“WISP” Gets Picked Up for TV and Other Unexpected Updates.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think “WISP” was going to happen this year. As the scope of the film got bigger, the budget drastically inflated, and we found ourselves in the unenviable position of having assembled all the makings of a fantastic film but only about half the money we needed to actually make it. After a relentless marketing campaign and a fund raiser that fell embarrassingly short, we were seriously looking at ‘Plan B’ options.

The money we did raise for “WISP” was dragged in on the heels of “Inked in Erie”, the TV Reality Show I’ve been producing for the I AM TV Cable Network. I’m proud to say, while the network is regional (they reach about 300,000 viewers in the Erie County PA area), the show has been very well received and has built a substantial audience.

Right now, independent networks like Hulu, Amazon and Netflix are all in a race to produce their own original series and I AM TV is no different. So when they talked to me about doing “WISP” as a TV Series with an offer to let us slow it down, and get into the back story and characters, and play out the suspense over 13 weeks… well, it wasn’t a tough decision to make.

Writer A.D. Moore has done a top to bottom re-envisioning  of the story, adding even more twists, turns and icky tingle sensations.

We begin principal photography on July 29th, when we’ll be shooting the Pilot, plus three more episodes. The show will begin airing this fall on I AM TV.

Since no one is going to be able to wait for glimpses of “WISP”, I AM TV will have a camera crew following around the production for their show “Erie on Set”. The show’s Executive Producer is Jeremy Korwek, and he’ll be documenting the production “Project Greenlight” style. Very cool.

In other news… the GMD Films web site is currently under a massive reconstruction. More than just a facelift, it will be a new site that reflects the new direction the company is heading in. I’m about halfway done building it, so please be patient.

I’m also knee-deep in pre-production for “WISP”, so I’ll be updating the production blog more often in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

- PG

It’s Time to Join the Hunt.

  None of us here at GMD Films ask for much more than an audience to gather around the fire to hear us weave our strange tales. So, our first fund raiser is unique in it’s purpose.

  We have not ever used ‘crowd funding’ to raise the budget for our films, not once – not ever. And we’re still not. Every GMD Films Production has raised it’s budget on the success of the films before it, and that’s something we take a certain pride in.

  What’s different about our first fund raising campaign, is we are asking you to help us make “WISP” better. We’re looking to cast a ‘Horror Icon’ as our Serial Killer (at a cost of $5,000 – $10,000), round out our cast with some ‘Indie Film Icons’ (these are people you already know and love) and we want to put more money on the screen.

 
  By ‘more money on the screen’, I’m talking about four Police Cars instead of two. An extra day on a killer location. Adding some additional hands to the FX Team, a dedicated Make Up Artist for the beautiful ladies on our cast, and being able to shut down a street corner for a car chase stunt.

  In short, a few smaller things in the background that add several thousand dollars to our budget but look like a million bucks on screen.

  Now, if you’re reading this blog, you’re a fan. You’ve been hanging around the GMD Films camp for awhile, and you know we’ve never once asked for anything from anyone.

  This fundraiser is important, or we wouldn’t ask. To show our gratitude, the cast and crew have come together to offer some pretty remarkable rewards for pitching in.

  A personal phone call from certified smoke show Paula Marcenaro Solinger? Yes. Screen used props from the movie? Of course. Autographed DVD’s, Scripts, and chance to be on screen with the best-of-the-best in Indie Film? You bet.

  And look, we know times are tough. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t be trying to raise the extra money we need to make “WISP” epic. Whatever you have, we’ll take it. Skip your Grande latte one day, a pack of smokes, or the change left over from a hard night of drinking. We’ll put it on the screen, and you can hate yourself in the morning.

  But don’t’ wait. We have deadlines on this. Contracts to sign, commitment checks to write, locations to book, flights to pay for. We have 14 days of food to prepare. Hotel rooms. Costumes to buy.

  Visit the “WISP” Fundraising Page right now and make a donation so big it feels like passing a kidney stone.

  I promise you, we won’t let you down. You won’t regret this.

- Paul

“Inked” Takes Off & “WISP” Casting News

If you’ve been following me on Facebook at all during the last 6 weeks, you’ve no doubt heard plenty about “Inked in Erie”.

It’s a Reality TV show we’ve been producing for start up Cable Network
I AM TV Erie, which can be found on the Time Warner Cable System at Channel 180 in Erie County.

It’s actually the reason it’s taken me awhile to get back to the Production Blog. I’ve been, well… in production.

The I AM TV Network went into ‘Soft Launch’ this week, testing the network and adding programming to the schedule. It’s a bit of Erie History happening right now, with a brand new Cable TV network launching. It’s not something you see every day around here, and it’s been an awesome experience to be involved.

I’m proud to say our show “Inked in Erie” was the first to air on the network during the initial test, so we made history once again.

If you don’t live in Erie, or don’t have Cable, don’t’ worry. You can check out the show at the Official Show Site on the web, and it will be coming to your usual ‘Digital Outlets’ soon.

While we’ve been busy producing the new show, we haven’t slowed progress on pre-production for “WISP”.

A casting change has just been made, with Paul Marcinaro Solinger taking the roll of not one – but TWO characters, playing both of the “Klem Sisters”.

And just as a bit of a tease, I’ll let you know that we’re on the trail of a Horror Movie Icon that will change our cast list from “Incredible” to “Unbelievable”.

Stay tuned… there’s lots more to come.

- Paul Gorman

Johnny Solinger Starts “WISP” Soundtrack

It’s a little early to be picking songs for the soundtrack, but Johnny Solinger sent me a wicked little tune in the mail that could have been written for “WISP”.

If you don’t recognize his name, you’ll recognize his voice as the long time front man for the infamous hard rock band Skid Row.

Having just completed the new Skid Row album “United World Rebellion Chapter 1” and embarking on a World Tour with ‘The Skids’ in April, Johnny Solinger has still managed to carve out a remarkable solo career with his own brand of gritty Country Rock.

The song is “F.U.C. Me Coming” off his recent solo CD “Chain Link Fence” and when you hear it, I think you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

You can check out the whole album on Spotify or you can buy the single now on Amazon.com for $0.99

Either way, give this one a listen. It kicks ass.

“F.U.C. Me Coming” is the beginning of a, uhm… killer soundtrack.

The shear volume of talent that is lining up for this film is already beyond my wildest expectations. “WISP” is going to be one for the record books.

- Paul

Another Field Test for Sony

If you’ve been following my Production Blog for awhile, you remember me building the 3D Camera Rig for “Blood of Ohma” that was more or less hand built. It was based on a pair of 2 little Sony Handycam’s.

To shoot True 3D, you have to capture a separate image for both the ‘Left Eye’, and the ‘Right Eye’. This process is different than “Converted 3D” which makes up about half the 3D movies Hollywood puts out. To do a “Conversion” essentially, in post production the 2D film is cut apart and digitally enhanced to create the illusion of depth that was not originally captured during photography. 

To capture depth in photography, you have to simulate how the human brain processes images, with two eyes.

The rig we built for ‘Ohma’ used two separate camera’s, which created a video file for each eye. During filming, I was only able to monitor the ‘Left Eye’ camera so the final result in 3D for each scene was an educated guess based on all the camera tests I did prior to the start of shooting.

Both video files then had to be synched in post and then converged into 3D using the 3D Toolset inside the Sony Vegas software I used to edit the film. The entire process was very time intensive and took a lot of tweaking.

To my surprise, this whole experience caught the eye of Sony Creative who contacted me during pre-production to offer their support and followed the film all the way thru our theatrical screenings for which Sony provided all the 3D glasses for.

About 6 months after I finished “Blood of Ohma” the Sony TD-10 camera arrived, which replaced every aspect of my hand built 3D rig into one camera set up.

The TD-10 has dual lenses which each capture full HD video at 32 mbs to it’s own imaging chip. Double the resolution I shot ‘Ohma’ with.

In addition, the camera has manual zoom, focus and convergence controls. The biggest trade off from my hand built rig, was I had ZERO control over zoom or focus. The camera’s were set zoomed full out, with ‘auto focus’ enabled. Zoom and Focus are the basic tools for a film maker, and I didn’t have any of them.

So seeing these features built into the camera felt like a gift. And lastly, the LCD screen displays the converged 3D image – without glasses – so I can now set set up the 3D shots on set, rather than guessing and fixing it in post.

I’ve only shot a few web series with this camera and have done a ton of tests, but “WISP” will be the big field test for Sony. I’ll be able to put the camera thru a full spectrum of situations and we’ll see how it does in the ‘real world’.

The TD-10 is the first in this series of Camera’s so if this one is any indication of where Sony is going to go with it, I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

- Paul

More “WISP” Casting News

I’m extremely proud to announce that Actress, Model and Artist
Paula Marcenaro Solinger has joined the cast of “WISP”.

Having trained since age 6 in her home town of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Paula has a long history on stage,  television and voice over work. She most recently appeared in Jim Devault’s “Blood Reunion” and 
Hernan Findling’s “Director’s Cut”.

And if her name sounds familiar, you’ve probably rocked out with her husband in an arena somewhere.

Paula will be playing the part of “Lana Klem”, a true crime journalist who is following the story of “The Tourist” with a personal vendetta, as her sister was among the first victims of the killer.

The addition of Mrs. Solinger now completes our Principal Cast for “WISP”.

Updates to the cast roster are at the official Wisp Web Site Here.

Lots of news still coming up, so stay tuned.

- Paul

Huge “WISP” Casting News

 

From Argentina, by way of Miami, I am thrilled to announce Model, Actress and Latin TV Star Deborah Funes has joined the cast of "WISP" as our female lead.

Deborah has appeared in TV Commercials, Lingerie Ads, on popular Latin TV shows, including shooting her own TV Pilot and most recently has appeared in feature films.

She’ll be joining the cast as female lead “Commissioner Gray Williams” who is working along side Larry Laverty and Joe Kelly to solve the case of what seems to be a Copy-Cat Serial Killer who has just shown up.

The addition of Ms. Funes locks down our ‘Principal Cast’ including Larry Laverty, Marie Madison and Jeremy Krukowski. The supporting rolls are next to cast and this part of the process takes the most time.

You can follow our progress at the Official “Wisp” Web Site here.

And speaking of progress, I’ve been working with CGI Artist Ginna Glaze on the Story Boards for this film, and the first batch of them are coming around.

Here’s a tease:

On “Blood of Ohma”, I did the story boards by hand, in sketches. I decided to take a different approach on “Wisp”, or rather a giant leap forward in technology.

The CGI Software not only creates a more rich and realistic scene, but it allows me to experiment with different camera lenses, depth of field, and even allows me to visualize and approximate the 3D effects in the film.

Yes, even my story boards are done in 3D now. I can already hear the scoffing from my detractors and cynics all waiting for me to get over the ‘3D Trend’. Even though “Texas Chainsaw 3D” made more money at the Box Office this weekend than the 2D version of “The Hobbit”.  But I digress…

Lots more news to come in the next few weeks and months as we ramp up to Principal Photography on “Wisp”, which is schedule to begin in July.

- Paul

‘Ohma’ Comes Home & What’s Next

After a year long run thru the ‘Fest Circuit’ and making our way onto Blu-Ray and into retailers, “Blood of Ohma” came home last night for it’s final Theatrical Showing along side our friends at Snowdog Studio with their epic opus “The Four”.

At The Movies in Meadville, a beautiful, state of the art digital theater filled with our friends, cast and crew and I can’t think of a better way to put this monster to bed.

We screened ‘Ohma’ in Classic 3D, and I always get a giggle looking out into the audience and seeing the ‘old school’ 3D glasses. Good times.

Of course, “Blood of Ohma” is still available, but it will no longer be in theaters. You can get it on Blu-Ray, 3D Blu-Ray or DVD along side all the other GMD Films pretty much wherever you buy movies and downloads.

Including at the GMD Films Backlot Auctions, our Ebay store, which has been growing by leaps and bounds this year. There you can find everything from screen worn costumes to deep discounts on our DVD and Blu-Rays.

It’s SWAG Time

It’s Fall again, which means ‘Hoodie’ weather, and the new 2012 GMD Films Hoodies are back in stock. These are super heavy weight cotton pull over Hoodies with front pockets. Available in a variety of colors and sizes and shipping right now.

And while you’re at it, check out the new styles of Ladies Wear that has just been added to the SWAG Store. New long sleeve T’s, V-Necks and the classic women’s fitted T – for all her curves.

 So, What’s Next?

Fall also marks ‘Pre-Production’ for all of us here at GMD Films, where we get knee deep into putting together the slate of new movies and shows.

Our next feature will be “WISP”, a twisty, turny, thriller about a Cop and a Serial Killer that is anything but your typical ‘Serial Killer’ movie.

Plus, “Regarding Jenny” and “It’s A Tasha Thing” will be returning with new episodes, and I’ve VERY proud to announce that our animation / cartoon division MaddyMation has gotten a much needed kick in the ass, with the addition of Ginna Glaze, who will now be heading up the division.

Ginna is a model designer and animator currently working in Hollywood and the creator of her own brand of fiercely erotic CGI art. She’s taken over MaddyMation and will be heading up production on “The Top Secret Adventures of Bubble Girl and Pixie Stixx” as well as new episodes of “Maddy Burger” as well as running her own site on our network.

Every now and then, the cards fall in the right place for us, and this is one of those times. We’re lucky to have such an amazing talent on this growing new division of the Maddy G family.

In other exciting news, GMD Films has signed on to distribute “The House of Evil”, the newest piece of madness from Director Massimiliano Cerchi.

The film is scheduled to go into Production this coming January, and should be available from GMD Films by Fall 2013. It’s a gory horror / action hybrid that is being shot in 3D. You’ll get much more about this film as it goes into production.

And look for lots more in the coming weeks. We’ll be releasing story boards, production news and there’s a deal brewing with Time Warner Cable that will probably put our programming into your home for free – sooner than we thought.

Stay tuned friends, we’re just getting started… again!

- Paul

The GMD Halloween Special Is Back

Well folks, it’s THAT time of year again. When the ghosts and goblins and creepy things come out to play.

And of course the annual GMD Films Halloween Special!

Take a scary 30% off all of our Horror Movie 2 Disc DVD sets, each just $9.95

Everyone’s favorite Psycho Vixen returns in this new deluxe 2 Disc Set of “FURY” that includes the feature length ‘Behind the Scenes’ Documentary “Anger Management” that takes a deep look at the making of this cult classic film. Plus loaded with other bonus features.

I know I was on the fence about releasing the Blu-Ray Edition of “House of Bedlam” over the summer, but the sheer amount of e-mail and comments about it from fans has changed my mind.

While I’m still not 100% happy with it, it’s not my place to pull a ‘George Lucas’ and keep tweeking this damn thing forever. So, here it is.

In full 1080/60i High Definition, I present “House of Bedlam” in a brand new Special Edition Director’s Cut. I did not go and re-cut all the bonus materials in High Definition, so the 2nd Disc will be a DVD in Standard Definition, but will include all the original documentaries and web features.

Also available is The special 2 Disc Special Edition of “House of Bedlam” includes my UnRated ‘Director’s Cut’, plus the feature length documentary “Straight To Hell” that takes a look inside the making of the film, plus “Raising Hell” – inside the World Theatrical Premiere. Plus, News Coverage and more. Your choice of Blu-Ray or DVD – just $9.95

Last, but certainly not least… is our 2 Disc Special Edition DVD set of “Blood of Ohma”. This includes both the 2D Version as well as the 3D Version – and includes 2 pairs of 3D Glasses. Plus, it’s loaded with bonus materials, both in 2D and 3D.

The “Halloween Special” is running now thru the end of October, so don’t wait to get your hands on any of these!

Happy haunting…

- Paul

Food Porn: The Mushroom Verdict

I don’t know how I didn’t notice them yesterday. Or a week ago. But this morning I found these Mushrooms in my back yard. The one on the left, is as big as a softball.

Just right there, growing in my backyard.

Not quite sure what to do about this, I took the above picture and posted it on Facebook to try and gather some feedback from my friends.

The first one in was Rodger Montgomery, who is somewhat of a legend around here. He’s been playing old school blues the way it’s meant to be heard in this town for as long as I can remember. You heard a few of his tunes on the Soundtrack to my 2nd film “Virgin Pockets”. Needless to say he’s one of my more trusted friends.



Ok, perfect. Edible.

So, I picked them both, washed them and sliced them.



Nearly perfect white all the way thru, and as light and spongy as a good Angel Food cake.

I mixed up a quick egg wash and found some seasoned breading mix and then Maddy fried them in butter.



Leaving the final result a lightly breaded, pan fried Mushroom that I found in my back yard.



Delicious.

The Mushroom melts in your mouth, almost creamy and it goes nicely with the crunch of the breading.

The mushroom itself has a very pronounced ‘Mushroom’ flavor to it, more than likely from not being processed, packaged and sat on a shelf for a few days before going into the pan.



Now, assuming I’m not dead in the morning, the ‘Mushroom Verdict’ is “Awesome”.

I should say, it’s NOT a good idea to just pick stuff out of the ground, pan fry and eat it. I’m not a Mushroom Expert, and Mr. Montgomery is a guitar player. The lone voice of reason in all this was Film Maker Bobby Jones, who voted “Emergency Room” in my ‘web poll’.

So, there IS a chance that I’ll be dead by the morning.

But… Rodger already agreed to play the funeral, and I imagine Bobby will film it for Youtube.

- PG

Stomping Back to Cleveland

‘The Monster’ Returns in 3D

I’m proud to now be able to officially announce that “Blood of Ohma” will be screening in 3D at this year’s Indie Gathering in Cleveland on August 18th at 10:30pm. If you’re in the area and want to attend, all the details can be found at the Indie Gathering’s official site.

This presentation is being brought to you in part by Sony 3D World / Sony Creative Software which has been a big supporter of this film since I was in pre-production over a year ago now.

And it’s exciting, because we haven’t done a live theatrical premiere in 3D since last November when the movie premiered here in Erie. As a film maker, nothing quite compares to the instant feedback of a live audience. And seeing a room full of people in old school 3D glasses is just, well… cool.

The ‘Black Out’

Between July 16th and July 26th, GMD Films, along with the entire Maddy G Productions crew went ‘dark’, having lost all internet and phone connections during our move to a new studio.

It seemed like a joint effort between Time Warner Business Class and Verizon to keep us offline, as no one expected to be down that long, but alas… we can’t be stopped that easily.

I won’t go into the gory details about our dealings with Time Warner, just to say it’s a miracle that company has stayed in business as long as they have. Verizon ended up coming to our rescue and restoring communications for us, thanks in no small part to a savvy technician named Sal who went above and beyond the call of duty.

Regardless, once communications were restored, we had quite a bit of ‘catch up’ to do, so it’s taken me a bit longer to update the production blog.

The “House of Bedlam” Blu-Ray Project

Being unable to do most of the ‘business’ of running GMD Films during the black out, I took the unexpected downtime to finish the re-edit of “House of Bedlam” in high definition for Blu-Ray.

While I really enjoyed the process, I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled with the final result.

Since I had to re-cut the film from scratch, the story is the same, but the cut is slightly different, but not necessarily better. It runs 87 minutes, a couple minutes longer than the original, but it’s paced a little faster.

But I’m not sure HD is an improvement on this film. If you remember a few years back when the TV Broadcast networks began to switch over to HD, you heard the newscasters and morning show personalities bitch about how HD showed flaws that standard definition previous hid. I see similar things here with ‘Bedlam’.

This was my first project to be shot in High Definition so back in 2008, I was still learning how to light for it and how to shoot with it. Some of it was hit-and-miss and HD truly does show the flaws. The scenes around the camp fire look grainy and strange, almost to the point of being distracting.

The greens of the forest are the color that ‘Green’ wants to be when it grows up. Overwhelming. And Katie Russell looks positively Orange. Sesame Street’s version of Orange.

Now some of this can be straightened out with a color correction pass, but there are other issues as well.

For reasons that none of us can fully remember, I shot an entire sequence on the Panasonic DVX, in standard definition. We also shot all of the “Church” sequences in Standard Definition, because when we started shooting ‘Bedlam’, we hadn’t upgraded to the HD camera’s yet. So, there’s a total of about 8 minutes of the film in Standard Definition.

The “Church” sequence plays just fine, because it appears as old film in the movie anyway, but the other sequence is ‘blown up’ in HD and while the few people I’ve shown it to didn’t notice, I did, and it sort of sticks out weird for me.

So, I’m going to tinker with it a bit more before I decide if there will ultimately be a Blu-Ray release of “House of Bedlam”. My whole goal was to preserve the film in the version I shot it in (HD), but for right now, I’m just not feeling like I’m accomplishing that.

A Few Words About “WISP”

Considering the move and getting set back from our communications breakdown, and a few other personal / family issues at home, the Principal Photography of “WISP” has been bumped back to at least September. Maybe October.

There is still a principal character that has yet to be cast, and while I have my favorite and she’s already agreed to sign on, the schedule and budget will ultimately decide the course this movie will take.

We are thru pre-production with nearly every aspect of locations, cast, props, wardrobe, etc. locked down, we’re pretty much only waiting on a final budget to set actual shooting dates.

It’s too late into the summer to be able to schedule a ‘summer’ shoot, so we are looking now at Fall. September or October to take advantage of the fall colors and give the company a bit more time to raise a bit more money, so we’re not struggling thru this on a shoe-string.

“Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.” That applies here as well as in life. “WISP” has been in development for a few years now so as excited as I am to get started, I’m not willing to sacrifice any aspect of this just to get it done sooner than later. It will be worth the wait, I promise.

In the meantime, don’t forget to visit the GMD Films Backlot Auctions on E-bay. Lots of cool stuff being auctioned off every week there. This week, we have some rare Hollywood press kits, screen worn outfits from “Virgin Pockets” and “House of Bedlam” as well as some pretty cool background props we’ve had in storage for awhile.

I’ll be back soon with more news on all of it.

- Paul

Another Fest Win and Backlot Auction News

If you're following any of us on Facebook, this isn't going to be news, but I'm very proud to announce that "Blood of Ohma" has won "Best Horror" in the 16th Annual Indie Gathering Film Festival.

The Indie Gathering, held each year near Cleveland, OH. is ranked among the Top 25 'Best Festivals' by Movie Maker Magazine featuring films from all over the globe in an international competition that has long been known as a proving ground for independent film makers.

If you've been counting, this is actually our third competition win behind "Virgin Pockets" (Best Comedy) in 2007 and "House of Bedlam" (Best Thriller) in 2008.

And once again... this didn't happen by itself and I had barely anything to do with it. I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to my amazing cast, crew and support team that actually made it happen.

Our new GMD Films Backlot Auctions page over at Ebay has been quite literally blowing up.

All of the items in our first round of Auctions have been sold, including the Life Size "Ohma" Costume, Screen Worn Clothing from Marie Madison, Etta Halloway, and Angelia Leigh. Including our first Charity Auction that raised some much needed funds for Marshall's Walk - Angelina's Personal Charity that helps find rescued companion animals new homes.

This week we're proud to launch our 2nd Charity Auction that features a pretty sexy outfit Screen Worn by Katie Russell in "House of Bedlam".

 

If you're having trouble visualizing this outfit in the movie, let me help you out there.

See... I knew you would remember that scene. My smart ass friends and snarky collegues call this shot "The Gorman", which has become a staple in my shooting style. No one personifies it more than Katie Russell.

All Proceeds from this Auction will be going to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest PA to bring much needed food to those in need. Please bid generously.

Also up for Auction this week is a couple of Screen Worn Costumes from "Virgin Pockets" worn by Marie Madison.

Lizzy's "Tournement Suit"



Lizzy's "Red Sox" T-Shirt



Lizzy's Dark Purple Camisole

Last week, a bidding war broke out on Maddy's Blue Corset from "FURY" at the last minute, so if you have your heart set on one of these costumes from this iconic GMD Film, get your auction strategy in place now.

Dang... This costume is just one of the reasons "FURY" keeps people up at night and now it's the prized possession of one very happy fan.

I should have a few things to say about the upcoming "WISP" project, including some casting announcements as well as some kind of plan for our trip to Cleveland for the Indie Gathering next month.

Don't go too far.

- Paul