BGR Heroes

There have been many heroes of BGR... At different times, different people have risen up and really just stood apart and proved themselves as true BGR heroes. Tonight, with a week to go until the screening, my heroes are Meg Zervoulis and Joey Mosca.

Meg has been working on the BGR score for several months now, and tonight I received the last music file that we needed. She has created a really great score that takes the movie to a new level (all the while having to put up with my worries that we wouldn't make deadline). Well, we did, and quality was not sacrificed. BGR has the soundtrack that it so richly deserves, and it wouldn't be where it is today without Meg.

Joey came on as sound guy on day one... He never once quit. He has been working on this movie from production through post production and is on the very last step of his post sound work. Where I would be content with the audio from weeks ago, Joey wouldn't let me be... He has patiently worked on perfecting the audio to the very best that it can be.

Tomorrow (Monday) will be exactly one week until the screening, and you can be BGR heroes too. There are approximately 30 tickets left to sell. If you haven't bought tickets yet, then do it... Its gonna be a great movie. Tell friends, tell family... Post it on your Facebook and twitter and myspace (if anyone still uses that). Email people, call them. Do what you can! Get the word out! Let's sell that theatre out! And if you reserved but have not paid yet, then get payment to me by no later than Friday, 2/4.

On 2/7, the doors to the theatre will open at 6pm. There will be at least one list to check in with. For the first few to arrive there will be assorted goodies... Posters, WWBCD? Bracelets, etc. When they run out, that is it. There are no more. Seats are first come, first serve.

From 6pm-6:45pm, music will be provided courtesy of our own Billy Dautrick. At 6:45pm, there will be a brief welcome/introduction.

The movie will begin promptly at 7pm... There will be no holding the start for anyone.

The movie will end at 8:30pm, and will be followed by a raffle for movie memorabilia (more details at the screening) and a Q&A.

The event will end at 9pm.

That is all for now. Remember, help us sell some more tickets. Be a BGR hero. We are very nearly there.

Stay tuned!

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer
"Blaming George Romero"

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More Seats Now Available!

I am in awe of our fans.

I don't think any of us were expecting the reaction we had to ticket sales for the 2/7 screening. I know I wasn''t. We sold out so quickly, but I figured that at least some of the people who reserved wouldn't pay... Well, just about everyone has. So, we had 199 seats available, and they all went quick. So, to his credit, while we were filming the "Red Scare" trailer Isaac asked, "Why not see if you can get a bigger theatre?" Naturally, I kicked snow at him and told him to mind his own business. That would show him... But he had a point. So, on Thursday night when it looked like we would barely manage to offer tickets to those in our standby list, I contacted the theatre to see what we could arrange.

Tonight I had a meeting with the manager, and told him our situation. And we upgraded from the 199 seat theatre to a 309 seat theatre. That means that we can accomodate everyone on our standby list, and beyond. So, if you haven't reserved a ticket, email Tickets@BlameRomero.com now!

Two other things:

(1) As if you needed more reason to want to see the movie, I have heard a good amount of Meg Zervoulis' music and it is great. It really makes the movie better.

(2) We are going to have a pre and post show thing at the screening. You can start arriving to the theatre by 6pm, and everything will be wrapped by 9pm. There will be special gifts for the first who arrive so make sure you show up early.


So, that's it. Make sure to email Tickets@BlameRomero.com to reserve your tickets today.

Stay Tuned,

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer
Blaming George Romero

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"Red Scare" and More

Howdy, folks. A few things.

*If you have reserved a ticket, but haven't paid for it yet, the deadline is on 1/21/11. After that, I will remove the hold on the unpaid, reserved tickets, and begin selling them again.

*I posted the following on the BGR Facebook Page... I can't believe I have to post this. A little while ago, someone posted on this (FB) page that they had a comp ticket but couldn't attend, and they wanted to sell their tickets. I am not saying anyone would try to take that person up on their offer, but it is important to note the following. First off, the person was not on the comp list. Second, if you are on the comp list and for whatever reason cannot attend, just tell us. We will then attempt to sell the ticket to those on our standby list. There is really no need to try to scalp a ticket to this movie. Its unfair to those that are on the standby list and are patiently waiting for a ticket, and it literally is taking money away from the future of the movie... more directly, it is taking money directly from my wallet.

If you purchased a ticket outside of the comp list, and you can't attend, feel free to do whatever you like with the ticket... But inform us if there is a change in ticket ownership. In addition to the printable tickets that were sent to guests, there will also be a list of guests that will be checked.

The 2/7 screening should be a lot of fun. It is for our supporters, friends, families, etc. Please don't taint that by trying to make a profit off of the hard work that we have done.

Thank you.
____________________________________________________________________


Okay, now that that is over, here are some more pictures from "Red Scare." We wrapped shooting on that little project this past Friday. We had new actors Joey Mosca, Clover Zatz, and Tony Pineiro join returning actor Bobby Lise. Aaron Visco made a last minute cameo replacing an actor who didn't show up that worked out great. Billy Dautrick ran sound & Bosco... Loarina Gonzalez did makeup... and Sean Feuer essentially directed. I just came up with the ideas and chimed in from time to time.

Now, what exactly is "Red Scare?" Essentially it is a real trailer for a "fake" movie... like Grindhouse did. There are connections to BGR that you will see when you see the movie. Like the "Machete" trailer before Grindhouse, I really like what we did with "Red Scare." It never has to become a feature length film, like "Machete" did, but I was so happy with the results that I drafted a complete outline for the movie... in case we ever want to turn it into a real film.

Anyways, enjoy these pictures. We only have a few weeks to go before our big preview screening. Still plenty to do.

Stay Tuned!

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer
Blaming George Romero

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Sorry, Mario, the Princess is in another castle

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING BLOG CONTAINS VIDEO GAME METAPHORS, VENTING, INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2/7 SCREENING, AND A LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT A NEW BGR RELATED PROJECT CALLED "RED SCARE."




I don't want to get to spoiler-y on you all, but in the original Super Mario Bros game for the Nintendo, you go through a few levels, get to a castle, beat Bowser/Koopa/Dennis Hopper, and then you see the Princess... Only, wah wah, it isn't really the Princess. The Princess is in ANOTHER castle! This happens about 8 times before you get to the right castle. What does this have to do with BGR you might ask? See, you have to do a lot of work to get to the end of the castle and you may think you're close to victory, only to discover that you're not done!

This happened to me yesterday. See, we are really close... Damn close to being done with this movie. The only thing that needs doing is music and sound stuff, really. So, my sound guy (Joey Mosca) comes over and listens to the movie with a pair of headphones and adjusts any issues that he hears. (He did this from 4pm-9pm on Saturday! With only one break! The man is a trooper!)So, yesterday he tries to do this and the headphones don't work... No headphones work... Plug it in, and only the internal speakers work.

Its funny. I have had no problem with Apple products before. Any issues that I had were with human error (running with my iphone in the middle of a downpour, letting anyone else touch my ipad =P, etc.). I edited an entire movie on my iMac! It froze two or three times, but that was it. Now, when I just need the headphones to work (really the only time I need the headphones to work), they stop working. It could be worse, and I know that. Everything is backed up (twice), but its frustrating. I lose two-three days of work like this. "Sorry, Sam, the end of the movie is in a different week."

Went through a bunch of steps to see if it was a software thing (despite looking like a hardware thing)only to realize that it is, in fact, a hardware thing and needs to be repaired. Brought it in this morning, and should have it back by Friday.

But not all is bad. We have sold out our February 7th screening, and currently have 11 people signed up for our standby list. If you are one of our paying guests, I MUST receive your money by no later than January 21st. If I don't, I start selling to the standby list.

Also, we filmed a little something extra for the movie. It's a BGR-related little thing called "Red Scare." The initial idea to do it was my brother, Isaac's, but I took it and ran with it. Its a lot of fun. This past Sunday, we filmed myself, Isaac, Dan, Loarina, Bobby, Billy, and a new addition: Ahmed Elbabouhi. Sean Feuer graduated to camera guy/DP/etc. for this little extra. Joey continued on sound... etc etc etc. I got to have some locations that I wanted to use in BGR, but had no room for too. It was a freezing day. Isaac fell in the snow wearing just a tee shirt. Billy followed. Loarina toughed it out in seriously bitter wind wearing a skirt. It was cold, but really fun. We hope to premiere "Red Scare" along with BGR at the 2/7 screening... We may put it up on the various web pages afterwards.

Before I go, here are some pictures from the "Red Scare" shoot.



















Stay tuned!

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer
"Blaming George Romero"

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So... People want to see this movie?

Wow... So, we have a 199 seat theatre for the Bayonne Preview of "Blaming George Romero." Over the last two weeks or so, I have been confirming whether or not the people on my comp list would be attending. The people on the comp list are those who worked on the movie (cast/crew) and those who donated to the movie through Indiegogo.com. We then sold the remaining tickets for $15/person. I started selling to people on Wednesday or Thursday, and by last night we were sold out!

So, I guess there is some interest in the film.

Now, if you want to see the film but didn't manage to get a reservation never fear. There is still a chance to see the movie on February 7th. I have been collecting reservations, and then asking for payment. I have not received payment from everyone yet, so I need to establish January 21st as the cutoff for payment on the current reservations. If I do not receive payment from those who asked to reserve tickets by this time, I will begin re-selling those tickets.

What should you do? Continue to email Tickets@BlameRomero.com with the amount of tickets you want, and your name, and you will be placed on a standby list. Again, this is first come first serve. If someone drops out or does not pay for their ticket(s) by January 21, I will begin to go through the standby list.

Now, here is what I ask of people who have complimentary tickets or reserved tickets already. We all know things come up, and plans change, so if you for whatever reason feel that you cannot make the screening on February 7th, tell me as soon as humanly possible. There seems to be great demand to come to this preview, and it would really suck if we get to the preview and there are empty seats that could have gone to someone who would have attended. If you can't make it, or decide against coming, please email me at Tickets@BlameRomero.com.

I am going to send confirmations and personalized, printable tickets to those who are on the comp list and those who have paid shortly.

This is really exciting for me, and for the cast/crew. To have sold out so quickly, is just... Well, it makes me feel all good and stuff.

Stay Tuned!

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer
"Blaming George Romero"

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Want to see "Blaming George Romero" on 2/7/11?

Here is what you do: Email Tickets@BlameRomero.com with the number of tickets you want and the names for each of the tickets. You will then receive a reply email informing you of how to pay for said tickets. Tickets are $15/person.

There are 199 seats in the theatre, and we currently have 106 confirmed guests already. That leaves only 93 seats available! Tickets will be on a first come, first serve basis. Once we sell out, that will be it.

Yours,

Sam

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approaching that finish line...

Happy New Year!

You know, between me and whoever is reading this, when we put our first teaser out and it said that BGR would be ready to be seen in 2011 that was just our best estimate. The fact that people are going to be seeing it so soon into 2011, is an amazing thing. Early in the post process, I heard fears that we wouldn't even have a rough cut until Spring '11. I am very glad those fears were put to rest.

Like I said in a prior blog, we had a test screening and got some invaluable critiques about the movie. Pacing was the biggest problem we had, so that was the main area that had to be focused on (besides other technical things like sound, music, & color). Happy to say our very own Shaun of the Dead (Sean Feuer) popped by the other day to adjust some of the trouble spots that we had with coloring. One more thing done.

I remember in the very early days of editing, Billy was worried that we might not have a full length movie... like what if after all that time, we put together a movie and it only came out to be an hour? Well, we put together a movie and we had more than enough. So, certain things needed to be cut just to help the pace... The comments we received on this were very helpful. We shot so much, and really, we shot so much good stuff that at first it was hard to decide what shouldn't be there. But seeing the movie several times, most recently with a fresh room of eyes really narrowed things down. Sometimes, the scenes did linger a bit too long. Its easy to just watch a scene and fall in love with what was done... the script, the shot, the acting, etc. But at the end of the day, its not all necessary, and sometimes what's not necessary can be detrimental to the whole.

So, that is what we are doing now. We have to look closely at what bits just overstay their welcome, and if they are removed, will anyone who doesn't know the movie notice? I did this to a scene or two and showed my brother (who has seen the movie at least twice right now) and he couldn't tell. And for the bits that are really good, well there are always deleted scenes on a DVD, right?

I really think that I am able to look at BGR as an objective outsider now. Hell, at the test screening, I caught a bit (from my own performance no less) that just made me sick. I must have heard it a hundred times by this point, but as I watched at the test I shook my head... This is too much exposition, I thought. There is no reason that my character needs to be saying all of this. If the movie does its job, the audience will get it.

At the same time, I noticed something in my character... not me.. but the character... In the writing, in the way my character acts... that I did not even see when I first wrote the script. It was an amazingly emotional bit of key information that was just there the whole time, and I didn't even know it was there.

When all is said and done, I really feel that the movie that will be shown on February 7th (and hopefully many festivals after that)is a good movie... Its the movie I set out to make, and I am at a loss for words on how to describe how that makes me feel.

So far, 74 guests have responded that they will be attending the screening. It is a 199 seat theatre. If you received your invite (from working on the film or donating to it), please make sure you RSVP by no later than Friday, January 7th or you will be taken off the comp list. If you are not one of those people, or are, but want to bring a guest, tickets will be on sale later this week. There will not be ticket sales at the door. More details coming soon.

Stay tuned!

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer
"Blaming George Romero"

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