Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 9 & 22, 2007

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 9, 2007
Spoke with John last night. He was hoping to work with an actress from L.A. that the producer had suggested, but there just isn't money in the budget for it so we will be looking at all local casting, aside from Tom Stedham if John can work out a deal with him. I suggested an ad on Craigslist as well as the local college paper. John has written some fog scenes that happen out in the woods, which will be a problem if we shoot out in a local park or something: no electricity. If we can find woodsy areas near houses we know the owners of, we can string extension cords out. John and I will both be on vacation for the next couple of weeks, so after that we are going to touch base and start some serious planning. Included will be John coming to town to check out the main house location and see what kinds of wooded areas might be nearby.

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 22, 2007
Got an e-mail and a phone call from Tom Stedham thanking me for recommending him to John. John had e-mailed him the script and Tom "took the gig." It will be great to work with him again. John wondered if I could put up Tom at my house to save on hotel expenses. Not sure yet as I know we will have friends from out of town staying over part of the time for a visit. Waiting to hear confirmed shooting dates and when John will be in town to check out locations. Told John one thought on casting - if he's hoping to get some college students from the local university, we may have trouble getting them to take a whole week off from classes. Might have to work around some school schedules. We'll see how it goes. John asked me to go contact an actress I worked with a few years back about playing a role, but turns out she can't take the needed time off of work for the shoot. I also asked Marie to take photos of the house and surrounding area and send them to John as he can't make it over to see the place in person for a few weeks. This will help him make the revisions he needs to make for the producer. I also gave John the contact info for a couple of actors we've both worked with in the past, as he's going to see if they are up for this new project. John has also hired me to design a logo for the movie. Sweet!