Note: Film is reference by working title A Monster in the Attic.

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Thanks everyone! Look forward to the doc series in September!

I thought this week I would share with you the first film I made while earning my BFA at the University of Central Florida School of Film. The short film is called Goodnight Charlie (2004) and it is here that I first started to explore the wonders of childhood and the tragedy of growing up. I hope you enjoy.

Goodnight Charlie from The Attic Door on Vimeo.

Also see the film on YouTube. Leave comments and reviews!

Within the past 6 months many of the major studio’s independent film branches have closed up shop due to financial cutbacks. These include Picturehouse, Warner Independent, Paramount Vantage, and Red Envelope. These closures have lead to fewer distribution deals, most that are not beneficial to the independent filmmaker.

Now several filmmakers whose work played at Sundance this year are opting for the self-distribution route. DIY Distribution means taking their films and trying to get them played in traditional venues (theaters) but also being creative with where they can play their films. For instance, the Sundance winner, “Ballast” is going to explore new frontiers and demographics by showing the film to Southern audiences via churches, town halls and museums to reach people who may have never had the opportunity to see the film as it stars African American non actors and is hard to market. The advantages of self distribution are that the filmmakers retain more control and can see more profits due to sales of DVDs and merchandise. However, the process to self distribute is long, difficult, and can be expensive. Some self distributors have been able to raise millions of dollars for their campaigns, like director Randall Miller did for his film Bottle Shock.

The New York Times has a really interesting article about the Do It Yourself distribution route. You can read the article here then find out about two impressive films Ballast and Bottle Shock. Hopefully these filmmakers will be successful in their huge endeavors and the market will soon turnaround for all other filmmakers who may not have the ability to self distribute.

The great people at Facebook and Myspace were nice enough to change over our profiles to match our new name! Check us out by clicking either badge.

I found this interview in Filmmaker magazine with the director of Kit Kittredge- An American Girl Mystery, Patricia Rozeman. Patricia is a Canadian indie short and feature filmmaker. Kit Kittrege was her first jaunt into a mainstream type film and she seemed to have a great time.

Patricia worked in the 1980s as an assistant director with David Cronenberg on The Fly and has since directed television like HBO’s Tell Me You Love Me. HBO then contacted her again to helm the film starring Abigail Breslin and of course Madison Davenport. I think she is such a great example of a working independent director with a mainstream movie in the theaters and a short film called Suspect in the festival circuit.

Read the entire article here.

We have had a wonderful home at theatticdoormovie.com for the past 16 months. Alas, we must move to a place that is more in line with the new title of our film. That is why we are proud to move to our new address: www.theatticdoormovie.com. Rest assured, theatticdoormovie.com will always bring you to our blog, but now theatticdoormovie.com is the official site of our film!

Finished Film with A New Title! from The Attic Door on Vimeo.

Today is the last day of post-production on A Monster in the Attic! This news is very bittersweet for me, as Danny is currently at Local Hero doing the final layback while I am at work on Entourage. It feels weird to not be with Danny and the movie on its last day, but I am really excited about the film’s next step - a film festival run and distribution.

Last week we had the opportunity to screen the film with a full 5.1 mix in the screening facility at Would Work Sound with our engineer Evan Frankfort. It was awesome seeing and hearing the film for the first time on a big screen. While watching, I was also reflecting on how much we accomplished with this little film. Traveling with our cast and crew to a small town in Utah that is hours from an airport, we built an amazing structure, faced flooding and unbearable heat and shot a period film with only two child actors. Then the film returned to both Los Angeles and Florida and went through a nearly year-long editing and special effects period.

While watching a finished film, it is easy to forget all of the hard work that goes into making it. So again, I thank everyone who helped make this movie possible; I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished and I can’t wait to share it with you with full sound and surprising color correction.

Another thing I realized while watching the film at Would Work is that I am ready to begin this process all over again. Apparently doing two features back to back didn’t teach me a lesson ;). I hope to work with many people from the Monster Crew again soon.

Tomorrow, Danny heads back to Orlando and I am truly going to miss him. Hopefully we will begin development on a new film very soon and I’m sure we will blog about that too! I can’t wait for the long iChat sessions and revision after revision because if there’s one thing I have learned from this film is that I love this process.

These are not easy times for Independent film or Independent filmmakers, but I am optimistic for our futures.

We are days away now. Today we wrap on the final dub, tomorrow we begin to master, and by Monday afternoon, the film will be complete!

We also have decided on the new title…