The Missouri Film Alliance will be hosting three production workshops in Springfield, MO this fall. It’s a giant leap forward for filmmakers in the area, and I highly recommend attending. The official notice isn’t online yet, but it should be very soon… keep an eye out!

The production classes covered will be: production management, production sound, and grip/electric. All very important aspects to the process, and the most basic for creating a film.

remember when i said i was writing articles for the MFAS newsletter? well, i’ve decided to add those articles to a blog#–it will only be updated once a month and will only contain the contents of the articles (and comments from readers).

the url for the articles is http://www.ncoleman.com/mfasblog/.

there is a link on the right from this blog. i’ve also built RSS feeds for both blogs#–the links are in the lower right of each.

even when i’m not in front of the camera, i’m busy…or at least i try to be. i’m currently in the process of setting up a live event for MFAS, writing a monthly column for the MFAS newsletter, and auditioning every spare moment. combine that with the "Ozark Mile" rewrites and golf and i don’t really sleep.

but i do find the time to fit in nightly Three’s Company reruns.

i’m going to try to find space to post here the articles i will be writing for MFAS. more info on the event tomorrow or Saturday…

i just finished a report for the Missouri Film Alliance of Springfield outlining the differences between Missouri’s film incentives versus Louisiana and New Mexico. it’s a dry read, but if you’re into film finance and runaway production it’s a page turner. :)

http://www.ncoleman.com/files/
FilmProductionIncentives2005.htm

basically, MFAS would like to see Missouri adopt some new incentives that compete (first and foremost) with other countries (Prague, Hungary, Canada, etc.) and with other states. many of the actor’s unions have been warning of runaway production for years (SAG, AFTRA) and it’s finally gotten some major press, resulting in California changing some laws on production and New York reworking legislation related to production. we think Missouri would benefit from similar changes, and this is just a first step towards that.

it appears larva finally has an air date. if you’ve ever wanted to see me meet an untimely and disgusting demise, this is your chance. january 8th on the sci-fi channel.

that should be around the same time we’re ready for test screenings of The Suburban Seven, so look out.

speaking of looking out, i’m looking outside at the leaves falling off the trees here in springfield. it’s amazing how winter, regardless of geographic location, looks the same. the clouds aren’t as pretty, until snow falls the landscape isn’t pretty#–in order to appreciate beauty you have to look very, very close: at the microscopic details in frost, snowflakes, and even the veins of fallen leaves. yup. i’ve got cabin fever. according to the weather channel, the golf index is a 7 (good) but i just don’t feel like chasing a ball through a pile of leaves.

hang on to your location photos, there’s a new film group in town!

and in the state…

after much work, a group of dedicated individuals (myself included) have formed a coalition to support and encourage filmmaking in the southern region of missouri. the group had it’s first meeting last week, with a meeting to elect officers scheduled for nov. 13th. http://www.springfieldarts.org/fi lm

the idea is to create a forum for local filmmakers to support their works, educate others, and lobby for film shoots in the state of missouri. this will involve seeking changes to existing incentives for out of state productions, as well as courting productions to shoot here instead of another state (or country). the group is in it’s infancy, but its already garnering a lot of notice within the state. set up as a not for profit organization, there are no ties directly to the government to limit the activities of the members.

if you’re in missouri and make *any* kind of film, please check out the website and try to make the meeting on the 13th.

what a great meeting we had today. thanks to bucky bowman and the arts patronage initiative, springfield, mo is on the path to having a really great film community. today we took the first steps in developing a local film commission, and uniting the small community of filmmakers already operating in the ozarks. hopefully, this will prompt investors to see just how viable film can be as a revenue generating mechanism for this area.

now we just have to make some movies!

james and i have been talking, and we’re exploring the possibility of postponing our shoot of ozark mile and shooting a smaller film instead. the reasoning is that we might be able to convince financiers to invest in ozark mile, based on the results they see we are capable of producing without a budget.