Dispatch From Les #2 - How Badly Do You Want It?

How badly do you want to make that low-budget, DV movie? What is your motivation to do such a thing? How much pain can you endure? How far can you push yourself? How much can you do by yourself and how much help will you need from others?

Are you willing to let the electric bill go unpaid so that you can have production funds; waiting until you get the disconnection notice, then getting an extension on the due date, knowing that when you do finally pay it, it will be twice as much because the new bill as well as the old bill will be due by then? Are you willing to survive on frozen pizzas and burritos chocked full of trans fats just to have production funds? Are you willing to live in a dirty house because you worked and filmed or line produced every waking hour, every day, all week long, and your energy level is nil? Are you willing to work forty hours a week in the real world, and add to that the burden of making a low-budget, independent film?

Are you willing to be vilified, such as is in the hate mail posted below? Are you willing to fail? You'll never accomplish anything monumental unless you are prepared to fail and fall flat on your face in total embarrassment. Do you truly have something to say that warrants a movie, or is it a vanity project so steeped in subjective filler that no one really cares?

Are you willing to coddle an actor who halfway through filming decides that your darling script he adored during auditions he doesn't like so much after all, so he decides to change the lines you sweated blood to create, knowing that with half the movie already shot you cannot recast and reshoot his parts? How much torment can you endure without losing your cool? Just how important to you is your script and the dialogue contained within?

Have you done your homework, and read books on indie films? $30 Film School, by Michael W. Dean? Rebel Without a Crew, by Robert Rodriguez? Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices, by Rick Schmidt? Can you walk into a restaurant unannounced with your cameraman and actors and steal a shot guerrilla-style, without permission? Can you talk friends, family, relatives and complete strangers out of money for production funds? If your girlfriend of seven years says she will leave you if you make another movie, because she wants to spend the money buying a house, can you handle it? Which is more important to you, your girlfriend or your art? You better say girlfriend, if you want to keep her. How badly do you want it?

Les' First Hate Mail

Les,

I just want you to know that because you changed your mind the day before the shoot, leaving me no time to get another camera, my film is now dead. My villain is out of town until September, and my protagonist is not available after August, and won't let me replace the villain. So, even if I buy/rent another one now, it won't do me any good because I've lost my two most important actors. And it's your fault.

And why? Because I protested the fact that you were being simply unreasonable, and reminded you that your attitude wasn't as justified as it seemed to you because I've given so much to your projects in the past. Sure, you were doing me a favor; but it's not like I've never done you one, so it doesn't give you the right to be an asshole. But you don't care about things like that, do you? No, of course not, because you're a low person, lacking in character, who's never going to amount to shit. Deep down you know it's true, don't you? Sure you do. Ingratitude is an ugly quality, Les, and you possess it in abundance.

You may now add me to the long list of people who despise you. And if I ever get the chance to get you back for this, I will; and without remorse. Life is long, Les; and I'm going to go farther in this industy than you, not only because I'm far more talented, but also because I'm willing to move to L.A. and I'm not a paranoid, mentally unstable, disloyal...person like you. I will probably get my chance, eventually, and you'll remember this, then. Personally, I can't wait to teach you a lesson.

[August 2008, Name Withheld]

FBI Office Interview scene from Having My Baby

A scene from the feature film Having My Baby written by Les Branson.

FBI Special Agents Greg Allen(Michael Clemons) and Marcy Garcia(Maria Robles) interviewed by talk show host Bill Donovan(Daniel Fowler) in a scene from the feature film Having My Baby.

Lynda and Alecia from the feature film Having My Baby

Lynda Merrick(Tracie Foster) and Alecia Howard(Melinda Renna) in a scene from the feature length independent film Having My Baby, produced by Sam Roden, written and directed by Les Branson.

Also featuring Tristen Smith, Paige Smith, and Jacob Smith as the Merrick children and

Friend.

Peter and Lynda from the film Having My Baby

Peter(Jay Prichard) and Lynda(Tracie Foster) in a scene from the feature film Having My Baby. Coming soon from Dilligaf Productions.

National Guard characters in Having My Baby

National Guardsmen search the woods looking for kidnapper Blaine Carson.

Darrell Hughes and Wayne Donaldson as the National Guardsmen.

Having My Baby Clip: Construction Site

Stephen Brodie as Blaine Carson, Jay Prichard as Peter Merrick, Jonathan French as Benny Singer, and Evan Gamble as Darren Clark in a scene from the feature length film Having My Baby.

Dispatch from Les Branson:


Well, where to begin? Having shot the "last martini" today after 3 1/2 - 4 years of writing, producing, co-directing and line producing Having My Baby, I am happy to report that our little movie that could is almost complete. We will soon start the final edit (having finished a rough edit) and drop in the sound, and hope for a premiere at the Studio Movie Grill somewhere between November 2008 - March 2009. Fingers crossed and knock on wood.



We were on a doomed mission to begin with, but we never gave up on a chance to buck the odds and make a good, character driven, plot driven, feature-length, action-drama, ultra, ultra, microscopic, low-budget indie film. What was supposed to take 25 days has taken two years; that is, complete principal photography. What was supposed to cost $25,000 is fast approaching $70,000. Many people tried to set the bar too high for our little movie, but David and Sam and I always knew exactly what kind of movie we were making, and what our limitations were. I never had a doubt about Having My Baby's potential, but I knew it would not be easy.



Luckily with our combined talents, Sam, David, Phil and I have steered the project, and with the combined talents of all the cast and crew, we will soon have a movie we can all be proud of. Many thanks to all.

Dilligaf Productions

Welcome to the inaugural post for our production blog. Dilligaf Productions is a low budget production house run by Les Branson(Writer, Director, Producer), Sam Roden(Executive Producer, Line Producer extraordinaire and Idea Man), David Dixon(Producer, Director, Editor, Cameraman), and the decidedly British Phil Stratton(Cameraman, Editor).

We look forward to sharing our experiences from these last two years in pursuit of finishing our feature-length film Having My Baby. It has been a trial by fire. Having My Baby began pre-production in November 2005. At that time it was just me (David), and Les Branson, hopeful, excited and filled with a slight bit of disbelief that we would actually pull it off.

Three years later it feels like we've been on an acid trip while stuck in a crazy soap opera with occasional side trips to a very questionable amusement park. We will unfold our story while sharing clips from the almost finished film and some behind the scenes anecdotes that could potentially alienate everyone we've worked with. We persevered while some others jumped ship. On this day, the 23rd of August 2008 we shot the last martini. 

Yes, principle photography is complete and we are, dare I be so ridiculous as to say, within a month or so of a totally complete film. Yes we know, we're the only ones gloating and caring, but wait until you've seen the final cut. Even I doubted the films quality at one point, burned out and lacking perspective but I can tell all doubters prepare to be proved wrong. 

As Les said on September 18, 2006, after our first director and co-d.p. didn't show up for shooting that day,"Here at Dilligaf we get the shot. We get the shot and we move on."

Trailer features music by Rogue Wave, the song "Lake Michigan"