It's been a busy month...

Hey Guys, guess what? We’re making a movie! Yup, bet you didn’t know that?! Well, if you’ve been reading this blog, following me on twitter or Facebook for the last 3 years you probably do. But I thought I’d remind you, maybe let you know that we’re still working on this film, it hasn’t been abandoned, it is part of our every waking thought on a daily basis, and our enthusiasm for 10 Days in December has not wained in the slightest.

Teaser Poster

This has been a busy month for us. We finished the proof-of-concept, we finished the latest draft of the script, at work I was in the thick of production, given the launch of the iPhone X, I’m also programing the shorts for the San Francisco Irish Film festival which is this week and… um… oh yeah, we’re having a baby, like, any day now!!! So yeah, it’s been a busy month!

Im looking forward to taking some time off! (What’s that like I wonder?!) But to the end of the year my plan is... to plan! I’m not resting on my laurels, I don’t have any laurels, well, I have a few from my early days of filmmaking, but I haven’t had any for a long time. So, we need to get this one off the ground.

We want to shoot as soon as possible. One option we’re looking at is to shoot the first act first, here in the States. Act one happens about 2 months before the rest of the film and is set entirely in America. So we can raise enough funding to get that in the can, and then use that to help raise the rest of the funds need to shoot the rest of the film in Ireland.

It’s one option, ideally we want to shoot everything together and have all the money we need. But we probably will shot the American section and Irish section with a gap in the middle. We just want to keep the momentum going, and do what we can to make this film a reality.

We’ve had really great reaction from this draft, those we let read it are excited and enthusiastic about it. And even though we didn’t place in the Nichol Fellowship this year, we had some nice comments from on of the readers:

"I really enjoy the conversations about Christianity and Atheism in this tale. I didn't expect a love story to get this deep into religion and dating partners with different beliefs, but I was pleasantly surprised at how it was a central theme in this narrative. The story takes us past the surface level infatuation between Will and Lucy and provides more substance for their relationship.

I also really enjoy how prominent Irish culture is in this script. We get a great sense of this small town and also feel the holiday spirit. The setting really adds to this storyline, producing a classic Christmas story with a European twist. In addition, I think the characters each add something special to this project. From the Chipper and his wife to Sheila and her deep conversation with Will, they all move the plot a little bit forward.”

Academy Nicholl Fellowship Reader 2017

I’m glad they connected with it. Thing is, this draft was a year old, and I almost didn’t send it in, I just wanted to enter because I keep missing the deadline for this competition. I kinda wish I’d waited. But I didn’t know that next draft would take a year! So it’s encouraging that an earlier draft I knew wasn’t ready still connected in the right way. And of course, every time we finish it and send it out to readers, we immediately see things we could do better! There maybe another draft to come!

Grace Fitzgerald as Lucy

We are approaching producers at the moment, hoping to connect with someone who will be willing to help us mount this production. Someone in Ireland, it’s hard to do it from here. We’re too far away. We’re not on the ground. The thing about being there last year is we were so easily able to connect with people, gather some momentum and excitement, get the ball rolling. It was a reality and it started happening. Over here, we’re thousands of miles away and 8 hours behind. Hopefully we can figure that part out.

Something I would like to do is get back to Ireland myself at some point for meetings and a full cast table read, to help shape the script. Maybe before the end of the year, if baby and budget allows! 

But key for us now is to get this film off the ground, to keep the momentum going, to create something good, great, sweet, charming, funny, romantic, heartfelt, heartwarming, a beautiful Christmas love story you’re going to want to take out every year and watch with a loved one. Because we already love it, and we know you will too.