VOICE-OVER
Great news as we make it down the home stretch.  Of the two remaining VO segments, we’ve been working on casting the tougher one first.  I was anxious about it because there’s comedy and improv involved, which is hard to predict and difficult to produce on a short schedule with any expectation of authenticity in the performances.  As I got through the final auditions, I discovered a need for a fourth character and this would need to be more carefully cast than the others which usually translates as “harder to find.” 

After months of writing, testing, casting and rewriting I moved forward with the final auditions and selected my three actors for the radio show VO segment. At the end of the session, I had a conversation with one of the actors who recommended a local comedian for the last role and I reviewed the comedy reel. Liking what I heard, I accepted the offer for an introduction.  Two days later I had a 45 minute conversation with this comedian who, turns out, is also from East Texas and we clicked, talking comedy, improv and inspirational experiences that we’d had over the years.  Long story short, his well practiced parody style fit the role perfectly and since he’d been doing stage and radio for the last 25 years (even a little TV), I cast him on the spot.

So to make my shortened long story a little longer (ha), I found my four actors for this extremely important and difficult VO segment and sent out the talent contracts yesterday.  I initially wanted to wait until everyone signed on the dotted line but it’s been a while since the last update and I wanted to let you know things are going well.

VFX
The VFX is moving along.  Nothing new to report as we’re just taking another pass at each shot to see how we may be able to tweak the effects to improve the realism, the effectiveness of the more difficult effects.

WHAT’S NEXT
I’ve dropped hints about a new thing and now that I have a collaborator on board I can tell you what it is.  I’ve decided to do a short docs series on artists.  Over the last 10+ years I’ve really come to internalize the hardships that artists face and come to understand how most of society can’t really see us.  That’s the background behind my desire to jump into documentary for a new production. 

I’m still writing fictional narrative feature and TV series material, but the documentary medium of storytelling has been speaking to me lately.  Our first shoot is the end of April and that’s what the new gear is for (See instagram @thelandfilms for the visuals on that).  More on the structure and design of that project later!