We’ve had a pretty good first year at Apolog Films, notching four credits as producer on a diverse range of projects. Here’s a quick rundown:
Nate Duncan had already written, directed and starred in The Interview when I joined the project as a last-minute executive producer. What was left to be done? Plenty, in terms of staging the project for promotion and distribution on the film festival circuit, preparing the trailer, poster and social media campaigns. I’d like to think that helped Nate’s very good film reach its audience in 25+ festivals with numerous awards.
Writer-directors Dyan Ruiz and Joseph Smooke had a lot of accumulated film and video experience but had never tackled an animated project before. So they engaged me as co-producer of the web series Priced Out, where I helped them to translate dry San Francisco housing policy into an emotional, character-driven narrative (and learn the basics of animation workflow). The resulting series has touched audiences around the country.
Producer-director Steven R.M. Zee invited me as a guest on the second season of his public-access TV series Talk Show 1.0—which led me to becoming associate producer for the third season. In addition to booking guests and hosting eight episodes, we redesigned the series main and end titles, commissioned new theme music and launched a website for the show.
Most recently, writer-artist Derrick Scocchera returned to the director’s chair for It’s Always Something, a satirical short film in eight parts. Thanks to mutual friend Audrey Daniel, I came onboard as full producer and have already shepherded the film through casting, pre-production and an ambitious six-day filming schedule. We’re now launching a crowdfunding campaign to complete post-production in the spring. Check out our trailer here.
