October 8, 2008

I wanted to pause for a moment before things get really crazy and update you on some projects here in the Pacific Northwest...

Extremely Used Cars
As you likely remember, the feature-length comedy I directed in August "Extremely Used Cars" starring Mark Donnell, Ian Reed Kesler and Aaron Kissinger continues to make its way through the long post-production. I'll let you know when it's completed, what happens next with the film and if/when a trailer for it is available for online viewing.

New "Locations" Video from Dolphin Heart Productions
Film Oregon Alliance, a regional nonprofit organization friends Monterey Morrissey, Stan Roach and I formed in 2007, celebrated its 1st anniversary in August! The Eugene International Film Festival invited FOA to deliver a presentation to filmmakers at their first Oregon Locations Conference last Sunday and I have to say, with the spectacular locations here, the presentation was a huge hit. My film production company Dolphin Heart Productions produced a new 3-minute "Locations" video that we screened at the conference – You can check it out for yourself at www.FilmOregon.org. (Click the "play" button under the video and be sure your speakers are turned on.)

New TV Series from Dolphin Heart Productions LLC
Last month, we were contacted by a media company to develop and produce a new half-hour series in the "home and garden" genre, such as those you often see on HGTV, Travel Channel, Discovery and TLC. While we can't yet make an official announcement (final deal is pending), Rebecca and I are asking you to keep your fingers crossed for us. Each episode will shoot in a different location somewhere in the US and I am directing at least the first several episodes. If we get the "green light," we'll be busier than ever with overlapping production schedules.

"Open" Rescheduled
Unfortunately because of the ambitious television project (above), it was necessary for us to reschedule pre-production on the suspense/thriller "Open" written by Craig Richards and Matthew Pinard based on a short story by Elsin Ann Perry. Though we planned to start shooting the film in November, we're eager to get this terrific story into production and will announce a new schedule for it as soon as possible.

FamilyReunion LLC Celebrates Ten Years
Though technically FamilyReunion.com started back in July 1995 as a family newsletter, the web property in its current form as a social networking site was launched in December 1998 – ten years ago! It immediately became the largest social networking site in the world for family gatherings and has maintained its ranking in the top 3% of the most popular sites of any kind. With my time becoming more limited with producing and directing projects, I've recently contracted with a business broker to start shopping FamilyReunion LLC around to much larger companies that may be interested in adding this site to its portfolio. With the global economy in such turmoil, now may not be a good time to sell – but you never know who might be in a position to acquire it and take family reunion social networking to the next level a la Classmates.com, Reunion.com, etc... Again, fingers crossed.

And these are just the highlights of recent activities here. Hope you and your family are doing great and that you're finding ways to enjoy Autumn 2008.

Virtually,

Craig Richards