July Pre-Production Update — Georg Rockall-Schmidt

This is just a quick update to let you all know about the progress we've made with Collaborator.

Since the last update we've been busy casting, and we've now cast several important roles. There are several characters left to cast, but the characters that casting was critical for have been filled. Christina and I saw dozens and dozens of digital auditions, and a smaller number of face-to-face auditions. The standard was really high, and it was a pleasure to engage so many talented actors.

The other main development, and something that had been my top priority for a little while, is that we now have studio space.

Production moves there on the 15th of July, giving me almost a full month to build the sets before shooting begins. I'll post photos of the set building as it happens / from the emergency room.

Principal photography is taking place between the 12th of August to the 23rd. There'll be quite a bit of additional photography after, but that will almost entirely consist of scenes involving only the lead, Ana, and will utilise locations that are fairly straightforward to shoot in and around. And a bridge. Possibly.

Other than that, the storyboard and lined script are now at a point where I don't feel like any more adjustments are needed. I have begun workshopping with my lead, and I'm about to finalise the production schedule.

In July I'll be building the sets and rehearsing the actors. Christina will be helping me (or really doing it for me, as I'm useless) get through the dire amount of paperwork that inevitably comes with production – getting the right release forms, getting the right location permissions, insurance coverage, travel arrangements, and so on. Oh and I haven't even begun to think about catering... oh god... will there be gluten free, will there be tang free??

I'm thinking of doing the second Kickstarter livestream either at the end of July or in the beginning of August. I'll make that announcement a couple of weeks before I do it, via Kickstarter, and again all links will be sent out through Kickstarter's messaging system.

Thanks for all your comments on the stream, blog, and elsewhere, and thanks for all your ideas and suggestions. You guys are geniuses / crazy. Of course.