Expectations and making Born Good

Our dramatic comedy, Lost in Sunshine , is momentarily taking a little back seat while I work on building my directing reel with micro-budget feature, Born Good, along side partnering producers, Sabrina McClendon and Lorie Marsh, with associate producer, Jeff Jones. Wow! This sounds like a full on production, y'all!

As Lorie put it, "it's a small, character [driven] piece with a 50-page script and outline combo to stoke improvisation among actors." Thank you, Lorie.

After shooting Volando Muerte, with Aether Paranormal in 2011, and excitedly planning for our next paranormal adventure to take place in 2012-2013, I've been eager to sink my teeth into more narratively structured material, too.

In walks Born Good with one eye half closed like Jack Elam...

During a script consulting session, Lorie asked me where the inspiration (for BG) came from. The theme was clearly, "expectations." Embarrassingly, I hesitated... I didn't have a specific answer, like I did with LIS. After thinking more... I realized it might have been slightly inpsired by watching one of my (unadvertised guilty pleasure) shows, Teen Mom.

There's just something intriguing about the different circumstances in which we're born into. We don't ask for it, and for better or worse, we don't have a choice. What are the expectations placed on us as we come into the world, and how do they effect our own expecations as we grow older? Do we have the ability to change this reality at anytime?

I'd like to think so.

It's funny how inspiration reaches out and grabs us at the most unassuming times. Hell, just go with it... from that (Teen Mom) thought to pre-production... that's how life happens. Unexpected. When the universe's emptiness winks at us, and gives us a blank canvas, just say thank you. :)

Happy Creating! Heehaw (that was Boom Boom, the donkey)! J

All The Good Ones - Director's Statement

Howdy, my screenwriting/indie filmmaking/artistic-in-so-many-ways, Junkies!

This year, I was honored to have a NYFA producer student by the name of Sabrina McClendon contact me about optioning and producing my feature script, All The Good Ones. Once the screenplay is produced at NYFA on paper, our plans are to really MAKE THIS FILM!!! I'm so excited, and pleased that someone else found the connection to these characters to be as powerful and engaging as I did. Like Lost In Sunshine, this story is from a female's perspective, only it's based on (some) true events. Hopefully we can put the story on screen for you one day soon, too! But for now, here's the director's statement! Enjoy, my Sweets! J

All The Good Ones was the first full screenplay I ever wrote in college. All I knew is that I had a story to tell, based on a personal relationship, and I wanted to tell it in the most honest, yet bold, kind of way, with respect to those (previously) involved. For the sake of good storytelling, I also knew that elements would have to be adjusted, embellished, and slightly manipulated, but the message was more important to me than the details.

ATGO deals with a (female) teenager's first experience with love, drugs, death, and independence, and how she chooses deal with it. We all carry around inside of us a deep desire to be wanted, understood, loved, and heard. In a way, ATGO is just about a young woman's journey to make sense of the world, and survive in the dysfunctional one she's helped create.

Story's struggle is that she doesn't understand, yet, that love simply isn't enough to make a relationship work. What Billy doesn't understand is that he's not invincible. Together, they believe they'll be OK, despite the abusive nature of their connection.

I think that everyone can relate to falling in love for the first time. Or loving someone so much, even when it's not good, and not being able to stop. This is a die hard love story about teenage firsts, loss, consequences, and a little bit of (everything) crazy in between.
– Jentri Chancey

Join ATGO on FB! :))

Born Good: Road to Liberation Update!

Helloooo, my GOOD friends!

Is it just me, or is everyone busier/crazier these days than normal? I was blaming it on Mercury in Retrograde for a while, but now I have no excuse!

My (paying) job and family business has left me far less time than I'd prefer to work on my film babies, but that's life - right, my sweet Banana Whoopies? We gotta pay them bills if we want to play with expensive equipment & everyone's valuable time! ;)

So here's what I've been doing, and the (Born Good) film progress I've made in the last few weeks, in addition to being crazy for no damn good reason!

1st mission: Location Scouting

Last week, I traveled to Burton/Brenham and viewed the funeral home and rest home I hope we can cheat for a hospital. My mom knows the folks around there, so she's trying to help out in that dept. (Love you, mom!) I've also been keeping my eye out for other possible locations to shoot in Kyle, TX as our "small town."

2nd: Script Consulting

Met with a good friend, filmmaker, and UT professor, Kat Candler, (jumping off bridges) last week and had my first script consultation - woo hoo! Bad part is there's lots of work to be done to ensure us a tight ass story. Good news is - I have a clue what to do, and it'll be FUN! :)

3rd: Script Homework

Part of my homework is to watch Steven's favorite comedians (our main character in BG)... it's a hard life, right?

4th: Editing

My good friend, Aether team member, & talented editor of our Aether movies, Beaux, will most likely edit this film. We're still ironing out details, but ck him out! ;) http://www.ionimagestudio.com and http://www.getparanormal.com

5th: Producing

There's a group of awesome NYFA producer (students) who are working on another one of my scripts this year, All The Good Ones. Sabrina McClendon is the ring leader, who's also coming on board to help produce Born Good remotely from NY. And can I just say - she's a kick ass producer already! Talk about forward thinking!

6th: Advising

In addition, Lorie Marsh (my LIS producer) has kindly agreed to be an advisor on this project, so if I need to run anything by her expertise - she's there! :))

7th: Lupus Organization of America

A huge part of this story was written to raise awareness of Lupus. One of my best friends, Karen, was diagnosed with this after a long, grueling battle of being 'mis diagnosed' several years back. Her symptoms have been so severe at times that she's lost all of her hair, and experienced debilitating pains. The trouble with Lupus is it's hard to determine/diagnose, because it's so different for every person who experiences it. So, I've contacted the Lupus Organization, and will be doing whatever I can to make this a benefit package!!!

8th: FOOD donations (and arguably most important!) ;)

I'm so grateful for all the emails I received back from a note I sent out about food donations for our project!! We'll be a fat and happy set! Yay!

We're on our way... Love, J