12/4/2008: Today, we moved to the next step in the distribution of the film by fulfilling the wishes of many fans of the film who always asked us when the soundtrack would be available! After launching the online sale of the film itself, "Killing Christian: The Soundtrack" is now available for sale on CreateSpace and Amazon.com. This great combination of artists and their songs is now available to everyone!
11/6/2008: After a couple of years of attempting to find distribution for the film, we decided to now sell the film ourselves. In the age of the internet, and thanks to a partnership with CreateSpace/Amazon.com, we started today selling copies of the film online! Now everyone has a chance to own the film for themselves!
1/6/2007: But on the positive side of things ... a new focus will begin on the long promised documentary about the whole making of this film, and the trials and tribulations we faced throughout and continue to face today. Jason O has long believed in the potential for a documentary about first time filmmakers, and Neil and Franziska extended that dream even more by covering so many different aspects of the production and the process of making this film. Over the holidays, Jason O purchased all the footage and the rights to create the documentary himself from Neil and Franzi, and has begun work on a fully complete documentary about the making of the film. Not just a typical behind the scenes making of, but a detailed story about six individuals who had a dream and created their first feature film, and the expectations, dreams, disappointments, and pure fun we had during the whole thing. More news to come concerning the editing and ultimate release of the documentary ... so keep checking back!
1/6/2007: FYLMZ Competition online voting completed at the end of 2006, and yesterday, they announced which films were selected with the most amount of positive votes to continue to the next rounds of judging for the festival. Unfortunately, Killing Christian was not one of the films selected for the next round. It was indeed disappointing to hear that news, but does prove again how difficult the film festival is, and with that, we have pretty much exhausted the attempt at a film festival circuit for the film. A couple of distribution options remain, and we may consider selling the film ourselves very soon. We move on ...
11/1/2006: Well, it's been a long year of submitting the film to several large and small film festivals around the country ... unfortunately, we haven't found play at any other film festivals, so we feel we've pretty much exhausted the film festival circuit ... it's definitely a tough nut to crack. But one new film festival/competition holds some promise we feel ... the FYLMZ Competition at www.fylmz.com. So Killing Christian is one of the films that has been submitted, and voting begins today on the internet ... so please go vote for our film if it looks like something you'd be interested in seeing with a 5 star very interested vote! If we get enough votes, we could be selected as one of the finalists to play at the 1st Annual FYLMZ Festival come February, and the prize is $100,000 and a guaranteed distribution deal, which would help us tremendously and get this film where we feel it should be.
2/15/2006: Jason O confirms with June Mack at the UAB Film Club that we can bring Killing Christian back for one more local public screening of the film at the Hulsey Center Recital Hall. This brings our experience with UAB full circle, as we visited there during the pre-production phase to find interested crew members, came back to screen a rough cut of the film to get some helpful feedback, and now we'll bring the finished film for one more public screening, also providing war stories on our process of making the film and our current state of finding distribution and film festival play.
1/12/2006: Jason O and his wife Melissa attended the very first film festival showing for Killing Christian last night, at the Southern Fried Flicks Film Festival in Augusta, Georgia. More details to come soon on the Screenings page!
1/2/2006: Killing Christian has been accepted to its first film festival! A festival specifically designed for southern filmmakers, the 2nd Annual Southern Fried Flicks Film Festival in Augusta, Georgia makes the official announcement that our film will screen as part of their 2006 festival next week. The festival runs January 10-14, and Killing Christian will screen at 8:30 PM on Wednesday night, the 11th.
11/30/2005: We held a second local public screening of the film at Safari Cup Coffee tonight, returning to one of the locations we filmed at. It was a much smaller, more intimate gathering to just sit back and relax and enjoy the film with some of our crew who hadn't seen the film yet, and some people seeing it for the first time. A very enjoyable night.
11/11/2005: Dave McLaughlin at Safari Cup Coffee, one of our filming locations, confirms with Jason O that the film will have its second local screening during their monthly independent film night on November 30.
11/11/2005: Last night was an experience beyond words. After 2 years, since the conception of the idea for the film through the screenwriting to the production and post production, we had finally finished the film and were ready for its world premiere. We felt the place it had to be was in Birmingham, Alabama, the place so many of us call home, and the place where it was filmed. We held our world premiere last night at the Regal Galleria 10 Cinemas in their largest theater, which holds 485 people, and we sold it completely out! Director Jason O'Brien introduced the film, followed by screenwriters Laura Mullins and Jason Kendall making some brief remarks. It was an amazing experience to watch the film on a big screen with a sold out crowd. The response was tremendous. Following the film, Jason O introduced several of the key cast and crew and had them come up front, and then opened it up to a brief Q&A session. Following the premiere, we continued on to the after party, which was held at The U at 1st and 23rd downtown, which also happened to be one of our shooting locations. It was a very special and magical night for those of us who made the film, and a night where so many dreams came true.
11/6/2005: The Birmingham News runs a large cover story in the Pop & Culture section in today's Sunday newspaper about our upcoming world premiere! Online link to the article: CLICK HERE!.
10/24/2005: Jason O begins sending out first official film festival submissions.
10/20/2005: Jason O officially locks the film as complete! We have picture lock on Killing Christian!
10/19/2005: Jason O finished the final poster design for the film, and printed up various one-sheets to place around town to help promote the premiere. Tickets for the premiere continue to sell at a brisk pace.
10/18/2005: Jason O updated the press kits for the film, and drafted the official press release announcing the world premiere of the film in Birmingham on November 10. Mailed press kits and press releases to the major media in Birmingham, including The Birmingham News, Birmingham Weekly, Black and White, Fox 6, and others.
10/16/2005: Tonight, a small core group from Wastebasket (Jason O, Jason K, Laura, Annis, Christian, and Stacy) gathered together at Jason O's house to watch the final cut of the movie and to hold a detailed meeting discussing the plan for the premiere of the film
10/15/2005: Jason O completes the online reservation system for people to reserve tickets online for the world premiere of the film in Birmingham on November 10, and reservations start coming in right away!
10/12/2005: Things really starting to move now … today was a day filled with some great news. First of all, we confirmed today that we will be able to premiere our film at the Regal Galleria Cinemas theater for the world premiere of Killing Christian! The premiere will be held on Thursday night, November 10, 2005 at 7:30 PM. More info to come soon! Also today, Morgan completed the sound mix work for the film and delivered to Jason O. Jason synched up the audio with the film, and prepared copies for our first real festival submissions!
10/11/2005: A brand new redesign of the web site is launched, including new features such as a guest book to allow people to share their comments and reactions, and reflections and information on screenings of the film as we are about to unleash a finished film on the world!
9/18/2005: Last night, we recorded some ADR for the film, to replace some dialogue that didn't come out as good as it should have, and also to record some brand new dialogue as well.
9/1/2005: Rick Carter & Adam Guthrie completed composing the original score for the film, and delivered to the two Jasons. Morgan continues work on the final sound mix, and will be incorporating the final masters of the songs and the original score as we come down to the final stages of the post-production process.
8/28/2005: Tonight, Jason O completed editing together the fifth trailer for the film, this one incorporating a much better structure to relay the story, and also making use of some of the incredible songs specifically written and performed by Nathan Peek for the film. The new trailer will be coming to the website very soon!
8/23/2005: Jason Kendall, also functioning as the film's Music Supervisor, has been working very diligently in the past few weeks securing the songs for the film, and yesterday, delivered all the mastered songs for inclusion in the film and the soundtrack. The songs of Killing Christian will come from three incredible artists, including Talmadge Lane (the group that many of the film's creators created), Nathan Peek, and The Dusty Winsett Band. Annis Hathcock also performed a stunning rendition of At Last which will be included in the film.
8/9/2005: Jason K and Jason O met with Rick Carter & Adam Guthrie today to check in with them on the composition of the music score, and to also discuss the areas in the film where it will be placed. Rick & Adam continue their composing, and will have the final score ready in the next couple of weeks for the final mix.
8/3/2005: The two Jasons, OBrien and Kendall, met last night to go through the final cut of the film and determine the placement for various songs performed by Talmadge Lane, Dusty Winsett, and others, as well as pointing out the various places where Rick and Adam's musical score should go.
7/23/2005: After much evaluation and having gone through the film again, Jason O found five sequences that could be cut, and a lot of areas that could be trimmed. Today, Jason O finished what should be (finally!) the final cut of the film, clocking in at a much shorter 97 minutes. Morgan continues work on the sound mix, and we're not far now from the finished film of KILLING CHRISTIAN!
7/1/2005: In an effort to help get some feedback on the film and where we might be able to cut or trim scenes, we held an invitation-only screening last night of the current rough cut of the film (now at Rough Cut #10), which also contained about 18 minutes worth of the current sound mix for the film. We held the screening at the Recital Hall in UAB's Hulsey Center, and invited several friends and family members as well as some of the cast and crew to watch the film on a big screen and give us some honest feedback. The night was an overwhelming success, as some 75 - 80 people showed up, and we had some good discussions after the screening, and also people were asked to fill out a small paper ballot that also asked for specific reactions, which have all been very helpful. It helped a great deal to get some new perspectives on the film, and also to confirm some of what we felt were scenes that could maybe get cut. So editing will continue ... one thing's for sure, it was an overwhelming experience for those of us who made the film to screen it with a good sized audience, to hear their laughter, to hear their applause ... Morgan continues work on the sound mix, and Jason O will start going through the film again, removing some sequences and trimming other areas to make the film tighter and bring the length down.
5/31/2005: Assistant Editor Franziska Wellner finished her last day of color correction for the film tonight, and sat down with Jason O to also discuss ideas for other edits and trims to help the film flow smoother ... thank you so much Franzi for the time you volunteered to color correct the film, and for all your additional editing ideas as well!
5/12/2005: Morgan Faulkner officially began work today on the final sound edit and sound mix. Franziska is deep into the color correction work at the same time.
5/2/2005: Over the past couple of weeks, Jason O has made some slight cuts and enhancements to the film, finally arriving at Rough Cut #6, to get a final cut ready for color correction and the sound mix work. Jason O also edited together the final release trailer (Trailer #4 for those keeping count) in anticipation of the film's submission to various film festivals. This new trailer finally combines a lot of what made the previous trailers great into one new trailer for the film ... it will be posted online very soon. Color correction work by Assistant Editor Franziska Wellner begins this week.
4/25/2005: Co behind-the-scenes documentarian for Killing Christian, Franziska Wellner, is officially hired as an Assistant Editor to work on color correction for the film, and will begin work soon.
4/16/2005: Last night, Jason O had a small number of the crew of the film over to the house to watch the third rough cut of the film. Afterwards, we also watched some of the seven hours worth of raw footage that Neil and Franziska had shot of their behind the scenes coverage of the making of the movie, our first time to get a look at some of their footage! It was a great trip down memory lane!
4/14/2005: Tonight, Jason O completed editing the third rough cut of Killing Christian, now running about 1 hour, 52 minutes. This will most likely be the final cut of the movie. Ready now to begin work on color correction, music scoring, and the final sound mix.
4/3/2005: Last night, we had a small gathering over at Jason O's house to view the second complete rough cut of the film, now running at 2 hours, and discussed some of the additional cuts to be made to get it to its final cut.
3/31/2005: The editing continues ... tonight, Jason O completed editing the second rough cut of Killing Christian, now running exactly at 2 hours, having cut about 30 minutes from the film from the first rough cut. This is a closer cut to what the final film will be.
2/12/2005: Yesterday, 2/11, was one of the most amazing and fun days we've had in quite some time, certainly since the days of last summer when we were filming the movie. First of all, Abbi Butler returned from California to visit briefly and to record some of the songs we may use in the film. Jason K, Abbi, and Christian traveled to Decatur in the morning to record the songs throughout the day. They returned later that night, along with some of the cast and crew members from the film (some we haven't seen in quite some time), to gather at Jason O's house for a screening of the first complete 2 1/2 hour rough cut of the film. It was a great experience for many of these people to see the film in its first rough form, and so nice to get together with everyone again. Jason O had also edited together a 45 minute special presentation which concluded the evening ... it contained some rare footage back from the first table read we had back in April of last year, followed by many of the funniest bloopers and moments during filming, and concluding with a special montage of behind the scenes moments and other various bloopers set to the music of Van Morrison's "These Are The Days." It took us late into the next morning, but what a memorable day. Just being able to watch a complete version of the film, as rough as it was, with several of the people who helped make it possible, was one of the most rewarding experiences we've ever had ... a night to remember. Now the editing continues!
2/10/2005: Jason O has completed the first complete rough cut of the film ... in its complete form, it's currently running 2 hours and 22 minutes ... this will help form the basis to begin analyzing where scenes can be cut and trimmed down to a more reasonable length
2/4/2005: Last night, we went over to Rick Carter's studio to record 3 songs which will probably end up in the film somehow, the first studio recording for the group!
2/1/2005: Talmadge Lane has been performing the last few Monday nights at Oasis during Rick Carter's Guitar Pull ... still awestruck by the talent amongst this group, as they continue to write more songs
1/25/2005: Jason O has now completed an extremely rough initial cut of the first hour of the film. The Wastebasket team got together at Jason's house again last night to view the rough cut and some additional footage (and new extended blooper reel!) that Jason had managed to synch up with audio. Everything still rough in this stage, but moving along.
1/25/2005: Rick Carter, Adam Guthrie, and Jason K jam out one night and come up with a rough first cut of some music for the film ... they've come up with a very unique score which will allow for many variations to expand upon as we get deeper into the scoring of the film
1/17/2005: Rick Carter, of the local band Rolling in the Hay, and Adam Guthrie express their interest in writing and performing the original music score for the film, so they are brought on board!
1/12/2005: Last night, Erik Jambor at Sidewalk was gracious enough to let us show our new trailer on the big screen at Workplay in front of the Alabama Short Film Showcase, part of the Sidewalk Cinematheque series. It was our first large public exhibition of something from the film, and it was great to see it on the big screen. Thanks again Erik for the support!
1/10/2005: Who knew what additional talent lie amongst this group? Jason K, Laura M, Stacy, Annis, and Christian form a new band, Talmadge Lane, and begin writing and performing songs for possible inclusion in the film
1/7/2005: Jason O has had the editing suite for a couple of weeks now, working on synching up some preliminary scenes with the audio. Also edited together a rough cut of the first fifteen minutes of the film. Jason O also completed a brand new trailer for the film. The Wastebasket team got together at Jason O's house last night to reunite after the holiday break and watch the new trailer and some of the footage that Jason had managed to edit together.
12/12/2004: Raising money for post-production over these past few months has proved incredibly difficult ... Jason O made the decision to purchase a complete editing suite (Power Mac G5 and Final Cut Pro HD) to edit the film himself. The system is currently on the way, and editing should begin in January!
10/4/2004: The redesign of the web site is launched!
9/19/2004: Our first teaser trailer is completed! Jason O'Brien, Michael Praytor, and Morgan Faulkner worked some late hours this past week to get the first teaser trailer completed, and pressed to DVDs! Trailer will be coming soon to the website!
9/14/2004: Completed the press kits for Killing Christian and a series of initial one-sheet posters for the film!
9/10/2004: Wastebasket Productions will now begin holding meetings once a week as we discuss new film opportunities and the post-production process for Killing Christian
9/7/2004: Last night, Wastebasket was out in force as a bunch of us made a proud return to the monthly Sidewalk Salon series after having missed a few while we were in production
9/5/2004: Last night, Jason O, Morgan, and Michael began working with the rough cut of the first trailer to restructure it and shape it up for eventual distribution
8/28/2004: Last night, the cast and crew reunited for the official wrap party to celebrate this wonderful summer of filming KILLING CHRISTIAN! The wrap party was held at the Restaurant G downtown, and Logan Marcum and Abbi Butler both came back from California to join us! (Logan's return surprised us all!) Jason O'Brien began the evening's events by talking about various memories of the film's production, and then went around the room introducing every key cast and crew member, allowing them each to come up and say a few words about their experiences making this movie. It was a wonderful and emotional night, capped by the first public showing of a rough cut of the first teaser trailer for KILLING CHRISTIAN!
8/24/2004: Next core team post-production and corporate structure meeting was held tonight at IHOP
8/16/2004: Jason O, Michael Praytor, and Morgan began work tonight on editing together the first teaser trailer for KILLING CHRISTIAN!
8/15/2004: First core team post-production meeting was held at IHOP last night (Jason O, Laura M, Annis, Christian, Jason K, Chad, Lyndsay) to discuss the editing process, post-production, marketing, distribution, corporate structure for the production company, and more
8/11/2004: Christian and Jason O held a meeting at O'Henry's Coffee House with Michael Praytor and Andor to discuss the post-production process and other items
8/9/2004: AND THAT'S A WRAP FOR PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY ON KILLING CHRISTIAN! Yesterday was a highly emotional day as we filmed at Fran's Restaurant in Pelham, filming our final sequence, wrapping up our production after 28 filming days, just over 2 months of time together shooting this movie. It has been such a wonderful adventure, and now it's time to make this into a movie through post-production! That's a wrap!
8/7/2004: Last night brought us back to the Pelham World Gym for the third and final time for Day 27 of filming ... wrapped up 2 final sequences by 1 in the morning, and that was a wrap for Chris Rice's work on the film! Thanks Chris for enduring all you did during the shoot, and for not really quitting all those times you wanted to quit! One more day of filming to go and we'll be wrapped!
8/4/2004: Finally got to watch a bunch of the dailies from Day 9 onward as cast and crew gathered together at Jason O's house last night to watch tons of previously shot footage and to hold a goodbye party for Abbi ... Christian presented Abbi with a scrapbook of pictures from the production signed by everyone ... best of luck Abbi as you move to California, and make sure to stay in touch, and all our thanks for your incredible talent and creativity that you brought to this film
8/2/2004: Day 26 brought us back to the Inverness Golf Course for the third time to finally finish our golf course scenes, and that was a wrap for Abbi Butler's work on the film! Finished with some well deserved applause for Abbi's extraordinary efforts on the film. Also bid farewell to Brooks Toran, off to Orlando for another film shoot ... many, many thanks to Brooks for all his hard work!
7/31/2004: Another late night last night, Day 25 at the Raypress Corporation parking lot, finishing up some scenes, and that was a wrap for Bill Mullins!
7/30/2004: Day 24 yesterday was a very full day of filming! Began the day at 7 AM filming a variety of outdoor and indoor scenes, then traveled to a parking deck in the middle of downtown Birmingham for some amazing night scenes, filming until 4:30 in the morning, and it was a wrap for Jason Reed's character! Thanks Reed for all the hard work, and the last incredibly late night.
7/28/2004: Ben Johnson at Jemison Flats saves us at the last minute looking for a loft to finish scenes we didn't finish at Parkside, letting us film at his Jemison Flats loft last night ... thanks to Ben, and thanks again to Stephanie Scott for putting that arrangement together at the last minute! And it's the last night for Logan's work on the film as he heads out for California ... best of luck Logan and thanks again!
7/27/2004: Main cast assembled last night for promotional pictures at John Smallwood Photography studio at Jemison Flats, also took pictures for the KILLING CHRISTIAN poster ... then everyone gathered together at Logan's apartment for a goodbye party for Logan
7/26/2004: Just completed a truly marathon weekend of filming, perhaps our toughest and longest yet. Began Friday night with Day 20 back at the Pelham World Gym, filming all through the night until 5 AM. Met for a breakfast break at IHOP, then re-convened over at Safari Cup downtown to begin filming at 7 AM on Saturday. Finally finished filming there around 2 in the afternoon ... after we all got some much needed sleep, it was off to Park Lane for an incredibly full day on Sunday, the 25th, from 5 AM to 2:30 in the morning Monday morning, finishing up with one of the most complicated yet exciting shots in the whole film! Wait till you see it! And that's a wrap for Logan's work as an actor on the film!
7/22/2004: Finished a fun night of filming, Day 19 at the Edgewood Fine Jewelry Store
7/20/2004: Completed 2 very long days of filming ... Day 17 at the Little Professor Bookstore lasted from 5 AM to 10 PM, followed by a 5 AM to 9 PM shoot back at the Inverness Golf Course ... at least it didn't rain this time at the golf course, we shot till the sun went down!
7/17/2004: Finished our longest late night shoot last night at the Pelham World Gym, filming some of our sports club scenes ... began at 8:00 PM, and wrapped up at 5:00 AM the next morning, greeting the morning sun as we sleepily departed
7/15/2004: Held a production meeting tonight at Barnes & Noble in Hoover (Jason K, Jason O, Logan, Stacy, Laura M, Annis, and Christian) to discuss the rest of the schedule and location needs and other issues
7/14/2004: Completed Day 15 of filming yesterday, our third and final day at Barbara & Annetta's house, concluding with filming one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, and we got it perfect on the first take! An amazing night ...
7/11/2004: Finished Day 14 of filming (on Lucky's birthday!) at Tommy's Up-Top ... and set a new historic record for the shoot ... the main master shoot took 14 takes, surpassing Jason Kendall's infamous bathroom scene at Parkside which took 12 takes ... a great location though, and a long day gave us our shots there
7/10/2004: What a day! Just completed our longest and hottest day of filming yet! Filming Day 13 began at sunrise at OT's filming a couple of sequences, followed by a move over to Laura & Annis's house in Trussville to brave the afternoon heat to film scenes that take place for Talon's house ... finished up by midnight, capping a near 19 hour film day!
7/9/2004: Just finished 2 days of filming at Barbara & Annetta's house, which is Faith's house in the film
7/3/2004: Core team held a meeting today and visited 2 possible replacement locations, Tommy's Up-Top and Fran's Restaurant
7/2/2004: Finished 2 nights of filming at Lecifers and a return to Jemison Flats to pick up a couple of scenes missed the last time we were there
6/29/2004: Had the cast and crew over to Jason O's house to watch the dailies from the first 8 days of filming
6/23/2004: Finished our 8th day of filming last night with our longest late night shoot yet, wrapping by about 4 in the morning! Shot a complex sequence in the parking lot behind Mauby's ... 8 days of filming done, time for a 6 day shooting break!
6/18/2004: Just completed a marathon five days of filming! On the weekend of the 12th and 13th, we filmed our scenes for Mark's apartment at the gorgeous downtown Jemison Flats apartments (thanks Stephanie!), followed by Monday the 14th at the Inverness Golf Course, filming our first golf course scenes before the rain hit! We then shot scenes for two late evenings (the 15th and 16th) at the Lakeview Bistro location. Seven days of filming completed, we're moving along!
6/10/2004: Visited the Inverness Golf Course to find locations on the course for shooting our golf course scenes, found some perfect locations! Also that evening held a rehearsal for the golf course sequences at Samford (thanks Abbi!)
6/8/2004: Held a cast rehearsal at the Lakeview Bistro shooting location for both the scenes to be shot there and the scenes to be shot at Mauby's restaurant
6/6/2004: We finished our first 2 days of shooting! Filmed the majority of the scenes for Hunter's apartment scenes at the beautiful Parkside location in Birmingham
6/4/2004: The night before shooting begins! Held a pre-shooting pool party at Jason Kendall's parents' house
6/2/2004: Held an all-cast and crew meeting this evening at the Savannah Room conference room at the Pickwick Hotel downtown. Jason O discussed the shooting and what to expect, and went over the shooting schedule with everyone. Held meeting with Neil and Franziska (the behind the scenes documentarians) about their ideas, and then held a core team meeting afterward (Jason O, Laura M, Annis, Christian, Chad, Jason K, Stacy, and Logan) to discuss the budget and upcoming shooting beginning Saturday
6/1/2004: Held our first on-location rehearsals at our first two shooting locations, Parkside and Jemison Flats. Jason O met with Michael Praytor and his crew beforehand to block out shots at Parkside. Actors arrived around 5:45, and we drove over to Jemison Flats to rehearse and block out shots, and around 8, came back to Parkside for two more hours of rehearsals. Really helped the actors to rehearse in the actual locations.
5/26/2004: Held technical crew meeting with Michael Praytor and his crew to discuss shooting schedule, shot list, outlook for the production, etc.
5/25/2004: Officially brought Michael Praytor on as Director of Photography as well as his crew, completing our production team!
5/25/2004: Held our fourth rehearsal at the Wellington Apts Clubhouse in Alabaster. Great rehearsal, last formal rehearsal as a group. Future rehearsals to be held on locations with only the necessary cast or smaller group rehearsals with key or specific cast. Held post-rehearsal meeting with key cast to go over the shooting schedule.
5/22/2004: Pre-production meeting at OT's (Jason O, Laura M, Annis, Christian) ... and visited some of the locations to block out shots
5/20/2004: Visited UAB tonight to discuss our film with Filmmaking Association students about possible crew positions.
5/18/2004: Held our third rehearsal at the Wellington Apts Clubhouse in Alabaster. For the first time, we had our five main lead actors together. Took a number of promotional pictures of the cast, and concentrated on key scenes with the main actors. Everyone gets better and better with each rehearsal, and proves to us even more what an incredible cast we have assembled for this film! Held a story and production meeting afterward with key crew and lead actors.
5/11/2004: Held our second rehearsal, back at the Wellington Apts Clubhouse. Concentrated on key scenes with Talon, Hunter, Andy, and Mark. Patsy Benson and Barr Nobles auditioned for the roles of Faith's parents, and immediately won the parts. Next rehearsal set for the next Tuesday, May 18, back at Wellington again, where all 5 of the main actors will be together for rehearsal for the first time!
5/7/2004: Held an evening pre-production meeting at IHOP (Jason O, Jason K, Chad, Laura M, Annis, Christian) ... discussed the film's budget, ideas for the film's teaser trailer, and talked about the upcoming 2nd rehearsal
5/4/2004: Held our first rehearsal at the Birmingham Festival Theater. Distributed actor contracts, and rehearsed the entire script on stage with makeshift sets. Cast is getting more and more comfortable with each other ... scheduled next rehearsal for the next Tuesday back at the Wellington Clubhouse.
5/1/2004: Held a lunchtime production meeting at OT's (Jason K, Laura M, Jason O, Christian, Annis, and Laura K) ... discussed upcoming first rehearsal, upcoming Sidewalk Salon, technical crew needs, contracts, locations, etc.
4/28/2004: Held our first table read of the complete script at the Wellington Manor Apts Clubhouse in Alabaster. Acted out key scenes following the reading. Set first rehearsal for Tuesday, May 4, followed by at least 2 and possibly 3 more rehearsals once a week until shooting begins in June.
4/21/2004: Pre-Production Meeting ... Laura M, Annis, Jason K, Jason O, Chris Rice, Stacy Vance, Christian, Melissa Nixon ... discussed financing, marketing options, film festival outlook, upcoming table read of the script, further ideas for the website, set film shooting start date of Friday, June 4, planned schedule and things to do in the next six weeks to get us to that start date
4/17/2004: The official website for the film is launched, developed by Jason O ... killingchristian.com!
4/10/2004: Pre-production meeting at Ruby Tuesday's (Jason O, Laura, Christian, and Annis) ... discussed a lot of good ideas for getting the word out about the film, including development of a website, and allowing people to contribute money to obtain virtual producer credit on the film
4/5/2004: We attended the monthly Sidewalk Salon tonight, Scott Lumpkin was there to talk about filmmaking in the state of Alabama ... a lot of good information
4/3/2004: Casting call held at Birmingham Festival Theater ... Jason O'Brien comes on board as director. Casting call was very successful, filled almost all of our acting roles.
3/25/2004: Dinner and pre-production meeting at Jason K's
3/20/2004: Morning and afternoon location scouting (Jason K, Laura M, Annis)
3/17/2004: Held evening pre-production meeting (Laura M, Jason K, Christian, Annis)