If I Was King - Casting

Casting for Dean's has been quite difficult for some reason as know one is applying. We had loads of people apply for Love Always but I guess that is a period drama and not many people get to do those.

For If I Was King I have put out casting calls on Casting Call Pro and Star Now and also searched both sites and invited people who I thought looked the part to the auditions.We have some auditioniees coming in this week and next week and a few videos being sent over and hopefully we will be able to find what we are looking for.

Totally Maisy - Title Sequence Update

Unfortunately our animator has had to pull out as she has now returned to uni and found out that she has to do work experience for a month as part of her course and she fears that she will not be able to get it done. I am a little disappointed by this because I know that she would have done an excellent job but I am glad that she let us know now and not further down the line at least now we have time to find someone else.

Totally Maisy - Theme Tune

I have been searching the internet trying to find someone to write and record our theme tune or find a song we liked and gain the rights to use it as our theme tune.

After searching for quite a while I found this song called "Girls Will Be Girls" by the Ultra Girls.

I thought this song could really work with the genre of our show and our target audience. I looked up the Ultra Girls to see what they were doing now. It seem that they were a 1 hit wonder and are no longer together. I found one of the members on Twitter and I decided to contact her. She was totally fine with us using the song and she said she will contact the other girls. I spoke to her over email and she sent this confirmation saying that she gives us permission.

"Hey!
Wow that sounds really good, I'm flattered you chose to use GWBG and will be sure to let the other girls know!
My name is Laura and I was part of the girl group The Ultra Girls: I give my permission for Hennie Clough to use the track in Totally Maisy.
Good luck hope it all goes well!! Look forward to seeing it!
Laura x"

Totally Maisy - Meeting With The Animator

Today me and Maddie headed to Rochester to meet with Le, the animator I used on YOLO: Europe, to talk to her about the possibility of making us a title sequence for Totally Maisy. I knew she would do a good job as I was so pleased with the title sequence she made me for my last project.

We went to the meeting with a copy of the script and a disc of title sequences we liked. http://youtu.be/Yu4AfM-aQAQ

Le really liked the idea and concept of the show and she thought that she could do a good job and I was really happy to be working with her again.

Love Always - First Shoot

Today the main section of the film we wanted to get shot was the falling in love montage between Frank and Mary. We had to get these shots today as we were planning to film at the salute to the 40's event at Chatham Dockyard.

Before we went to this event we had planned to film 2 scenes. One was where Frank takes the first letter from Mary and the other was when Mary posts her final letter to Arthur. We only had time to film one of these scenes in the end as there was so much traffic and we were trying to film around the passing cars so that the film was more authentic.


I told Dan that we had to drop the scene with Mary on her own as we did not have time to shoot it as it was already 2:30 and we needed to get to Chatham to film before the event ended at 5.

When we got to the location I was blown away by how perfect the location was. As it was a salute to the 40's event nearly everyone who attended was in costume and so we had extras that we didn't even have to dress, we had genuine 1940's transport moving in and out of our shots and we had loads of WW2 props available to us. I knew that this was the perfect place to film Frank and Mary's montage but unfortunately for this shoot day I ended up looking after the bags as everyone else needed to be with the action. This put a bit of doubt in my mind about my role but I soon realised that this was a lesson for me. I learnt that on the other shoot days I would need to make sure that there was a production assistant to take care of the smaller jobs so that I could concentrate on producing.

Totally Maisy - Casting

Today I started casting for Totally Maisy. I began by making a spreadsheet of local drama schools and performing arts colleges. I rang them all up individually and explained what I was I doing and asked if they would be able to help me with casting. They were all really nice and they gave me direct email addresses so that I could forward all of my casting information over to them.

I also decided to contact prestigious London based performing art schools as well like RADA and Britt School to see if they would help me as I want my cast to be as professional and talented as possible.

I also made a list of teen acting agencies and contacted them to see if they would be able to help me. Many of them where less helpful as I am not able to pay travel expenses. There were 2 agencies that were helpful and offered to pass on my details to certain actors and actresses they thought would be right for the part so that they could get in touch with my directly and therefore keep costs down as the agency would not be putting much work in other than passing on my details.

We will set up auditions for the for the applicants to try and find an amazing cast.

If I Was King - My Role

At our inital meeting where Maddie, Dan and Dean pitched their ideas to me I decided that producing 3 projects would be too much for me and so only decided to take on Dan and Maddie's idea and to help Dean out with contacts and casting. As time has gone on I have taken on more of a producer role on Dean's as I could see Maddie and Dan's ideas coming together but I couldn't see the same happening to Dean's. I thought that as I was crewing and casting for Dan's and Maddie's that I could add Dean's needs to the list very easily and so I began doing the same for him. Also as I created a schedule and a list of things to include in the package for Dan and Maddie's projects I already had a template there and therefore created the same for Dean's. This is where my role became confusing.

My role therefore changed from someone who was casting and helping with contacts to an assistant producer. I realized that I was taking on an assistant producer role as I began casting, crewing and scheduling things but I didn't want any part in the decision making of the project, I wanted it all to be Dean's work.

I will continue to do my best to help him and do a great job as an assistant producer on If I Was King.

Totally Maisy - Update on School Location

Today we had some disappointing news. Our secondary school finally replied and said that unfortunately on this occasion we could not use the school because of scheduled construction work which will be taking place in the school half term.

This was really annoying as we could already imagine where each scene would be and what it would look like.

I quickly made a list of local schools and colleges and rang and emailed them all to see if they would be able to help me at all. Hopefully one will get back to us and say that we can use the school.

 

Keeping Costs Down

As of course we are all students we want to cut costs where we can especially when it comes to running a production.

From working on a few professional productions I have realised that they get alot of there snacks and drinks for cast and crew from companies for free. I thought this might work for my productions and so I emailed loads of drinks and snacks companies to see if there was any way they could help me out by giving me a free sample to feed and hydrate my crews.

These are the companies who kindly sent me products to help me feed my crew.

 

If I Was King - Script 1

Today I went through Dean's script for the first time and made suggestions on how it could improved. The main improvement I suggested was to speed everything up. It was all very wordy and I felt like there needed to be more action in it. The only scene which needed the opposite doing to it was the final scene. I felt Sophie forgives Jamie to quickly and if Dean wanted this to be plausible that he needed to make it more obvious that Sophie and Jamie liked each other from the beginning. I also went through and corrected any grammar and spelling mistakes I could see and reworded any bits which I thought sounded unnatural.

I am hoping that Dean takes on some of my feedback to help improve the script as I think this changes will definitely improve the story and make the show alot faster passed and therefore able to fit in nicely with the other Channel 4 programs.

Totally Maisy - Meeting With A Production Duo

Today me and Maddie had a meeting with 2 boys we went to school with. They had heard that we were looking for a director for our pilot episode and got in touch. Jordan and Josh have just started up their own production company and are really passionate about film. They have both made films before and have a creative mind and so me and Maddie have a lot of confidence in them.

We had sent the boys a copy of the script a couple of days a go and they had read through it and so when they came to the meeting they had a few suggestions on the script to make it a bit more modern and different to anything out there.

They came up with 2 ideas. One of them we loved and took on board to adapt Totally Maisy slightly. Their idea was to make it a mockumentary where at certain points Maisy would talk to camera like they do in Modern Family and The Office. Early on in the development of Totally Maisy we were trying to decide on a platform and we were considering making it a web series and so I said what about if we make Maisy a Vlogger. We ended up dismissing this idea but when Jordan and Josh brought up this idea of making TM a mockumentary we thought making her a vlogger would be a good way of achieving this, its also really current.

The script is now going to go through a slight re write to incorporate this new plot line. Whilst Maddie does that I am going to really try hard to get a cast together I am really struggling at the moment.

Love Always Update On Crew

We have most of our crew together now.

• Writers - Maddie Ireland and Dean Ross
• Director - Dan Baugh
• Producer - Hennie Clough
• Wardrobe - Emily - Jane Curtin from Ravensbourne College
• Camera - Sam Creamer
• Lighting - Michael Bonnar from Film and TV Pro
• Editor - Timothy Last from Ravensbourne College

All I need to find is a sound person who can record on the day and create atmosphere in post and then nearer the shoot we need to decide who our production assistant and director assistant will be.

Love Always - Panic Over

It has only taken me a day and everything is re-arranged. I have spoken to the wardrobe girl, the crew, the cast and the location and everyone is fine with changing the dates.

Here is the knew schedule:

• Friday 20th September - Script read through with all of the cast and the crew and wardrobe girl will also attend to meet everyone for the first time.
• Saturday 21st September - Filming relationship montage sequence as we will be attending the Salute to the 40's event at Chatham Dock Yard.
• Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th - We will be filming the rest of the project at Museum of Kent Life in Maidstone.

By pushing the dates back means that we can be filming from the best script we can possibly get and it also gives the wardrobe girl more time to get the costumes together.

Update On My Role

After speaking to Simon I understand my role a lot more and I know I need to use this blog to show everything I am doing.

As a producer I have been location scouting, casting and holding auditions, finding appropriate crew and liaising with everyone involved in the project. I have been researching different information for each project to help me make both fit their platform and reflect the time period they are set in. I have been reading through all of the scripts and giving my creative feedback on the parts that I like and those I think need to be changed. I have also been giving creative input in to how I think each project should look including shots, graphics, editing and style.

On Monday, we had our first day back at uni and we had our first meeting with our tutor Simon in which he explained that he did not think the script was ready yet. This panicked us all as we were supposed to be filming in 10 days. Dan was fighting his case on why he thought we should stick to the original dates and Simon was saying why he shouldn't. I listened to both sides and and as a producer I put my point across and persuaded Dan to move the dates. I thought that there was no reason to waste peoples time filming a script which was not quite ready and so it would be better to push the dates back. I could see how  disappointed Dan was but I am sure that he sees it is the best decision in the long run. I could see that he started to panic about the project as we had everything organised for those dates but I reassured him that I would sort it and everything would be ok.

Love - Always Package

This is all of the things we want to include in the package for Love Always to show all of the work we have done and to show that we have thought about everything. 

We have a graphics designer on board to help make the documents look professional and fit the tone and style of the film which is amazing. We have also already sourced a vintage suitcase to put everything in so that it is all kept together and also relates to the film.

Love Always - Choosing The Cast

Today me, Maddie and Dan had a production meeting to discuss the script and to finalise a cast.

Me and Dan had individually looked through all of the video auditions and looked back through the tapes of the Maidstone auditions and picked our favorites for each role.

Luckily for us we had actually chosen the same people and so there was no arguing on who our cast would be which was great. As Maddie was there she had a chance to look at the cast and confirmed that we had made the right decision.

Here is our cast. (From Left to Right) Tara Dowd playing Mary, Ollie Matjasz playing Arthur, Eliza Jade playing Alice and Benedict Smith playing Frank.

Production Schedule

As I am working on Dan's, Maddie's and Dean's projects, I decided that I needed to get organised and so I made this schedule. I did one for each project and then combined them.

Totally Maisy - Production Meeting

Today me and Maddie had a production meeting. Originally we decided that we were going to film at the beginning of October so that there was plenty of time for editing. We have now changed our mind and have decided to film during the school half term so that we are more likely to get access to a school and also we will not have to take teens out of school to make up our cast.

We also had a read through of the script and decided where we wanted animation.

The biggest thing we need to decide on is where are we going to show this? What is our platform? We need to get on and start researching. We know that we want to aim our show at 10 - 15 year olds but we need to find a channel which commissions shows for this target audience.