast, and we had a great time networking with other film and video professionals — and had a special treat on realizing that three out of the four award presenters were Tohubohu veteran performers (Joy Haynes, Gale Nemec, and Joe Hansard).

Of course, for a somewhat more detailed recap (and some information on other notable award winners), be sure to check out the latest episode of the just-released Tohubohu Producer Podcast! For those of you keeping score, that’s episode 10 since the original launch, or the second in our “relaunched” series. In this episode (in addition to the aforementioned information on the Peer awards), regular hosts Bjorn and Bill are joined by special guest filmmaker BigTony of Crowded Elevator Pictures to discuss DSLR filmmaking. Go ahead and give it a listen — and be sure to subscribe either via the iTunes Store or the direct RSS feed to get the latest episodes delivered automatically.

That’s it for now. Have a great holiday season, everyone, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted about upcoming projects, screenings, and events!