The 30 Day Feature Film Challenge
How long does it take to make a movie? Six months in pre-production?
How about 30 days?
That’s the challenge a group of three young L.A. filmmakers have set for themselves. Their aim is to make a 90 minute feature film – from initial concept to production – in just one month. Start date, November 20th, 2009.
The filmmakers range in age from 20 to 28, coming together from all over the world; the U.S, Poland, England and Australia. Their industry experience spans over two decades, but one experience they haven’t had however, is to make their own feature film. Twenty-eight year old Marcin Teodoru, founder of Circle Films - www.circlefilms.com and co-founder of www.turntableu.com, the worlds premiere online deejay school, is the director and co-producer of the project; along with twenty-five year old Tom Cole, Marcin’s partner at Circle Films, and offspring to the writer of the cult classic, Sid & Nancy. Aaron Grasso, an inspirational, motivated young Producer, comes from a long line of talent, starting with his father Joe Grasso- www.joegrasso.com, who has now signed on to shoot the project.
The idea started with a conversation between Marcin and Tom. “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.”
“Let's stop talking about it, get the army together and do it," says Marcin Teodoru, "A director is only as good as the team around him.”
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 they received from colleagues and friends. They quickly mentioned the idea to producer Aaron Grasso, who despite being only 20 years old, has much experience shooting commercial productions, short films, and music videos featuring artists such as JET, Buckcherry, New Boys, and Alonso Brito."Being spontaneous is what I live for," states Aaron Grasso, "This project is just about doing something we're passionate about. Why not take a chance?"
“The whole idea sounds crazy, but it's going to work if we stick together and focus. Now we just have to come up with a script" admits Marcin. "
They were quickly joined by Australian-born writer Adam Foster, 29, whose screenplay High Moon goes before the cameras next March. His task was to write a script in 5 days, and he has achieved that enormous undertaking.
“We started with no money, we just wanted to see what favors we could pull, what contacts we could make, and see how far we could get. We decided we weren’t just going to sit around and wait for the economy to turn. We were sick of hearing about that.”
The three aim to finish production at one minute to midnight on December 20, 2009. 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.30dayfeaturefilmchallenge.com, which, after just five days, had notched up over 115,000 hits. Supporters include ExploreTalent.com, Sovereign Earth, Loft 7, iwearyourshirt.com, FD Management, Blueberry Creative Consultants, Genarts.com, and many more. Support continues to grow.
Marcin Teodoru, Tom Cole and Aaron Grasso are available for interview and can be contacted by email at 30day@circlefilms.com or reached by telephone at 818 430 9202-Marcin, 310 437 9119-Tom, or 805 551 3556-Aaron.
THE CLOCK IS TICKING!
Aaron Grasso - PRODUCER
805.551.3556
30dayfeaturefilmchallenge.com
30 Day Feature Film Challenge
30day@circlefilms.com
aarongrasso@
