We’ll keep it short this time though, since the main reason we’re writing is to let everyone know that our latest short film, “The Writer’s Dilemma,” is going to be screening this Saturday evening, May 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theater. And we need as many friendly faces in the crowd as possible. Alas, our latest effort for the 48 Hour Film Project did not make it in time for the contest deadline, so the only award we’re eligible for is the audience favorite — and I know we’ve got some tough competition in our screening group. So right now we’re all about stacking the audience.

Returning Tohubohu performers Jennifer Massey and Nick DePinto star as Libby Daricek and Mark LaSalle, two authors each working to finish their respective novels — Mark’s being a crime thriller, and Libby’s an emotional drama. But as they describe scenes from their works (and propose changes to their pieces), their collaborative relationship is put to the test, especially as they learn they may be competing for the same goal.

We’ve cut together a 48-second trailer for the film (the timing seemed appropriate), which you can watch right here. And don’t forget to get your tickets for the big premiere at the AFI Silver’s site. You won’t want to miss your chance to see the movie on the big screen!

In other news, hot on the heels of our big premiere, the film’s director Bjorn Munson will be a special guest on The Charlie Visconage Show when it returns to Fort Fringe at 9:30 p.m. on May 17th! For those of you not familiar with the show, The Charlie Visconage Show is a late-night talk show focused on DC-area artists with new audiences filmed in front of a live audience. Tickets are available at The Charlie Visconage Show at Capital Fringe for just $15. Bjorn will be talking all about The Broken Continent (which you may have heard us mention here once or twice); also joining Charlie will be B. Stanley, Executive/Artistic Director of the DC Arts Center, and special musical guest Sarah Fridrich. The show’s a remarkable experience that has garnered some great critical acclaim (“Simply zany fun… laugh out loud funny,” just to pick a pull quote from the Washington Post) — a definite must-see.

Well, that’s it for now — hope to see (at least some of) you on Saturday! (See, I told you we’d keep it short.)

Speaking of the Podcast, we’re covered a lot of ground lately. This past year we’ve talked casting, screenwriting, genre work, community media, web series, music videos, community workshops, festival programming, crowdfunding, the 48 Hour Film Project and much more. We’ve interviewed local film mavens Francis Abbey, Jon Gann, Kevin Good, Kiley Kraskouskas, Lonnie and Cindy Marie Martin, Dave Nuttycombe, Mark Ruppert, Kelley Slagle, Jackie Steven and Jonathan Zuck — and had community contributions from many more. (Speaking of which — if you’d like to be included among the filmmakers we tap for our “Community Question” segment, let us know and we’ll add you to the list!)

In screening news, April gives us two screenings for the Tarakata Films/Tohubohu Productions short “The Lake”: The Bare Bones Film and Music Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma, showed the film this past Friday, and the Maryland International Film Festival in Hagerstown, Maryland, will be screening it this coming Saturday with the Shorts 6 program — 4:45 pm at the Academy Theater. Unfortunately, neither Tara nor I (Bill, that is) will be able to attend, but — judging by the inaugural festival (at which “Green House” screened), it promises to be a great experience.

While I’m at it, I might as well throw a little plug out for a project that several of us Tohubohuans have been working quite diligently at for the past few months: the recently-completed web series The Broken Continent. After a successful theatrical screening for cast, crew and backers, the series premiered in three parts at getbroken.tv — where you can watch and enjoy to your heart’s content! Moreover, the pilot screened at the Zenkaikon Anime Festival in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and will be showing a bit closer to home at Awesome Con D.C. on Sunday, April 21. A truly stellar example of what can happen when a bunch of really talented people pool their efforts!

Now, for the annual announcement everyone’s been waiting for…

Yes, Tohubohu will be participating in this year’s DC 48 Hour Film Project, taking place in just one month: May 3-5, 2013. But we’ll be switching things up a bit this time around. Bjorn Munson will be sitting in the director’s chair this year, and I will be focusing on writing and editing (plus my usual pre-event organization and promotion). Ken Coughlan will be returning to his producer duties from “At Last” (with the able assistance of Mary Kay Coughlan), and Tohubohu expatriate Dan Foster will be traveling in once more to take the photographic reins. We’re filling out the rest of the roster right now — so if you’re game for joining in, let us know ASAP! We also need locations — so if you’ve got any leads on some interesting (or frankly, even uninteresting) places to shoot, be sure to tell us that as well. Same goes for any interesting costumes, equipment, what have you — anything that can make our little effort stand out from the crowd. (Mother Nature’s already pitching in with cicadas — though in the interests of not playing favorites, I hear she plans to offer them to all participating teams.)

And, of course, if you just want to see the results of our labors, the finished film will be screening at the AFI Silver Theatre the following week — keep an eye out for specific details (the aforementioned Twitter feed and Facebook page being a couple of great options for doing so).

Well, that’s about it for this update. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing several of you very soon as we cry “Havoc!”

That said, we haven’t completely abandoned good old-fashioned news posting. Especially since we do have some positive news to share, and also wanted to give everyone a timely reminder as to a couple of upcoming events. So you can interpret our subject header in a few different ways — either (a) we’re giving you both news and notifications, (b) we’ve had two films recently recognized for awards, (c) we’ve got two screening events to call attention to, or (d) you can see not one but two Tohubohu films at one of the screening events. Doubles all around.

Since I mentioned awards, we might as well jump in there: Tohubohu Productions was recognized with four awards at the 2012 TIVA Peer Awards, held at the National Press Club in DC this past November. The Tarakata Films/Tohubohu Productions short “The Lake” took home three Bronze awards, for Acting: Dramatic, Female (Tara Garwood), Directing: Fiction, Short (Tara Garwood and William R. Coughlan) and Independent Short. And “At Last” took home a Silver award, for Editing: Fiction, Short (Brad Hartland, Colin Heichman and William R. Coughlan). Needless to say, a very exciting evening.

Now, moving on to our two upcoming events…

Firstly, the Havre de Grace Drama Guild recently completed its Cinematography Workshop — coordinated by “At Last” producer Kenneth J. Coughlan, and featuring several more Tohubohu veterans as class instructors: Mary Kay Coughlan on makeup, William R. Coughlan on screenwriting, Nick DePinto on acting, Colin Heichman on editing, and Dylan Hintz on stunt work. The guild will be hosting the premiere screening for the two inaugural short films created via the workshop, “The Flag” and “Matches.” (Hey, another double!) The screening will be at the Havre de Grace Activity Center at 351 Lewis Lane in Havre de Grace, Maryland, on Friday, January 4, at 7:00 p.m. Best of all, the event is free and open to the public (though seating is limited).

And secondly, you can catch not one but two Tohubohu films at the upcoming Rosebud Film and Video Festival, taking place on Saturday, January 12, at the Dome Theater at Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia (1101 Wilson Boulevard). While the full-festival screening starts at 2:00 p.m., if your time is limited you can catch “The Lake” at 3:15 p.m., and stick around to watch “At Last” at 3:40 p.m. All-day admission is just $10. The awards ceremony for the festival is the following evening at the Clarendon Ballroom — so be sure to check out our Twitter feed and Facebook page for any late-breaking results!

Before we close out, I wanted to offer a special congratulations to the folks behind the upcoming web series “The Broken Continent” — Francis Abbey of Ciscovaras Pictures, Kelley Slagle of Cavegirl Productions, and our very own Bjorn Munson of Team Jabberwocky — not only on the completion of principal photography for the series pilot, but on the success of their just-funded “postproduction and promotion” Kickstarter campaign! We’re following this one closely, so stay tuned for more details as they become available.

That’s about it for this update, but like I said before, to stay up on the latest, make sure to follow the Twitter feed, like our Facebook page, and subscribe to the monthly podcast. Seriously — at this rate you’re a lot more likely to be in the know than if you just wait for us to get around to another news post…

So where to begin…

Well, we ventured once more into the waters of the 48 Hour Film Project with the drama “At Last.” Anchored by a star turn from leading lady Jennifer Massey, this film really proved to be one of our best to date (if also technically our shortest). Robin Brande got behind the typewriter (or laptop, as the case may be) again, William R. Coughlan sat back in the director’s chair (figuratively speaking, as there’s not a lot of time for sitting on set), and longtime Tohubohu “legal eagle” Kenneth J. Coughlan stepped up to produce. “Touched by a Lawyer” lenser Dan Foster traveled halfway across the country to shoot it (assisted by experienced videographer Andrew Albosta), and Dylan Hintz became Tohubohu’s first stunt coordinator (with an on-screen performance that truly must be seen to be believed).

The film itself grew out of the observation that people all too frequently find themselves obsessing over the idea of “apologies,” often to self-destructive levels. It’s rarely sufficient just to hear the words; we have an inescapable need to know that an offender feels genuine remorse for injurious actions — a result that can rarely be achieved in the real world. With that as a basic seed (coupled with our assigned genre and required elements), we were off and running.

The film premiered at the AFI Silver Theatre on Friday, May 11, and was later selected to screen as part of the “Best of the DC 48 Hour Film Project” showcase. We’ve already started sending it out to festivals, so stay tuned for updates as we have more.

Postproduction work has continued steadily on “The Lake,” and we (and by “we” I pretty much mean Tarakata Films head and “Lake” writer/co-director/co-producer/editor Tara Garwood — credit where credit’s due) finally completed picture lock. It’s been a bumpy road, but totally worth it to see the finished result. We’re preparing a cast and crew screening right now, and have already started shipping it out to the festival circuit (focusing primarily on genre festivals). We’re also in the process of cutting a trailer together, so all of you (not to mention a somewhat wider audience) will be able to get a taste of this engaging little character piece.

An affecting (and very personal) story and great performances from Bette Cassatt, Gale Nemec, Carl Randolph, and the aforementioned Tara Garwood really elevate this beyond a typical “horror” film to another Tohubohu must-see.

And never let it be said that the Tohubohu back catalog just sits on a (virtual) shelf: “All Roads Lead Away” just screened at Artscape, America’s largest free arts festival. They were looking to showcase a selection of “road movies,” and we happened to have a great one…

The Tohubohu Producer Podcast is still going strong, and we’ve covered some really great topics since our relaunch. In addition to our previews and recaps of the DC 48 Hour Film Project (including interviews with several participating filmmakers across the big weekend), we have so far covered topics such as DSLR filmmaking, festival submission strategies, casting, “signature shorts,” and film inspirations. Special guests have included BigTony of Crowded Elevator Pictures, Tara Garwood of Tarakata Films, Francis Abbey of Ciscovaras Pictures, Kelley Slagle of Cavegirl Productions, and Mark Ruppert of the 48 Hour Film Project. Upcoming episodes will delve deeper into the intricacies of film festivals and explore other topics of interest to filmmakers in the DMV and beyond, such as crowd-funding (with more expert guests to come). Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to keep up with the latest! Got a topic you’d like us to cover (or expertise you’d like to share)? Drop us a line and tell us about it.

Speaking of crowd-funding, I wanted to step back and take a moment to draw attention to a special project going on right here in the DC area, and ask you to give it a quick look. (Not a Tohubohu project, though Tohubohu “Jack of All Trades” Bjorn Munson is helping produce via our “sister company” Team Jabberwocky, “The Lake” star Bette Cassatt is a leading cast member and regular Tohubohu performer Nick DePinto is a key player.) Francis Abbey is developing “The Broken Continent,” a fantasy web series scheduled to shoot this September — if they can get the funding together. They’ve gotten a fantastic response so far, but there’s still quite a ways to go to reach their goal. I encourage everyone to check out the Kickstarter campaign page — getbroken.tv — to learn more, and visit the official site to get a glimpse into the amazingly detailed world they’ve created so far.

There are some pretty amazing rewards for larger contributions, but the beauty of crowd-funding is that a large base of small contributors can have just as much of an effect as an individual deep-pocketed “angel.” So hop on over, give it the once-over, and if you feel so inclined, pitch in to help make this happen.

That’s it for this update. We’ll send out another message when we have news to provide, but remember, to stay up-to-date on the latest, make sure to follow our Twitter feed, “like” our Facebook page, and subscribe to our podcast!

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!

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!

• 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!

After what must seem like an interminable hiatus, the Tohubohu Producer Podcast has returned! For our inaugural “relaunch” episode, hosts William R. Coughlan and Bjorn Munson reintroduce ourselves, discuss what we’ve been watching lately, point out some upcoming Tohubohu-related events, and jump right into our first featured topic: The top ten essentials for a 48 Hour Film Project shoot. So hurry up and visit the podcast home page — tohubohu.tv/podcast — and subscribe to the feed, so you’ll be sure to get new episodes delivered to you as soon as they go live! Because moving forward, we’ll be broadcasting on a monthly basis (or at least that’s the plan). Now, if we’re going to fill up that much time, you know we’re going to need content! So if you’ve got any suggestions for us (or feedback on the podcast itself), drop us a line at podcast@tohubohu.tv.

Now, I know you’re all going to be listening to that episode right away, right? So you’ll have all the latest news… but just to be on the safe side, I’ll cover a few of the highlights here as well. First of all, the Maryland International Film Festival was a big success. In addition to a screening of our film “Green House,” highlights included the features White Knight, Gods and Generals, Narc, and The A-Team (with directors Jesse Baget, Ron Maxwell, and Joe Carnahan in attendance) and some really compelling short films, including Best Animation winner “Prayers for Peace” and Best Short (and Audience Award) winner “God and Vodka.”

Coming up this month, “Touched by a Lawyer” will be screening at the Alexandria Film Festival. The festival starts this Thursday and runs all weekend — our screening is Friday evening at the Athenaeum, and tickets are available via the official festival site, alexandriafilm.org. (Hey, if you think hearing me talk about film on the podcast is awesome, just wait ’til you hear me in person!) As a special bonus, the aforementioned short “God and Vodka” will also be shown at our screening; definitely worth the price of admission. And on the 19th, the TIVA Peer Awards ceremony will be taking place at the National Press Club. In addition to recognizing some of the best in audiovisual production in the mid-Atlantic region, there will be a special commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the 48 Hour Film Project (including a short film with footage from the crew that followed our team around on our “Touched by a Lawyer” shoot). Tohubohu has several pieces in contention for awards (not to mention pieces from some of our frequent collaborators), so we’d love to see some friendly faces in the audience — tickets are available at peerawards.org!

That’s it for now — we don’t want to keep you any longer, since I’m sure you’re all eager to go and set up your podcast subscription. Enjoy, and we hope to see many of you soon!

But if you don’t want to wait for your regular dose of entertainment, I’ll direct you straight to the upcoming Maryland International Film Festival, taking place October 13th through the 16th in Hagerstown, Maryland. Highlights include appearances by Joe Carnahan, Robin Givens, Tom Sizemore, and Bruce Boxleitner (among others); several workshops and Q&A sessions; receptions and after parties; and, of course, film screenings. Some of the films that will be shown at the festival are Narc, The A-Team, White Knight, Gods and Generals, and Breaking Through the Clouds… and a selection of short films including our very own “Green House”! Check out the official schedule for details on the really rich program they’ve put together — “Green House” will be screening with Shorts Session #5, at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. (Online ticket purchasing will be available at this link very soon.) I’m planning to attend the entire festival, and I really hope to see some of you there!

(And though we don’t have a film in contention this year, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the 2011 DC Shorts Film Festival is going on right now. So run and check out some top-notch short films right here in DC!)

That’s it for this update — we’ll have more as things progress (including, quite possibly, the triumphant return of a long-neglected podcast…).

Our film — written by veteran Tohubohu scribe Robin Brande — stars Nello DeBlasio, Mary Egan, and Nick DePinto, and also features Richard Fiske, Gale Nemec and Kristina Zilli, with appearances from Linda Gabriel Deutsch, Carol McCaffrey and Ken Coughlan. You can catch a 48-second trailer at our website (already updated to reflect our “Best Of” selection, naturally), and here’s a quick summary to whet your appetite:

Phil has an amazing ability: With a touch, he can see exactly one hour and eight minutes into someone’s past. Unfortunately, it seems to cause him nothing but trouble — especially at the office, where he is called in before the boss and lectured on “inappropriate touching.” His coworker Lily is convinced that his ability makes him a superhero, but Phil is hardly persuaded… until a chance bump with a new client shows him that he may have an opportunity to prove her right.

In other news, over this summer Tohubohu is going to be helping to produce and promote a new short in conjunction with Tarakata Films. “The Lake” is an unconventional dark drama/horror film written and produced by award-winning actress Tara Garwood. The film focuses on two sisters, each dealing in her own way with the childhood loss of their father. Claire still lives at home with Mom and spends her days on the lake in their father’s old rowboat. Laney has built her own life in the city, but when she comes back to visit, the sisters’ discoveries will dredge up the past and the secrets that bind their family together may just tear them apart.

The film is being made under a union contract with the Screen Actors Guild, and we currently have three SAG actors committed to the project. You can follow along with the entire development process at the official production blog, “like” the film’s Facebook page to get the latest updates and screening info, and visit the IndieGoGo campaign page to help us actually get the film made. And, of course, the more word-of-mouth promotion we can get the better (in fact, the same could be said for all of our projects). Spread the word — post links, send tweets, email friends and family… whatever you can do to help!

Finally, I also wanted to send out another reminder about the upcoming TIVA Peer Awards. The final deadline for submissions is June 16. There are a lot of skills categories available, both in front of and behind the camera, and given the extraordinary pool of talent we’ve assembled here, there’s a very real opportunity to be recognized by your peers for your accomplishments. And two changes make this year special — one, the window for eligibility has been opened up to two years instead of just one (making “Uncertainty Principle,” “Liability,” “Number One With a Bullet,” “Green House,” and “Touched by a Lawyer” all eligible for consideration), and two, for this year only, there are special categories for any 48 Hour Film Project film, no matter when it was produced. Those categories include Overall Production, Directing, Lead Actor, Writer, Cinematography, and Music. Eligible films under those criteria would include “Schlimmer,” “The Big Lie,” “Quite Contrary,” “Close Quarters,” “You Pay Your Dues,” “All Roads Lead Away,” “Please Forward,” and the aforementioned “Liability” and “Touched by a Lawyer.” (Wow, we’ve made a lot of those.)

We’ve already submitted a few films for overall production consideration, but if you’d like to throw your hat into the ring for your “skills” contribution to any of the above-mentioned films, let us know ASAP and we’ll be sure to get you a DVD for your submission! (We’ve even remastered several of them just for the occasion.)

That’s all for today. Hope to see several of you Thursday night!