A Film By Franziska Wellner, J. Neil Bloomer, & Jason O'Brien

ABOUT "HOW TO KILL CHRISTIAN"

In the winter of 2003, two friends decided to write a screenplay together. Inspired by the true dating life of their mutual friend Christian Ray, Laura Mullins and Jason Kendall came up with a unique story of three people all in love with the same man who decide they have to band together when that man introduces them to his new fiance, named Christian. The screenplay was entitled Killing Christian, and very quickly, a producer became interested in getting the screenplay made into a film. Throughout the early months of 2004, a small team began securing locations in their hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, who were excited to have a feature film being shot in their area. When the small production team assembled thus far found they had differences with the producer in how the project was going to go, they decided to part ways and continue the project on their own since so much had already been set up. They quickly found a director in another mutual friend, Jason O'Brien, and filled out the rest of the roles. Before they knew it, the production continued to grow until in the summer of 2004, they were already underway with principal photography.

When Jason O'Brien came on board as the director, he realized this was a first feature film experience for not only himself but for so many people involved in the production, and wished to have the behind the scenes process of making the film documented as possibly just an extra feature on a future DVD release. When the film crew went to UAB, a university in Birmingham, to meet with members of their film club to find potential people to work on the technical crew, they met Neil Bloomer and Franziska Wellner, at the time both students in the film club and also dating each other. They liked the idea of filming the behind the scenes goings-on, but as they thought about it, their thoughts went much deeper than just filming a standard behind the scenes documentary. Instead, they wanted to make a film which focused on the dreams and aspirations of the people involved, and the difficulties they ended up facing when the true tests of trying to make and actually finish an independent film began taking their toll. They also wanted to focus on the small yet burgeoning film community in the city of Birmingham, so far removed from the filmmaking world of Los Angeles, but a place where perhaps some talented filmmakers could get noticed.

They covered the process not only through the last couple of weeks of pre-production, as the small group of friends expanded their circle to fill out the cast with a mix of actors who had some acting experience before to first timers trying this acting thing out for the first time, and of course the day to day rigors of long film shoots while so many of them tried to keep regular daytime jobs. No independent film can be made without some consideration of money, and they documented the difficulties as the small group of friends found themselves seven days into production, and not yet able to pay the first payment to the technical crew filming the movie. Money obstacles never went away, and Neil and Franzi documented it all. At times threatening friendships and possibly causing some to wonder if this dream could really be achieved, it became a fascinating story as weeks turned into months after shooting had finished, and no money could be raised to begin editing. Neil and Franzi had incredible foresight to see the potential in a documentary about people who started out as friends, and the tests they would face as they tried to do something that some people never even try to achieve.

As time began to move on since the days of actively covering the people responsible for making Killing Christian, Neil and Franzi themselves ran into the unexpected and the future of their documentary looked in doubt. As a couple, they split in 2006, and by the end of the year, Jason O'Brien contacted them both to find out if their documentary could still see the light of day. As he talked with each of them, and realized that neither one was really in a place where they could finish the film on their own, he made an offer to take on the project himself, and both agreed for the sake of the film coming to fruition. Jason acquired all the footage at the beginning of 2007, and thanks to an already well laid groundwork by Neil and Franzi for the ideas they had for the documentary, he wanted to stay true to a lot of the spirit and ideas that Neil and Franzi had had, and at the same time, take the ideas in some new directions as well. For instance, they originally had an idea to structure the documentary like a step by step guide for people wishing to make their own independent movies, and use the examples of the things that the Killing Christian filmmakers did right and did wrong in a sometimes humorous and sometimes cautionary guidebook for people dreaming of making their own movies. All three filmmakers realized that a huge potential existed for the documentary to be much more than a simple behind the scenes chronicle, and hence, "How to Kill Christian" was on its way to completion.

There were a number of stories and individuals to follow, who were affected in so many different ways during the making of Killing Christian. To remain focused, the documentary tells the story of the six friends who decided to make a movie together, and what happened to those friendships and their lives as a consequence of taking on this project. From the initial spark that came from Laura Mullins and Jason Kendall who wrote the screenplay (and Kendall also took one of the lead roles), to Jason O'Brien, who they believed in as the director of the project, to the woman who inspired the screenplay's ideas in the first place and ended up with almost more credits than anyone and became the strong business sense for the group in Christian Ray, to Laura's partner Annis Hathcock who got to go through all the tough experiences of the filming as the Assistant to the Director, to the story of Stacy Vance, who started out only as an extra and a behind the scenes person to ultimately step into one of the lead roles a few days after filming had already begun. Six very different people, all affected in profound ways by the entire process.

These friends, who all shared a passion to be filmmakers, were starting this process later in their lives, either in their late 20's or mid 30's by the time they jumped into this film. But the film was a much different experience for some of the more experienced young actors who were hoping this film could be a launching place for a further acting career. In particular, this documentary focuses on two of them, Abbi Butler and Logan Marcum, who both left for Los Angeles just as soon as their work was completed on the film. And not to be left out, it's also the story of an experienced local film crew, made up of Michael Praytor, Andor Becsi, Forrest Pitts, Brooks Toran, Morgan Faulkner, and Eli Griffith, who stuck with these filmmakers even as they struggled knowing whether they would ever get their money for shooting the film, and each became an invaluable team member to making the film what it was, and became just as much a part of the family who made the film as the ones who started it all.

Stacy Vance once said she experienced every emotion possible during the process of making this independent film. And the documentary reflects all of those emotions ... you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll experience the frustrations, you'll see the passion, you'll see the depths of despair, you'll see it all. And if you are a filmmaker with a goal of making your own independent film, you couldn't find a better guide for what to do and what not to do. But it's not just a documentary for people interested in making movies ... for anybody who ever had a dream and finally made the bold steps to make that dream come true, this is a film that will resonate with you as well.