FallBrook Film Festival Screening!

The Fallbrook Film Festival was awesome! We wanted to thank program directors Marissa and Greg Dehm, as well as all the other wonderful staff who made us feel like family for the weekend. Incredible work, talented and generous filmmakers and the best Q&A sessions we have ever seen at a fest. Thank you for such a rewarding experience!

Fallbrook Film Festival - Showtime!

We have our screening time - one time, on the last day of the festival:

Screening Twelve
11:00 am - 1:00 pm, Sunday, April 10, 2011
UltraStar Cinemas River Village

Hope to see you all there!

Here are a few links for the festival:

Screening Twelve - check out all of the films being shown during our screening
Tickets
General Information

Well Done to play at Fallbrook Film Festival!

Well Done was accepted at the Fallbrook Film Festival, which goes from April 8-10, 2011. Once we know the actual screening times (probably 2 times during the festival), we'll post them here. Congratulations to all of you who worked on this film, we did it again!

World Premiere of Well Done!

Well Done will screen at 7:50 PM on Friday, September 3rd at the West Orange Theater 5 as part of the opening night of films at the CENFLO Film Fest. We'll also be screening on Labor Day at 3:30.

We can't wait to see it on the big screen in Orlando!

Well Done a Semi-Finalist at FGFF

We recently received word that Well Done was a semi-finalist at the Feel Good Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA. Although we will not screen at the festival as an official selection, we were excited to be in the running. Congrats to all the Official Selections!

Cakes with Character - Part 2

Most cake designers are used to the idea that their work is ephemeral, but it takes a rare person who is willing to spend months designing a cake, only to watch it be thrown on the floor. That's the challenge cake designer Nancy Linstead tackled while working on Well Done.

I took Nancy's cake decorating class during my pre-production research, and it quickly became apparent that we needed the help of a seasoned professional on set. We were thrilled and greatly relieved to put the cake construction of Well Done in Nancy's capable hands. She called in fellow designer Tray Post and Jodie Vandervort to create the film's most memorable edible characters.

(Today's post is the second half of Nancy's interview, covering her projects outside of Well Done. To read about her work on set, scroll down to Part 1. I have included images of some of Nancy's cake portfolio.)




Q: What is the most ambitious cake you've made to date?

Nancy: I made a tiger for a 21st birthday party based on the movie The Hangover. In the movie a bachelor party in Vegas gets out of control, and in the morning a tiger has inexplicably turned up in the bathroom. The design was adapted from Cake Central and took three months to research and develop.

I sculpted the tiger's head out of styrofoam. It took three attempts to get it just right, and I made two versions of the body. I used sunflower and mushroom colored petal dust with a corn silk powder puff to get the right velveteen color effect. The Tiger has a fondant washcloth and a shot of tequila. I also made a two-tiered birthday cake to be served with the tiger.



Q: Both of us have gluten issues and I know many people with other food sensitivities. How do you deal with cakes when you have a gluten issue?

Nancy: I am a celiac, and I actually wear a dust mask when working with wheat flour. I am especially sensitive to special diet requests and regularly teach a "How to Bake Gluten-free" class at Do It with Icing (decorating supply store and hub for cake decorators in San Diego).

I will be giving a lecture on gluten-free baking at the ICES (International Cake Explration Society) convention later this summer and launching a blog this fall to help other decorators understand this issue.

In addition to gluten, I have researched several sources for natural dyes- beets, carrots and blueberries, for example- that some cake clients prefer over artificial colors.

Q: What is your favorite cake flavor?

Nancy: Dark chocolate icing with chocolate cake.




Q: When did you bake your first cake?

Nancy: When I was seventeen I baked a cake for 60 people in my high school band. I had no icing bags or metal tips, so I rolled a cone out of wax paper and cut a small hole at the tip to get the same effect as an icing bag and tip.


Q: Making cakes can be a high-pressure job. You seemed so calm through this process. Have you ever lost your cool?

Nancy: Definitely, I started swearing in the kitchen with my first cake at seventeen! My mom says she'll never forget the colorful language that came out of my mouth over that cake.

Cakes with Character - Part 1

Most cake designers are used to the idea that their work is ephemeral, but it takes a rare person who is willing to spend months designing a cake, only to watch it be thrown on the floor. That's the challenge cake designer Nancy Linstead tackled while working on Well Done.

I took Nancy's cake decorating class during my pre-production research, and it quickly became apparent that we needed the help of a seasoned professional on set. We were thrilled and greatly relieved to put the cake construction of Well Done in Nancy's capable hands. She called in fellow designers Tray Post and Jodie Vandervort to create the film's most memorable edible characters.

I recently caught up with Nancy and asked her to share a few of her insights.

Q: How did you come up with the design for the chef's main cake?

Nancy: We discussed the chef's character and I wanted to keep the cake designs simple, since Nicholas's training was as a chef and not as a pastry chef. In the end we opted for the classic three-tiered chocolate cake with red roses and a heart motif.




The cakes in the freezer scene were designed to show the chef's process as he tried different techniques and color palettes before his ultimate creation. I passed my notes on to Tray, and we referenced aspects of the main cake design in each freezer cake. Some cakes had truffles, another had a heart motif that carried his written message; one cake incorporated roses while another played with red on chocolate brown.

Q: How did it feel when the main cake was dropped? Nancy: I actually groaned out loud, which was caught on the soundtrack! My main thought was that I hoped you caught the shot you wanted.

Q: How many cakes appeared in Well Done?

Nancy: We made nine different cakes in all. Tray constructed the birthday cake and two fondant cakes for the freezer scene. I designed the main cake and the rest of the cakes in the freezer. Jodie was a huge help the day before we shot the freezer scene, especially with the red lace cake.




Q: How many times did you build the main cake?

Nancy: I built dummies of the main cake in two different sizes, one of which I dressed with fresh roses and cocoa powder on at least three different days. I built two real versions on the day we filmed the cake dropping to the floor, and I made the top layer twice for the technical rehearsal and filming of the final scene.

That tech rehearsal turned out to be a good thing. We had the top layer on a glass cake plate above a table top with several candles. The heat from the candles melted the buttercream frosting over time, so we had to shoot the cake shots first.





Q: What were some of the challenges in building cakes that could survive a film set?

Nancy: My main challenge was to make a cake that could stand up to hot lights and be used multiple times. I built a styrofoam "dummy" of the main cake and iced it with plaster from Home Depot tinted brown with paint. I also rolled chocolate truffles from stiffened fondant. The icing and truffles hardened as they dried, and the resulting dummy could be under the lights for hours and not deteriorate.

Each time we filmed I applied fresh roses and dusted the truffles with cocoa powder.

Well Done is an Official Selection of the CENFLO Film Festival in Orlando, Florida

We are thrilled to announce
that Well Done has been
selected to screen at the
CENFLO International Film
Festival in Orlando, Florida!

We can't wait to see this
festival over Labor Day
weekend. Come by and
see us if you're in the area!

Well Done Cast Update

It was such a treat to visit with Frank Terzoli over dinner and catch up, it reminded me to share the latest news we've heard from the cast of Well Done.

Rodrick Hersh
Rodrick has appeared in the movies Iron Man, All I Want for Christmas and Bedtime Stories. He also worked on the TV series, Las Vegas, was a pirate in a short film competition for On The Lot, and appeared in an episode of The Mentalist and Frank TV. Most recently, Rodrick donned a labcoat for a Volkswagon car commercial.

In addition to acting, Rodrick has written and directed four shorts, Left Hand, Bloom, Starked Out and Mesteno, the later recently received an award of merit in film festival competition. He is currently developing a story that involves swordplay.

Krista Reckner Krista has already appeared in three films and three commercials since moving to Denver, Colorado. She has also been very busy on the stage. Most recently, Krista played Lucy in Dracula and Mrs. Hurst in a contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She is represented by the Donna Baldwin Talent Agency. What amazes us is the variety of roles Krista takes on (see below)!

Tom Gurnee When Tom Gurnee is not photographing people and places around the globe, he's working on film-related projects. Tom will be appearing later this year as "The Bomber" in several installments of the webisode series KingBreaker. He also played the tragically comical lead in The Poet.

Paul Hanegan Paul has been on the stage continuously since wrapping Well Done. He recently starred in Sarah was Mine, and the production was accepted in the Fresh Fruit Festival in New York City. The cast and crew are currently working to raise funds to travel to Greenwich Village for their four-night run of this play in July of this year. Anyone wishing to contribute to the cause should visit their Facebook link. Good luck, Paul! (publicity photos by Robert Ladd)

Kim Mulligan In addition to several film credits, Kim Mulligan is part of the female sketch comedy team, TANG. In 2009, TANG won the title, LOS ANGELES BEST SKETCH COMEDY GROUP, at the 2009 Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival. They have performed internationally and are currently in negotiations to film a sketch comedy TV show. Congrats, Kim!

Veronica Burgess Veronica has been busy in the San Diego comedy improv scene as a member of the Funhouse Improv group. Veronica recently performed in The Vagina Monologues at the Diversionary Theatre. She also appeared in Something Blue, a film project that screened at the 2009 Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival.

Tara Donovan Tara's production company, Cruthaigh Productions, has kept her busy, busy, busy (we count 6 plays, plus several Rockin' Comedy evening events throughout the last year)! We've enclosed posters from two of their recent works, Some Girls and Much Ado About Nothing. I had to grab this photo of Tara because she looks a lot like her role in our first film, Last Hand, where she played an assassin. Love those locks, Tara!

J.G. Franklin John has had roles in six different film projects and one commercial since working on Well Done. Film credits include Wealth, Horschack Aviation, Platinum Illusions, Radio Free Albemuth, My Necklace, Myself, and Stinkmeat. In addition to filming, John has been singing with his band, Gunner Jump, at venues around town such as The Merc and the Skybox. Check out their CD, Taking Chances.

Chef Frank Terzoli's Cajun Cooking

We dropped by to thank Chef Frank Terzoli for his help with our film and deliver the official DVD. Frank was busy in the kitchen of his new restaurant in Hillcrest, The Big Easy.

We rolled home after an incredible Cajun dinner of fried green tomatoes, crab bisque, steak Diane (the knife went through my filet like it was butter), alligator, and peach cobbler for dessert. Yum!

The Waiting Game

The DVD's have been mailed and film festival submissions are underway. The website is almost finished.

Now we wait.

I'm hitting the books while we have this rare period of calm. Some titles are new to me; others I have already read. I'm amazed at how different topics jump off the page after making a new film. Though some of these books are not specific to film, they will contribute to my approach in future projects.

Most of these books were recommended to me, and I was so grateful to hear about them. I thought I would pass these on:

In the Blink of an Eye, by Walter Murch I knew I'd want to dive into this book after the editing journey that we had with Well Done. After this reading I know I'll visit it again and again. I have read few books on any subject that can match Walter Murch's thoughtful approach to his craft.

Cinematic Storytelling, by Jennifer Van Sijll One of our goals for the next project is to incorporate camera movement into our vocabulary when planning the shots. This book is an ideal place to start

Looking at Movies, by Richard Barsam An introduction to film text that I appreciate a lot more after having made this film.

On Writing, by Stephen King Stephen King talks frankly about his experiences with a life of writing.

How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds, by Nicholas Boothman This book was written by a fashion photographer known for putting models at ease. He discusses different learning styles (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) and how to identify and support different styles when working with others.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck I saved the best for last. My only regret with this book is that I didn't read it earlier--like when I was four. This book discusses two opposing mindsets and how understanding them can increase opportunities for growth. Reading this book may not only change you as a filmmaker, but also change every other aspect of your life.