Wow, Just...Wow

So I’m finally (well, mostly anyway) recovered from last night’s festivities at the National Press Club for the 2010 TIVA (Television, Internet, and Video Association of DC) Peer Awards... and to say that the awards ceremony was a success would be a huge understatement. Not only was it a fantastic opportunity to rub elbows with some of the most innovative, dedicated and creative people in the DC visual-production community, but in what seemed at times like a comically extended procession, the Tohubohu films “Liability” and “Number One With a Bullet” took home a grand total of eight awards across the course of the evening:

• Bronze Award: Editing — Fiction, “Number One With a Bullet” (William R. Coughlan and Ginny Filer, editors)
• Bronze Award: Independent Short, “Liability” (Pam W. Coughlan, producer, and William R. Coughlan, executive producer)
• Silver Award: Screenwriting — Fiction Short, “Liability” (Robin Brande and William R. Coughlan, screenwriters)
• Silver Award: Directing — Fiction Short, “Liability” (William R. Coughlan, director)
• Silver Award: Independent Short, “Number One With a Bullet” (Joy Haynes, producer, and William R. Coughlan, executive producer)
• Gold Award: Editing — Fiction, “Liability” (William R. Coughlan, Brad Hartland, and Colin Heichman, editors)
• Gold Award: Screenwriting — Fiction Short, “Number One With a Bullet” (William R. Coughlan and Bjorn Munson, screenwriters)
• Gold Award: Directing — Fiction Short, “Number One With a Bullet” (William R. Coughlan, director)

And as if that weren’t enough, “Number One With a Bullet” was also one out of just four nominees in the prestigious “Best of DC” award! (My jaw was nearly on the floor when they made that announcement.)

All of this is doubly amazing in that we hadn’t planned on submitting “Number One With a Bullet” at all this year — but a mad-scramble dash to finally get the picture locked allowed us to slip it in at the last possible moment for consideration. We figured that it might generate some small amount of buzz around the project, but honestly had no idea that it would be anything approaching this scale. (And yes, we’ll be sure to let everyone know when they can see the finished product on the big screen!)

The ceremony didn’t allow time for individual acceptance speeches (though there should be pictures later), so I just wanted to take a moment here to congratulate everyone involved in both of these projects — filmmaking is far from an individual endeavor, and there’s honestly no way we could have had this success without the dedicated efforts of all of you. We truly couldn’t be happier!

Tohubohu Autumn Update

Just a few quick notes, and then we’ll let you get back to work (or Facebook viewing, which may be more likely).

We recently attended Stonehenge XII, held at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson in Baltimore. Saw a whole bunch of great audition pieces (including some stellar showings from several Tohubohu veterans), and are really hoping to work with some of those actors in the future. Stonehenge is on hold for the winter, but keep an eye out at Team Jabberwocky for details on next year’s events.

The TIVA Peer Awards are coming up on November 13, and Tohubohu has not one but two films in consideration for awards — “Liability” and “Number One With a Bullet.” Tickets for the award ceremony at the National Press Club are still available, but going fast. We’d love to have a great turnout, so please consider joining us there. (And hey, drop us a line to let us know you’re coming!)

After a lot of hard work, all fourteen of the Tohubohu short films are now represented at the IMDb! All the way back to our inaugural pieces, “Loose Ends” and “Schlimmer.” We’ve done our best to make sure everything’s accurate and up to date, but if you worked on any of our films, give the pages a quick look and note any errors or inconsistencies. If you’ve got an IMDb account, you can request the changes yourself, or just pass them along to us and we’ll get repairs under way.

A quick notification for any of our younger readers — NASA is promoting a video contest for third through eighth graders. Videos will showcase how NASA technology is “transformed” into everyday use (yes, there’s a Transformers theme). Might be an interesting opportunity.

Otherwise, there are a few special projects in the works, but unfortunately nothing ready for promotion just yet. So that’s it for now — hope to see you soon!

Back-to-School Update

Sorry for the long absence — it seems like only a couple of weeks have passed, when in reality it’s been quite a bit longer than that. In looking back I realized that we haven’t sent out a group update since before our 48 Hour Film Project screening back in May — so it’s effectively like we took our own little summer vacation (alas, if only we had really taken such a holiday...). But now with Labor Day upon us, it’s time to head (metaphorically) back to school...

Speaking of the 48 Hour Film Project, our screening at the AFI Silver went very well, and the audience really seemed to love it. Unfortunately, we lost out on the audience award to the Eastern Avenue Films entry, “Quelques Instants” — so (since we were out of the running for the other awards due to our late submission) that was the end of the road for “Liability” as far as the competition went.

But that wasn’t the end as far as we’re concerned — we are actively submitting “Liability” (and some of our other films) to festivals around the country, so we’ll be sure to keep everyone posted about any upcoming screenings!

Along those lines, because of our active festival submissions, several of our shorts have now joined our list of IMDb-listed films (bringing our total up to 12). As of right now, the films that have been newly inducted into the Internet Movie Database include:

• “Liability”
• “Uncertainty Principle”
• “Close Quarters” (our 48HFP entry from 2006)
• “Loose Ends” (the very first film in Tohubohu’s library, from 2004)

The IMDb transfer process is a gradual one, and invariably introduces a number of errors and omissions (such as inadvertent duplication of people’s pages, mixing up of people with similar names, leaving off particular credits, etc.) I’ve been working to correct errors as I see them, but — particularly since it takes up to a couple of weeks for changes to be approved and made — there are no doubt still several mistakes. So if you see anything amiss, please drop me a line and let me know. (You can always create an IMDb account and make changes yourself, but I’d just as soon avoid duplicating any requests we’re making of the IMDb editorial staff.) A special congratulations to anyone who’s now listed for the first time!

We’ve also submitted some of our work for consideration in the 2010 TIVA Peer Awards — though given the rigorous judging process, I’m trying not to get my hopes up for anything. Still, fingers crossed...

In other news, the latest Stonehenge mass auditions (hosted by our cohorts at Team Jabberwocky) are coming up on Sunday, September 26, at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson in Baltimore. Tohubohu will be in attendance, so this is a great chance for the actors among you to shine — not just for us, but for a whole slew of area filmmakers. Registration is now open, so hurry over and sign up — especially since there are a limited number of audition slots. Those slots will be allocated by lottery, so (though there will be more applicants than slots available) don’t worry that other actors have already gotten in ahead of you — just make sure you’re signed up before September 11 and you’ve got an equal shot at one of those coveted positions. (As a side bonus, check out the Team Jabberwocky News Blog for Stonehenge-specific tips and tricks.)

And finally, I wanted to give a quick notice that “Number One With a Bullet” is finally in the can! With everything else going on, this one ended up spending a lot more time in postproduction than we’d planned. Not that we waited around — we’ve been sending it out to festivals even with temporary scoring and effects — but now we can say that it is officially complete! I’d love to do a formal cast-and-crew showing, so if anyone has an “in” with any promising screening venues, please let me know!

That’s it for now — hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!

“Liability”

Once again, Tohubohu has ventured into the waters of the 48 Hour Film Project, and once again, we have succeeded... Well, in a manner of speaking.

The reality is that while we did produce a great little short horror film, “Liability,” we were late in making it to the final drop-off — and five minutes late is still late. Unfortunately, this means that while we will still screen at the AFI Silver Theatre tomorrow evening (and be eligible for the “Audience Favorite” award), we will not be eligible for consideration in any of the judged categories.

While most certainly a disappointment, I am comforted (at least somewhat) by the fact that every year we strive to do something more than the year before, to stretch our boundaries, to try new things. In a way, if we succeeded every time, then we wouldn’t really be challenging ourselves.

And the horror genre was definitely a challenge. But at every step in the process, everyone on the team worked like mad to make it a success. The individual stories of going above and beyond what I had any right to expect — from both cast and crew — are too numerous to mention.

(I did manage to keep tweeting our progress — though my tweets were understandably a bit sparse during the shoot itself — and I suspect that I’ll continue that tradition in the future.)

In the end, I’m really happy with the film itself. We had committed to producing a PG-13 film, which meant we weren’t going to go for a conventional slasher picture. So instead, we went with more of a creepy ghost story, a tale of justice and supernatural vengeance, of secrets, lies, and lawyers...

But of course, you can judge the results for yourselves: Tickets are still available for our debut screening tomorrow evening — Wednesday, May 5, at 7:00 p.m. You can purchase advance tickets at the AFI Silver website (and given the likelihood that they will sell out, I strongly recommend taking that course). Given that the only award we’re still up for is the Audience award, I really want to make sure we’re stacking that audience with as many friendly faces (or, more accurately, votes) as possible. And since all films in that screening fit within the boundaries of the PG-13 rating, you can feel free to bring younger viewers (thereby increasing our potential audience size).

Also worth noting are two special screenings coming up later this month. First is the Best of the 48 Hour Film Project on May 27, where the top films from this year’s competition will be shown, and the prize winners announced. (There is a different selection of films at each screening, so you can safely make a whole evening out of it.) And on May 28th, you can see the Best of 10 Years of the 48 Hour Film Project, showcasing the best films in the competition’s history — sure to be a memorable event. Tickets for both are also available at the AFI Silver website.

Thanks so much, and I hope to see you tomorrow evening!

Less Than Eight Hours...

Well, it’s almost go time for this year’s 48 Hour Film Project! I wish I could say that I’m rested and ready, but the reality is that I’ve barely slept all week. So this weekend will be... interesting.

That said, just like last year, I’m going to try to tweet our progress via my (personal) Twitter feed, twitter.com/coughlan (or @coughlan, for you Twitter regulars). I’m not going to even pretend that I’ll be blogging or sending emails out across the next several days, so if you want more than just the eventual recap (and no promises as to when I’ll get around to posting that), the Twitter feed is the place to find it.

Okay, call to action time: We do have our screening night set — Wednesday, May 5, at 7:00 pm, at the AFI Silver Theatre. Tickets are now on sale — so go to the AFI site and place your order. We’d really like to have some friendly faces in the crowd! (And since ours is officially designated a “PG-13” screening, you can bring the younger viewers as well.)

Well, that’s about all I have time for now — I’ve still got paperwork to fill out, gear to load up, a cooler to clear out, messages to send, phone calls to make, potential locations to sift through, actor lists to assemble, and more than a little last-minute shopping to do (so glad I decided to take today off from the day job). So I’ll sign off for now, and look forward to seeing (many of) you at the screening.

Off to make a movie!

Three Weeks Until 48!

Just taking a moment to remind everyone that there are just three weeks until we once again jump into the 48 Hour Film Project: April 30th through May 2nd. We do have the core of our creative group set, but if you’d like to join in on the fun (well, the chaos, anyway) and haven’t already let us know, now would be a good time. As is routinely the case, we’re supremely interested in any locations you may have at your disposal — the more unusual the better, of course, but frankly even the mundane (but available) is a big help. And, of course, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask (rest assured, there is a human being at the other end of this message).

On another note, we recently received word that “Uncertainty Principle” will not receive commercial distribution (in fact, the distributor opted to pass on the International Shootout films entirely). The bad news, of course, is that you won’t be seeing our little film (or any of the other competitors’) on DVD any time soon — but the good news is that you can watch it online right now! That’s right, we have put the movie on our site for the world to enjoy. So go to the site, watch — and be sure to tell your friends!

That’s it for today — just a short update, in light of all the work we’re doing (or trying to do) in advance of our next creative outing. (Please, hold your applause.)

We’re Back...

Long time, no speak. I had hoped to have news on the distribution prospects for “Uncertainty Principle” (which will, in turn, affect our ability to post the film online), but alas, we are at the mercy of distributors’ schedules. So no word on that front just yet.

But as the time for our next filmmaking outing approaches, I couldn’t wait any longer to send out the call — yes, we are participating in this year’s 48 Hour Film Project! The event will take place from Friday, April 30, through Sunday, May 2 (and unlike the recent International Shootout, for which we technically had an extra day, this event will run just 48 hours). For the most part, our shooting will take place on Saturday the 1st — though given last year’s down-to-the-wire scramble to get in under deadline, I would really appreciate some additional postproduction support on Sunday (not to mention that having help there will allow us to clean things up some more, or experiment a bit).

Space on the team is naturally limited (which is my CYA way of saying I can’t promise anything), so please let me know as soon as possible if you’d like to join in. Hope to see you there!

(On a minor housekeeping note, because of some administrative changes at Blogger, we’ve had to migrate our news blog to a new address: tohubohunews.blogspot.com. You can still navigate there from the main Tohubohu site — and the old address should redirect to the new. Same great news archive, less intuitive URL.)

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“Uncertainty Principle”

Thought I’d send out a quick (and long overdue) note about our latest short film, “Uncertainty Principle,” produced as part of the 48 Hour Film Project International Shootout, and let you know about a special local screening this Saturday evening. (Nothing like giving you plenty of advance notice, eh?)

The competition itself — open to the top 100 48 Hour Film Project teams worldwide — saw 55 teams turning in finished films over the weekend of December 4–7 (we get an extra day in there to account for the need to mail the films in to the “central office”). Five local teams were in the mix — us, Integral Arts, WIT Films, DC Dogs, and Red Hat Memory.

The competition itself proved a bit unusual, as we found out Friday evening when we received our “required elements”... or, rather, when we didn’t receive them. That’s right — no required character, prop, and line, and no randomly assigned genre. All we had was a theme: The End of the World.

I’d say that we agonized for hours about what to do, but in reality we hit upon a basic idea early on (well, Robin did), and we were off and running. We were pretty limited in terms of available locations this time around, so that helped define the scope of what we were able to tackle. But thanks to a great script, a stellar cast (including John C. Bailey, Anna Coughlan, Erin Rose Coughlan, Linda Gabriel Deutsch, Belén Pifel, and Stuart Scotten), and a dedicated crew (both Saturday and Sunday were pretty exhausting shooting days), we were able to deliver a really solid entry, and one I’m personally really proud of.

Here’s the official “summary”: Dire warnings of immminent disaster have proven justified, as global destruction begins raining down from purple-hued skies. A Washington family struggles to cope with the advancing armageddon until a lone physicist proposes an unorthodox course of action.

Unfortunately, because the judging is still under way (the plan is to distribute the top 10 films commercially), we can’t post the film online, or even show you a trailer. (At the earliest, we won’t be able to show you anything until March.) But you will have one chance to see the film this weekend, along with entries from the other local teams.

There will be a special screening — a free screening, no less — of all five DC-area films at CDIA in Georgetown (where the old Foundry Theater used to be) on Saturday, January 16. The screening starts at 7:00 PM and is expected to run about an hour; the films will be followed by a filmmaker Q&A afterward (and having worked with several of these filmmakers before, let me say that they can be an entertaining bunch). This promises to be a fairly packed event — remember, these are entries from the top teams in DC — so be sure to get there early. (Directions are available at the CDIA site, and feel free to get back to me with any questions.)

Hope to see you there!