Char-Leta News

April, 2025

We've been getting some ocean footage for "Born Weird; the Song of Freddy and Betty".  We needed shots of a harbor and boats docked.  We were shooting off-and-on for about 14 days.  We also attended a film festival.  It's always fun to see what other independent filmmakers are doing.  We purchased several costumes as well as prosthetics and make-up.  Luckily the store was running a big sale, so we went crazy and  purchased 8 wigs (how can you not take advantage of a wig-sale), some blood, and some facial hair.  We are going to work really hard on getting each character to have a particular look.  Good to be home.   We will be shooting some exterior shots in May. Working on the primary set (studio apartment). It needs to look kind-of ragged, dusty  and also musical.  Stay tuned.

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March, 2025

Really starting to work on "Born Weird, the Song of Freddy and Betty" (a working title). Rough draft of script in the can. Needs to be polished. We now have 5 locations set for shooting. We are working on costumes and have at least half of them ready. We may be (or should be) getting quicker and more efficient. Hopefully it will not take 3 years to complete this movie. This month we plan to get some drone footage and some unique landscapes for settings. The movie is definitely going to be a black comedy and most certainly weird or "quirky" as we have been called in the past.  We hope to have "My High School Girlfriend, Your Wife" streaming sometime this fall. Cheers for now.

 

February, 2025

We are starting to get into gear for our next flick, "The Song of Freddy and Betty".  This will be our 7th feature.  At this point it looks like a "black comedy", most certainly a comedy. As I've said earlier, we tried drama but everyone laughed so we are sticking with comedy. We have been working on the script now for two months.  We are getting ready to shoot part of the first scene, just to see how it will look at the the location  (light, etc.). It took a little time, but we have two of the locations set. We will shoot about half of the movie in Tucson.   Hopefully we can break our record and complete a movie in two years instead of the average 3 years.  (It will probably be 5 years after saying that.) The script at this point looks like like there will be 10 unusual characters. Tons of fun. We have been doing this for 20 years and it would be great if we could get 20 more years before mandatory retirement or I croak.

 

January, 2025

A few final edits and actually re-shot half of a scene for "My High School Girlfriend, Your Wife" . Sent it off to a few film festivals. Fingers and toes crossed. We got some road footage from Phoenix to Las Vegas. We're always including a trip in our movies so if we get the chance, we shoot on the road.  Still working on the trailer. Getting closer. We are writing the script and picking costumes for "Born Weird, the Song of Freddy and Betty". A little more drama with the comedy in this movie. Hope to shoot at least one scene before the end of February. Once March gets here the rattlers are out and the first scene requires the actors to be in the bushes.

 

December, 2024

Final polish complete for "My High School Girlfriend, Your Wife". We (as we noted last month) went frame by frame and made any adjustments needed. We also focused a lot of time on audio adjustments.  This process took 3 weeks, but now the total movie is in Pro Res HQ and pretty sure it is a "done deal".   Now we are cutting a Trailer.  Stay tuned.

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November, 2024

We re-shot five lines in the desert. The first shoot had too much sunlight in some of the cuts. Took some work to match, but it looks pretty good.  Plan is to review the total movie frame by frame and make any tiny adjustments that are needed. I don't think we have ever paid so much attention to detail as we did in this movie. One more polish in December and we should be ready to submit to a few film festivals.  Fingers and toes crossed.

We have already started the screenplay for the next movie, "Born Weird, the Song of Freddy and Beatty". We have already started making the music for this flick. For Christmas, we got a new electric slider for moving-camera shots.

 

October, 2024

The movie is complete ('My High School Girlfriend, Your Wife'), at least we think it is. In the past we've always gone back into the movie and made edits, usually deleting a scene or two. I guess we'll see. The movie presently is 85 minutes long. We have been working on it almost three years.   Feels a little weird not to have some editing to do on a movie, although we still have to cut a trailer (coming soon). We've completed 2 of the 8 posters we will need for distribution.   We hope to have the movie on a streaming platform by next fall (10 months from now). You never know what people will think and it is always a little anxiety producing.

We've spent much of the past month getting shots for the next movie (on the east coast, travel shots, etc.).  Stay tuned.

 

September, 2024

Almost there. (I'm always saying, "almost there") This time I really mean we are almost there and about to wrap everything up.  Always takes longer than you think, or at least it always takes me longer than I think.  We are moving a couple of scenes around in the movie.  It is my belief (and a lot of other people) that we need a quick hook right from the beginning to get interest in the movie. Indy films are a little different than the studio films. People will hang around and see what happens if  Brad Pitt is in it.  We need something in the first sixty seconds or we could lose much of our audience.  We took a trip to the coast and got more footage of coastline, boats, bridges, etc.. Used two shots from this trip in this movie. (There is a long traveling scene).  The other footage will be available for future flicks. Stay tuned.

 

August, 2024

Getting close to finished, at least until we look at it a few times and decide to start editing out lines and scenes. Seems that it usually takes 4 or 5 months without looking at it, before we can tell if it suits us.  Presently working on the final color grade and polishing the audio. We still don't have the secondary sound effects (footsteps, crunch of potato chips, etc.) in the time line.   It's going to be weird not having a movie to work on. Almost three years of work making this movie (working on it daily).  Stay tuned.

 

July, 2024

Well July didn't go as expected. Trip to the hospital for a week which was not on the schedule.  We were thinking we should've brought the camera and got some hospital footage 😊.  Back in the groove now.  We are now adjusting volumes, doing some ADR, color grade, audio sweetening, etc... If we had to we could submit today, but it needs significantly more polishing.  We will have a trailer by the end of October and we will have our poster on IMDB.  Stay tuned.

 

JUNE, 2024

Getting closer. We have been picking up steam over the past month.  We expect to be finished by mid-August.  We've shot 90% of the close-ups for one character. We changed the character's personality slightly and got more consistent lighting.  We never know for sure how good the movie is until it gets out there and people not attached to the movie watch it.  It's always a little anxiety producing.  We are still working on audio, ADR, etc.. The movie is 95% scored.  Color grade starting in earnest.  Stay tuned.

 

.May, 2024

Still rockin'.  We expect to be done by mid August. Over the last month we have been zeroing in on the details, working on ADR, shooting cutaways, and putting in secondary audio.  We have continued to lay down the score. We will be recording vocals soon.  Movie is presently 87 minutes in length and should end up around that length. Stay tuned.

 

April, 2024

Last month we were thinking about slowing down, and this month we are speeding up.  We have been shooting the final long shots and have 90% edited into the time-line.  We also have about 90% of the music made and edited into the time-line.  We are doing ADR and working on audio sweetening, (compression, E.Q, etc., etc..)  and the color grade.  The C70 has a soft look which we like.  We plan on doing some stunt work in May. (We have some falls, bumps, etc. to shoot.) We're now shooting for an August completion with the final polish.

 

March, 2024

As mentioned below, we have been getting some footage from unique locations during March.  We also shot a very brief scene for the next flick, "The Song of Freddy and Betty".  (This title is not yet written in stone.)  We also shot some footage that we will use in "My High  School Girlfriend, Your Wife".

We have been thinking about slowing the process down a bit for this movie.  It is alwasy helpful to put the movie on the back burner for a couple of months then re-watch. Usually there is a lot of editing after doing this.    We're still going to charge ahead. We will sit on it until we are completely ready. (We always send it out too quickly.)  Working more on the score. Shooting and re-shooting some characters. I tend to do too much cutting and adding to the movie, rather than cutting and adding to the script which requires more work. We work totally different than most people. Stay tuned.

 

February, 2024

Moving in "on the kill".  Shooting for a "polish" by July.  Ninety-five percent of the movie shot and in the time-line.  Score is also 95% complete and in the timeline.  Starting to spend more time in the closet where we do ADR. We still have about 40% to go.  In March we plan on shooting two scenes for our next movie, "The Song of Freddie and Betty".  We have an opportunity to shoot in an unusual location, so we are going to take advantage. 

 

January, 2024

Getting closer to having all of the close-ups shot and edited into the timeline.  We still have a fair number of long-shots to shoot.  Presently it looks like the movie is going to be about 90 minutes.  We still have one complete scene (but only 2 pages of script) to shoot in a small apartment.  It will be a tight place to work. Scoring the movie continues to be the most fun. We score, or experiment with the score as we edit.  Keeps it interesting.  Still primarily using the acoustic guitar and keyboard.  We hope to add a little harmonica at some point.

 

December, 2023

Festivities, shooting, editing, and working on the score. We have one and a half scenes to shoot plus cutaways and long shots.  We have a ton of ADR to complete and the secondary sounds, etc.. Using both the C-100 and 1DC in the same shot. They seem to match reasonably well.  The 1DC  uses a ton of disk-space so we minimize its use (although the image is great).  We're still shooting for the goal of completion by August, 2024.  Happy New Year!

 

November, 2023

Making more music for the score. We're  mostly still using the guitar, electric guitar, keyboard and Logic. We got our drone-shot at the coast and luckily we got the cloudy day we were looking for.  Had a minor crash while landing on the beach.  No damage or injuries. Tough little drone, not even a damaged blade.  I think we are finished with the drone for this movie.  We also did a few pick-up shots while we were at the coast and shooting is complete at this location.   Also started our script for the next flick. We should start shooting in March 2024, Title: "The Song of Freddie and Beatty", a black comedy.

 

October, 2023

So far in October, we've been editing and re-shooting, editing and re-shooting. We can't seem to get some of the scenes like we want, so we re-shoot, then put it in the time-line and see if it works. One scene has now been shot 4 times. Story-telling is obviously an art and we're trying to get better.  I'm trying to focus more on details.  (I tend to see the forest but miss most of the trees.)  I think I may be getting better, but who knows.  Aleta is much better with details so I rely a lot on her.  We hope to get some more ocean-beach shots with the drone soon. We need some cloudy-day beach shots for a specific scene  (mood).  Still working on music and experimenting with different types of music for each scene.. Shooting for completion some time in early summer of 24. We will submit to Sundance as we always have and wait for the rejection 😀.

 

September, 2023

So far in September we have done a little of everything, including shooting, editing, creating the score and re-shooting scenes that had problems.  We are also working on sound sweetening to get the best audio.  The score is the most fun at this point. We are using the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and the keyboard. Maybe we will add a little harmonica soon. We don't edit like the pros suggest.  We do a little of this and a little of that which makes it more interesting.  It all washes out in the end.

 

August, 2023

Editing, editing, and editing. Some shooting but mostly nose-to-the-computer. We have started experimenting with the score by putting some music under 3 scene introductions , yada yada.  Seems like the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar go best with what we have done so far.  Aleta will be back in the saddle in 3 weeks for pick-up shots and completing a couple of scenes.  We are not going to rush this one as we usually put the movie out there for festivals etc, before it is really ready.  We are going to let it set on the "back-burner" for a couple of months then watch it again. This will probably happen next spring.  Stay tuned.

 

July, 2023

Mostly hanging out at the computer editing, making some music to use in the score, writing new lines, etc., etc..  Eighty minutes in the time-line.  Trying to polish the story and characters.  Only two scenes to shoot and it should be "in the can." Experimenting with non-linear story telling.  Stay tuned.

 

June, 2023

Still capturing more drone footage.  We can't seem to leave it alone.  Trying to not over-do it in the editing time-line.  It's easy to want to add un-needed shots just because we are impressed with them. 
We continue to shoot "My High School Girlfriend, Your Wife".  We are closing in on all of the close-ups then we have to shoot the long shots.  We almost have all of our beach shots completed.  We were shooting in very windy weather at one point with the ocean a few feet behind us.    Some of the shots 

look like hurricane-wind shots. Hopefully it looks a little more interesting.  We  now have locations in Europe, California, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina,  and Arizona.  We have more than a year-plus writing and shooting this flick.  Personally I think it's funny. I may be the only one laughing but it's for us anyway.

 

May, 2023

"Thomas A Peeper" is now streaming on 5 different platforms and a total of 10 platforms have ordered it..  AppleTV is the most recent platform to stream and we celebrate!  It is also streaming on Amazon Prime, TubiTv,  Plex Tv, Stash, and others..  Check it out if you like.

In the meantime we have been shooting "My High School Girlfriend, Your Wife" and we probably  have 80%  'in the can'.  We also have a rough edit of all the shot-footage so far.  We have been capturing some setting-shots in the snow, at the ocean, and in the desert. We have a new toy, a baby drone which  shoots 4k.. The drone footage is spectacular, at least to our  eyes although it is our first drone-footage and it doesn't take that much to impress us.  We had our first minor crash last week after a flight over snow covered mountains. We were trying to land it next to our car door (so we could  just reach over and get it without getting out of our car 😊).  We don't have that kind of skill or experience yet, but tons of fun capturing these shots.

 

April, 2023

Thomas A Peeper is now streaming on 4 different platforms. Seven platforms have ordered it and it is also streaming in several different countries.   Based on stats people are watching and enjoying it. We like for people to enjoy our movies.  It has been described as "an off-beat comedy" by at least one platform.  We can't seem to get away from "quirky" and "off-beat" 😊. I guess it's in our genes.

 

 

 

March, 2023

So far this month we have screened our movie at the Loft Cinema in Tucson.  It was anxiety producing, (always concerned about the quality of the picture and audio), but I think it was the best movie we have produced regarding overall quality. We didn't find anything to adjust and I think this is a first.  Great support, great bunch of (fun) people and a great turnout for “Thomas A Peeper”.  The overall response to this movie made us feel good as film makers (we like laughter). We’re always a little nervous before the show, but this was well worth it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this cast did an exceptional job playing their individual characters (proven by the feedback)! Great chemistry.  We greatly, greatly appreciate our fans and hopefully we will be streaming this movie soon on a platform near you.

The Kansas City Film Fest International is a great festival to attend and a great  festival for filmmakers. It takes place at the end of March. A great bargain and lots of fun. Check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February, 2023

We now have all deliverables to the distributor and the requirements were understandably thorough (first class company).   Took us more time than usual to get the materials to them due to their thoroughness. We made some tiny changes to the movie before the submission (just can't seem to leave it alone). We passed Quality Control today (the 23rd) which was a major relief.  We have our fingers and toes crossed for streaming on a platform near you.  We will screen our movie, "Thomas A Peeper"  at the Loft Cinema in Tucson on Sunday, March 5th at 6:30 PM (back on the big screen, hopefully more polished than when screened at the festivals).  The Loft is an excellent theater and they strongly support Independent Film.  We have been madly working on "My High School Girlfriend, Your wife" which is taking a lot of 'blood sweat and tears'.  There are 10 characters in this movie and I'm probably biased, but I think it's going to be a funny movie (you never know for sure).  (I have been laughing a little during the editing, but of course in my later years it may just be my geezer-brain which is easily entertained.)  We'll see what everyone else thinks in a few months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January, 2023

Some streaming platforms prefer that the  poster not have the bottle of wine (or pictures of any kind of drug usage), which is totally understandable.  They also do not want any guns pointed at anyone. All makes sense and it made us think more about the poster and the "look" we want.  It looked too much like a drama anyway and needed to be lightened up a bit.  Now a little more comedy-ish? After 17 years of doing this we are still "feeling our way around in the dark".

There has been an up-tick in views of "Private Dancer in Mom's Kitchen" since last August. More views than the previous 12 months.  Hopefully people are finding it. We're optimistic.