Stop dreaming it, and just do it!

This year, my plate is full and that's good, 'cause I'm Hungry! How about you?

With an Aether Paranormal (mixed genre piece) in post, a spiritual documentary in the mix, a new script underway (2, actually - new indie drama/apocalyptic sci-fi) and Lorie and I reinventing the wheel a bit with Lost In Sunshine, things are moving right on down the track with love and we ain't lookin' back, my brothas & sistas!

You've heard me blog and sing about "expanding yourself" this year. And for good reason - who else is going to do it, Sunshine? :)

Right now, I'm working with Paranormal Productions in post on a feature. While doing our last set of edits, and having it scored by the beautifully talented Larissa Ness of Austin, we are examining the ending in particular - making sure that it doesn't leave the audience unsatisfied at all. It's surprising - fun - inventive... but could there be more? Don't let ego get in the way of you producing your best work!!

With expansion in mind, I've been writing like crazy (thank you, Mercury in Retrograde!). I'm writing one indie drama I'm planning to shoot sometime this year (around LIS) and the other is an apocalyptic sci-fi that I'm super excited to start 'officially' writing. Just started an outline, but the idea is to keeping writing, improving, and creating things that I'm excited about! Have you tried it? It works well as an anti-depressant, too!

Don't get stagnant. Don't wait on that one special project to thrust you out into the atmosphere! This business isn't particularly patient, either. Like Christmas, it doesn't wait for those who are late.

I'm in the middle of revising Lyn's character to strengthen her intentions/responses as a whole for Lost In Sunshine. One thing I've recently learned is that if you have the time to improve upon your script in any way - you should DO IT. After I made several initial revisions to improve LIS, Lorie and I felt confident that it was at a solid place to "move forward." With unexpected time to do more with our project, I'm finding even more opportunities to improve upon. And I dig some scenes SO MUCH BETTER now. Remember, without a stand-out story or material, you have... well, nothing much I can think of!

Instead of just dreaming it - write it! Instead of being scared of failure, put on your kickass boots (or flip-flops, if you're in TX) and just do it!

Besides, failure means we had to have tried, right? That's worth something, Tiger! In some cases, it's worth everything.
xo J

ps. here's the link to my new docuemntary's blog, What I Know For Sure, if ya wanna follow its progress! ;)

What are you working on right now that pushes you to be a better artist?

When we're in between "film thingies" it's easy to feel the weight of the world rest upon our shoulders and question everything we're doing, where we're going, and why we haven't made it there, yet.

Why not be pro-active to alleviate this kind of stress by focusing on what matters?

We're selective in the hairstyles we have, the clothes we wear, animals we keep, flowers we grow, and food we eat. So why shouldn't we be selective in the projects, too (not talking about gigs/jobs we take to make $, necessarily).

Creating haphazardly, or creating just for the sake of having fifty things to do has never appealed to me. I know people whose goals revolve around just that - having so many things in the pipeline, just hoping one of them will be successful. To me, working on projects takes too much of me to do that.

Doesn't it feel so much better to know that everything you're doing is working towards your ultimate goal (even if it seems like it's taking a million years to get there!)? It's actually what keeps me sane most of the time.

This year, one of my production companies, Paranormal Productions, which I'm a co-founder of, decided to make a feature film that we'll enter into the festivals (featuring our group, Aether Paranormal). If we are lucky enough to have our rough cut locked by Dec. 9th, then that baby will be post marked and checked for SXSW. That's actually the easy(er) part! I've never had a film be IN a big festival before, so that's one of my goals!

We're also marching along with Lost In Sunshine, my passion project of several years now. Now, this is one of my ultimate-ultimate goals - to direct a FEATURE I wrote from my heart (with a theme of self discovery). This film is pushing/allowing me to expand my knowledge of film-everything. It's also giving me the opportunity to meet and work with beautiful and talented people, I probably wouldn't know otherwise. Read more about it here: www.lostinsunshine.com

Another love child of mine is my on-going documentary, What I Know For Sure. It's a piece of spiritual cinema that features some really profound dialog from some fascinating human beings. You can watch the TRAILER to get a taste. It is my life's goal to continue to grow, learn and explore as a human, so it fills a special space inside of me, allowing me to incubate its birth while creating it. And that, I believe, makes me a more open artist.

Right now, I'm also in the middle of creating a short film, relevant to Lost In Sunshine, which we hope will serve as sort of a pre-story (one of them) into the lives of Lyn (our lead female protagonist in LIS) and her best friend, Johnny Pott. Even though we're shooting it as a "stand-alone" piece, this project is an extension of our story, and addition to all the blog fiction we're currently embracing with our characters. Hopefully, it will advance our agenda in showing off our collective talents, too - what we're capable of as a (production) team, and myself - as a director.

Meanwhile, I'm continuously trying to navigate through existing material, and create new material I feel will personally advance my agenda as an artist - a screenwriter, and indie director, to be exact.

Don't we owe it to ourselves to be selective this way?

I also call it focusing on what matters.

So, all that "in between" time turns into productive time, assessing the present (instead of worrying!), and creating what will be the future. I feel it's just as critical as any other time. It's our chance to select (aka: focus, meditate, strategically decide, and start to manifest) what we want to do next with our work... our lives.

And let the games begin.

What are you working on right now that pushes you to be a better artist?

Happy (selective) creating!

Haunted Faust Hotel (trailer)

Full Aether Paranormal movie will debut this Wednesday!

WATCH TRAILER

Aether Paranormal and Travel Channel Exclusive

As many of you know, I make paranormal documentaries with Paranormal Productions.

Here's some behind the scenes footage with Aether Paranormal traveling to Goliad, TX and filming an episode for the Travel Channel's Most Terrifying Places in America series. Episode will air in Sept./Oct. of 2010/11.

Just a little good ole fashion paranormal fun!



This has been a Paranormal Production.

Yep, I'm looking at the glass half full, and here's why.

If you've read our LIS blog today, you know that we've pushed our filming of Lost In Sunshine to the fall because we're still securing funding. As heartbreaking as it is for those of us who have worked our asses off to make this a Spring shoot, I'm looking at the glass half full, and here's why.

1) Some key locations that were not solidified sooner, will have plenty of time to be (more) secured, and therefor we'll be able to storyboard them properly.

2) The script was actually written for a fall shoot (over the holiday season) so this will be a more organic fit.

3) As many of you know, distribution models change, and the old one has died. Our business plan was written over a year ago, and although it's still current with the new world mindset, it needs to be re-evaluated/updated to more accurately demonstrate our current POA.

4) We have a chance to reconsider our budget entirely. Should we go ultra low or the 2 million route, and what does that mean as a whole?

5) Some actors that I adore and wanted to consider, before (mis)learning of SAG rules and being fogged by US/foreign sales stuff, may now be able to work with us if we go ultra low (still TBD).

6) If you read Iskra's earlier entry on my blog, you know that equipment we couldn't consider in the Spring, may be a luxury we have to contemplate in the fall.

7) It gives us a chance to build/strengthen relationships with our LIS audience, expand our show, and experiment more with the 5 more months we now have to grow before production officially starts. While there are no guarantees, it certain feels like an advantage to have more true fans before we shoot.

8) Potential investors that have the script, but haven't had time to formally respond to us, now have ample time to figure out how/if they'd like to contribute to the process.

9) Our marketing/distribution team of experts will be attending more festivals this year... which means more opportunities for us to be connected with the right people who might want to aid us in our efforts - again, before we even shoot.

10) As a director, I now have the opportunity to work on more creative projects (i.e., with Paranormal Productions) before directing LIS. That (experience!) is never a bad thing!!

I'm sure I could think of more things, but these are enough to convince me, yet again, that nothing is random. Everything in life has a purpose, and will happen no sooner/later than it's supposed to. I look forward to further understanding the blessings of this hiccup next year.

Thank you, my loving crew members, who've stuck by our side, worked tirelessly to keep up the momentum of our project, and continue to serve as valuable team players on this magnificent journey. We know it's a labor of love, and one day, we hope to make you PROUD!

With love, and appreciation,

Jentri

Paranormal Productions: Reinventing the wheel with Aether Paranormal

So, if you read this blog you know all about my first love, Lost In Sunshine! When I'm not working on Lost In Sunshine, I'm making paranormal documentaries with my team, Aether Paranormal via our production company, Paranormal Productions in Austin, TX. I'm partners with my husband, Shad, and our best friend, Beaux, to bring you these full length documentaries to enjoy FREE via our website, year round.

The last year has been quite a journey. After Aether signing a right-to-pitch agreement with a production co. in LA for about 6 months last year, and nothing happening, we partnered with a fire cracker of a talent manager, Scottie Ward with CCM in LA, to co-create a new spin on our reality TV show idea, and pitch to new production companies via his connections. Our original slant has been VERY well received, stepping away from the predictability of an over-saturated market now filled with similar 'ghost shows'. So much so, that a top notch line producer has verbally attached himself to pitching our project to a reputable production co. in Hollywood, as soon as all our very specific ducks are in a row. Those ducks may take 6 mo. to get in a row, for all we know. So what do we do in the meantime?

We keep making f-ing documentaries & movies!! What else?

We've made a bold decision to take a new approach with our NEXT film project, to advance our agendas career-wise, and keep the momentum of our Aether Paranormal team's goals on the rise. We'll still be preforming real investigations with our team throughout. But this experimental project will start from the ground up. We'll forget all the stuff we've been told by Hollywood that we can and can't do, and just make an authentic, raw, killer flick. Because we can.

The brain storming session will begin tonight, before we finish editing our latest investigation that was filmed at the Aquarena Center in San Marcos.

I've always been a fan of the Duplass Brothers. And while I LOVE the way Lorie and I are approaching making our feature, Lost In Sunshine, Paranormal Productions thrives on being more experimental.. inventive.. a little more risky, in the grand scheme of things. We can make our films for A LOT less money, using no big stars, and without permission from anyone, especially since we're not asking for investors to fund us.

Instead of creating a business plan, having a tight script, and nearly a year of prep-work, like Lost In Sunshine's had, Paranormal Productions is choosing to make an outline, similar to the way Katie Duplass describes her experience with a 6-page outline before filming her directorial debut with, The Freebie. They had no scripted dialog, and shot it in 11 days. I believe everyone was getting paid on the back-end, too. Their picture was purchased at Sundance this year. Go, Katie!

The Duplass' Baghead was a great example of melting genres, and experimenting, too. I highly recommend any indie filmmakers, seeking an alternative, unconventional approach to doing things HW style, to check out their films! They do a super job of allowing film folks to know what can be done, if you've got the vision & time, and with little money. I've always been fans of their work, particularly because they don't make up excuses for why they can't do something.. they just do it. And they don't apologize for the imperfections, but rather use those as things to make them stand out.

With this paranormal project.. we want to create something that's never been done before. We want to step away from all the copycat versions of scary movies we know will be made.. others trying to recreate a Paranormal Activity success by emulating that style. Screw that. We have our own style and ideas.. so we've made the decision to start from the ground up... no limitations.. just high quality equipment, real people (no actors!) put in an extraordinary situation. We'll focus on story, originality, details, and entertainment value, at low cost - filming over the next year.

Next week, after some brain storming sessions, I'll have more details to share as to HOW we'll be tackling this.. but I'll blog about our journey, how we pull it off, and the fun obstacles we face.

This year, I'll have the luxury of learning how to operate under tight deadlines and regulations while making a low budget, high quality SAG feature, Lost In Sunshine with professional actors, and an experienced crew. And on the flip side, I'll be making a no budget genre film with real folks (no professional actors) using only a comprehensive outline.

Let the unknown begin- again!

You can connect with Aether here. :) Jentri

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Storyboarding, Love, & the Aether

I don't like the "s" word, so I'll just say I've been 'under the weather' this week. :) I'm still not up to full speed, but nothing gets me out of bed and on my feet faster than thinking about  Lost In Sunshine. 

After a couple of hours of storyboarding with Ia and Iskra this AM, we began to find our rhythm - our cadence. It was a miraculous experience for me - so wonderful.  What began as a bothersome, anxiously awaited activity, turned into a beautiful, magical process. What can I say... "they complete me!" Ok, that was cornsville, but I do LOVE my gals. They f'ing ROCK!!!

Before we began the process, I conveyed my thoughts to Iskra (DP) of illustrating the character's POV's through the lenses, what that meant technically, and how that would change through the course of the film. How would their worlds be reflected through this method? It was lovely to be able to implement those techniques visually on paper - a great lesson for me with angles, composition, thoughts of lighting - yet another way to TELL the story - emphasize the details of that which you want to enhance or negate. Thanks, ladies!!

Then Iskra and I started chatting about the tone of the film, saturation levels, aspect ratios (what's that? ha. no really...235?) and what camera might best suit our needs. Lately, RED has been all the talk. Now we're throwing 35mm into the bowl of possibilities. So many things are still TBD, but that's the value of early prep-work - there's time to entertain ideas, move, weave, & make the best decision possible for your film!  

We were talking cranes, dollies and steadicams, too. Our film will hold a certain fluidness - little to no hand held action. Then Iskra reminds me that we must not forget stillness. Oh yes, it has a place too.  And thank goodness Ia can draw it. I'm afraid I'll need to reference that later. ;)

Still trying to figure out if we will shoot one or two days in "Sunshine" this Dec. If only one, then we're contemplating shooting "POV driving shots" to capture the essence of fall, if possible. After all, we have found Lyn's car (main character) that we have access to, and I'm VERY excited. This little beauty is a character all on its own. Perfectly imperfect. MUAH.

And with all the great LIS stuff circulating around me, I find even more excitement in the air with the Aether Paranormal documentaries I've been producing with Paranormal Productions. Things are looking unusually optimistic for some network action, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. Things move fast in LA. That's why we reside here. We like to sleep in and stay up late! 

So after a GREAT session with the ladies, and a long, productive phone meeting this afternoon with my kick ass producer, Lorie, followed by some much needed good news regarding the Aether team, I feel elated... yet still under the weather.  What can I say... It's hard to be down with so many loving, uplifting things going on! 

Thanks for reading, and have a beautiful weekend!

ps. LIS official website launch still on for end of October - yeah! 

Love, Jentri

Jentri's film updates

It's been a long time coming, but short comedy - DropIt! is now online for you to watch (click on link above).

After producing 40 Going On 20 (wellness/fitness video) in 2006, this was my first mini DV short film that I wrote-directed in 2007. The story originated when a friend & film peer of mine (the co-producer, Jeff Jones) told me about a short he'd always wanted to do - the premise - a guy has to go #2 really bad but he doesn't want to do it in the stall at 'said location' because the gap in the door is so large that the entire world can see in! I thought the idea was funny, but I was sure there was a lot of 'potty humor' out there and wanted to make sure this would be different, yet relatable if we did it! I had the idea about incorporating some of "The Secret" mentality into it, and from there - it left the building! 

We shot it over the course of 3 days, utilizing 3 Austin locations (my home, an office building & the UT bathroom), with a friendly group of crew and insanely talented bunch of actors. Like the humor or hate it, we had so much fun making it! 

My second HD short film, Only A Kiss (I wrote-produced-directed end of 2008) starring the wonderfully talented Michael Lange and Lynn Burnor, debuted at The Aether Project art show (http://www.theaetherproject.com) in April 2009. The Premise - guy's caught cheating with his wife's step sister.  I'll most likely release it on one of our websites towards the end of this year, too.

On a side note: OAK's, Michael Lange is currently working on Spider Babies, a feature film by Austin's writer-director, Christopher Sharpe:

http://christophersharpe.com/projects/spider-babies/the-spider-babies-screenshots-day-2/

From the pictures, it looks like a fun film... and what a great website where you can follow the production too! Good luck, Michael!!

And last, but not least - If you follow my work at all, you probably know that I'm part of a collaborative group of investigators/filmmakers (Paranormal Productions) who produce paranormal documentaries - Aether Paranormal. Over the last year, we've produced 2 feature documentaries, as well as a short on the Federation of Light, which can all be viewed for FREE on our website: http://www.aetherparanormal.com. We are currently in post production on our latest documentary that we filmed in April 2009, and busy planning our next investigations. 

Meanwhile, back at the LIS ranch, (visit: www.lostinsunshine.com to see a list of our crew so far!) we're getting closer...  most of our dept. heads are already in place, lead female - still affirmative, best entertainment lawyer in the world on board, and business plan being sculpted to perfection... just about a week out from opening up our offering for Lost In Sunshine and I couldn't be more EXCITED!! 

Thanks for reading, and have a beautiful day!

Take a gander and join me here too if you'd like!

Film updates: twitter.com/jentrification

Paranormal updates: twitter.com/aetherteam

Lyn's (LIS' main character) updates: twitter.com/lynblue

Aether's myspace: myspace.com/goat45

Jentri's myspace: myspace.com/jentriquinn