I'm devastated writing this. On December 24, Brian K. Millard suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in his brainstem. He was rushed to the hospital where he was placed on life support and fell into a coma. Earlier this evening he was taken off the ventilator and passed shortly after. His mom and I were with him at the end. I've lived with Brian for the last six years, but he was far more than a roommate.
Brian and I have been in our new place for over a month now. As I suspected, we were not able to find anything that we could afford AND would work for The Gateway House. So we will definitely need to find more financing to relaunch pre-production, as we will now need to rent a location. We were able to shoot all the Bringer of Death pickups I know we needed prior to moving out
Brian and I just found out we are being forced to move. Yes, in the middle of the pandemic. The owner of the house has decided she wants to sell. Because we're renting a single-family home, we're unfortunately not protected by the eviction moratorium. On its own, moving sucks. But this is worse for us, as it has a tremendous impact on both features, The Gateway House and Bringer of Death. The reason we were
I know, I know... it's much too early for pickups! But there's always been this sequence that's bothered me all the way back to the script stage and I could never quite put my finger on why. Well, we recently watched David Fincher's new film 'Mank' and I was immediately inspired to take the sequence in a different direction... something that will be much more interesting for the story. A couple days later (today), we're
First off, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This year is a weird one, not being able to visit people. But I'm much more buoyed than I expected to be... probably because, instead of Thanksgiving, it feels a bit more like Christmas morning... I purposely haven't provided any updates over the last several months because I didn't want to jinx anything. After the demoralizing postponement of Gateway, you can't be too careful. But last night, after many
It was a rough go of it for a few weeks after postponing The Gateway House. It didn't help that Brian and I live in our primary location, which remained full of props and set dec for the shoot... a constant reminder of just how close we were. Then a couple weeks ago (few weeks ago? I really don't know... time has become meaningless in lockdown) Brian and I started brainstorming a new idea... something
Our Art Team was at our house all day yesterday painting, starting to dress the set, and building some of our more unique props. I was at a coffee shop all afternoon and evening working on the shot list. Our producers were doing... producer-y stuff. We were a day and a half away from production. Yesterday was also a big day for COVID-19. Tom Hanks tested positive. The NBA shut down its season. And several
As of this morning, we're down to one week until the beginning of production. I'm equal parts excited and terrified, overwhelmed and confident. Most of that confidence stems, from the people I've surrounded myself with... the cast and crew are all incredible, to the point where sometimes I'm not sure I even have to do anything! Hahaha. Okay, but seriously... back to
We now officially have our four leads on board! And holy hell, they're all amazingly talented! HARPER Jessica Lynn Parsons EDIE Emily Elmore MAX Ashton Solecki OLLIE Matthew
I just got off a phone call with an amazingly successful actor who would significantly raise the profile of our little film. He says he typically doesn't consider films this small, but he took a chance on the script and loved it... and especially loved the character. If we can make the logistics work, it sounds like he's in! This would be dream casting, and I'm doing everything I can to keep my excitement in