30 Day Feature Film Challenge
Circle Films
How long does it take to make a movie?
Six months in pre-production? Six weeks’ shooting?
Six years for a writer to dream it all up in the first place? How about 30 days?
That’s the challenge Blueberry Editor Tom Cole and 3 young L.A. filmmakers have set themselves.
Their aim is to make a feature film – from initial concept to production – in just one month, and they started on November 20!
Watch their daily progress online: www.30dayfeaturefilmchallenge.com
"We're LOVING the Energy
and Passion Tom and his team are pouring into this project. It's a
testament to the power of people with a brilliant idea coming together and Making
Things Happen. We wish them a lot of luck and fun on this project and
can't wait to see the film. In the meantime we're watching the daily online updates as the adventure unfolds...."
- Blueberry Team
The Filmmakers range in age from 20 to 29, but their industry experience spans at least two decades. One experience they haven’t had, however, is to make their own feature film.
The Idea started with a conversation between 29-year-old director Marcin Teodoru and editor Tom Cole, 25, who together run LA full service company Circle Films.
“There’s the 48 hour short film competition where you have just two days to make a movie,” says Tom, “but there’s nothing like that for feature films, so that got us thinking. We decided to give ourselves 30 days to make a 90-minute feature film from concept to the end of the production.”
The Deadline was provided by Tom’s return to his native London for Christmas, but both he and Marcin were astonished, and inspired, by the immediate enthusiasm and support offered by colleagues and friends.
They were quickly joined by Australian-born writer Adam Foster, 29, whose screenplay High Moon goes before the cameras next March, and producer Aaron Grosso, who despite his 20 years has worked on commercials and been a director of photography on music videos featuring artists such as JET, Buckcherry and Alonso Brito.
“The whole idea sounds crazy,” admits Marcin. “It’s very hardcore guerrilla filmmaking."
“We started with no money, we just wanted to see what favours we could pull, what contacts we could make and just see how far we could get. We decided we just weren’t going to sit around and wait because of the economy. We were sick of hearing about that.”
The Four aim to finish production at one minute to midnight on December 20. They will then edit the movie – a tense tale of revenge and redemption, taking place over a single evening – in time for an unofficial showing at the Sundance Festival in January.
The Filmmakers are documenting the project on their own website www.30daysfeaturefilmchallenge.com, which, after just four days, had notched up over 70,000 hits. Supporters include ExploreTalent.com,
Soverign Earth, FD Management.
“We want to be part of the one per cent of Hollywood who actually get to make their own feature film,” says Martin Teodoru
Martin Teodoru and Tom Cole are available for interview and can be contacted at 30day@circlefilms.com or on 818 430 9202 or 310 437 9119.
