Dispatch from Les # 7: The Movie Premiere is a Success

We finally had our premiere. I haven't had much time to write this web log and do it justice. Perhaps I will find more time in the future since we had a successful premiere of Having My Baby July 9 at The Studio Movie Grill on Royal Lane in Dallas. We had a great attendance rate at just under two hundred people. Many thanks to all of you who came and supported us.

Many people congratulated me right afterwards and said they loved the movie, and I could tell they were being sincere. The movie also got a lot of laughs where one might not expect them. The audience was hooked from the very beginning due to the rapid pace of the story unfolding, and due to the interest in the characters Blaine and Sophie's unusual romance. And the story line is very original: A young man kidnaps a young woman from an abortion clinic to prevent her from aborting his baby. No one ever came up with that one before. Originality really counts for a lot in this industry.

The demographic of people who seem to like this movie the most are elderly Christian women. They just gush over it, which makes me very happy. I have only had two people out of approximately a thousand say that they found the movie (or script) to be offensive because: 1. It glorifies violence and kidnapping. 2. It portrays Blaine as a Christian but his actions are not Christianlike. I think they miss the point, and possibly miss the bus. First and foremost, Having My Baby is a love story.

Those of us among the cast and crew were very happy the night of the premiere. I think the movie was better than people expected. We had some minor sound issues, and the sound was turned up a wee bit too loud, but we have since fixed those problems and have been submitting the film to festivals in hopes of winning some prizes and garnering some notice from the film community. To create a watchable, 2-hour, feature length, action drama for around $80,000 is really quite phenomenal. That feat in and of itself is really half the story. Sam and David and I have a lot to be proud of, in that after four years we never gave up; and we were always able to settle our differences amicably, and remain friends, and put the movie first over self interest. It was not easy!

We are on IMDb now, too. We are official! I began pre-production on this movie in August 2005, and our premiere was July 9, 2009. That was four long years, never knowing if we could finish it. But we did and we are very proud. We have one more free screening in Fort Worth on August 27 (see http://www.havingmybabymovie.com/) and then we can rest a little easier and get our lives back. Our only real chore after that will be to submit it to festivals and sell some DVD's online.

I may then shoot an over the top, R-rated biker flick called Dead or in Huntsville which I wrote back in 1993 and produced for the stage in Deep Ellum, and have since adapted into a screenplay. But I will definitely have to raise the money first - no more guerrilla filmmaking with a near zero daily budget for me. I'd rather not put myself and my crew, friends and family through that again. "The horror... the horror!"

Viva la original, truly independent films! Viva la Dilligaf Productions!

You Would Have To Be Here

Today I have been working on the color correction of Having My Baby. I can't wait for everyone to finally see it. You have no idea how polished and pristine it is turning out. The video clips are far from an indication of what it looks like. 

We can't lie, there were some amateurish looking frames but thanks to Apple the visual experience of watching this film will blow your mind. You actors who have suffered through watching 3rd gen copies of your scenes on Les's old small TV are going to lose control of bodily functions when you see how good this looks. Hurray for me!!!

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?

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.

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"