The Changeling -- One Year Later
Today is the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the opening of The Changeling at the Pioneer Theater in NYC. It's been a busy year and I'd like to take this opportunity to let people know what we've been up to since then.
The Changeling continues to get some attention, mostly from the UK, where, luckily for me, the play is required reading in high school. We've also had some screenings at colleges across the US, most recently at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
I'm sure we'll get even more attention over the coming months because Clint Eastwood is releasing a movie starring Angelina Jolie called, you guessed it, The Changeling! (no relation to the Middleton and Rowley play or to my movie)
I've directed several shorts over the last year. One short, The Ring of Ultimate Power, which I made with many members of of the Changeling team, screened at the Dragon*Con Film Festival in Atlanta, where it was a finalist in the parody category. This fall I was hired to direct a pilot for an AMC webseries. I was also offered a job directing a $500,000 horror movie last summer, but unfortunately the project lost a major funder at the last minute and it didn't happen.
But mostly I've been producing. The (albeit limited) success of The Changeling, which was produced with such a small budget, has put me somewhat in demand as a producer.
Here are some of the projects I've been involved with:
Julie and the Clown, a short I produced, has played in several festivals, including the market at the Cannes Film Festival, and has recently acquired distribution.
I also served as Post-production Supervisor and Associate Producer on Elise Kermani's feature Jocasta, which is making the festival circuit and will be having its New York premiere at New Filmmakers this fall. Elise is an amazing artist and I'm very happy to announce that she has asked me to come on board as dramaturge/director on her next feature about the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe, which will be shooting in 2009-10.
And right now I'm very excited to be producing Roboto Supremo, a sci-fi comedy short written and directed by Changeling producer Victor Varnado which shoots next month. Like Julie and the Clown, Jocasta, and The Ring of Ultimate Power, this film is being shot by Changeling cinematographer Alan McIntrye Smith.
Also, I'm still producing First Sundays, the monthly short comedy film festival I started with Victor Varnado and Paul Zuckerman back in 2002. We celebrated our 6-year anniversary last month with a special retrospective of some of our favorite films we've shown.
News about other members of our team (selected-- it would take up way too much space to list all of everyone's achievements):
Producer MJ Sullivan is now a Doctor after successfully defending her dissertation.
Director of Photography Alan McIntyre Smith has been busy shooting more and more features with larger and larger budgets. I've had the privilege to work with Alan on The Ring of Ultimate Power, Julie and the Clown, Jocasta, and Roboto Supremo, among other projects. I'm very proud that The Changeling was his first feature as DP!
Our cast has been busy as well. Clyde Baldo was in one of the final episodes of The Sopranos. Wendy Herlich has been busy writing and is working on a new play. And many of the other cast members have been seen over the past year in commercials and indie films.
Sound Designer Greg Sextro has been busy working on animated films for Bill Plympton, Nina Paley, and others, having THREE films he worked on this year just play at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
I am so happy that I have continued to work with many of the Changeling cast and crew over the past year and look forward to future projects with them. We're developing a new feature project and I'll post information about that soon.
So one year on, the struggle to create real independent film continues. I thank you all for your continued support and will let you know as things develop.
The Changeling continues to get some attention, mostly from the UK, where, luckily for me, the play is required reading in high school. We've also had some screenings at colleges across the US, most recently at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
I'm sure we'll get even more attention over the coming months because Clint Eastwood is releasing a movie starring Angelina Jolie called, you guessed it, The Changeling! (no relation to the Middleton and Rowley play or to my movie)
I've directed several shorts over the last year. One short, The Ring of Ultimate Power, which I made with many members of of the Changeling team, screened at the Dragon*Con Film Festival in Atlanta, where it was a finalist in the parody category. This fall I was hired to direct a pilot for an AMC webseries. I was also offered a job directing a $500,000 horror movie last summer, but unfortunately the project lost a major funder at the last minute and it didn't happen.
But mostly I've been producing. The (albeit limited) success of The Changeling, which was produced with such a small budget, has put me somewhat in demand as a producer.
Here are some of the projects I've been involved with:
Julie and the Clown, a short I produced, has played in several festivals, including the market at the Cannes Film Festival, and has recently acquired distribution.
I also served as Post-production Supervisor and Associate Producer on Elise Kermani's feature Jocasta, which is making the festival circuit and will be having its New York premiere at New Filmmakers this fall. Elise is an amazing artist and I'm very happy to announce that she has asked me to come on board as dramaturge/director on her next feature about the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe, which will be shooting in 2009-10.
And right now I'm very excited to be producing Roboto Supremo, a sci-fi comedy short written and directed by Changeling producer Victor Varnado which shoots next month. Like Julie and the Clown, Jocasta, and The Ring of Ultimate Power, this film is being shot by Changeling cinematographer Alan McIntrye Smith.
Also, I'm still producing First Sundays, the monthly short comedy film festival I started with Victor Varnado and Paul Zuckerman back in 2002. We celebrated our 6-year anniversary last month with a special retrospective of some of our favorite films we've shown.
News about other members of our team (selected-- it would take up way too much space to list all of everyone's achievements):
Producer MJ Sullivan is now a Doctor after successfully defending her dissertation.
Director of Photography Alan McIntyre Smith has been busy shooting more and more features with larger and larger budgets. I've had the privilege to work with Alan on The Ring of Ultimate Power, Julie and the Clown, Jocasta, and Roboto Supremo, among other projects. I'm very proud that The Changeling was his first feature as DP!
Our cast has been busy as well. Clyde Baldo was in one of the final episodes of The Sopranos. Wendy Herlich has been busy writing and is working on a new play. And many of the other cast members have been seen over the past year in commercials and indie films.
Sound Designer Greg Sextro has been busy working on animated films for Bill Plympton, Nina Paley, and others, having THREE films he worked on this year just play at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
I am so happy that I have continued to work with many of the Changeling cast and crew over the past year and look forward to future projects with them. We're developing a new feature project and I'll post information about that soon.
So one year on, the struggle to create real independent film continues. I thank you all for your continued support and will let you know as things develop.
posted by Jay Stern at 10:19 AM
