MovieBank Confidential

Live Blogging "Way of the Dolphin"

To Everyone,
We're back in pre-production for the final days of shooting of Way of the Dolphin in Los Angeles, so pls go to "WayoftheDolphinBlog.com" for updates.  I'm blogging there every day during pre-production and production. 
Michael Sellers

WeEarth In Context

Here is a written version of a recent briefing on WeEarth we provided to some visiting investors.  It covers the history of the project, it's current status, and plans going forward. 

Initial Planning:  Oct 2007 thru Jan 2008

This was the initial phase where we knew we wanted to establish an environmentally themed web presence, but had many, many decisions to make.  What would be the name of the site? What would be the features?  The unique selling proposition?  What would make it different, and "sticky"?  During this phase we came up with and bought (at auction) the name WeEarth.com after testing the name thoroughly to ensure that it really has the potential we think it has.   We decided on a model that has a unique blend of three elements:  social network, social e-commerce, and information portal.  And we committed to use the name "WeEarth", which we tested in various ways and were convinced can become a great brand if we roll it out effectively.

Graphic Design:  March 2008

During this phase we worked out the graphic look of the site -- essentially creating a "dummy" of how we would like it to look and what we would like it to do.  We worked with various consultants and designers, but our key team was the group from Stir Communications.  By the end of this phase we had worked out our 'look' and basic functionality.  Also, during this period in order to get a jump on the editorial aspect -- articles and blogging -- we operated a temporary blogsite that gave us the opportunity to get those systems up and running. 

Website Development/Coding:  April-June 2008 (and continuing during test phase)

During this phase we hired the design team to actually put together the working site based on the design created in March.  By the end of April we had put an initial version of the site on the web ... so at that point we "went live" on the web but it is very important to understand the difference between "going live" on the web and the actual "launch", which comes much later.  "Going live" means that the site exists on the internet and users can go there.  But you intentionally do NOT heavily market the site because it is a "site-in-development".  

Beta Testing:  July 2008 - early 2009 

This phase can last up to a year (or in some cases 2), depending on the project.  This  is the phase we are in now.  "Testing" means that with many (but not all) of the functions deployed, the site is "live" on the net and users are going to the site, using it, and providing feedback which is transmitted to management and the design team.  Functionality of the site is revised and upgraded.  Some features that are popular are improved ; other features that are not so popular or are problematic are dropped.   The goal in this period is to refine the site and its functions to the point that we are confident that upon its actual launch, we will have a site that will attract substantial numbers of users and retain those users.  We are targeting Q1 2009 for the completion of Beta Testing and actual commercial launch.  One of the positive things to note is that even at this Beta testing stage, WeEarth has become established as a credible "brand" for environmentally themed news, and our articles are now receiving prominent "google search" placement which means we are definitely 'on the map', plus our e-commerce module is generating sales income (modest to be sure).   But the goal of this phase is to "work the bugs out", discovering what works best, what seems fresh and new and attractie to users.  During the Beta Testing phase there has been a modest degree of revenue from e-commerce sales.  Additionally, during this phase we have established relationships with more than 300 environmentally sound product suppliers.  We have gotten the e-commerce functionality to the point where we know it works well -- but we are constantly trying to make it work better, and to add more "social e-commerce" functionality to it.  ("Social e-commerce" means making it possible for buyers to not only buy, but to rate products, to "tag" products and writeups so that they will be picked up by search engines and bloggers, and in general to create ways for the "viral" potential to take place.)  Also during this phase we have been continually working to improve the social network capability, finding ways differentiate WeEarth from other social networks.  

Official Launch:  March 2009

When the "Official Launch" takes place, it means that we are satisfied with the functionality and marketability of the site and are ready to "put it out there" with marketing dollars designed to create wide awareness and attract large numbers of users.   It is very important that we are "ready for prime time" when we do this because the site will be under much greater stress in terms of users, and it will be evaluated both formally and informally by people who can make or break the reputation of the site.  If we get a good buzz going, the sky is the limit.  If we don't, the opposite can happen (although the good news is that there are second chances and with a terrific name like WeEarth  there are a number of directions we can go).  It is at this phase that the enterprise is really "open for business", with operating costs (instead of development investment, which is what we have now).  

Remainder of 2009:  Operational Phase 1

During operational phase 1 the goal is to gather users, building up traffic to the site so that by the end of the year we have enough traffic (goal of 1 million unique visitors per month) to begin seeing meaningful advertising revenue, and so that the e-commerce sales can grow to become a substantial contributor to the bottom line.   We will see operating costs that substantially exceed revenues but this is absolutely the norm even for the most successful websites at this stage.   The key is -- get the traffic, get the users, and keep building.   

Lonely Guy Makes Small Fortune With iPhone Game

This is a story which in some way typifies the democratization of media -- the Brave New World we live in.  It is inspiring for all of us 'in the trenches'.

November 18, 2008 -- Updated 2127 GMT (0527 HKT)

Developer strikes it rich with iPhone game

(CNN) -- With its glassy touch screen, powerful graphics, crisp sound and tilt feature, the iPhone is more than a smart phone for some users -- it's a portable entertainment system.

"Trism" developer Steve Demeter demonstrates his game via webcast to CNN.com's Nicole Lapin.

It's also become a potential gold mine for entrepreneurs who create games for the device. Just ask Steve Demeter, developer of the popular puzzle game "Trism."

A former ATM software designer for a large bank, Demeter created "Trism" in his spare time and pitched it to Apple last spring. The company made the game available for download with the July launch of its App Store, an online provider of applications for its iPods and iPhones.

Priced at $5, "Trism" earned Demeter $250,000 in profits the first two months.

"It's done phenomenal business," said Demeter, 29, who lives in the California's San Francisco Bay area. "I'm very honored that so many people would enjoy my game. I get e-mails from 50-year-old ladies who say, "I don't play games, but I love Trism.' That's the coolest thing."

It can take dozens of professional developers and millions of dollars to create a video game for a traditional console such as a PlayStation or an Xbox. But the iPhone and the App Store have helped democratize game development by opening the field to any software coder with talent and a clever idea, industry observers say.

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"A single one of these titles can be turned around for pennies by comparison in just weeks by a single hobbyist working in their off-hours," said Scott Steinberg, publisher of DigitalTrends.com and author of "Get Rich Playing Games." "The overhead and barriers to entry are so low that virtually anyone can afford to take a crack, if not several, at hitting a home run."

Demeter took his crack after attending an iPhone conference in the summer of 2007. He spent months afterward brainstorming, by himself and with friends, about how to create an original game for the device. Once he got the idea for "Trism" in February he spent another four months coding the game on nights and weekends.

The result is a puzzle game, like "Bejeweled," in which players manipulate a colorful grid of triangles. Players score points by lining up three or more like-colored triangles in a row, with an iPhone twist: The triangles rearrange themselves depending on which way the player rotates the phone.

"I did the game myself, basically. I had a buddy of mine who actually came up with the name 'Trism.' I paid him a couple of grand. But other than that it [was] just me," Demeter told CNN. "It's a very simple-to-learn, hard-to-master puzzle game. It wasn't as hard [to develop] as a 3-D, gun-and-battle kind of game. But for the one-man team that I was, it was definitely a challenge."

Demeter quit his bank job two months ago and has launched a company, Demiforce, to develop more electronic games. Now he has a salaried staff, five games in development and two coming out by Christmas, including a spinoff to "Trism" called "Trismology."

"Apple has made it so easy to put [game publishing] in the palms of developers," he said. "You just make it and then you submit it to Apple. If you have a relevant, fun game or application, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be approved."

Developers earn 70 percent of App Store proceeds from the sale of their games, with Apple taking 30 percent.

The field is getting crowded, though. There now are more than 1,500 iPhone games available from the App Store, up from about 900 two months ago.

"It's a rich and promising vein that several independent game publishers have been able to successfully tap," said DigitalTrends' Steinberg in an e-mail interview. "However, success stories remain the exception, not the norm -- as with any gold rush, what we're presently seeing is a massive number of prospectors looking to stake their claim.

"Many of the overnight successes we've witnessed enjoyed the benefits of timing and visibility, advantages quickly being eroded due to market oversaturation," Steinberg added. "Let's put it this way: I wouldn't tell anyone to quit their day job just yet. As with any Cinderella story, chances of recreating this kind of success are few and far between."

Supreme Court in 5-4 Decision Rules For Navy in Whale Sonar Case

Last week we got the news that the Supreme court, in a 5-4 decision, has supported the US Navy, reversing a lower court decision in its case against environmental groups in California who had previously won a decision at the appellate court level.  This is significant in its own right, but even moreso at Quantum because the decision came just as our project Way of the Dolphin was about to go into final days of filming in which scenes dealing directly with the Navy sonar issue were to be filmed.  We are extremely fortunate that this ruling came out when it did -- rather than after our shootings -- so that we can conform our script to the reality.

Here is one article covering the story:

Supreme Court on sonar: Navy trumps whales
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, November 13, 2008   

(11-12) 19:00 PST -- Threats to national security are more important than possible harm to whales and dolphins, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in lightening restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in anti-submarine training off Southern California despite its potential effects on undersea creatures.

The ruling, the first of the court's 2008-09 term, accepted the Navy's arguments that the limitations would hinder vital exercises in the use of sonar to detect enemy submarines. The restrictions, imposed by lower courts, would have required the Navy to reduce or halt underwater sonar pulses when marine mammals might be nearby.

"Forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained anti-submarine force jeopardizes the safety of the fleet," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. The resulting damage to the Navy and the public interest, he said, outweighs the injury that environmental groups that challenged the use of sonar might suffer from "harm to an unknown number of marine mammals that they study and observe."

The ruling - endorsed by six of the nine justices, and in part by a seventh - overturned decisions by a federal judge in Los Angeles and the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco restricting sonar use during training exercises scheduled to end next month.

The court kept its ruling relatively narrow, however, and did not address the legality of an order by President Bush in January seeking to remove all legal restrictions on sonar by exempting the Navy from environmental laws. The judge in Los Angeles ruled that the order was invalid.

The case was also limited by the Navy's decision to challenge only two of the six restrictions on sonar use that the lower courts imposed. One unchallenged restriction, which remains in effect, bans the Navy from using sonar within 12 miles of the coast.

"It's gratifying that the court did not accept the Navy's expansive claims of executive power," said Richard Kendall, an attorney who represented the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups in seeking to maintain the restrictions.

Joel Reynolds, a lawyer with the same organization, said the ruling would have little effect on the Navy's one remaining anti-submarine exercise off Southern California. He also noted that the Navy is preparing an environmental impact report for future anti-submarine training, which he said had been the plaintiffs' main goal all along.

After 10 years of litigation, he said, "we have seen significant progress."

Navy officials declared victory.

"This case was vital to our Navy and our nation's security," said Navy Secretary Donald Winter. "We can now continue to train our sailors effectively, under realistic combat conditions, and certify our crews 'combat ready' while continuing to be good stewards of the marine environment."

The Navy has used sonar for 40 years in anti-submarine training off the Channel Islands and nearby coastal areas. Environmentalists say scientific studies show that sonar pulses damage the hearing organs of whales and dolphins, can interfere with their ability to navigate, mate and find food, and have caused whales to strand themselves on shore.

The Navy says its voluntary safeguards protect marine mammals. Those safeguards include the posting of lookouts and requirements to reduce sonar when vulnerable creatures are nearby.

But U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of Los Angeles said in an August 2007 ruling that the protections were "woefully ineffectual and inadequate" and would leave nearly 30 species at risk, including five species of endangered whales. She also said the Navy had failed to show that a mandatory buffer zone on sonar use and other restrictions would disrupt training.

Cooper's injunction was modified by the appeals court to allow commanders to reduce buffer zones at crucial times in training. The injunction has been in effect since March, affecting several exercises in a series that began in January 2007.

The Supreme Court said Wednesday that Cooper and the appeals court had given too little weight to the Navy's concerns.

Roberts' opinion quoted top Navy officials as saying sonar training under realistic conditions would be hindered by the two restrictions they challenged: a requirement that sonar be shut off whenever a marine mammal is spotted within 2,200 yards, and a requirement to reduce sonic pulses by 75 percent during conditions in which underwater sound travels farther than usual.

Judges must defer to those expert assessments, the chief justice said, especially because the Navy has conducted sonar training for four decades "with no documented episode of harm to a marine mammal."

Dissenting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by Justice David Souter, said Cooper had properly used her authority under the environmental law after finding that unrestricted sonar use could harm thousands of creatures. Instead of conducting an environmental study as the law required, or asking Congress to change the law, Ginsburg said, the Navy undermined the law with a "self-serving resort to an office in the White House" for an exemption.

Ruling on whales and sonar

How the Supreme Court voted Wednesday in a ruling loosening restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in anti-submarine training off the Southern California coast:

-- Majority: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

-- Concurrence: Justice John Paul Stevens.

-- Partial dissent: Justice Stephen Breyer. He agreed with the majority that national security concerns outweigh possible harm to whales and dolphins from sonar use, but said buffer zones imposed by lower courts, with exceptions for critical points in the training exercises, should remain in place while the Navy completes an environmental study.

-- Dissent: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, who said the restrictions were validly based on evidence of potential harm to thousands of marine mammals.

The full opinions in the case, Winter vs. Natural Resources Defense Council, 07-1239, can be read at links.sfgate.com/ZFJA.

Blu-Ray Player Prices Dropping Fast

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Blu-ray prices set to fall
Economic downturn, download services to blame
By Leo Cendrowicz
Nov 10, 2008, 10:48 AM ET
BRUSSELS -- Holiday prices for Blu-ray players may tumble to around $150, thanks to the economic downturn and competition from download services, analysts ABI Research have warned.

“There is more competition than expected from download alternatives such as Xbox 360 and the Roku Netflix player, TiVo and Amazon,” said ABI analyst Steve Wilson.

He added that there are also new opportunities for Blu-ray, like LG and Samsung’s deals allowing users to download movies and TV shows straight from Netflix

The LA Times is reporting similar news:

Thinking of Going Blu-ray?  Hold on for the Holidays

The bad news is that the economy is in a tailspin. The good news is that it might result in plunging prices for consumer electronic products during the coming holiday shopping season, especially for Blu-ray disc players that show movies in high-definition. "There's talk of Blu-ray players hitting $200 pricing or even $149 for older models or less-known brands," said Ross Robin, analyst for NPD Group.

The $149ers probably won't have BD-live, an Internet hookup for downloadable games, IM chat and other online features designed for Blu-ray. But if you care only about watching movies in high-def on your HDTV, you can skip the newfangled online stuff.

Keep in mind, however, that the low price for players could be deceptive. Although the players might get down to around $150 each, Blu-ray movie discs cost about $30 apiece. It would be like getting a shaving razor for cheap and then paying a relative fortune for the blades. Or paying a pittance for a computer printer and going broke on replacement cartridges. Insert your own analogy here.  

—David Colker

AFM Pix

by Michael D. Sellers
This year's AFM is now entering the home stretch.  The market runs from 5-12 November and comes at a time of economic turmoil worldwide.  This year Quantum has moved to a larger suite, with room for three buyer meetings to be held simultaneously.  I snapped some pictures with my iPhone and am posting them here, with some comments.
This is the entrance to Quantum's suite.  Jaydine Valencia, in the foreground, is entertaining a buyer who is waiting to enter the suite and have a meeting in one of the three meeting areas.

Here, the three meeting areas are visible.  On the far left you can see the shoulder of one buyer who is meeting with Quantum's Michael Lurie. In the middle section, a buyer wearing a green shirt is meeting with Jess Kelley.  And at the far end three buyers are meeting with Jamie Thompson.

Here, Quantum's Jamie Thompson is filling out a Deal Memo.  The form used for the deal memo is a standard form, in five copies, which includes all of the essential information necessary to prepare a longform contract.  Signed deal memos are considered binding contracts -- however, payment usually comes later, 20% on signing of the longform contract (usually within a month or so of the market), and the balance according to a payment schedule agreed upon by the parties.

Finally, here's a picture of the lobby of the AFM.

AFM Feeling the Pinch?

by Michael D. Sellers

This year's AFM is the first major film market since the financial meltdown began in September, and the effects are being felt.

Hollywood Reporter reports:

'Difficult market decisions' at AFM
Financial crisis making deals harder to come by
By Stuart Kemp
Nov 8, 2008, 11:32 PM ET

It seems to be a case of who blinks first for attendees stalking the halls at the American Film Market.

The buyers are trying to pick and choose from myriad desirable finished titles while the sellers with topline products continue to look for high-end prices as this year's market moves into the home stretch Sunday.

With just a few days left for face-to-face dealmaking at the AFM, the sunny weather helped mask the dark clouds of economic doom and gloom enveloping the Loews.

Snippets overheard on the quick walk around of the halls here and at the Le Merigot are dominated by "difficult market conditions" and the continuing mantra of "tough times" ahead for everyone.

IM Global's Stuart Ford, who has AFM buzz title Oren Peli's "Paranormal Activity," noted that production slowdown caused by the stalemate between the majors and SAG might not be all bad. "It may be having a positive impact for some U.S. indie sellers," he said. "There's a need for broadly based studio-caliber projects that are completed or near completion, one of the bright spots for companies like ours."

"The bar is set pretty low given what's going on in the world," producer-producers' rep Jonathan Dana said. "For a couple people, activity is actually OK, but any number of people are saying it's pretty empty, all depending on what films you have."

Nukool Sukthawork, the international marketing director of Thailand's 20th June Entertainment, which is here for the first time said: "We were really pleased with the turnout to a presentation we did here, but foot traffic has been slow as it is the first time we are here."

The foregoing notwithstanding, Quantum's experience at this market has been better than most.  Thanks to a very aggressive pre-market outreach program, the Quantum team managed to schedule 200 meetings prior to the beginning of the market -- a record for the company.  (The previous record was 164 meetings scheduled prior to Cannes last May.) 

Traffic in the suite has been excellent, even when the overall level of foot traffic in the market is a bit slow.  However, buyers have been slower to make decisions and many seem inclined to wait and make final decisions after the market is over. 

Three more days to harvest as many deals as possible.....

Quantum Home Entertainment to Focus on Blu-ray Offerings, Will Sell Direct to Major Retailers

Recently the topic of Blu-ray Disc and what it could mean for the Quantum Group of companies, its films, and its investors, has become a topic of intense analysis. Against this backdrop, we are pleased to announce the formation of Quantum Home Entertainment, our own home video label which will enter the market with an emphasis on exploiting the emerging market for Blu-ray Disc.

Background
Blu-ray, developed by SONY, is an optical disk that has the same physical dimensions as a standard DVD but can store 6 times the capacity of standard DVD and thus is able to present content in full 1080p High Definition – something traditional DVD’s cannot do. The introduction of Blu-ray was delayed due to a “format war” in which Blu-ray competed with the HD DVD format developed by Toshiba. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba withdrew leaving Blu-ray the clear winner. Industry analysts expect Blu-Ray, to evolve into the successor format to the current standard definition DVD format -- which means that it will eventually be a format that dominates in the same way that DVD dominates now.

Blu-ray in the Marketplace
In April 2008, Sony President Ryoji Chubachi predicted that Blu-ray would achieve a 50% market share by the end of 2008 en route to total dominance of the marketplace by 2009. Most analysts consider this to be overly aggressive -- and as of October 2008 the actual market share is closer to 10%. This is still a relatively large market -- particularly when you consider that the entire market share for all independent films combined is considered to be less than 10%. In other words Blu-ray already represents as large a home video market as the entirety of independent film market. And it will only get bigger. Most analysts agree that Blu-ray’s growth will continue at a relatively modest pace until three things happen: 1) Blu-ray players are priced at $200 or less (currently they are around $300); 2) High Definition TV’s are the norm rather than the exception; and 3) Blu-ray discs are priced at about the same level as DVD’s. So -- Blu-ray is here, and it will eventually succeed DVD as THE videodisc format, but growth will continue at a modest pace until the three conditions listed above are met -- something that is probably 1-3 years out.

“Market Clutter” -- and How the Blu-ray Situation Differs From Standard DVD
One of the great challenges for indie films in the home video marketplace is “market clutter” - how do you cause your indie film to stand out in the marketplace when each Tuesday brings as many as 100 new releases. Typically, of the 100 releases -- about 15 are typically new studio releases and these 15 end up occupying 80% of the shelf space and do 80% of the business -- leaving 85 other films (indies and library title releases) to do battle for the remaining 20%. By contrast, in a typical week, there are only 20 Blu-ray releases -- the same 15 studio new title releases, plus only 5 indie or ‘other ‘ titles. The total number of indie distributors offering DVD’s to retail outlets in a given week is 50 or more; the total number of indie distributors offering Blu-ray is 3. These are intriguing numbers and they represent a distinct market opportunity for us because if we can position ourself as a credible supplier of quality Blu-ray titles, we can leapfrog into the forefront of indie home video distribution, becoming a player on the Blu-ray scene at a time when the Blu-ray marketplace is still relatively uncluttered. We are convinced this could be the type of “game changer” that rarely comes along, and we are determined to make the most of it.

Quantum Home Entertainment
Against this backdrop, we have decided to launch Quantum Home Entertainment as the US home video label of Quantum Releasing. We intend to begin by offering five of our top titles in Blu-ray starting with Eye of the Dolphin and including Karla, Vlad, Goodbye America, and Legacy. By creating Quantum Home Entertainment we are “cutting out the middle man” (such as, for example, Monterey Media, the domestic label through which Eye of the Dolphin was released) and putting Quantum in a direct relationship with retailers. To bolster our entry we have brought on board Sean Michael Argo, who was formerly director of sales for Hannover House and Maxim Media International, (both major labels with strong ties to Walmart, Best Buy, Blockbuster, and others) and separately we have reached agreement in principal on a joint venture partnership with Quest Media (a manufacturer and rack jobber), who also has brought to the table existing sales relationships with other key retailers -- particularly Costco and Walgreens, both of whom have directly expressed interest in featuring Blu-ray titles from the Quantum lineup.

Supreme Court Hears Whale Sonar Case

From the LA Times (and 600 other newspapers)

Supreme Court hears case about Navy sonar and whales

 

Justices appear split about whether military's security needs outweigh the potential risks to marine mammals during training exercises.

By David Savage, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 9, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court justices appeared closely split Wednesday on whether environmental laws can be used to protect whales and other marine mammals from the Navy's use of sonar off the coast of Southern California.

A Bush administration lawyer argued that when national security is at stake, the president and his top military commanders are entrusted with setting the rules.

 

• 
• 

"The ability to locate and track an enemy submarine . . . is vitally important to the survival of our naval strike force . . . and therefore, critical to the nation's own security," said U.S. Solicitor Gen. Gregory G. Garre. For years, the Navy has conducted training exercises off the California coast to test whether ships can detect quiet-running enemy submarines. These exercises are "in the judgment of the president and his top naval officers in the paramount interests of the United States," he added.

Garre urged the high court to throw out a Los Angeles judge's order that put limits on the Navy's operations. Acting on a suit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council in Santa Monica, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered the Navy to shut down its high-intensity sonar whenever a whale or marine mammal is spotted within 1.25 miles of the ship.

The sonar emits a powerful sound wave in the water -- as "if we had a jet engine in this courtroom and you multiplied that noise by 2,000 times," said Los Angeles lawyer Richard B. Kendall, who represented the NRDC. He said beaked whales, in panic, dive deeply to escape the sound, and they sometimes suffer bleeding and even death when they try to resurface. He also cited the Navy's own estimate that 170,000 dolphins and other marine mammals would flee the sonar.

Garre agreed some marine animals might swim away, but he disputed the claim that they would be hurt or killed. "There have been beachings of beaked whales in Southern California. None of have been tied to sonar operations," he said.

For his part, Kendall disputed that the judge's order would hurt the Navy or disrupt its war-game exercises. He said the Navy had conducted 13 extended training exercises off California under the restrictions set by the judge, and only on a few occasions were ships forced to turn off their sonar.

The case has turned into a dispute over whether judges, acting on a suit brought by environmentalists, have the power to halt a government project because of its failure to carry out an environmental impact statement in advance. Cooper cited this failure by the Navy when she issued her order.

On Wednesday, she came under criticism from several justices.

"Is Judge Cooper an expert on antisubmarine warfare?" asked Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. "Isn't there something incredibly odd about a single district judge making a determination on that defense question . . . contrary to the determination the Navy has made."

Justice Antonin Scalia said the law requiring environmental impact statements was "procedural" only. It did not give judges the power to stop government projects, he suggested. And Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that in balancing the interests, the judge did not give enough weight to the Navy's concern. He described it as the "potential that a North Korean diesel electric submarine will get within range of Pearl Harbor undetected."

On the other side, Justices John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter wondered how the Navy could know its sonar would not harm the whales until it had studied the matter. "The whole theory of the environmental impact statement is we don't really know what the harm will be," Stevens said.

The Navy said it is working on an environmental impact statement on its training exercises, but it will not be complete until February, when the exercises are due to end.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who usually casts the deciding vote in close cases, asked several questions but did not come down squarely on either side.

At one point, Justice Stephen G. Breyer said it was frustrating to resolve the conflicting evidence over whether the sonar does or does not harm marine mammals. "Why couldn't you work this thing out?" he asked Kendall.

"The Navy is focused on having it its way or no way," he replied.

"That's not fair," the chief justice countered. The Navy had taken steps to protect the marine mammals, he said, and the judge gave it little credit for doing so. "No good deed goes unpunished," he added.

The justices are likely to hand down a ruling in the case, Winter v. NRDC, within a few months.

October 9: Update and Reboot

by Michael D.  Sellers

As noted in the previous post, for the past several months I've been blogging at the Way of the Dolphin Blogsite, a process which started when I went to the Bahamas in June to direct WOD, and has continued into the fall with our return to the US and the beginning of post production. Please go to that site to get a complete account of the day by day progress of Way of the Dolphin during our Bahamas shoot.  In the meantime, I wanted to provide an overall update on all of the operations of the various enterprises.  Note that this will be my only update untll November 5, at which point I plan to resume daily blogging and possibly reorganize the various blogsites.  So please check here on November 5 for either a resumption of blogging here, or directions to a new site or sites.

WAY OF THE DOLPHIN
Following are details of the status of Way of the Dolphin (and by the way we're VERY excited about what we have):
Bahamas principal photography was completed in early August.
Post production is ongoing -- the first stage of post is the editor's cut, which is almost done now, followed by the director's cut which I will be working on between now and mid-November. We've also created a three minute promo which you can see here:  WOD PROMO
We are setting up for the three day Los Angeles shoot which will take place the week of November 17.  In connection with this we are finalizing the contract of Michael Ironside who will join the cast as Captain Blaine.
We are working on additional product placement and other deals -- pls see the "product placement" page at WayoftheDolphinBlog.com
WEEARTH
The site has been up and running for four months in beta mode.
We just added the ecommerce module so that in addition to the social network, there is now an e-store which shows great promise.  A press release on the E-store has been picked up by over 1000 publications.
Grassroots marketing efforts have been going smoothly with WeEarth represented at different festivals and gatherings almost every weekend over the summer.  A separate report on WeEarth grassroots marketing efforts is being prepared by the WeEarth team.
The plan is to work out the last of the bugs in the social network and ecommerce software over the next several months and then begin the aggressive marketing of WeEarth in January.  Meanwhile the site continues to improve and grow it's base of beta users.

QUANTUM RELEASING
Quantum is gearing up for the American film market in November where all of the films will be put forward for foreign buyers.
The current push is to get as many appointments as possible lined up before the market starts. To this end the sales team (including some new linguistic capability in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and German) are making calls to thousands of buyers with the goal of having not less than 200 meetings set up for the market prior to its start.
Quantum's slate has grown with five confirmed new films for this market and a likelihood of up to five more which will close prior to the market.  The acquisition of new films helps draw in buyers and helps with sales on all levels.

NEW STRATEGIC INITIATIVE
I have personally been doing a lot of work later on a new strategic intiative which, if it pans out, could be a "game changer" for us. 
It's too soon to come out with too many details -- and I don't mean to tease -- so I'll just explain briefly here that if this is successful we will have a regular ability to place 100,000 or more blu-ray disks in Costco, Walgreens, and several other key retailers, starting with Eye of the Dolphin and continuing with other products -- including some of our films that have been out for a few years such as Karla and Vlad. 
This is not through Monterey Media but rather is direct -- and this is a big step toward our goal of evolving Quantum Releasing in such a way that in addition to directly licensing to hundreds of countries around the world, we will become a US DVD  label. I will be communicating more about this in coming weeks and months, but it is a major new thrust and one that has the potential to greatly enhance the penetration of all of our films into the US marketplace.

Supreme Court Agrees to Review Navy Sonar Case

[[Comment: This is pretty interesting for us. Our movie deals seriously with an issue that the supreme court has now agreed to review in October. For the Supreme Court to agree to review the California Court decision really points to the fact that this is a complex and important issue, and I'm pretty certain we can expect some good publicity and thoughtful commentary to come out of the Supreme Court review.)

Supreme Court agrees to review Navy sonar case
By DINA CAPPIELLO – 8 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a dispute over the Navy's use of sonar off the Southern California coast and its potential harm to dolphins and whales.
Acting at the Bush administration's urging, the court agreed to review a federal appeals court ruling that limits the use of sonar in naval training exercises.
Sonar, which the Navy uses primarily to locate enemy submarines at sea, can interfere with marine mammals' ability to navigate and communicate. There is some evidence that the technology has caused whales to strand on shore.
The administration says the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco jeopardizes the Navy's ability to train sailors and Marines for service in wartime.
The government also says national security interests can trump those of marine mammals, and that its use of mid-frequency sonar in training exercises hasn't caused any documented harm to dolphins or beaked whales.
The Navy applauded the high court's intervention.
"The Navy's position has been the same since the first court case. This is an issue that is essential to national security and we welcome the Supreme Court's decision to hear the case," said Admiral Larry Rice, the director of the Chief of Naval Operations' Environmental Readiness Division.
Rice said the restrictions placed on the Navy in earlier court rulings, if not overturned, could cripple training exercises.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, who along with four other advocacy groups sued the Navy over the issue, contends there are ways to use sonar and to protect wildlife.
"It's clear ... that the Navy can reduce the risk of this harm by commonsense safeguards without compromising our military readiness," Joel Reynolds, director of NRDC's Marine Mammal program, said in a statement.
Although the science is inconclusive, there is strong evidence that sonar affects marine mammals. The Navy's own environmental assessment of the use of sonar in 14 training exercises off the California coast found it could disturb or harm an estimated 170,000 marine mammals, including temporary loss of hearing in at least 8,000 whales.
Some environmentalists said the Supreme Court's hearing of the case will finally settle what takes precedence — national security or environmental protection.
"This will decide whether or not the Navy is fulfilling its security goals in a way that doesn't leave massive collateral damage," said William Rossiter, president of Cetacean Society International, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
Lower courts concluded there would be near certain harm to marine life in Southern California if the Navy proceeded with sonar exercises as planned.
An injunction by a federal judge in Los Angeles early this year created a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast and ordered the Navy to shut off all sonar use within 2,200 yards of a marine mammal. That prompted President Bush to step in and sign a waiver exempting the Navy from a section of the Coastal Zone Management Act so training could continue as the government appealed the decision.
But the 9th Circuit sided with the lower court and said the Navy must abide by the injunction. However, while the litigation was under way the appeals court gave the Navy leeway to lessen the restrictions if it determined it was in a critical maneuver point, so that sonar shutdown would begin at 1,000 meters (about 1,093 yards) and full sonar shutdown would come at 200 meters (about 219 yards). Those are the restrictions the Navy is currently operating under.
Arguments will take place in the next court term, beginning in October.

WeEarth Update

(Following is from the WeEarth Management Team)

It’s been a while since we've given everyone a thorough update on the progress we’ve achieved with WeEarth. The truth is it's been such a race that we've hardly had time to sit back and reflect on it ourselves.   This past month has been by far one of the most taxing and most rewarding months since the inception of this project and we believe that we’ll all be seeing the fruits of our labors manifest themselves over the course of the summer.

Here’s what we’ve been working on - including the status of each objective:

De-Bugging and Perfecting the Social Network - Back on Earth Day we launched the Social Network portion of the site (the area that allows you to make profiles, upload pictures, connect with other users, form groups, write in forums, blog, post videos, etc.) This has been no small undertaking but with the help of our first class development team we’ve been able to work everything out and ended up with a really solid social networking platform that, in my opinion, rivals - if not surpasses - the functionality and operability of the big social networks out there.  We're excited to start really pushing membership and watch our community grow... but more on that later.

Programming and Developing the E-Store - As we’ve mentioned before, the next addition to the website will be the E-Store which I’m sure you’ve all been anxiously, yet patiently, awaiting just like I have.  Well, that day is ALMOST here. Concurrently with the de-bugging of the Social Network, we’ve been programing and developing our E-store Platform and I think we’re in for a treat when we finally launch it.  Online Stores are all over the place these days it doesn’t take much to build ‘yet another online store.’ So we’ve taken it upon ourselves to take the whole idea of online shopping and advance it in a new and innovative direction.  Our Goal was to create an engaging shopping experience - using comments, tags, lists, recommendations, advice, ratings, reviews, and relationships to drive sales - AND to have all of this be linked through and connected to each user’s social network profile and account.  This means that a user will be able to not only make better decisions about what to buy by reading comments and ratings, but also by checking out the profile of user who bought the item and sending them a personal message and ask them how they feel about it after a few weeks have gone by.

Populating the E-Store With Product - We’ve been building up our inventory and our relationships with product suppliers and manufacturers.  We’ve scoured the internet for responsibly created items to host on our store.  We’ve been focusing primarily on 2 fronts -Sustainable living replacement items (such as Compact Fluorescent Light-bulbs and Biodegradable Toilet Paper) - and art/craft products - mainly Fair-Trade items created by artisans around the world in undeveloped areas.  By purchasing Fair-Trade items we’re ensuring that the people who worked hard to create the items are actually getting their fair share of the profits!  Just this week we finalized our product list and now we’re gathering up product descriptions, images, etc... and at the end of the week we’ll begin making our wholesale purchases and setting up our drop-ship accounts. It’s pretty exciting stuff and I, for one, look forward very much to helping the world achieve a more sustainable and viable economic system by making it easier to invest your hard earned money in responsibly created products and commodities.

Developing our Marketing/Promotional Campaign Strategy - Up to this point, we’ve limited our marketing to mostly organic efforts -- keeping in mind that store isn’t open yet, the site had some bugs (as do all sites when they first go up), and we needed to give our core group of early adopters  a chance to populate the site with content. As with all Social Media Projects - the popularity of the site is derived from its content and unlike traditional media outlets, social media sites thrive due to the ‘user-generated’ content abound within the site.  Things like blogs and comments, uploaded pictures and videos, and connective functionality like private messages, all add to the value of the site and to the experience of the new user.  With nearly 1000 blog posts and even more photos uploaded to the site, we think we’ve successfully achieved our preliminary goal and now its time to really start driving new members to the site.

Here’s the plan:

-Now that the site’s pieces are coming together and the summer is here - It’s time to really spread the word about what we’ve been building.  To this end we’ve been building alliances with members all across the country and have been developing street team grassroots promotional strategies to implement with them and mobilize over the coming months.

-We’ve worked out advertising campaigns for use throughout the summer in our online marketing initiatives.  We’re focusing on environmentally-minded individuals, artists and art enthusiasts, activists for positive changes in society, and more specifically - we’ll be targeting individuals who want to be a part of something new and progressive, individuals who pride themselves on being a part of cutting edge movements and believe that we’re on the verge of co-creating a better future for everyone.

-We’ve developed a Newsletter Campaign that will begin today and with a little luck, will spread virally and gain us some substantial readership before too long. We’ll be releasing 2 issues each week - one on Monday morning to help start off the work week right - and one on Thursday afternoon to help start off the weekend right.  They will include stories from our E-zine, inspiring quotes, useful tips and will feature artists, organizations, products, and musicians in each issue. If you haven’t signed up to receive the WeEarth Newsletter yet we invite you to do so by stopping by the site and clicking on the “Newsletter” link towards the top right of the home page.

-In addition to these Social Media, Grassroots, and Online Marketing strategies we will be out and about all summer long at all the biggest environmental, music and political events spreading the word about our efforts and reaching out to new members everywhere. We’ve developed brochures and reminder cards as well as buttons and stickers to help us leave a lasting impact on the people we meet. We’ve already built up a solid grassroots promotional team of people who believe in the project and have a lot to say about what we’re doing.

People will become more and more aware of WeEarth and what we’re doing as we move on through the summer - I assure you that.

There have been a million and one other things going on behind the scenes and amidst all these basic objectives.  I’ll spare you the details but feel free to inquire if your interested in hearing a little more about what’s been going on with the project. The ‘door’ is always open and I’d love to share with you the excitement I feel about this project, and most especially about the summer marketing and promotional push that I believe will see us through to the point where our community really begins to take root... and our ideas really begin to take flight.

Respectfully,

The WeEarth Team

Important News: David Keith to Replace John Hawkes; Start Date Moved to July 13 to accomodate Actor sked issues

by Michael D. Sellers

Well, just a bit of an upheaval the last few days -- but it's all good now. 

John Hawkes' agent called last Wednesday to inform that Hawkes has health issues and won't be able to pass the cast physical, so has to drop out.  (Cast and Director have to pass a physical in order for production insurance and cast insurance to be activated.)  So that was a big blow and sent us into a frenzy of trying to re-cast in a hurry.

One of our earlier targets for Hawk had been David Keith -- a great actor (Officer and a Gentleman, Behind Enemy Lines, lots of stuff) -- but we had fallen out over price.  Sometimes when you get closer to a shoot date, rates become more flexible -- theory being that if an actor isn't booked for a timeslot that's coming quite soon, then that timeslot may not end up generating any income so a lower rate is possible.  Kind of like "next day golf" greens fees being lower than if you book in advance -- they're filling up available space that probably won't get booked.

So we went back to David Keith and got it done.  We're thrilled.  David Keith has higher "Q" ratings...i.e. 'starmeter' than John, and he's perfect for the role.  Here's a link to his reel online:  When you get there, click on the icon for "DAVIDKEITHAPA":  you'll see him in great scenes with Richard Gere, Jack Nicholson, Robert Deniro, and Gene Hackman among others.  Here's the link:  DAVID KEITH VIRTUAL CASTING.

Also, here's a link to a page I made as part of a new website I'm putting together:  David Keith Bio Page
What you see when you get there should look like this -- with additional pix and text.  (Click on the image to see it larger.)

Keith, Other Actor Issues Dictate New Start Date

The one issue we had with David was the start date.  He can't start in time for it to work with our existing schedule because of another shoot he's doing -- CSI Miami.  So that was a problem.  We had to contact all of the actors (who are all booked under "pay or play" status with money escrowed, so if they don't accept a "push" (delay), we have no choice but to stick to the original schedule.  Turns out both Samantha Jade and Ivana Milicevic had been looking for a push as well -- Samantha because she's up for a lead/series regular on the new Beverly Hills 90201 and Ivana because she had a prior booking July 7-10 and was having trouble getting out of it -- and was going to ask us to let her go for those days.

So -- bottom line -- all actors agreed to a revised start date of July 13, two weeks later than what we had planned.  (This refers to the 1st Unit shoot only, which had been scheduled for June 30.)

Now -- here's the best part for those of us actually making the film.  We just got two additional weeks of prep AT NO COST TO THE MOVIE because we were able to negotiate a rate with David Keith that is $30,000 less than the John Hawkes rate -- and $30,000 is exactly the cost of the push.  (That cost would be two extra weeks of salary for Production Designer, Art Director, UPM, CoProducer, and Production coordinator, plus hotels, 3 rental cars, and rebooking fees.)  The production designer threw his arms around me and practically kissed me -- he's working on sets and art and two extra weeks prep is a luxury that will cause him to get more done, more efficiently, with better planning and so on.  Everyone else feels the same way -- there is always more to get done in prep than you can possibly do, and the pressure just ratchets up and up, but on an indie film you normally just can't afford too many weeks so you're always feeling slammed.  This just cured that.

So ... make a note, July 13.  It won't move again -- the actors agreed to one, but they won't agree to another.

One last note.  This is production -- stuff happens.  A big part of the role of the producer is to get everything "mounted": -- and that is a lot of moving parts.  Actors are a big part of it -- they all have schedules, things happen, and it all has to be coordinated.  Most of the other elements can be substituted -- i.e. if a crew member drops out, a replacement can be found.  But when you're making films, especially indie films where you're paying actors a lot less than they get for studio films, you have to roll with punches sometimes.  We rolled here and came out better than we were -- a stronger actor from a marketing point of view, and two extra weeks of absolutely free prep which is a gift and will cause this to be a better movie.

Some Interesting Dolphin Notes

by Michael D. Sellers

Ken Levasseur , our dolphin expert and author of the Third Phase program, sent me this Reuters report which is interesting and tragic.  As most of you know -- Navy Sonar and its relationship to dolphin strandings is something that figures prominently in the Way of the Dolphin storyline.

Navy held firing tests by dolphin stranding

Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:39am BST   

By   Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - The Royal Navy carried out live-firing exercises off Cornwall just hours before 25 dolphins died by stranding themselves in a nearby river, the Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.

As initial autopsies suggested the dolphins might have been scared or disorientated, MoD officials said training exercises with a submarine and survey ship using sonar had also been held in Falmouth Bay.

MoD officials said the exercises were "highly unlikely" to have been the cause of the deaths, Britain's biggest mass stranding for nearly 30 years.

Campaigners called for an urgent inquiry into any possible connection.

The dolphins died after swimming up the Percuil River near Falmouth on Monday morning despite marine experts, wildlife volunteers and vets battling all day to save them.

While seven were saved and led back out to sea, one rescuer described the scene as a "sea of carnage".

A Royal Navy spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday there had been no training or official activity in the area since last Thursday.

But on Wednesday, the MoD issued a statement confirming there were "routine" live firing exercises 60 nautical miles from Falmouth on Friday.

Marine experts said this was considered close in terms of possible effects on dolphins.

Officials also said a survey vessel had been using "short-range side-scan sonar" for sea-bed mapping trials at the time of the incident.

MoD officials declined to comment on what training the submarine was doing but said it would have relied on passive sonar and not low frequency active sonar.

A spokesman said this sonar was "extremely unlikely" to have affected the dolphins.

The local coastguard had issued warnings to ships in the area to watch for "extensive" submarine activity.

Initial tests on some of the dead dolphins showed they had been healthy, with no signs of illness or injury.

A spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue charity, Tony Woodley, called for an official investigation into the Navy activity.

"We hope the authorities will look into these very serious incidents to find out whether indeed they were the cause of the strandings," he said.

"These animals had no food in their stomachs, which flies in the face of the suggestion they were following prey inshore -- one of the suggestions is that a loud noise perhaps scared them onshore."

He said it was the largest mass stranding in Britain since 1981 when pilot whales beached on the east coast. More tests are being carried out on the dead dolphins in the coming days.

And other dolphin notes.....

Yesterday we spent a good deal of time trying to work out how we can rig up a boat that looks like and performs like the boats the Navy uses with their Marine Mammal Program.  We were also researching wardrobe for the Navy trainers.  Found some interesting photos which I'm posting here.

New Video Blog Site is Up

by Michael D. Sellers

Okay - I finally sorted out the videoblogging software and have put up a videoblog site with Bahamas videos. There are three vlogs so far and I will try and post there regularly.  Also -- you can subscribe so that when I post something, you get notified.   Here's the link - I just put up two new videos there a little while ago.

Way of the Dolphin Behind the Scenes Video Blogs

Here's what you should see when you get there.

June 9: WOD is 3 Weeks Out Now

by Michael D. Sellers

Well, I had visions of a quiet creative weekend but ended up spending it with the mother of all spreadsheets - doing an update first on the budget, then the cost report, and then a cashflow.  The production accountant starts next week so until then - I'm the one who sets up all the systems and maintains them until turning over to the project accountant.   On some levels I enjoy that kind of work ... but enough is enough already. I spent about 20 hours buried in it on Sat and Sun -- time I would have much rather spent working on creative items.  But it had to be done and now we start the week with everything fully in order -- and that feeds a sense of control.....

So this AM from about 5:30 onward I've been working with Susan (she's an early riser too) on wardrobe items...the technology is really coming into play.  Our costumer is in Los Angeles and we're here, so she does a fitting, takes pix, posts them to a web gallery and we watch them there -- then create a mini-website response to her where we put up pix we like, comment on the outfits, and send her out armed with notes. Here's a screen grab of the "Craig" page with our notes as we've sent them back to Tabitha, the costumer.  There are about 15 pages of notes so far. 

Shooting Schedule: Day by Day with WOD

Update 9AM June 5:

Ivana Millecevic's attorney just advised she can't travel until July 2nd...literally minutes after I published the schedule.  We have her working starting on July 1 so if this holds it will have an affect on the schedule. I don't think it will have a huge affect and so I'm going to leave this post up and just update -- but don't book any travel until I get an updated schedule published.  Just use the one published here for general reference.

by Michael D. Sellers

Well, I cracked the code and got it all scheduled and I have to tell you -- it feels great.  Delivering a workable shooting schedule is a little like delivering a baby -- and this process has been "in labor" for about three days.  But now it's done so here it is -- along with notes for all concerned about when might be a good time to visit the set, and when might be a little less ideal.

To download the actual shooting schedule -- click on this link.  Download wod_sked_jun_3.pdf

And here is a summary with notes about when it's good to visit the set:

• June 26, 27, 8 (Wed, Th, Fri): 
  
  • Last three days of prep for the main unit
  • Actor rehearsals and dolphin training
  • Second unit underwater shots (dolphins only, no actors)
• June 28 (Sun)
  
  • Day off -- last day of prep.
• June 30, (Mon), July 1, 2 (Tue, Wed)
  • Open water sequences all day each day
  • Note: We are scheduling these first so that if there are weather problems we can flip them to later in the schedule.  If that happens I will be blogging about it and posting revised sked.  Keeping our fingers crossed we won't have weather issues.
• July 3, 4 (Th, Fri)
  
  • Smith's Point scenes at Outriggers (fish fry scenes)
  • We will be shooting noon to midnight on Th, and 5PM until very late (possibly all night) on Friday.
  • Note:  This is a good time to visit the set and if you're there and want to have a moment onscreen as an extra -- this is one of three good opportunities.
• July 5 (Sat)
  
  • Second Unit underwater work. No opportunity for set visit.
• July 6 (Sun) Day Off
• July 7 - 11 (Mon-Fri)
  • At UNEXSO (dolphin facility)
  • Good time to visit -- we'll be around dolphins and the filming will be among the more fun and watchable scenes due to the setting and environment.
  • We will be shooting 7am-7pm early in the week, then as the week goes on it will go to "splits", shooting basically noon to midnight.
• July 12 (Sun) -- Day Off
• July 13,14 (Mon, Tue)
  • At UNEXSO for research lab scenes
  • Good time to visit - opportunity to be an extra
• July 15,16 (Wed, Th)
• July 15, 6 (Wed, Th)
  • At Port Lucaya Yacht Harbor/Marketplace
  • Good time to visit -- opportunit to be an extra
• July 17, 18 (Fri, Sat)
  • Pickups and miscelleneous shots location TBD.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:  Just as it is axiomatic in the military that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, it is entirely possible that the sked will change due to weather or other factors.  But if it does, I will be posting updates.  I would say that in my experience, maybe 80% of this will remain as I have posted it above unless there is a major weather problem.

Creating the Shooting Schedule: A Jigsaw Puzzle in Progress

by Michael D. Sellers

I've had my head down jamming on a major "jigsaw" puzzle -- that being, putting together a shooting schedule for WOD.  It's an mind-pretzling exercise in which we have to figure out how to make everything fit, taking into account actor availability within the overall schedule, locations, dolphins, weather issues, and crew turnaround.  Normally the 1st Assistant Director is in charge of scheduling and the director just has to sign off on it ... but in this case I'm the only one who really knows how working with the dolphins goes; and what some of the other concerns of UNEXSO are....so I'm doing the first pass myself.  I'm going to upload a PDF of the work-in-progress shooting schedule .... you'll see that the first step, which i what I'm working on now, is to establish the general flow and to break it down into pieces that can be done by second unit and those that have to be done by first unit.  Then we break it down into weeks, then within that, break it down into days.  What you'll see is a "board" comprised of "strips".... each strip being a scene from the movie.  On the strip is various information including the scene number, a brief description of the scene, numbers representing which actors are involved in the swcene, and a page count (keeping in mind that one page roughly equals one minute of screen time). 

For this schedule, I've also color coded the strips -- Blue for open water, green for UNEXSO, yellow for Smith's Point, and Grey for the shipyard which we will use as a Navy base.

Anyway -- here it is.  I've got to go dive back in now and try to work it out.

Download WODSKEDS.pdf

Casting Question Answered

by Michael D. Sellers
Yesterday I got a couple of emails from people who thought, based on the video blog I put up my first day here, that we had lost one of our actresses. I'm not quite sure where this is coming from .... I thought what I said on there was that we were having a problem with our Bahamian casting director .... nothing about losing an actress. So the answer to that is -- no -- no problem with any of the actresses.

This does bring up, however, the question of whether we could lose any announced cast members and the answer to that is that it's unlikely but not impossible. To clarify that, I will explain the process by which casting is accomplished. This applies to "offer only" actors/actresses -- i.e. those who are not candidates for an audition, but who need to be made an offer first.

First, we have our casting director contact the agent and/or manager of the talent we want to make an offer to. He gets a "quote" -- which is basically the agent or manager telling our casting director what the actor made in the last movie, or more particularly the last independent movie, that the actor was in. (Most actor's have two quote levels -- independent and studio -- the latter being higher, of course.) The casting director then gives a general indication of the level at which we might be making an offer (less than quoted, for sure). If the agent/manager indicates that the actor will read/consider such an offer, the casting director tells us (producer and director) the actor is available and will consider an offer.

We then make the offer. The offer letter is very brief -- for example, here's one:

Dear [[Manager]]

I am delighted to make an offer to _______ for his acting services in the role of ______in the upcoming feature project “WAY OF THE DOLPHIN.”

The film, financed with a distribution guarantee through Quantum Releasing, will be shot on Grand Bahama Island beginning on or about June 30th. Our offer is SAG Schedule F.

I am producing the film with Michael Sellers directing from a script written by multiple Emmy winner Wendell Morris. Attached along with this document is a PDF version of the latest draft of the screenplay.

Because we are 5 weeks out, we ask that this offer expire on _________

Sincerely,
Susan Johnson, Producer

SAG Schedule F refers to the SAG pay scale. Susan authors the letter in order to keep me more in th role of Director in the mind of the actors and their agents.

Then, by the deadline, they either say "thank you, he's passed", or they say "he's interested in doing the role".

If there is interest, we then exchange a few emails about the terms -- maybe they ask for more money; they ask about travel, lodging, per diem, rental car or car/driver -- things like that. Also they may raise "backend" -- profit participation, or may leave that for later. In any event, via an exchange of emails, we reach a point where we are "locked", meaning all the deal points have been agreed to. We then mutually agree -- still via email -- that we're locked, and then we forward it on both sides to our attorney's for "papering".

Now - the email exchanges mentioned above may all happen in a day or so. And once we've agreed on terms, it's common to go ahead and announce. That is essentially what we have been doing -- announcing when the terms are agreed upon between the producer and the manager.

There is still a chance for things to fall out during the contract phase -- which can go on for several weeks, even right up to the point where the actor is supposed to travel -- because, well, attorneys are attorneys and sometimes things go awry during that phase. We ran into a little of that with one of our actresses this time, and almost lost her -- (but that wasn't what I was referring to in the video blog, and we didn't lose her). But generally speaking, 95% of the time at least, if the producer and agent/manager agree on terms, the deal is a 'done deal' and nothing falls out.

That said, there are other reasons when, even with a contract, an actor or actress drops out. Could be due to sickness, family situation, etc -- as long as they don't drop out after filming has started, usually there is no lawsuit or anything. This is rare, but not that rare.

So ... anyway ... that's the process. At this point we have agreed to deal terms with all of the actors and about half the contracts are finished. As they say around this town: "It's all good."

WOD: 4 Weeks to Principal Photography

by Michael D. Sellers

Here comes a quick catchup of the three days since I arrived on Thursday. As feared, it's hard to keep up with blogging, the pace is so hectic:

FRIDAY
In the morning I worked on SAG paperwork (many, many pages to fill out and a lot of information to be dredged up) so that we can get ourselves fully settled with SAG.  (We have the SAG waiver which ensures us that the strike, if it happens, won't affect us.  But this is the routine paperwork which is needed to get the film fully settled in with SAG and the company as a 'SAG Signatory'.)  In the afternoon we had staff meetings, wrangled with vendors -- and were able to bring down the cost of crew housing by 20% based on a great deal with the yacht club, and the cost of rental cars by a third.  Jay is turning out to be a great negotiator -- and we need those savings because we're light in some other areas.  SJ and I did some location scouting (good news is we don't have too many locations to find, most are established), then worked until 6 on budget and cashflow.  At 6 Susan and I both got bitten by the same bug -- to go out and enjoy the beach, which we did -- then she, I, Jay, Angela, and Cornelius had a nice fresh fish dinner at Cafe Med along the harbor.  A long day, but witha nice reward at the end.  Oh, and en route to Cafe Med we stopped in Count Basie square for a conch salad -- took some pix, will download and insert after I finish this writeup.

SATURDAY, 31 MAY
More location scouting on Saturday morning.  Here's a photo of something we're looking at for the family home -- we'd like to have them right on the beach and this is the only one in Smith's point.  Would need a lot of dressing but once that's done, it could be great.  (This  is also the first time I've figured out how do do a cut and paste panorama digitally without a print......)   

It really sits right on the water and the vew from the house is spectacular -- just needs a lot of work on the exterior. 

Then we went on to casting ... had a session with Leah Eneas whom we're planning to use for the role of Duvey in the film.  She's a delightful Bahamian actress/comedian. The session went well, and Susan and I went away very happy -- not just with Leah, but with a couple of other "finds", including one girl who's a singer and has a great "soca" recording (island flavored music) that we're going to be able to use in one of the scenes.  Lunch, then back to the hotel where SJ worked on budget and I worked on the "Dolphin Behavior Breakdown".  This is needed to lock our deal with UNEXSO, and we have a meeting with them on Tuesday morning.   It's a big job -- I worked on it until the end of the day on Saturday, and again for all of Sunday morning.  Here's a screenshot of the first page -- the whole doc is six very dense pages long (you can click on it to see it larger)

SUNDAY, 1  JUNE
This was a day off supposedly -- which basically meant I could work in the room quietly without too many phone interruptions, so I continued on the dolphin breakdown until I completed that, then I went on to the script and started doing a technical pass on it to basically start converting it from a reading script to a shooting script. As I worked on this, I also started putting together my director breakdowns which I'll be turning in, when I turn in the script.  These breakdowns will help the AD's in their scheduling.  I'm putting up a screen grab below so you can see what this looks like.  It's a pretty detailed document.....I got through about half the script on Sunday -- then had dinner with Paul Mockler our underwater cinematographer on Sunday night.  Was back up and at it on the breakdown this AM and worked on it from 6-8am, then stopped to blog.  So that's got you pretty much caught up.

Here's a screen grab of the breakdown I'm working on.