Looking Back at Netflix

After some much-needed time away from our computers, we’ve got great news: Future Weather made it to the finals of the Netflix Find Your Voice competition, in great standing.

Needless to say, the last few days of the contest were a bit of a roller-coaster ride for the Future Weather team and our fans. We had expected the contest to end at 3am EST on the morning of the 6th, and when we finally shut off our computers, we were confident that we had finished the competition in first place. A lot of us noticed, however, that the votes just kept rolling in. We thought that the website was just catching up with the tally, but around 5pm on Monday, we learned that the contest had been extended another two days.

Jenny left for Europe on Friday, and after checking the vote via text message Monday morning (Sunday 3am EST) was satisfied with the scores. Without access to email, she had no way of knowing that Film Independent (FIND) had e-mailed her Sunday at 11:45pm to notify her of the extension. The real kicker was that this was the only attempt at contacting our team that was made. Kristin was not notified. It wasn’t until about twelve hours later that she finally spoke to our contact at FIND.

Apparently, a glitch in the contest website had left many votes uncounted. Because the five films below Future Weather had been jockeying for position so intently, Netflix and FIND decided to extend the competition, afraid that votes that were uncounted over the weekend might have seriously changed the makeup of the top 5.

After losing a good twelve hours of voting time (and watching our lead of 2,000 shrink considerably), it was a quick scramble to get the word out again. We hit up our Twitter and Facebook pages with a fury, and sent out a blitz of messages asking for your immediate support. Through the intense efforts of our team and our supporters, we managed to get 4,000 votes in under 30 hours. That was a contest record for us, and we couldn’t have done it without an incredible movement of support.

In the end, it came down to a neck-and-neck race for first place between Future Weather and Touchback. After a heated final hour of the competition, Touchback managed to take the top spot—but only by six stars.

Most of our fans and our team were incredibly disappointed with the way the extended contest played out. After all of our hard work to get Future Weather into first place, those twelve hours that we were out of the loop had a real impact on our lead. There was a lot of confusion because there had been no mention of the extension anywhere on the contest website. To add to it, many of our fans noticed odd voting behavior from one of the other contestants as we finished out the extension period. And because they couldn't be certain of the impact that the lost votes had, FIND decided to move six films into the finals instead of five.

That being said, we are thrilled with the results of the competition. Our fans stood by us and helped us rally over 7,000 fans to cast votes in our favor. They brought us new friends and great PR to support Future Weather as we finish out the final round of the contest.

This next phase is in the hands of the contest's judges, who will choose a winner from the six finalists. The fact that we're at the forefront of the vote will make a strong statement on our behalf, but the rest is up to them. Stay in the loop here at The Future Weather Report.

Fort Nassau Graphics

We wanted to give Fort Nassau Graphics a special shout-out today for donating to our cause. Charlie Stanton, Production Planner, did us a huge favor by printing the postcards we've been distributing around Philadelphia to spread the word about the Netflix competition. Fort Nassau prints most of their products on FSC-certified paper, including our postcards, which were also printed on partially-recycled paper. They were incredibly supportive of our cause; Charlie told us that he "would like the Earth to be here when [his] kids are old" and that "everyone in our plant would like to see our children and their children after that have the same type of environment that we grew up in."

Designed by Future Weather Love Brigadier and t-shirt designer e bond, we're hoping that these eye-catching cards will keep generating local support for Future Weather and get people online to vote, bringing us a giant step closer to making our film!

Future Weather in the Media

As we enter the final eleven days of the Netflix Find Your Voice competition, we're glad to report that Future Weather is currently on top! Thank you all again for all of your support in getting us to over 17,000 votes and bringing us one step closer to making Future Weather a reality!

Still, we know that the other semifinalists are going to really pick up their efforts in these last few days, so we're glad that we've been receiving even more additional media attention in the two weeks since our last posts. Most exciting is the recent buzz that Future Weather has generated after winning Showtime's Tony Cox Screenplay award at the Nantucket Film Festival. Top industry publications ScreenDaily.com, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter were all quick to broadcast the news of this great achievement.

We've also had some great support from the blogosphere lately, with posts from long-time supporter Fake Plastic Fish and the Lanalogue helping to spread the word about SAVE THE FUTURE. Future Weather also received a great spotlight piece from Brain Pickings, a blog meant to find "revolutionary new ideas that no one has seen or thought of before". As if that weren't flattering enough, Future Weather also received an incredibly flattering post (part one of three!) on nonpretentious from Philly blogger Melissa J. Sachs, who calls Jenny "the hot Al Gore".

Thanks to all of you again for your continued support! And remember, we still need your help spreading the word and getting out the vote!

Netflix Short Director's Diary: Production

First shot of the day.

Kristin and I prepared as much as we could in ten days, but ultimately, we had no idea what to expect when we drove down to Asheville. Mystery is very alluring.

My assignment for this blog was to try and recreate the production diary I didn’t have time to keep during the shoot. But if I did, it would be a neurotic series of entries like: “5am, try to sleep for another hour. 7am, try not to barf.”

Instead, I will try to list a few of the moments of clarity I experienced during the process of making SAVE THE FUTURE. Think of them as notes to myself for future productions. I really hope there's another one soon.

• Write two scripts (or outlines). You won’t use one, but it'll probably be another version of what you're trying to say, thus helping you strengthen your message.

• Prep as much as you can, so you can kind of enjoy the shoot. (If you call being so exhausted you mix up everyone’s names and are at times reduced to communicating to actors in nonsensical strings of profanity enjoyable.)

• Don’t worry about shaking hands with a man who just picked up a stillborn baby bird that fell out of its nest.

• And don't worry about sleeping in a haunted house. Your brain will be so busy trying to get a metaphysical experience on the screen, you won't have time to scare yourself with ghosts.

• Rain can be like playing with watercolors. Make the best of it.

• Remember you still have time to rewrite dialog onset and during the edit (especially, if you’re working with VO). If you’re pressed for time, distill the meaning with people you trust. Dialog loves simplicity.

• Let people do their work. (You know how it feels. Sometimes the muse only comes when you have a little privacy.)

• Share. I couldn't have encountered a more generous group of artists in Asheville. There was no creative resource they wouldn’t have offered us for our project. I realized very quickly that I had met other people who believed that the act of creating something was the most important part. So no smallness showed up on set.

• Take a bath in a claw-foot tub by candlelight even if it means putting off sleep another hour. You would have spent that hour unraveling anyway.

• Chase geese. For Laduree’s ice cream shop, we stopped at a scrappy little restaurant with a red-striped awning in a country strip called “Poppy’s.” Bad hours, but took number. Meanwhile, had rural lead for field with flowers. Then Chusy suggested prep school lawn in town. Wasn’t interested, but went anyway. Too manicured; decided it was a wasted trip when we stumbled upon Exit 50, our poppy field. Way home from the restaurant Poppy’s, passed Philly Hoagie Shop. (Remember, this is the middle of North Carolina). Location was perfect for ice cream shop; hours were perfect, owner from South Philly and could not have been nicer. These synchronicities happened frequently, even through editing. Sometimes you’ve just gotta knock around a little.

Netflix Find Your Voice Semifinalist: Future Weather

Making the Netflix Short

From "Save the Future" Titles by Jia Lia

Being selected as a semi-finalist for the Netflix FIND Your Voice Competition was kind of easy compared to the challenge that came next: create a 2-3 minute short that "powerfully conveys your vision for the [feature-length] film". This could be anything, the contest admins maintained - a scene from the feature, a trailer, or "a self-contained short with thematic ties to the feature." In four weeks. For public voting on a website with 8+ million subscribers. Not intimidating at all.

We assigned ourselves the task of creating a provocative short that would grab your attention and leave you with a sense of mystery. SAVE THE FUTURE was finished last Friday and will premiere June 5 at www.netflixfindyourvoice.com. But what the hell is it about, and how did we get it done in four weeks?

Kristin, Cora, Jen and I decided to limit the script to one character from the feature, in order to cut down on casting time. Luckily, Perla Haney-Jardine, a 12-year-old actress we'd been in talks with for playing Laduree, was interested in coming on board for the short, and her family (filmmakers Jennifer MacDonald and Chusy Haney-Jardine) graciously invited us to shoot it in their hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. FUTURE WEATHER takes place in a rural setting, so after researching Asheville (a small, eclectic city tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains) and watching scenes from Perla's parent's feature, ANYWHERE U.S.A., I knew this area would provide the right milieu for our short.

With one week for prep + shooting and one week for editing, I had one week to develop a script. I started with two basic sketches - both exploring Laduree's life before the feature begins - and we picked one to develop. It was the more high-concept of the two, so I went through eight drafts before shooting and also rewrote it a bit during shooting and editing. It's called SAVE THE FUTURE, and while it contains a few motifs you'll find in the feature, it's a slightly more stylized, and frankly, commercial (in service of the concept, you'll see) depiction of Laduree's crux: her fear of environmental apocalypse as a stand-in for her absentee mom.

With our two central characters (Laduree and Asheville) established, Kristin and I drove down to North Carolina on May 13 for two days of pre-production and two days of production. The photos that follow are highlights from our trip, location scout and shoot. It was an experience we'll never forget. We hope you enjoy the show!

And don't forget: your votes can propel FUTURE WEATHER to the big screen. Slap us five stars June 5th at www.netflixfindyourvoice.com.

ROCK ON!!

If I could create the blog equivalent of head-banging to Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin, then that's what you'd be experiencing right now. On Monday, we found out that FUTURE WEATHER was chosen as one of ten semi-finalists for the Netflix Find Your Voice competition. The ten projects were officially announced today. Read it and weep, suckaaazz!!!

http://www.netflixfindyourvoice.com/

I forgot I'd even entered last February when I got an email from competition co-hosts, Film Independent, saying that they wanted to arrange a call with our production team. That was last week. Not a lot of sleeping went on after that for Kristin and me. Because we knew that if we got it, we'd have to drop everything to create the 2-3 minute short Netflix wants posted on their website by June 5 for public voting.

As if we weren't already in overdrive with our new online store, a fundraiser, an Earth Day bazaar, IgnitePhilly, and two grant applications. Not to mention arranging babysitters, selling a house and producing a flash mini-site for Drew Magazine.

The first phone call was surreal - having people show genuine interest in something that is so close to your heart, that you've been protecting and fighting for to the distraction of everything else is like stepping into an alternate reality. The one you've been dreaming of.

The second phone call came, and before I could really process the news, we went into immediate strategy mode. Difficult decisions had to be made. Troops to be rallied. And after careful consideration, we decided to shoot new material for the short. (More on that to come.)

Now that the official word is in, and the boat is leaving the shore, I'm beginning to feel the gorgeous breeze of the creative opportunity at hand. What a blessing. Even if we don't win, I feel very lucky that I've got one month to focus on the art part of filmmaking, which is exactly why I started this journey in the first place. Thank you to everyone who's helped sustain this dream for the last three years! Here we go!!!