Filming in Rural Colorado For Latest Short

This month, our creative team drove over the hills and through the woods to begin production on our short film The Outsider. This is our first film that we've produced outside of the 48 Hour Film Project – an international competition where teams first compete locally to write, shoot, and edit a short film in 48 hours. 

Director Scott Takeda explains the framing he'd like while producer Lori Kay Allred laughs with the crew.

“We're ready for the next step," said director Scott Takeda. "We want to tell deeper more meaningful stories and have more time to craft them. For example, we’re shooting this film around my family reunion at the family farm. This is only something that could be done with intense pre-production planning – stuff that was prohibited when part of a competition."

Cinematographer Dave Klein gives us the "thumbs up" as we work to coordinate the next scene.

"Like all of our previous films, we're taking a universal theme and putting our own personal spin on it," said producer Lori Kay Allred. "This film is about wanting to belong and fit into a family. And shooting at a family reunion is how we're making it personal. I don't know how this will eventually turn out, but it's been a lot of fun.  I've been laughing all day with Scott's parents, uncles, and aunts."

Audio/grip Slade Williamson adjusts a light while producers and ADs work to arrange the extras for the next shot.

"If this film turns out how we hope, we want to get it into festivals this late Spring," said Takeda. "We just have...what...three months?  Should be no problem when we're used to having 48 hours total."

Filmmakers Start Production On Latest 48 Hour Film

Filmmakers Lori Kay Allred and Scott Takeda watch in video village from their 2014 film “If Not Now.”

This month, our filmmakers begins pre-production on a short film for Denver’s 48 Hour Film Project. We will write, shoot, and edit a film in 48 hours as a part of an international script-to-screen competition.

“We love the 48,” said producer Scott Takeda. “We learn so much about being efficient storytellers, and how to be more effective with visuals and sound. And it’s fun too.”

This will be our fifth year producing these quick-turn competition films. Lori Kay Allred returns as our director after directing last year’s entry.

In 2014, judges awarded our film “If Not Now” prizes for Best Cinematography and Best Actress. They also named us 1st Runner Up for Best Film.

This year’s competition kicks off July 31st when dozens of Denver teams will pull a genre out of a hat and be assigned a required object, line-of-dialogue, and a character to include in their films.

6/5/15 UPDATE – Leslee Crisman has signed on to be a lead actor in our film. We are super excited to have Leslee as part of our cast. She is represented by ESI Management out of Los Angeles.

6/19/15 UPDATE – Kristen Rakes (‘The Last Stand’) has also signed to be a lead actor in our film. Kristen brings great comedic timing to her roles and recently starred in the short film “Low/Fi” which screened at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. She is represented by Linda McAlister Talent out of LA.

7/2/15 UPDATE – Scott Takeda (‘Dallas Buyers Club’ and ‘Gone Girl’) has joined the cast as a supporting actor. On the small screen, he recently guest starred in NBC’s ‘Grimm’ and ABC’s ‘American Crime.’ On the big screen, he just wrapped a Paramount comedy opposite Tina Fey titled ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,’ scheduled for a 2016 release. He’s represented by Donna Baldwin Agency out of Denver.

7/13/15 UPDATE – Ariel Rakes (‘Low/Fi’) has joined the crew as our cinematographer. He’s an in-demand lenser who recently wrapped the indie drama “The Garden.”

Set Stills from "If Not Now"

Actors Kate Cook and Rachel Hroncich arrive on location for an early call with long-time screenwriting partner Robert Palmer and director Lori Kay Allred. (July 2014)

We’ve been awake for nearly 72 continuous hours, but we've wrapped our shoot and have entered a rough-cut into Denver's 48 Hour Film Project for the competition. Our competition team BS Filmworks is one of 51 teams who have written-shot-and edited our film within a 48 hour time period between July 31st and August 2nd 2014.

Screenwriters Robert Palmer, Lori Kay Allred and Brock Sherman guide the cast and crew through a table read at the Hanlon Family Ranch in Elizabeth, Colorado. (July 2014)

As part of the competition, all teams drew a genre out of a hat (our team drew "Time Travel."). In addition, all teams were required to include elements in their films.  For 2014, those required elements included props (a map), a character (Anya Sakewski – writer), and a line-of-dialogue (‘I don’t know why I’m here.’)

We are titling our film “If Not Now” and will now start working on further post production for a “directors cut” that we’ll distribute in October. The next step is our 48 Hour Film Project premier in a week, then judging for "Best of Denver." Fingers and toes crossed!

Actor Rachel Hroncich takes direction from director/writer Lori Kay at the Hanlon Family Ranch in Elizabeth, Colorado. (July 2014)