Yes, I am still here. But between preparing for this weekend’s 48-Hour Film Project and the mind-boggling workload that built up during my vacation, I haven’t had time to make even a quick note here. Still, since the event’s this weekend (holy crap), I thought I should at least check in with all of you with an update.

I’ve handed over the official “Producer” reins to Geoffrey Long, which leaves me free to concentrate on the “Director” end of things. So far, I think we’ve got a pretty good division of labor established, with me in charge of the creative side, and Geoff handling the practical. Not that he’s completely out of the creative loop, as he’ll also be joining us as a part of the writing team.

Yes, that’s right, team. On the one hand, writing by committee doesn’t usually produce the most artistically coherent work, but given our time frame, we’ve opted to go with more of a television model than a cinematic one. Another concession we’ve made to time constraints is to use a script outline rather than a complete script, leaving it up to the actors — a largely improv-trained group — to work out the details on the fly. I must confess that I’m not sold on this idea, but I think we’ll be better able to extract credible performance by allowing our cast to work naturally as opposed to trying to conform to a hastily cobbled-together screenplay. In all likelihood, there will be elements scripted in more detail (particularly the requisite “line of dialogue” we’ll be assigned), and we’ll have to run multiple takes (not to mention two cameras) to keep things tight, but I’m optimistic that our approach will work. Kori Lusignan — my fellow team Tohubohu leader — will be in charge of “wrangling” the actors and directing the improvisational aspect.

Rounding out the core crew are Adam Young as our D.P. (and storyboard artist) and Ginny Filer as our editor (who will no doubt have a bear of a time matching those improv takes), with my wife Pam joining us at the writing roundtable. In front of the camera, the actors will be lead by Kori, Courtney Davis, and Nello DeBlasio, and it looks like we’ve got a pretty good array of talent lining up along with them.

By the way, if anyone else will be in the area and wants to join us — even if just for a portion of the weekend — drop me a line ASAP. If you’re unable to join us, but would like to help in some other way, we do have several areas in which we need assistance. One, we need to find interesting or unusual locations — offices, rooms, apartments, cells, what have you (and, of course, we need releases for anywhere we shoot). Two, we need whatever additional video equipment we can get our hands on; we’ve got a decent assortment, but could always use more, particularly the more high-end stuff. And three, we’ll need props and costumes; because we don’t know what genre we’ll draw, we could need anything from a detective badge to a medieval sword.

We start work Friday evening at 7 p.m., with shooting tentatively slated for Saturday and “post-production” on Sunday. In reality, there will be a lot of overlap, but our deadline is set in concrete. In addition, we’ve gotten our screening slot — next Friday evening at 9 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre, no less. Even if you’re not able to join us for the production, we’d appreciate your coming out to support us then — particularly since there’s an “audience award” portion of the competition; the more friendly faces in the audience, the better our chances. Tickets are $7.50 apiece, and are available online via the AFI Silver Theatre site (just click on “Film Information” and look on the list for our “48 Hour Film Project” screening time).

Almost showtime...

Just got a notice that — even though the applications period for the 48-Hour Film Project hasn’t closed yet — team “Tohubohu” is guaranteed a slot in the competition. Sometimes it pays to be prompt: Because our application was one of the first ten received, we get in. Anyone whose entry is received after those first ten goes into a random drawing for a chance to compete.

So now I’ve just got to send in the remainder of our entry fee — another $100 — and start making preparations. Sure, the creative part all has to be done in that one weekend (May 7th through the 9th), but there’s still a lot to accomplish in the meantime. First of all, I need to assemble our team — so if you want to join us (and can be in D.C. — or help out remotely — for at least some portion of that weekend), either make a note in the comments for this entry or send me an e-mail.

I know, perhaps it’s a little premature for me to start thinking about abother competition while Greenlight is still in full swing, but they’ve just announced the dates for the 48-Hour Film Project here in D.C.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Project (and haven’t heard me go on about it), here’s a quick rundown. Teams gather Friday night (May 7th) and draw a film genre out of a hat (a different drawing for each team) — horror, comedy, romance, western, etc. Then, the competition as a whole picks out some specific elements — for example, a prop, a character, and a line of dialogue. From that point, your team has 48 hours to make a short movie (between four and eight minutes in length). All creative work (well, with a few limited exceptions) must be completed within that period; the finished project is delivered Sunday evening (May 9th).

Monday evening (the 10th), the finished entries are screened, and afterward, the winner is announced (in the past, that screening has been at Visions Cinema, but this year it’ll be happening at the new AFI Silver Theatre). The competition takes place in cities around the world, and the winning pictures go on to compete with each other for Best of the 48-Hour Film Project.

We’ve got the entry form (PDF), and we’ll be sending it in before the end of the day — while there’s an April 9th deadline for entry, there are a limited number of slots available (and historically, it’s first-come, first-served). There will be a financial commitment, but the more people we have, the lower (per person) that will be (a non-refundable $25 per team for entry, and $100 per team for competition). I know a lot of you out there have expressed interest in joining in, so drop me a line (handy-dandy link over on the left there) and we’ll add you to the list!

Update: The entry forms have been sent off. Our team — hereby dubbed “Tohubohu” — is now in the actively-seeking-participants stage.