"...a true indie."

​The feature film is not only completed, but has been reviewed by 11 outlets and submitted to 6 film festivals as of this writing!  There's actually a lot more happening behind the scenes, but it is unreal that we have finally gotten to this point.  Thank you to every single person that helped in any and all ways over the past 28 months in getting Occurrence at Mills Creek to where it currently is.  We weren't able to have a traditional premiere with the way things are at the moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we were able to have a private screening for some key cast and crew members yesterday in a real theater.  We hope to have a proper premiere once the world returns to some sense of normalcy.  Until then, please keep up with our social media pages, specifically Facebook, to keep up on what's happening and we truly cannot wait for everyone to enjoy this stylistic supernatural chiller!

"Did that just happen?"​
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It recently dawned on me that it has been 9 months since I last posted about Occurrence at Mills Creek.  9 months, long enough to make a baby… and what a baby we made!  On paper we had the perfect Indiegogo campaign with a strong social media imprint and network, as well as coverage in outlets such as Horror News Net and Film Courage.  With the advantage of keeping whatever we raised, we set our goal based on our dream budget for what we were trying to do.  We didn’t get it, but we did raise enough to move forward.  Literally just enough, seeing as there was $3.84 left when we wrapped in August 2019.

The Indiegogo ran right into shooting the first scene for the feature last April with Mia Zanotti, best known from NBC’s The Voice, into a month of prep and shooting 8 marathon days throughout the summer of 2019.  We premiered the short in the midst of the feature shoot and throughout the fall it was positively reviewed worldwide by over 40 critics, even earning a “Fresh” Rotten Tomatoes review from Film Threat.  To date the short film has been selected to 16 Film Festivals with a total of 38 Award Nominations, 12 of which were wins.  We also released a teaser trailer for the feature which has itself garnered 3 Festival wins out of 4 nominations.  This led straight into shooting a tie-in music video for Mia Zanotti’s The Way I Used to Know just before the holidays, which will be publicly released in March. 
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With the new year comes post production on the feature, another tie-in music video for Mia’s Hurt, the release of the short on Amazon Prime later this spring, and of course the premiere of the feature this July and the restart of the cycle of reviews and film festivals.  These past 9 months have been quite a creative gestation period, and when the feature premieres this July it will be the end of 43-month journey that began as a joke with Alexa Mechling on set of another project in December 2016.

"We want to invite, not solicit..."

Today we publicly launched our Indiegogo Campaign to continue Occurrence at Mills Creek into becoming a full-fledged feature film.  This journey has been one with a life of it's own; from it's origin as an off color joke while filming another project in 2016, to the massive undertaking that we start today. 

Cory Hika, Noah Crissman, David Damrath and myself were guided by a simple rule with an equally simple goal when we sat down together in January to map out the plan for this campaign  - to invite, not solicit, and to show who we are as a crew.  By the stats we have everything in our favor with recognizable talent in Betsy Lynn George, Mia Zanotti and Lynda Marnoni, a healthy social media footprint with over 1,100 Facebook followers, and a completed short film that doubles as the first Act of the feature with a growing number of attached talented cast members. 

Everything should be in our favor, but the reality is that it cannot be known.  We have the script.  We have the talent.  We have 1/4 shot.  We need you and your support.  We need you to join us at http://igg.me/at/omcfilm   

"I think this is going somewhere..."

That has been the mentality of virtually everybody involved with this project from early on.  When I consider how this started as an off the cuff joke in 2016 to write a script where I violently kill Alexa Mechling to what its become I am as baffled as I am humbled. I am fortunate to be at the helm of what is basically a cinematic road trip; I know where we're heading, but aside from that Occurrence at Mills Creek has been an adventure of discovery.

This project continues to evolve in an open and organic process as we are now starting to plan out the feature.  A wonderful cast has been peppered with known and experienced talent such as Betsy Lynn George, Lynn Marnoni, the Langshaw Twins and even just recently Mia Zanotti.  Each new addition to our troupe, or even the possibility of a new addition, opens an avenue of creative exploration to be incorporated in its own unique way.  As 2019 begins the short film born of a joke is coming to a close as the tireless task of continuing the story into a feature begins.  This joke has a pretty good punchline - cast & crew that are like a family, "The Girl" from that Billy Idol video, an alumnus of George A. Romero, twin model sisters that appeared Furious 7, and one of the most popular contestants to ever grace The Voice on NBC; not to mention a growing stable of talent coming on board and expressing interest as this ride continues...  and, of course, a lovely woman from Ireland winning an autographed movie poster.  All of this, from a joke. 

I am not careless enough to toss out the road map on this trip, but I have no intention of using it as I am just enjoying the journey... Welcome, 2019!   

"Dude... YES!!!"

My A.D., the one we all call the Amazing Cory Hika, said to me at some point during this past weekend's marathon shoot that we were doing "next level stuff."  Cory has worked with me in some shape or form on every major project I've undertaken for the past 6 years.  During that time, without fail, he has proven his creativity and dedication time and time again.  There have certainly been moments that I would've surely gone mad if it weren't for Cory's cool and measured perspective on a given situation.  He has worked with me on a short film that premiered in Manhattan and boasted cast and crew from literally across the country, to an award-winning music video that was largely shot guerilla style in the streets of New York City, to an award-winning feature film and everything in between.  So what's the point, other than giving Cory the praise he deserves?  The point is that when Cory made that comment it meant something.

Occurrence at Mills Creek is truly fortunate to have the cast and crew that it does.  Our crew consists of eager young filmmakers that have developed the type of working relationships that most only hope for - creating a fun atmosphere that is quick to respond and supportive of one another.  Our cast is outstanding and feeds off of the crew that feeds off of them, each bolstering the other.  I've had my share of 24+ hour shoots over the years, but this past weekend was one unlike any that I've been on before.  Sure we were tired, but we were together.  We weren't just together, we were one: one purpose, one vision, one unstoppable machine.

It was more than an observation of the quality of the work that everybody was doing when Cory made his comment, it was recognition of  how far we've come over the past 6 years.  It was validation of the gambles and sacrifices that were made to get to this point.  It was praise for our cast and crew.  It was acknowledgement and acceptance that we're on something that's special because of the work we all were doing.

I can't wait to share the short film, but I really can't wait to start on the feature... it's definitely going to be "next level stuff."

"You're going to hear me say 'organic' a lot..."

On Monday, July 9th the camera rolled on Day 1 of shooting Occurrence at Mills Creek.  The first of two scenes shot that day was a scene between sisters Clara (Ava Psoras) and Cassandra (Alexa Mechling) at a secluded cove at the fictional Mills Lake.  The scene starts innocently enough with the sisters playing around on a dock where they intend to relax before slowly becoming more intense as Jason (Jace Armentrout) shows up with serious consequences punctuated by the appearance of the visage of Emily (Betsy Lynn George) by the scene's end.

As is the case with any show, the first day of shooting is one that eases everybody involved into the work to be done over the course of the entire project.  This scene was an ideal one to start with given it's narrative progression, deceptively laid back location and natural flexibility to develop the scene in an organic fashion.  In short, the scene did not look like an overbearing mountain to conquer at the outset.  In reality it accomplished more than I could've hoped for as the director; it bonded Ava and Alexa while pushing them further into the depths of their respective characters while molding the crew into a fine tuned machine by shooting in an uncontrolled environment - all under the guise of hanging out at a lake and making a movie.

​By the time we shot the second scene later that evening, one that required all of the actresses to reach deep into themselves to connect to their characters, the crew quickly responded to very specific technical and artistic needs to reflect the dire emotional nature of the scene.  The Production was on its game as we got in and got to work.

Occurrence at Mills Creek is underway, confidently treading the undertow of the long and steady current that seeks to see this project evolve into a full-fledged feature film.  There will be challenges.  There will be setbacks.  There will be times when the undertow seems poised to win, but with the experience of shooting that first scene on the first day there is nothing that this Production cannot weather as others join us along the way, come what may.  

"If you're no longer nervous then it's no longer meaningful."

So goes the old adage in some semblance or another, and what a true one that it is.  Tomorrow is our first readthrough of the script where we will also be discussing additional scenes and logistics to get cameras rolling on two yet to be scheduled days before our big shoot in early August.  At the moment I find myself spinning several plates in the air, and they are not all rotating in the same direction; a few I am even raising and lowering as to not let things get boring... Pre-Production.

I'm negotiating issues with cast and crew members, trying to keep up with the SAG-AFTRA paperwork, developing an entire new sequence and looking into locations while working through emails of interested actors for featured extras in said new sequence, ordering additional equipment for the shoot, sweating budget, planning departmental meetings with crew, waiting for the wrong person to stumble across the prized prop hidden in my basement, beginning to consider wardrobe and more - all while being a father and a husband.  The truth is, I love the stress.  Equally true is that I'm scared as hell whenever I take the time to consider all of the individual moving parts, and that excites me.  Pre-Production is as terrifying as it is exciting.  There are three production phases for a reason, and each is as equally important as the rest.  Now is the time to freak over everything to be done so that we're prepared when we go into production only to see it fall apart on any given day and react on our feet to address problems on the fly to keep moving; pure adrenaline. 

Pre-Production: Fear is the taste. 
Production: Adrenaline is the hook.
Post-Production: Success is the reward.

...and then you figure out what you're going to do with it, but it all starts with getting ready now.

"Here we go again..."

Coming off of a long and exhausting feature, I was looking forward to taking a step back and not dedicating to anything too intensive for a while. However, I had promised young actress Alexa Mechling that I would use her in a horror short some time in the near future. As fate would have it, another young lady named Ava Psoras became aware of the project and commented that her mom would be perfect for the role of Alexa’s character’s mother in the developing story.

Ava’s mom is none other than Betsy Lynn George, the video vixen of Billy Idol’s Cradle of Love music video and various other television and film projects. The story was refined as the script drafts took into consideration the potential possibilities associated with the attention the burgeoning project was getting before settling into a finely tuned Project Proposal. After watching some of my work, specifically Forest Queen and erson, Ms. George agreed to the project and Ava was cast as Clara, sister to Alexa’s Cassandra. Additionally, veteran character actor Joe Fishel and rising talent Jace Armentrout came on board to fill out the cast.

A talented and dedicated crew has been assembled from the best of the best that I have ever had the pleasure to work with over the years to help usher this unsettling nightmare to life. Shooting in the summer of 2018, Occurrence at Mills Creek is a short horror film with a clear strategy to evolve into a feature over time.

​Every element of this project came together as a perfect storm, and we’re ready to capture the lighting that it’s going to bring.