I told you that we’d have big news and here’s some. The folks over at RED have done Matt and I a fine favor by releasing the Scarlet-X camera with increased resolution and specs, making it completely viable to shoot our feature on. So, for the thousands we were staring at in renting a RED ONE with MX upgrade, we’ll own a Scarlet. Life is good.

The craziest part about filmmaking is that you never know how long it’s going to take. A lot of times I feel weird when taking to friends I haven’t talked to in a while, and they asked me what I’ve been doing. Most of the time my response is ‘Remember that feature film I was working on? Yeah, I’m still writing and building set for that, just like I was 3 months ago’. So that’s what we’ve been doing for 10 months. Writing and building set, both of which are going great. So … HOPEFULLY we will have more interesting updates in the near future.

Starting to have phone meetings on a consistent basis with Matt again. Feel like the floodgates for the script are about to open. We’ve set a goal to start shooting some scenes in Summer 2011 to start the 2-3 year process of making the film. Also submitted the short to another festival, ATLFF. Wish us luck … again.

Here’s a quote from Matt about writing script with Ben: “I keep thinking that we’re talking about the same movie, but then you write something, and I find out that we’re not …”

Gotta love writing.

Add Dallas Intl Film Festival to the submission list. I am loving WithoutABox’s Secure Online Screener option. The festival gets to see our film in HD, and no trips to the post office. BOOYAH. I’m glad the next round of festival submission deadlines isnt until Dec. Our checkbooks need a little break!

Ok guys, just a little update here. Looks like we have our times and venue. ROM will be showing as part of the Four-spotted Chaser Shorts programming block at Jengo’s Playhouse in Wilmington, NC on Friday November 12th starting at 4:30. You can view/download the full schedule at the Cucalorus website.

I plan on attending the screening and as much of Cucalorus as possible so I look forward to seeing you there!

Ben here. Yahoo. Just submitted to our first 5 major film festivals. I’m excited! SXSW, Slamdance, Seattle IFF, IFFBoston, and Ann Arbor. Starting to cross fingers and toes …. NOW. A large part of me feels like making it into any of these festivals would be like winning the lottery, but hey, winning the lottery is sweet, right? These are the first 5 ‘Tier 1′ festivals that we have submitted to, most of the rest we’ll try in the Spring. Here’s to hoping for more laurels!

Well, I don’t know THAT for sure but I can say with confidence they must have liked something about it as we have been notified that ROM has been selected to screen at this years Cucalorus Film Festival! We don’t have times for the screening yet but we do know that Cucalorus runs from November 11th – 14th in Wilmington, NC. We will let you know specific dates and times that ROM is screening the moment we know. And you can always find the latest screening dates & times on our screenings page.

Check out ROM on the film list page at Cucalorus.

Ben here. Time away. It’s a beautiful thing. And it’s exactly what the “ROM” feature needed.

After spending weeks trying to shoehorn different details and ideas from the short and our own expectations on what the feature should be, Matt and I both just let go, and had the best conversation to date about the project last Tuesday. I told Matt that this would be the conversation that we would talk about after were done making the film. The turning point. So giddy on the phone, I asked Matt “Do you feel super-awesome about this?”

Emotions. Character Arcs. Story. These are important. The details will come in time.

Well it was tight, real tight, but we managed to make the submission deadline for Cucalorus. We won’t hear back until around October or so but I feel good about our chances. We sent a rough cut since Ben is still putting the finishing touches on the final cut but if/when we are accepted to the festival we should be able to get the final cut in to replace it. I actually live in Wilmington, NC where Cucalorus is held each year but have yet to go to one so this is my excuse to finally get involved. I’ll keep you guys updated.

Find out more about Cucalorus at their website.

Ben Here. There will be an article about ROM in the Sept. edition of University City Magazine, available for free in many locations around the University Area in Charlotte, NC. Pick one up!