News & Updates
This is where we'll be posting general news, release dates, etc. For screenings or conventions, hit the Screenings/Events tab above.
7/25/21 - MYSTERY SPOT is premiering at FrightFest and we couldn't be happier! More info can be found here. Also, IMAGO aka IN THE BLOOD is now being released as DARK RITUAL via Summer Hill Films. End of summer 2021 will be apparently be a pretty busy time for us. No complaints here.
2/20/2020 - See below! Still terrible at this update stuff. We're screening IN THE BLOOD in April to benefit our friend Katelynn. After that we are doing the World Premiere in May, with several more screenings to follow. We are wrapping up MYSTERY SPOT right now and can not wait to show it to everyone. Stay tuned...2020 is going to be pretty crazy for Upstart.
2019 - We did a video for Gameface that you can check out here. We also shot a movie (MYSTERY SPOT) and finished another one (IN THE BLOOD, formerly known as IMAGO). Crazy! Both of them should be headed into your eyeballs sometime in 2020. Many many thanks to all the support and co-conspirators on both.
6/21/17 - Clearly, I am terrible at this update stuff. Anyway, lots of movies are in the rearview - The Grounds, Sequence Break, Starf**ker, and a few others...Upstart had a hand in all of them. Sequence Break is slated to have its International premiere this summer. The rest are on the way. Click on the links above for more info on each of them!
On the "Upstart Turnkey Production Front", we recently completed production on five videos for our friend Jeff Caudill's latest EP, "Reset The Sun". Jeff is most known as the lead singer of Gameface, but he also does key art for the entertainment industry...stuff like Deadpool, Harry Potter, Lego Movie, etc. (Click here to check out an episode of the BLTD podcast where we talk about all of that as well as production of the aforementioned videos!)
The videos are now all live and available to watch here on Jeff's YouTube page. You can also check them out on the Upstart "Video/Audio" page. Give them a watch if you can...they mean a lot to us, and mark an important milestone on the Upstart timeline.
12/30/15 - Let's see...we started a podcast, Placeholders has gone live on two platforms (Hoopla and FilmOn) with more to follow, and Clinger is still making its VOD run! Clinger also made a few year end lists - check them out here and here. And it will be hitting video in the UK in February. Oi Oi Oi!
Been working on a few other things aside from that - keep an eye out for announcements over the first few months of 2016. Working on a few things - Wicked Tricks, Black Summer, Mystery Spot... best bet is to watch the Twitter feed, the Facebook pages, or listen to the podcast for the most up to date info. Lots happening.
9/15/15 - Biggest news right now is that Clinger hits selected theaters and VOD on October 23rd! So make sure you head out and take all your friends! It's getting pretty good notices from all over...check out the Press page for a small selection of them!
Aside from that we gave crowdfunding another try for 30 TO 45...sadly, that didn't work, but it's led us to a couple of other things! Stay tuned for that - it's kinda turned into two movies now. Similar to Desperation and The Regulators, I guess.
And of course, Placeholders starts it's rollout over the next few months. Look for links here shortly as our outlets go live!
2/4/15 - Not quite a year has passed (sorry) but lots has happened. Let's see...Clinger made it's World Premiere at Slamdance this past January, and it was a crazy experience for all concerned. Ripples are still being felt. More on that as it develops. While there, of course, Chris and I got to experience Dances both Slam and Sun, and that was crazy too. Saw both Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Edgar "Cornetto" Wright within the space of 5 minutes. The Clinger press coming out of the fest has been pretty heavy...I'll try and keep up with the links on the Press page, but give me some time to catch up.
More importantly, we hit Sundance/Slamdance directly AFTER wrapping a new project - Cold Descent. Written/directed by the Clinger gang, produced by new homeboy Yousef Abu-Taleb (who also came up with the initial story), and lensed entirely in L.A., the film is a Old West period piece with a dash of horror and creepiness. Tony Todd, Michael Eklund, Lance Henriksen, and Richard Riehle joined us for that dark ride, along with some other Clinger alums, including Jennifer Laporte and Julia Aks. While not an Upstart production per se, it definitely had a pretty hefty dose of our formula with Chris as 1st A.D, me as Line Producer, and Timmy (Will Spanner, class of WC13) Robes on scripty.
Cold Descent was crucial in that it laid the groundwork for the next step, groundwork which we already exploiting to the fullest. Look for lots of news from the Upstart camp in the next few months....uh, don't exactly trust me to get it up here immediately....but if you make sure to connect to the social media outlets up top, you should be relatively up to date.
However, a quick smattering of news:
Imago is currently being remastered with some new/additional Visual FX courtesy of the team that worked on a couple Hatchets, Frozen, and The Barrens. We are excited to see what the film becomes. We also know that at this point, it's time to give it a new name. More on that soon. Or maybe we'll just put it out and let you discover it by accident, the way some folks didn't realize Psychic Experiment was Walking Distance. Ha!
Placeholders is about ready to go. Sending it off shortly and then we should have air dates.
We've also picked up TWO new comedy TV series. Can't divulge much on either yet, but they are both similar enough yet different enough from Placeholders to really diversify the Upstart roster. Very excited about our new TV production pipeline. Who saw that coming? Not us.
Stay tuned!
4/3/14 - Lots going on here at Upstart HQ. Imago has another screening in May, with more in the works. Check the screenings page for details and updates. The trailer for Clinger has debuted, and we are getting some great responses already. Finally, Spavine is headed towards a World Premiere in May. Click back to the home page for info on all of the above and links to even MORE info on all of the above. In addition, we are still working on the Placeholders syndication deliverables...currently we are in the closed captioning phase. More details as they solidify on that front. Anyway, yeah...it's crazy busy. I haven't even mentioned the "in-the-works" stuff yet. But I will...soon enough.
11/16/13 - The Imago World Premiere at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival went extremely well! We discovered that we have lots of Upstart fans in that part of the country! Who knew? More screenings in the works! And have you checked out the new Placeholders site? Syndication info to go up there very soon!
10/29/13 - Imago has been announced as an official selection of the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival! This marks the World Premiere of the film, with more screenings to follow. More stuff in the works as well! And have you checked out the new Placeholders site?
2/2/13 - Slacking again, of course. Blame fatherhood. Anyway, let's cut to the chase:
Psychic Experiment is now out in Japan, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia, (in addition to US, Canada, UK). The film is also currently airing on FearNET (both via VOD and the terrestrial channel - check the page here for info), so that's pretty awesome. Thanks to our sales reps, distribs, and FearNET for keeping the ball rolling. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
Closet Space - Still need someone to translate the box art and insert for me. CS is also still running in syndication across the US. If you catch it, let us know!
Imago is about 2-3 weeks away from final mix. Get ready for us to unleash this one on the world. Can't wait.
Placeholders is going to start airing in syndication across the US in the Summer. Yes you read that right, and yes that means we are making more. Pretty exciting....and a chance to trot out some real "legacy" Upstart material. Stay tuned for details...
Soon, A Light On is STILL in that really annoying phase where a lot is going on, but we can't say s#%t about any of it just yet. I can tell you we have had a really badass big time producer join us...and now he's got the script in the hands of a few HUGE actors. Just waiting on that greenlight now. Shouldn't be long. Gonna be a wild ride - easily our biggest project to date.
Aside from that there's other little stuff here and there, but those are the biggies. More soon (actually soon this time, I promise).
- Mel
10/9/12 - Been a while, long enough to have a kid! Regan Christine House (currently 2 months old) is the newest addition to the Upstart family. Obviously this explains part of why it's been kind of quiet on the news front. The other part is that, well, we are just in the not-very-exciting-on-the-outside stages on several projects. To wit:
Psychic Experiment is out in the US, Canada, UK, and soon to be Thailand and Saudi Arabia. That's going pretty well...and I suspect after MIPCOM we might have more territories to add.
Closet Space came out in Japan last month under the title Aliengate. Still need someone to translate the box art and insert for me. CS was also re-released stateside last month as part of the "Extreme Monsters 8 Pack".
Imago is still in post, but about 95% done. Our VFX guys are really kicking ass, so it's going to be worth the wait, trust me. Stay tuned on that front.
Placeholders did really well on the first go-round, and we are ramping up for a second season. Here's a Kickstarter campaign to help us get started. Help us out if you can.
Soon, A Light On is currently in that really annoying phase where a lot is going on, but we can't say s#%t about any of it just yet. Stay tuned...it won't be much longer.
Aside from that there's scripts being commissioned for sale, and movie opportunities in the UK that have cropped up for 2013, so expect to hear about that stuff more in detail as well. As always, thanks for the support.
- Mel
1/21/12 - Lots to catch up on...Psychic Experiment is out and available everywhere, including big box retailers, online vendors, rental outlets and video on demand outlets. Check it out if you haven't already...the numbers have been great thus far! Foreign release details are in the works now. Keep your eye on this space for more info. Also, Imago is in the throes of post-production and things are chugging right along. Details soon on that front. And finally, Placeholders is officially live! Check the page for more info! More soon...(hopefully sooner than before) :)
- Mel
9/22/11 - We can finally announce the Psychic Experiment release date! The film will street on December 6, 2011, and will be available simultaneously on DVD, VOD, and digital download. Check Fangoria.com for the official press release! And thanks to everyone for their support!
- Mel
11/22/10 - We are stoked to finally be able to announce that Walking Distance will be a Lionsgate release! Fangoria has the details right here. To elaborate even further - the Psychic Experiment release will be a 94 minute edit (still done by me) as opposed to the original 118 minute running time of the Distance cut. There has been talk of releasing the original "director's cut" down the line, but it's not set in stone. If and when that does happen, we're not sure if it will retain the original title, or still be Psychic Experiment - that's all stuff we'll be hammering out over the next few weeks. We're trying to make the release(s) as definitive as possible, however, so look for lots of cool extras. One thing that we are pretty sure of is that the Experimental Activity title is a thing of the past.
In conjunction with our releasing that news, Lee Stranahan put up an interview I did with him over on VFXFilmmaker.com. Click the link to check it out - it's actually one of my favorite interviews that I've done.
Thanks to all that supported us - this is truly the high point of our crazy 14 year filmmaking journey thus far. Stay tuned...much more is on the way, from Distance/Experiment, to Imago...to a little movie that we're shooting in January...
- Mel
11/21/10 - In anticipation of some HUGE news tomorrow on the Walking Distance front, we've updated our Press page with the most recent write-ups. Check 'em out if you haven't already - folks are saying some really kickass stuff about Distance (and Space). Also of note - Lee Stranahan has formally invited me to take part in the Texas edition of his Horror Film Bootcamp. It's taking place in Dallas in March...keep your eye on the official website for details. That's gonna be fun.
Tomorrow, everything changes. See you then!
10/20/10 - Make sure you keep an eye on the Screenings/Events page. We're adding screenings of Walking Distance, Closet Space, and The Guest like crazy. Chances are they'll be relatively close to you soon.
10/16/10 - Welcome to Upstart's new online home. We have a feeling that even THIS layout may be temporary as we evolve over the next year, but in the meantime we needed something simple and easily updated...because there's a lot going on. Let's get to that, shall we?
- Closet Space has a few more screenings lined up for the fall - Boston's Killer Film Fest, and at least two more that we can't mention quite yet, but have been confirmed by our distributor (cough, Midwest, cough). Check out the Screening page for details as we are able to update them. And if you haven't gotten your copy yet, you can do so at Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble...or directly from us at the Closet Space website.
- Walking Distance also has a few more screenings coming up - Blood Bath 2: The Film Festival (with Reggie Bannister and Debbie Rochon in attendance), the Hallowscreen Film Festival in Sarasota, FL, and another big one that's been confirmed but I'm waiting for them to make the formal announcement. Plus, a few other surprises - so keep your eye on the Screening page. We also are pretty close to figuring out our release strategy - trust me, we're eager to wrap it up, too. News on that front soon...hopefully even announceable at Blood Bath 2.
- The Guest is a short film that I helped produce for my new cinematic buddy Bryan Ryan. We shot it in Los Angeles area in the summer of 2010. Bryan wrote and directed, and the D.P. was the amazing Will Barratt (Hatchet I & II, Frozen, Spiral). It's started doing the festival rounds and so far has played at L.A. Shriekfest. Upcoming screenings include Blood Bath 2 in Dallas, and the Horror Society Film Festival in Chicago. I don't normally do shorts, but this one enabled us to get a couple of other things going. More on that in a second. Check out the excerpt from The Guest in the Video section.
- Imago is deep in post-production - VFX, sound design, color correction, etc. We've heard some of the score and it's freaking great....actually about to drop the first 25 minutes or so in right now. Our guess would be a spring 2011 premiere. That sounds familiar. Meanwhile...
- Untitled Bryan Ryan/Mel House Project is something that kind of popped up out of nowhere. We plan to shoot this one in December near Austin. Bryan is directing, I'm producing, and we're both working on the story and script. Look for more concrete announcements in the next few weeks - if we land the cast on this one that we want...wow. It's going to be another fun yet dorky experience for us horror nerds. At least we're shooting in the winter this time. And we should have a title shortly.
- Soon, A Light On is the next project that I plan on writing/directing. This is the project formerly known as "The Ghost Movie" or even "Caught Breathing" if you go back far enough. Script is nearly done, currently working on attaching talent and financing. If everything goes like I want it to, THIS cast is really going to be mind-blowing. The whole movie will be both simpler and yet at the same time way more complicated than anything we've done before. It's definitely planned to be the "next step up". Very excited. Trying to shoot this one in Spring 2011 before it gets soul-crushingly hot.
So...that's about it for right now, at least until some other things solidify. However, I'm sure the above will keep us busy until then.
- Mel
2/20/2020 - See below! Still terrible at this update stuff. We're screening IN THE BLOOD in April to benefit our friend Katelynn. After that we are doing the World Premiere in May, with several more screenings to follow. We are wrapping up MYSTERY SPOT right now and can not wait to show it to everyone. Stay tuned...2020 is going to be pretty crazy for Upstart.
2019 - We did a video for Gameface that you can check out here. We also shot a movie (MYSTERY SPOT) and finished another one (IN THE BLOOD, formerly known as IMAGO). Crazy! Both of them should be headed into your eyeballs sometime in 2020. Many many thanks to all the support and co-conspirators on both.
6/21/17 - Clearly, I am terrible at this update stuff. Anyway, lots of movies are in the rearview - The Grounds, Sequence Break, Starf**ker, and a few others...Upstart had a hand in all of them. Sequence Break is slated to have its International premiere this summer. The rest are on the way. Click on the links above for more info on each of them!
On the "Upstart Turnkey Production Front", we recently completed production on five videos for our friend Jeff Caudill's latest EP, "Reset The Sun". Jeff is most known as the lead singer of Gameface, but he also does key art for the entertainment industry...stuff like Deadpool, Harry Potter, Lego Movie, etc. (Click here to check out an episode of the BLTD podcast where we talk about all of that as well as production of the aforementioned videos!)
The videos are now all live and available to watch here on Jeff's YouTube page. You can also check them out on the Upstart "Video/Audio" page. Give them a watch if you can...they mean a lot to us, and mark an important milestone on the Upstart timeline.
12/30/15 - Let's see...we started a podcast, Placeholders has gone live on two platforms (Hoopla and FilmOn) with more to follow, and Clinger is still making its VOD run! Clinger also made a few year end lists - check them out here and here. And it will be hitting video in the UK in February. Oi Oi Oi!
Been working on a few other things aside from that - keep an eye out for announcements over the first few months of 2016. Working on a few things - Wicked Tricks, Black Summer, Mystery Spot... best bet is to watch the Twitter feed, the Facebook pages, or listen to the podcast for the most up to date info. Lots happening.
9/15/15 - Biggest news right now is that Clinger hits selected theaters and VOD on October 23rd! So make sure you head out and take all your friends! It's getting pretty good notices from all over...check out the Press page for a small selection of them!
Aside from that we gave crowdfunding another try for 30 TO 45...sadly, that didn't work, but it's led us to a couple of other things! Stay tuned for that - it's kinda turned into two movies now. Similar to Desperation and The Regulators, I guess.
And of course, Placeholders starts it's rollout over the next few months. Look for links here shortly as our outlets go live!
2/4/15 - Not quite a year has passed (sorry) but lots has happened. Let's see...Clinger made it's World Premiere at Slamdance this past January, and it was a crazy experience for all concerned. Ripples are still being felt. More on that as it develops. While there, of course, Chris and I got to experience Dances both Slam and Sun, and that was crazy too. Saw both Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Edgar "Cornetto" Wright within the space of 5 minutes. The Clinger press coming out of the fest has been pretty heavy...I'll try and keep up with the links on the Press page, but give me some time to catch up.
More importantly, we hit Sundance/Slamdance directly AFTER wrapping a new project - Cold Descent. Written/directed by the Clinger gang, produced by new homeboy Yousef Abu-Taleb (who also came up with the initial story), and lensed entirely in L.A., the film is a Old West period piece with a dash of horror and creepiness. Tony Todd, Michael Eklund, Lance Henriksen, and Richard Riehle joined us for that dark ride, along with some other Clinger alums, including Jennifer Laporte and Julia Aks. While not an Upstart production per se, it definitely had a pretty hefty dose of our formula with Chris as 1st A.D, me as Line Producer, and Timmy (Will Spanner, class of WC13) Robes on scripty.
Cold Descent was crucial in that it laid the groundwork for the next step, groundwork which we already exploiting to the fullest. Look for lots of news from the Upstart camp in the next few months....uh, don't exactly trust me to get it up here immediately....but if you make sure to connect to the social media outlets up top, you should be relatively up to date.
However, a quick smattering of news:
Imago is currently being remastered with some new/additional Visual FX courtesy of the team that worked on a couple Hatchets, Frozen, and The Barrens. We are excited to see what the film becomes. We also know that at this point, it's time to give it a new name. More on that soon. Or maybe we'll just put it out and let you discover it by accident, the way some folks didn't realize Psychic Experiment was Walking Distance. Ha!
Placeholders is about ready to go. Sending it off shortly and then we should have air dates.
We've also picked up TWO new comedy TV series. Can't divulge much on either yet, but they are both similar enough yet different enough from Placeholders to really diversify the Upstart roster. Very excited about our new TV production pipeline. Who saw that coming? Not us.
Stay tuned!
4/3/14 - Lots going on here at Upstart HQ. Imago has another screening in May, with more in the works. Check the screenings page for details and updates. The trailer for Clinger has debuted, and we are getting some great responses already. Finally, Spavine is headed towards a World Premiere in May. Click back to the home page for info on all of the above and links to even MORE info on all of the above. In addition, we are still working on the Placeholders syndication deliverables...currently we are in the closed captioning phase. More details as they solidify on that front. Anyway, yeah...it's crazy busy. I haven't even mentioned the "in-the-works" stuff yet. But I will...soon enough.
11/16/13 - The Imago World Premiere at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival went extremely well! We discovered that we have lots of Upstart fans in that part of the country! Who knew? More screenings in the works! And have you checked out the new Placeholders site? Syndication info to go up there very soon!
10/29/13 - Imago has been announced as an official selection of the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival! This marks the World Premiere of the film, with more screenings to follow. More stuff in the works as well! And have you checked out the new Placeholders site?
2/2/13 - Slacking again, of course. Blame fatherhood. Anyway, let's cut to the chase:
Psychic Experiment is now out in Japan, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia, (in addition to US, Canada, UK). The film is also currently airing on FearNET (both via VOD and the terrestrial channel - check the page here for info), so that's pretty awesome. Thanks to our sales reps, distribs, and FearNET for keeping the ball rolling. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
Closet Space - Still need someone to translate the box art and insert for me. CS is also still running in syndication across the US. If you catch it, let us know!
Imago is about 2-3 weeks away from final mix. Get ready for us to unleash this one on the world. Can't wait.
Placeholders is going to start airing in syndication across the US in the Summer. Yes you read that right, and yes that means we are making more. Pretty exciting....and a chance to trot out some real "legacy" Upstart material. Stay tuned for details...
Soon, A Light On is STILL in that really annoying phase where a lot is going on, but we can't say s#%t about any of it just yet. I can tell you we have had a really badass big time producer join us...and now he's got the script in the hands of a few HUGE actors. Just waiting on that greenlight now. Shouldn't be long. Gonna be a wild ride - easily our biggest project to date.
Aside from that there's other little stuff here and there, but those are the biggies. More soon (actually soon this time, I promise).
- Mel
10/9/12 - Been a while, long enough to have a kid! Regan Christine House (currently 2 months old) is the newest addition to the Upstart family. Obviously this explains part of why it's been kind of quiet on the news front. The other part is that, well, we are just in the not-very-exciting-on-the-outside stages on several projects. To wit:
Psychic Experiment is out in the US, Canada, UK, and soon to be Thailand and Saudi Arabia. That's going pretty well...and I suspect after MIPCOM we might have more territories to add.
Closet Space came out in Japan last month under the title Aliengate. Still need someone to translate the box art and insert for me. CS was also re-released stateside last month as part of the "Extreme Monsters 8 Pack".
Imago is still in post, but about 95% done. Our VFX guys are really kicking ass, so it's going to be worth the wait, trust me. Stay tuned on that front.
Placeholders did really well on the first go-round, and we are ramping up for a second season. Here's a Kickstarter campaign to help us get started. Help us out if you can.
Soon, A Light On is currently in that really annoying phase where a lot is going on, but we can't say s#%t about any of it just yet. Stay tuned...it won't be much longer.
Aside from that there's scripts being commissioned for sale, and movie opportunities in the UK that have cropped up for 2013, so expect to hear about that stuff more in detail as well. As always, thanks for the support.
- Mel
1/21/12 - Lots to catch up on...Psychic Experiment is out and available everywhere, including big box retailers, online vendors, rental outlets and video on demand outlets. Check it out if you haven't already...the numbers have been great thus far! Foreign release details are in the works now. Keep your eye on this space for more info. Also, Imago is in the throes of post-production and things are chugging right along. Details soon on that front. And finally, Placeholders is officially live! Check the page for more info! More soon...(hopefully sooner than before) :)
- Mel
9/22/11 - We can finally announce the Psychic Experiment release date! The film will street on December 6, 2011, and will be available simultaneously on DVD, VOD, and digital download. Check Fangoria.com for the official press release! And thanks to everyone for their support!
- Mel
11/22/10 - We are stoked to finally be able to announce that Walking Distance will be a Lionsgate release! Fangoria has the details right here. To elaborate even further - the Psychic Experiment release will be a 94 minute edit (still done by me) as opposed to the original 118 minute running time of the Distance cut. There has been talk of releasing the original "director's cut" down the line, but it's not set in stone. If and when that does happen, we're not sure if it will retain the original title, or still be Psychic Experiment - that's all stuff we'll be hammering out over the next few weeks. We're trying to make the release(s) as definitive as possible, however, so look for lots of cool extras. One thing that we are pretty sure of is that the Experimental Activity title is a thing of the past.
In conjunction with our releasing that news, Lee Stranahan put up an interview I did with him over on VFXFilmmaker.com. Click the link to check it out - it's actually one of my favorite interviews that I've done.
Thanks to all that supported us - this is truly the high point of our crazy 14 year filmmaking journey thus far. Stay tuned...much more is on the way, from Distance/Experiment, to Imago...to a little movie that we're shooting in January...
- Mel
11/21/10 - In anticipation of some HUGE news tomorrow on the Walking Distance front, we've updated our Press page with the most recent write-ups. Check 'em out if you haven't already - folks are saying some really kickass stuff about Distance (and Space). Also of note - Lee Stranahan has formally invited me to take part in the Texas edition of his Horror Film Bootcamp. It's taking place in Dallas in March...keep your eye on the official website for details. That's gonna be fun.
Tomorrow, everything changes. See you then!
10/20/10 - Make sure you keep an eye on the Screenings/Events page. We're adding screenings of Walking Distance, Closet Space, and The Guest like crazy. Chances are they'll be relatively close to you soon.
10/16/10 - Welcome to Upstart's new online home. We have a feeling that even THIS layout may be temporary as we evolve over the next year, but in the meantime we needed something simple and easily updated...because there's a lot going on. Let's get to that, shall we?
- Closet Space has a few more screenings lined up for the fall - Boston's Killer Film Fest, and at least two more that we can't mention quite yet, but have been confirmed by our distributor (cough, Midwest, cough). Check out the Screening page for details as we are able to update them. And if you haven't gotten your copy yet, you can do so at Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble...or directly from us at the Closet Space website.
- Walking Distance also has a few more screenings coming up - Blood Bath 2: The Film Festival (with Reggie Bannister and Debbie Rochon in attendance), the Hallowscreen Film Festival in Sarasota, FL, and another big one that's been confirmed but I'm waiting for them to make the formal announcement. Plus, a few other surprises - so keep your eye on the Screening page. We also are pretty close to figuring out our release strategy - trust me, we're eager to wrap it up, too. News on that front soon...hopefully even announceable at Blood Bath 2.
- The Guest is a short film that I helped produce for my new cinematic buddy Bryan Ryan. We shot it in Los Angeles area in the summer of 2010. Bryan wrote and directed, and the D.P. was the amazing Will Barratt (Hatchet I & II, Frozen, Spiral). It's started doing the festival rounds and so far has played at L.A. Shriekfest. Upcoming screenings include Blood Bath 2 in Dallas, and the Horror Society Film Festival in Chicago. I don't normally do shorts, but this one enabled us to get a couple of other things going. More on that in a second. Check out the excerpt from The Guest in the Video section.
- Imago is deep in post-production - VFX, sound design, color correction, etc. We've heard some of the score and it's freaking great....actually about to drop the first 25 minutes or so in right now. Our guess would be a spring 2011 premiere. That sounds familiar. Meanwhile...
- Untitled Bryan Ryan/Mel House Project is something that kind of popped up out of nowhere. We plan to shoot this one in December near Austin. Bryan is directing, I'm producing, and we're both working on the story and script. Look for more concrete announcements in the next few weeks - if we land the cast on this one that we want...wow. It's going to be another fun yet dorky experience for us horror nerds. At least we're shooting in the winter this time. And we should have a title shortly.
- Soon, A Light On is the next project that I plan on writing/directing. This is the project formerly known as "The Ghost Movie" or even "Caught Breathing" if you go back far enough. Script is nearly done, currently working on attaching talent and financing. If everything goes like I want it to, THIS cast is really going to be mind-blowing. The whole movie will be both simpler and yet at the same time way more complicated than anything we've done before. It's definitely planned to be the "next step up". Very excited. Trying to shoot this one in Spring 2011 before it gets soul-crushingly hot.
So...that's about it for right now, at least until some other things solidify. However, I'm sure the above will keep us busy until then.
- Mel