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!

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!

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.

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!

I’m super excited about the new cut of ROM, so much more polished than the original festival cut. A little late than anticipated, but we’re here nonetheless. And since we just got our prize money from the awesome people over at the Light Factory, hiring a consultant is imminent! Festival circuit, here we come!

Ben here. While we wait for the last few items to get wrapped up on the 2nd cut of ROM the short, and racking our brains to come up with an in-depth and thought-provoking feature, the CFC (Charlotte Film Community) invited me to tape an episode of their public TV show ‘Screentime’. I’d like to thank them for the opportunity, got to promote ROM for about 10 minutes and pimp the website as well! Should air sometime in August, so if you are in the Charlotte Area and love public TV, do we have some awesome stuff for you.

Woooo Hooooo!