Producer's Diary

Big month for getting things done. Found and met with an amazing DOP, Matt Phillips; created our first website for the movie; received word that we now have a new, and major, Equity Partner and I completed yet another draft of the script.

Great meeting with Nicolas at Forecast Pictures in their beautiful offices off Boulevard St. Martin in Paris. Unfortunately, French labour and government requirements make a Canada/France co-production for our feature impossible. Would have loved to set our story in Paris and cast Gerard Depardieu or Dany Boon.

Art Hindle, an amazing actor, and Canadian to boot!, called to say that he read the screenplay for Father's Day - likes it - wants to play one of the principal roles. Art is a huge presence in the Canadian film business and his interest represents a big plus for the project

Optix Digital is the second equity partner to join our team

With advice from James and Assistant Director Mel Ramsay I managed to shave 12 pages off the script and $2.2 Million. Guess we won't be blowing up that luxury yacht afterall

Production Manager James Mou completed our first full budget and I now know that I have a $5.4 million dollar movie

Last day of the American Film Market in sunny Santa Monica. 5000 producers, directors, actors, distributors - all talking on the cell phones at the same time. One evening a cell tower shut down from overload and we were all without service for nearly an hour

Kris Wood of Tellavision is our first equity partner

A big 'Thanks' to Noreen Murphy and Indra of ACTRA for walking me though the paperwork . Thanks also to Julia Allen of SAG West for being so patient in answering all the questions I had while filling out their paperwork. I have a new found respect for Production Managers

John's performance was amazing, the crew was professional, quick, and worked well together. Special thanks to Eric Bryson (Stunt Supervisor) and Mel Ramsay (SFX) for keeping us safe. It is Sunday afternoon and John is now safely back on Air Canada flight 7KKK to Los Angeles. He is appearing in a $200M Roland Emmerick movie and had to be back for Monday afternoon

John Billingsley, the star of Father's Day, arrived in Toronto today to shoot the trailer. If it weren't for crew member Melinda Ramsay I never could have gotten our star past the border because I neglected to make the necessary work permit applications. Thanks also to Judi Heron and the folks of CB &B Insurace working past quitting time on a Friday in order to give me the necessary for uppage (is that a word?) of my insurance coverage

One day to the beginning of principal photograph for the 2 minute trailer. Everybody has been great. Filmport, White, Toronto Film and Television Office and our crew

Met today with John Billingsley at his home in Los Angeles. Great meeting. He likes the character and the story. We spent a couple hours talking about the project and going over the script page by page

John Billingsley called this evening out of the blue, said he read the source novel for Father's Day and is interested in playing the lead. I was so excited that I couldn't get to sleep until 3 am

The option has expired on my script and although NS Productions (L.A.)did a great job getting the script out to Hollywood producers and talent, I decide not to renew the option

January 2012	Next week I head to London and Paris for meetings. In London, I will be having discussions with possible co-producers and in Paris I hope to meet with Catherine Frot to discuss Fathers Day. As you know, I have been trying, for the past 18 months, to interest Ms. Frot in playing the second lead in our movie but can't seem to get past her Paris agent. Although I have emailed copies of the script and even had a friend hand-deliver a copy to the agent's office, I still have the feeling that Ms. Frot has yet to receive a copy. Or perhaps she has and our Fathers Day script is sitting in a 'to be read' pile on her living room flooor. Regardless, in Paris I plan to attend a one-woman play she is starring in. Sometime before or after the show, I am hoping that I can beg - bribe - cajoe a theatre staffer to pass a message to her. Ms. Frot is a wonderful actor and with her on-board I can go back to Michael Cera's Canadian agent - who has turned me down twice - and ask her to reconsider. Michael would make a great serial killer. Oh, and if I am able to meet with Ms. Frot, I will whip out my iPad and show her the personal message that John Billingsley (our lead) recorded last summer in LA. In the 30 second piece, John says that he is looking forward to working with her.... that's gotta bring a smile to her face.
Oct. 2010	I've discovered New Mexico! Not the state, someone else discovered that a long time ago, no, I discovered the New Mexico Investment Program. What a wonderful opportunity... a no-interest loan for 100% of my budget and not payable for three years. Needless to say, I've applied. Last month I began approaching the actors on my wish list to fill the two remaining principal roles. Michael Cera (serial killer) and that amazing French actress Catherine Frot (mother). This morning I sent off a query letter to talented director and producer John Singleton hoping that he will agree to direct FATHER'S DAY. Montreal-based producer Janis Lundman (DURHAM COUNTRY was kind enough to recommend filmmaker Debra Kouri and Debra and I have been discussing the possibility of her coming onto the project as a co-producer. Debra's experience and business savvy would be invaluable to the project. Once I have those LOIs in hand, Cory Epstein, VP of The Little Film Company is ready to provide us with low, medium, and high sales estimates based on market value in North America and International territories.
May 2010	It's been a month of meetings: on the phone, in person, Toronto and Montreal. I have been working on finding a great, and affordable, person to translate my Father's Day script from English to Parisian French. This month I have also met some very talented development-savvy people who I hope to hire someday. At the end of my chat with our entertainment lawyer Joe Sisto yesterday we both agreed that my next three steps are: 1. Get a French version of my script to a bankable, French, 50ish year-old actress 2. Create a new draft of my budget that incorporates more sets and fewer locations; allows more money for legal and completion bond fees; includes second unit shooting in France 3. Increase my efforts to interest a French production partner.
Apr. 2010	It's been a slow, then busy, then slow six months. Here is how it went: Oct. - Made absolutely no progress with trying to partner with the trades. ACTRA never responded to my queries - written or verbal. DGC replied with a curt 'we don't do that kind of thing' and NABET, which at first seemed open to the idea, suddenly stopped returning my calls. Too bad. I would have been a win-win for both of us. I get my film made - they get their members working. November - I decided to explore the possibility of shooting FD in French and asked Joe Sisto, our entertainment lawyer to began searching for a Quebec-based co-production partner. After looking at the numbers I think that I could put together my entire $3.2 production budget if I make FD a Ontario, Quebec, France and (Belgium or Switzerland) co-production. Nov. to Feb. - Waited for the production companies that received our script and info package to respond - none did. March - Began researching Quebec, Belgium, and Swiss companies and sent off a half dozen query letters. Several companies never responded, and several liked the project but were heavily involved with their own features so they passed. Had a great chat with Josh Kimmel of Running Hooks and send him the script. Josh and his team have several indie features to their credit and would make a great fit. If he likes the script then the next step is for me to go to Montreal so he and I can meet face-to-face, see if our styles are compatitable, and talk about 'numbers.' Had a chat with Julia Lenardon, a Montreal-based voice/speech/dialect coach. I wanted to know if it was reasonable to ask an actor with no French language experience, to deliver all his dialogue in French in post. She said it would be possible - though tough.
Oct. 09	I began a second round of followups to the query letters I sent out this spring to ACTRA, DGC, and NABET in which I asked them to partner with me in the making of Father's Day. As a result of my followup calls, I had great meeting with NABET. I'm really hoping to work with them on, what could be, a revolutionary new business model for producing feature films in Canada.
Sept. 09	Had lunch with John Billingsley at Terroni's in Los Angeles. Great meeting. Talked about what he was up to (By the way, his movie 2012 is coming out in November) and how the Father's Day project is coming along. To his credit, John didn't even flinch when I told him that in the new version of the script his wife uses a nail gun on him. Earlier this month I asked Montreal Entertainment lawyer Joe Sisto to calculate how much tax credit money my project would be eligible for. I was thrilled when he estimated a mil - that's almost a third of my production budget.
April '09	Big month for getting things done. Found and met with an amazing DOP, Matt Phillips; created our first website for the movie; received word that we now have a new, and major, Equity Partner and I completed yet another draft of the script.
Mar '09	Great meeting with Nicolas at Forecast Pictures in their beautiful offices off Boulevard St. Martin in Paris. Unfortunately, French labour and government requirements make a Canada/France co-production for our feature impossible. Would have loved to set our story in Paris and cast Gerard Depardieu or Dany Boon.
Feb '09	Art Hindle, an amazing actor, and Canadian to boot!, called to say that he read the screenplay for Father's Day - likes it - wants to play one of the principal roles. Art is a huge presence in the Canadian film business and his interest represents a big plus for the project
Jan '09	Optix Digital is the second equity partner to join our team
Jan '09	With advice from James and Assistant Director Mel Ramsay I managed to shave 12 pages off the script and $2.2 Million. Guess we won't be blowing up that luxury yacht afterall
Dec '08	Production Manager James Mou completed our first full budget and I now know that I have a $5.4 million dollar movie
Nov '08	Last day of the American Film Market in sunny Santa Monica. 5000 producers, directors, actors, distributors - all talking on the cell phones at the same time. One evening a cell tower shut down from overload and we were all without service for nearly an hour
Nov '08	Kris Wood of Tellavision is our first equity partner
Sep '08	A big 'Thanks' to Noreen Murphy and Indra of ACTRA for walking me though the paperwork . Thanks also to Julia Allen of SAG West for being so patient in answering all the questions I had while filling out their paperwork. I have a new found respect for Production Managers
Sep '08	John's performance was amazing, the crew was professional, quick, and worked well together. Special thanks to Eric Bryson (Stunt Supervisor) and Mel Ramsay (SFX) for keeping us safe. It is Sunday afternoon and John is now safely back on Air Canada flight 7KKK to Los Angeles. He is appearing in a $200M Roland Emmerick movie and had to be back for Monday afternoon
Sep '08	John Billingsley, the star of Father's Day, arrived in Toronto today to shoot the trailer. If it weren't for crew member Melinda Ramsay I never could have gotten our star past the border because I neglected to make the necessary work permit applications. Thanks also to Judi Heron and the folks of CB &B Insurace working past quitting time on a Friday in order to give me the necessary for uppage (is that a word?) of my insurance coverage
Sep '08	One day to the beginning of principal photograph for the 2 minute trailer. Everybody has been great. Filmport, White, Toronto Film and Television Office and our crew
Jun '08	Met today with John Billingsley at his home in Los Angeles. Great meeting. He likes the character and the story. We spent a couple hours talking about the project and going over the script page by page
Apr '08	John Billingsley called this evening out of the blue, said he read the source novel for Father's Day and is interested in playing the lead. I was so excited that I couldn't get to sleep until 3 am
Feb.' 08	The option has expired on my script and although NS Productions (L.A.)did a great job getting the script out to Hollywood producers and talent, I decide not to renew the option