Back in Production!!!
Hey guys,
Well the college plans have changed, so Birds of Prey: Endgame is back in production! I'll keep you guys updated on what happens next!

Productions Shut Down...
Yep, it's true. Production has been shut down on Birds of Prey: Endgame. The reason being is that filming would not be finished by the time I go to college in August, however I may continue production once I get to college and can use their equipment. I'll keep you guys updated.

the ball is rolling again...
Well things had to be put on hold after the first run of auditions due to time conflicts and personal life stuff, but the second run of auditions are beginning today at 3:30pm! I'm excited, but too tired to show it lol! We've got the camera, that's good. We've got a couple of the roles cast from the previous auditions (Stephanie Browne and Harley Quinn), but there are still a lot of roles left to cast, not to mention the 50 extras we'll need for Chameleon Warriors.

On top of all of this, I'm working on a pilot (that will probably start filming before the movie does) so that's been keeping me somewhat busy.

Things are moving along slowly but surely. Sometimes I wish I hadn't advertised the movie so early, but I'm sure there are some people out there who appreciate me taking them through the process of making this movie.

Yay! Progress!
Are you sitting down? Really? Are you? Well most people don't stand up at the computer, but anyway...WE GOT A CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! ::Cheers::

Auditions have finally been scheduled, they're in about 3 hours! I'm so excited, I've been super busy all day. I've been going all around the entire school getting everything ready for auditions while still going to class. It's a lot of work and my feet hurt, but that's the price you pay for your art I guess.

I'm so happy, I need to calm down lol! The camera is a Hi-8 or something, anyway it's really kewl. It belongs to one of my teachers, Mrs. Marchand who is like the nicest and kewlest person to ever walk the earth!

So, BoP fans it looks like things are finally coming together to move forward. We begin filming next month, at least that's the goal. Auditions were postponed for about a month, so we'll just have to see what happens with filming.

I'll keep everyone updated!

- Davin

i HATE cameras! lol!
Actually I love them, I just can't seem to get one! Brooke, my DP, is supposed to bring her camera some time this week for me to look at and see if it can be fixed. I'm no camera wiz, but we can hope.

I'm also still waiting for script approval from the principal of the school. I wanted to start auditions this week originally, but that's out. I want to start next week, but that's out. I hope to start some time soon though! ::crosses fingers::

So aside from that, and the constant quest of getting a camera, everything is good. The camera and the script approval are the only things standing in the way of progress. Grr. Okay, well that's all I have to report so far. Ta! :-)

Moving forward finally
Well today was a productive day for the movie. I spoke with Mr. Hernandez, one of the theatre teachers at my school, and he will be helping us out with auditions and stuff like that. I also spoke to the principal, Mrs. Reaume, about filming in the school. We got her permission but she has to run the contract I gave her by the superintendent first before we can officially get started. I'm going to print up some flyers so that when they do give us the okay, we can start immediately.

I've found a camera for $270. It's nothing special but it's a camera, which is one of the main things we're lacking. It won't have a cinematic quality, but it'll still be kewl.

Auditions will be this month, I'm VERY excited about it. I'm so glad this project is finally starting to come together, and I'm very greatful to have the fanbase supporting me in what I'm trying to do.

Casting/Project not taken seriously, but that was expected...
The script is so close to completion, I'm getting very anxious to start casting. Once I get the movie cast I can take pictures and make a REAL website, because the one that's up now is no where near my best work.

I've gotten a little ahead of myself as far as casting goes. I've been looking for actors and actresses in Texas online who are non-union and don't mind working for free. I've found a couple who are interested in the project. I e-mailed this one actress who was so perfect for the part of Helena (no, it wasn't Ashley Scott, sorry) but her representative replied in a bit of an expected/unexpected way. He informed me that the actress does not do "no-pay amateur films." I know I'm an amateur filmmaker but there's just something about that word that gets under my skin. When people who are in the business say that to me I always get the feeling that they forgot they were amateurs one day too. I'd suggest coming up with a different word to use, but then I'd just hate that word too. Oh well, everyone's gotta start somewhere.

Now here's my favorite part... "I question your stance that your film is legal. It doesn't matter if you are making money or not, you are still violating copyright and trademark laws."

Apparently this person has never been to theforce.net/theater. I don't know how many times I've had to address this problem. Fan films are legal, and widely accepted among fanbases. If the WB and all those other people who didn't know what they were doing have a problem with me making this movie, they can kiss my... I'm only trying to make up for their mistakes and please the fans that they abused.

We'll either be getting the camera next month, the month after that, or not at all. And obviously it's hard to make a movie without a camera, so it's all dependent on us being able to get a camera as to whether we stay on schedule or not. If only they weren't so damn expensive. There are a lot of possible ways to go about getting a camera, and I'll just have to explore them all.

I'm very excited about the script, it's coming along beautifully and is going to be a full 90 pages, so we can expect the movie to be a full-length film. There's a lot of surprises and it's going to be an excellent movie! I can't wait!

I still hold on to hope that some nice rich person will donate a bunch of money to the movie lol! Maybe I should just give up on that.

I've been looking for a job for about 9 months now, in this town, at my age, at this time of the year (or apparently last season as well), it's just NOT possible. I've decided to take the entrepreneur approach and make websites for businesses around town. Wish me luck! Does anybody even read this thing? lol!

Trying to stay sane...
Well it's been a while so I figured I'd update Mr. Blog on the newest events with the movie. It's going through a rewrite and the story is changing...again. It's going to be longer and more epic. The final battle of the Birds will probably take place in the Theatre Arts classroom of Ball High School, but of course it will be done up to look like the Clocktower. I'm still not sure how I'm going to make it look like the Clocktower, but I'll find a way.

School starts next Monday, and I'm still looking for a job. The BoP Virtual Season is getting closer to premiere time, as is my Eve virtual series, so I'm trying really hard not to let work on the movie script fall into darkness.

I can't wait to see how auditions go, or if anyone shows up. I still have to get the camera, which means I need a job so that I can save up the $400 that I'll need to get it. Wish me luck Mr. Blog! :-)

Slowly getting better, maybe lol!
As it turns out I misunderstood Gina, she does still want to be apart of the movie as the asst. director and as Barbara Gordon, but she doesn't think we will be able to start filming as soon as I want to, in october. I agree, it'll probably start some time after christmas. Which is fine, I just need to use school as an avenue to get my cast and crew together and then once I have them, we can use the summer to really get things done because I'll have their contact info and stuff. Free therapy and getting a cast and crew together are the only two reasons I'm anxious for school to start.

Gina and I went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean the other day. I saw Mrs. Carter, her husband, and her baby. She's so cute and little! Babies are so kewl! Except when they get a little older, develop an attitude and think screaming at the top of their lungs is a good way to get what they want.

I'm gonna look into getting that job at Kroger some time today, call my mom's friend and ask him what I need to do next. They're supposed to call me soon but it wouldn't hurt for me to call them so that they know I'm interested. I really need a job soon! Last year I told mom during our fun school shopping that that was the last year she would have to buy me clothes and school supplies. I want to do it myself this year, mainly because it'll be my own money and if I want to get some damn mechanical pencils, I WILL! lol! Who cares of they're a dollar more. I love shopping, it's just the fact that I never have money that poo poo's on it.

So after I buy clothes and school supplies, pay Traci back, and get my car working, THEN I can start saving up my money to get this movie into production instead of pre-production. Pre-production isn't supposed to be as long as it will be for this movie lol! Gina's right, we definitely won't be filming in October. The bright side is, after the first movie, I'll know pretty much what I'm doing, I'll already have the equipment, the script outline for the second movie is complete, so all I would have to do is polish the script, cast the people, find the crew, and do all the normal preproduction stuff. Traci would be payed back, the car would be running (provided it doesn't break again), I would've already graduated (so no back to school shopping) and all my money could go towards rent, bills, and the movie.

I plan to enter the entertainment business by starting at the top. Or at least the middle anyway. I'll work on getting some recognition with some indie movies under my company, Onyxfire Productions, and then I'll continue to move on up. Sometimes I think I'm so much like Demi Moore. Owning your own company, and producting/directing movies will be great. I won't have to wait around to get discovered, I'll just work on my own terms. That's the advice I give to everyone trying to make it in this business. If you don't like the way it's run, make it your own. I hate the way only 5% of the people who want to be stars actually make it. I think that's a waste of talent. The thing with me is, I know I have a lot to learn. I'm only 18, I'm not the greatest actor, writer, or director, but I want to learn. I don't have enough money for the New York Film Academy so why not just do it myself? I'm not expecting to make any instant classics or big blockbuster features any time soon. I also don't expect to be rolling in the dough. But that's not why I want to be a director/writer/actor/producer. I've always wanted to do that, ever since I was little.

If I'm 40 years old still making independent movies like I am now, I think I'd be okay with that. The fame and fortune I'm sure are nice, but it's all about creating the movie, the art. I love to "express the art of creation", as says the Onyxfire slogan. I believe that there is nothing more amazing than creating something out of nothing. An idea comes, you put it on paper, you flesh it out, you make it into a movie and bring it to life. Now here you have this one small idea that you helped blossom into an entire story that the world can see. It's very inspiring.

Don't get me wrong though, I definitely want to be rich and famous, but that's not what's really important. If things work out like Gina and I want them to, I'll be a famous writer/director/actor who is bestfriends with Sarah Michelle Gellar and she'll be a famous actress married to Vin Diesel.

I can't wait to see how this project unfolds. There has been a massive amount of interest in it, and a lot of people have contributed to it so far, and we're just in pre-production. There's still a money issue that I will hopefully be able to handle.

My first entry, hell has already broken loose.
This is my first entry chronicling the process of making my first film. I'm not sure if "chronicling" is a real word, but I don't care. The first completed draft of the script is finished. It's for Birds of Prey: Return of the Joker. Jeremy, the co-writer, and I have found some people to review the script. It got some bad reviews, but the reviews that were good were REALLY good, so that's inspiring. It's my first movie, and it's a fan film, it doesn't have to be perfect. I'll do the best I can with what I have (which is not much), and the fans can ask no more of me unless they want to donate money.

Money is also a problem. The camera that I'm going to need if I'm going to be making movies costs over $2000. So I'm going to have a yard sale and some fundraisers and hopefully raise enough money to buy it. This means that every other aspect of the film will be absolutely no-budget. The actors will have to wear their own clothes whenever possible, otherwise it's a trip to Goodwill. I'm not sure yet if they'll be wearing wigs, but if so, it's off to 7-Mart for the cheap $30 wigs.

As soon as school starts I'm going to hold auditions and get a cast and crew together. I might also have to look for a new assistant director, since Gina, who was also going to play Barbara, doesn't want to be in BoP because she thinks "it won't be a hit." It's an indie fan film, of course it won't be a hit. I didn't think much of it before, but I guess I should explain to everyone who gets involved with this project that it won't be a huge hit and they won't have a star with their name on it on the sidewalk.

So, Jeremy and I are working on revisions to the script, I'm working on making money, and the farther I go into making this movie the less likely it is that it will happen. I'm poor, like the really sad kind. I have no money, I've been trying like HELL to get a job, and in about a week I might have one at Kroger. Don't know what I'll be doing though. The first few paychecks will go to Traci to pay her back for my driving school, then the ones after that will go towards getting my car working, and somewhere in between there I'm supposed to be saving up for that camera. I feel like a God that has no power. Like if Ares had been born and grew up knowing that he would start a bunch of wars, but then never gained his godly powers and had to start wars the old fashioned way. Yeah that's a weird analogy, but oh well.

I want to get people on this project who are as dedicated as I am. Ted, the man playing "Mystery Man" in the movie seems very dedicated, as well as Jeremy. I thought Gina was dedicated, but it seems like she feels this project is below her because it's a fan film. It makes me think of the saying "There are no small roles, only small actors" or however it goes.

The part I don't like is that she seemed to be gung ho the whole time, I wish she would have told me how she felt right away.

So as it stands right now, I have no money, no job, and very very little hope. I'm really hoping some nice rich person donates like $5000 to the movie, but I seriously doubt that will happen.

The window of opportunity I'll have to make this film is small. With school in session I can use that to hold auditions and find the cast. The freshman tech-theatre class would probably LOVE to be apart of a movie, so that takes care of the crew. This is my last year of school, I'm graduating this year, so I don't have much time. The filming will probably take most of the school year because I'm new at this and don't entirely know what I'm doing.

I've got the BoP fans buzzing about the movie, so I can't pull out of it now. Nor do I want to. If I can put what's on the script onto the screen it should be a very good movie. But that's all dependent on me being able to get the money to buy the camera and get the locations secured. This is going to be a long and winding road, and I just have to remind myself that it's what I want to do.