Harkins Premiere and Soundtrack work started

   After the Phoenix Film Festival,  Jeff was contacted by Noel Kendall, Head Buyer for Harkins Theatres. He told us that he would like to put Jake’s Corner in selected Harkins Theaters starting September 5th. We are very excited about this since Jake’s legacy is all Arizona. We couldn’t be happier than to open our theatrical release here. This will be the beginning of a slow and consistant theatrical distribution plan that will eventually see Jake’s Corner in theaters throughout the U.S.  We will have a screening of the film at Jake’s Corner on the 3rd of September.

   For those who saw Jake’s Corner at the Phoenix Film Festival you saw the new edited version. We have gone back in, smoothed the opening music, and added a couple of shots that makes the opening even more dramatic and upbeat. We also edited out more of the rough language to make our movie totally family friendly.

    We are seeking sponsors to help with the promotion of Jake’s Corner. Those interested in sponsoring Jake’s or knowledge of a company or corporation that might be an contact us via the Jake’s Corner website. www.jakescornerthemovie.com

   We have started work on the Soundtrack which we will be producing ourselves. The soundtrack will have approximately 19 tracks which will be a combination of songs from the movie and Steve Dorff’s score.

   Please email us any questions, comments, or contacts that you might have to help us get Jake’s Corner to as many people as possible.

 

Blog updates will be coming much more often and we will keep everyone posted as to what is happening with Jake’s Corner. Thanks to everyone for your continued support !

Exciting news !

 In recent news Jake’s Corner played two sold out screenings this last week at the Phoenix Film Festival.  We were greatly received with hour long Q&As after the shows.

 

   The biggest news we got out of the festival is that Jake’s Corner is going to be released in the Harkins Theaters in late August-early September!  Harkins is the largest chain of theaters in the State of Arizona

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Check out the “News” page here on our site – Fox 10 News did a TV spot on Jake’s Corner at the Festival.

 

Best,

Jeff, Holly and Tim

Sedona Film Festival follow-up!

Jake’s Corner Update – March 5, 2008

    We wanted to report to all of our friends who made the trip to Sedona, Arizona and those who were there in spirit that Jake’s Corner was the most watched film at the Festival!  In fact, Festival Officials had to turn away over 100 people who waited in line to see our film because both of our screenings sold out.

    Jake’s Corner was among the 150 films selected for this festival from over 1,500 submissions.

    We are pleased to report that through the Sedona Film Festival we made direct contacts with two very well known independent distributors, another film festival that wants Jake’s Corner in its competition and made new friends in the industry who want to help Jake’s Corner get out there to audiences at home and abroad.

    Up next we will be the Showcase Feature at the Phoenix Film Festival playing Friday Night April 4, 2008 at 7:20pm at The Harkins Scottsdale/101 Theatre 6 and repeating Tuesday Night April 8, 2008 at 9:20pm.

    In the weeks ahead we will host a special screening of Jake’s Corner in Los Angeles and Sacramento.  We have submitted our film to Cannes Film Festival for their consideration.  In the months ahead we will submit to Newport, Toronto and Telluride, among other international film festivals.

    The support we receive from YOU… our investors, families and friends is truly phenomenal and something that continues to inspire us.  The adventure has begun… thank you again for all of your support!

    – Jeff, Holly and Tim

Updates

Hello Folks -

     It has been a while, I know, but that only means there is much to share.  After wrap, the filmmakers moved from Scottsdale to Sherman Oaks (greater LA for you non SoCalites) to begin the editing process.  They teamed up with John Bryant, an editor with years of experience, to shape Jake’s Corner into the beautiful little film we know it will be.  As of this here writing, about 70 minutes of a rough cut have been etched out.  A few weeks back I was fortunate to see about 40 minutes of a rougher version (it has since been more finely tuned, I hear – that, after all, is editing).  All I can say is that I was blown away – everything looked so good, the acting was excellent, the story (which I am well familiar with) moved seemlessly, and the interest was piqued (even though, as I said, I knew what was going to happen).  Seeing this rough cut was extremely exciting, and I cannot wait to see what has been worked on since.  The next step, once the film editing is complete, is to get a proper sound mix into the picture.  The sound mix (Ken Polk is the sound mixer), it is fair to say, will do to the audio almost what the camera does to the video.  In other words, it will bring new life into the rough cut, making the rough cut not so rough and very close to the finished product.  Once that is taken care of, Jake’s will be submitted to Sundance in a month or so.  Further, Steve and Andrew Dorff have been sorting out the score and original music – it is all coming together.

     There have been numerous visitors to the editing office (myself included).  The musical Dorffs, Price Mitchum, Rich Tyson, and Paul Sanchez have dropped by, as have investors Belton Mouras Jr. and Steve Vivaldi, along with many others from the Jake’s Corner team. 

     So yes, it has been a while, but there was little for me to report until I got down here myself (yes, I too moved to greater LA).  I suppose I could have updated daily the entire editing process, but that would get old quickly, for both me and you.  Besides, anticipation and mystery are far more useful tools for promotion than mundane minutiae, right?  Right!  “Today, hours were spent to edit five more minutes of film…and I ate lunch.”  That’s how it could have been.  I’m not saying the editing process itself is boring.  No, no – I imagine it is painstaking and tiresom for those involved, though mostly quite exciting.  Writing and reading about it, on the other hand… But do expect more updates as the post production nears the end.  Like I said, it is all coming together…

     In other news, there is word that Colton has signed on to shoot a commercial in October – congrats to Colton.  Also, today is the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis.  Light a candle, have a beer, listen to “Suspicious Minds,” and say a toast to the King of Rock n Roll.  I hope life finds all of you well…

Will Comstock

That’s a Wrap

     After a very intense evening on Saturday, Sunday’s filming was of a lighter mood, making for the perfect final day of filming.  We wrapped up with Spence and Johnny inside a sports store, simple as that.  No paintball fights, jalapeno eating contests, dancing, horseshoe games, or crying – nothing difficult.  Just a nice, easy way to finish things off.  And so, that’s that.  We are now finished.

     I cannot believe how quickly this past month has gone by.  Though the work was hard and tiring, it was extremely rewarding.  The cast and crew for this film have been outstanding – truly something special (as I heard from many people).  We have been fortunate in pretty much every aspect – along with the great group making this movie, we had the people at Jake’s Corner treat us so well, the homeowners and neighbors who were so kind, the owners of the sports store yesterday…Really, pretty much everybody involved in “Jake’s” has been great.  And I have a feeling that most productions do not run so smoothly with such support from everywhere.  Now we move on to the editing process, which is one step closer to the finished product (which I am very excited about).  We will keep you all posted on how things are going – please keep checking in.  As I’ve already said, new additions to the website will be happening constantly and I’ll be writing blogs and such frequently (though not as often as I have been). 

     Tonight we get together for our wrap party.  No lighting to set up, lines to remember, cameras to place – nothing of that sort.  We get to relax and unwind.  Alright – that’s it for now.  I’ve got to get ready for the party…

Will Comstock

Days 21 & 22

     We are filming at a house just down the street here in Scottsdale.  The residents of the neighborhood have all come by to take a peak at this production.  It is amazing to me how nice these people are to let us come in with our trucks and trailers and disturb their lives.  We are fortunate to have such good people who are willing to let us use their street for a few days.  And it could be worse for them, too.  I remember a few years back in Sacramento (where I’m from), a few blocks of our neighborhood were used for a fairly large budgeted movie.  The problem was that the production crew needed a snowy environment, and it doesn’t snow in Sactown.  So, they covered a few blocks in fake snow for at least over a week.  That had to cost a fortune!  It was strange driving by, too, because it looked so real. 

     Yesterday was Colton’s real birthday, so we got him some cake (which I think the rest of the crew was more excited about) with trick candles that didn’t go out.  That’s always a fun thing to watch.  But I hand it to Colton – he kept on trying and trying to blow them out.  He’s not a quitter, that’s for sure.  Today calls for the most difficult emotional scene between Spence and Johnny.  I prefer to not be around for these situations – I feel that the fewer people there, the better.  It is easier for the actors to focus for scenes like this when the set is quiet and the distractions absent.  But only for these emotional scenes – for everything else, I have no problem being a distraction! 

     Keep checking out the website and the MySpace pages – there will be additions and new things to come, constantly.  Just because filming is wrapping up doesn’t mean we’ll start slacking.  Quite the opposite, I promise.  Keep spreading the word – every bit helps for an indie film like ours.  

Will Comstock 

Day 20

     I believe I mentioned in the previous blog that day 2o’s location was a hospital.  Well, it was the best hospital visit I’ve ever had.  For once I didn’t come away with a cast or scars or anything like that.  Great success.  For the first half of the day, we shot mostly outside by the entrance and in the parking lot.  The temperature was surprisingly mild, just over 90, I think.  It easily could have been 20 degrees hotter which would have been miserable.  Very fortunate.

     After lunch we moved inside the hospital.  Their top floor is under construction, so our  set designers were able to put together a room (with its own Jack Daniels I.V. drip) and a reception area.  This is where I left the crew, my intuition guiding me.  I hear the final shots were downstairs in the morgue.  Yep, a real morgue with real bodies and parts.  Of course, for sound purposes, the “cooler” had to be turned off…I’m just happy I picked the right time to leave, that’s all.   But everything went great, despite the creepiness factor at the end of the day.

     So, we have just a few more days of filming.  These are the days when the focus can stray – it’s easy to overlook the last few days with the end of production so near.  Further, the entire process is very tiring, both physically and mentally.  Yet, here we are, going as hard at it as ever before – coming through in the end like Joe Montana.  This really has been a great group of people to work with – hard working and skilled, to say the least.  It’s going to be fun to relax with them on Monday, at our wrap party, but we still have a little more work to do…

Will Comstock

Day 19

     Our last day here in Payson went quite well, despite the gusts of wind that made for a rather chilly morning.  We shot footage at a funeral home (respectfully) and wrapped up a scene we tried to sort out on Saturday night.  This scene originally was being done at Jake’s, at night, in the cabin of Wheels’ grounded semi.  Yet, there was a biblical infestation of insects that evening, which ruined everyone’s desire to be outdoors at that moment.  So, today, we fit it into the schedule, and thus was Rocco’s last day on set.  There is still much to be done down the hill in the next few days, but the last day of production is right around the corner.  Which is good, because I really am excited about seeing the finished product.

     The second half of yesterday, though the filming went great, was about a surprise birthday present we got for Colton.  His birthday is coming up here really soon, and he’s been asking around what we were going to do for him.  “Nothing,” was a typical response (ha!), although more common was, “it’s gonna be a surprise.”  So, a few days before his real birthday, we really did surprise him by giving him his very own pug puppy.  Aren’t we great?!  It was really fun to watch the look on his face – he’s been talking about this for a while now, and now he’s got it.  Cutest little pup around.  He named it Spence…

     Okie dokes, folks.  I am off to Scottsdale.  See you later…

Will Comstock   

Days 17 & 18

     So yesterday we wrapped up filming at Jake’s Corner, at least in and around the bar area.  We have one more thing to catch on Tuesday, but that shouldn’t take too long.  So, yeah, that’s that for the bar.  Enough cannot be said about the people at Jake’s – they welcomed us (a big task considering the disruptions a movie crew can cause) and made us feel at home.  Jake’s is truly a special, one-of-a-kind place that should be visited by everyone at least once.  I think I speak for the entire crew in saying thank you very much, Jake’s Corner.

     We are working today up here in Payson.  It is amazing to think that we have only one more week left of filming.  Things have gone by so quickly, though the first day of filming seems so long ago.  I’m sure I’ve said something along those lines before, but it’s worth repeating!  With the end so near comes excitement and a bit of sadness.  The excitement, obviously, is wrapping up filming and getting “Jake’s” closer to the final product (the overall goal).  Yet the sadness is that these are the last days for most of the cast, and soon we’ll all be off in different directions, away from Jake’s.  But there will be parties and get togethers where we will be able to share the stories that have taken place over the past few weeks here.  So, there will always be “Jake’s.”  My word, I’m getting a bit sappy here.  I’ll stop now.

     Well, we have tomorrow off, so I probably won’t be blogging.  Do keep checking out the website – new pictures should be up soon…

Will Comstock

Day 16

     A couple long days and nights here as we try to catch up on our rain delay from two Saturdays ago.  This on top of some of the more difficult scenes to coordinate while we are getting ready to wrap up filming at Jake’s.  Soon, we will be off to the Valley, and then, in just over a week, we should be done with filming.  Wow.  There is still so much to do, but looking back at all that we’ve done is pretty amazing.  And I hear that today is Friday – the first day of June, no less.  Imagine that.

     Today’s first brief scene called for Johnny (Rich) to ride up to Jake’s on his Harley.  So, we closed off the road and made sure Rich had as much room as possible to operate his vehichle.  He is the lead, after all, and so we pampered him the best we could – cops blocking off the highway and such.  Actually, Rich has been out practicing this past week and therefore was able to pass pretty well as someone who knew what he was doing.  Seriously, the scene looked great, and Rich looked like a natural.  Nobody will be able to tell that he really lives in Malibu…Ha!  I kid, I kid.

     Our next scene is definitely our most action packed – involving paint guns and a brief chase.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say it has been difficult to orchestrate – people running, falling on the ground, etc.  Heck, poor Tex even cut up his leg a bit and ripped his jeans.  But that proves how dedicated he is to his craft.  And Sanel, from Bosnia, takes a pellet from an actor with Serbian blood!  Only in America, folks.  Anyhow, though demanding, this scene has been really fun to shoot (probably just fun for those who get to watch), and is going to look great.  Paul was out there with his hand held camera, running around with the actors, to give those of us watching the feeling that we too are apart of the action. 

     So yeah, we’re keeping quite busy here but still having a great time…

Will Comstock