IT FEELS LIKE A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE

yup!, that's right! you heard me. my movie sounds like a hundred million dollar to make. having to spend the last few months waiting. so much waiting, at times, i don't even know what are we waiting for. right now, it's the film directors turn, he has embarked on a 20 episode series for the next 2 months. can't blame him, he practically sit and wait for the movie to kick start. we on the production level have lost touch to the whole concept. right now, i am aiming to roll camera in july 2008. due to a few reasons. hopefully this time it stays at that time. - producer

WE ARE BACK ON TRACK

after months of waiting and waiting somemore, we are back on track. for the passed two weeks, my marketing guy (whom i hired this month) and i went on a "shopping spree" with sponsors. we called up, force them to see us, and explain the whole idea of sponsoring a feature film. and guess what, they like the idea, and they have never done it locally before. surprise surprise!
but just look at all these potential brands that will be in our movie, it's a 100 minute commercial. right now, its signing the dotted line from the sponsors and we are all set. - producer

YET AGAIN!

yup! we are at it yet again! my production is being postpone again! due to actor's commitment... sigh! well, this is the very nature of making a movie in my country. when budget is so small, actors have to take on more jobs than they could handle. how i wish that we have just a small friction of hollywood budget. say 10% from transformer the movie would be so so so enough. all the actors could just take on one singular job from me and being done with it for the whole year. well! right now i am looking into new actors to replace the old ones. and anopthe challenge is to face the bankers, we have another obstacle from them. they don't really understand how movie making...well! being made...all that we signed upon those agreements stated that we have to use the actor/s that we choose the first time. no doubt that we wanted to but due to their timing, i as a producer must act fast and replace them before i sustain more losses in monetary form. i have already lost near 200k for the past 3 months. not a nice feeling but hey! "no pain no gain"... - producer

PRODUCT SPONSORSHIP

nope. paris hilton won't be in our movie! but carl's jr most likely would be. had spoked to them earlier, they are very keen on making a fantastic comeback. they have missing in action in malaysia for a long time. too long actually. we have approched and still approching and being hopeful for more sponsorship to come in. not easy i must say. we have presented to so many potential sponsorship partners. carl's jr was recently added to the list, we had some casual chit chat and now branstorming on how to make the partnership works. having premium burgers for a week, not a bad idea. - producer

DOMINO EFFECT 2.0

it has happen yet again. production is stalled once more. due to artist timing problem. the pre production are all done. we have the locations, we have the props, we have all the artists line up, all necessary items been book, i even paid a resort in pangkor in advance. now all stop because of one artist, and the best part is he's the lead. welcome to my world. the domino effect of a production, one stop all stop. that is why production is a team effort, team work. one cannot work without the other. not the film director, not the producers, not anyone. and i have made a lost in monetary value more than MYR200K for the past 3 months. not happening. right now i have to make with other smaller production to make money back to cover up the production. what a hard way to make a film. at times, i wanted so much to drop it all. but i told myself that these all are blessing in disguise. - producer

3D WORK REFERENCE THAT WE WANT IN "TAIKO"

this would be the reference we are looking into for the 3D gun sequence in "TAIKO" we are cooking up some crazy ideas on 3D's. hope it would be impressive enough for malaysian viewers. - producer

WHEN YOUR MOCK-UP ARTIST HAS A SENSE OF HUMOUR

in our industry, safety comes 1st. we mock - up items to make it safer to use on set. our movie calls for guns, lots of it and a very interesting piece of weapon. it's called a "kapak siam". a small lil axe thats meant for throwing or flying it. like a flying dagger. we also asked our mock - up artist to make a bigger piece for cinematic purposed. do take note on the on the larger piece of axe. it is way overly scaled. we asked for a 1.5 larger scale from the original piece. it came back with a seriously huge piece. something that you could clobber like a hammer more than an axe. our mock - up artist has sucha great sense of humour - producer

1st CONCEPTUAL KEYART

here's the 1st few keyart thats coming out. wait for it, more to come. tell us what you think - producer

PRAY!

it's a confirmed, we are pushing our shoot til october 4th 2007, roll mid way, break for the raya for about a week and then continue all the way up to 1st week of november 2007. from there we will go into post production for a minimum 4 months.
from the way we see it, our movie will release mid of next year. for all of you have read this, do send a prayer for all us on this "boat". we sure need all the help we could get. pray for us that this would be last of postponent. next month onwards the team will move on to other production, as they will go for a 2 months break till the shoot starts. they have to find other source of money as i could not retain them for another two months. can't afford it. as for these two months to come just for waiting, i have burn another MYR150k at least. no joke, when a production halts, we loose money, the longer we hold, the money we burn. and our bank account is not much of a portfolio right now to go pitch for other jobs. so pray for us, doesn't matter what religion you're in, we just need a lil boost. - producer

Understanding

Defination of us in the team.. my version. Inspired by this site http://sexy.namedecoder.com/

AssistantPM: seductress hungering for erotic, raturous, rousing yeses

to seduce her way in getting all as asked of her from the PM and making sure all the approvals are positive

Production Manager: zillionaire administering caresses and kisses

administrating a gezillion requirements before the shoot and all the affairs that happens on shoot

2nd Assistant Director: bloke rendering yummy, arounsing, naughty touches

he has appointment himself, and we trust him, to pre-approve all the talents suitable to for the film

1st Assistant Director: treasure offering naughty yeses

he holds the treasures @ the schedules, therefore making him a treasure to our team. he will please the director with all his wishes 1st.. to deliver the wishes though is not entirely up to him

The Producer: playful adonis undertaking loving

the 'adonis' ahem.. will be handling all the 'love' being thrown around before and after shoot, to make sure it's all good, fairly distributed pricy 'loving', savvy?

The Bigger Producer: dreamy adonis needing indulgence and erotic loving

he conjures a totally dreamy, self- indulging, loving group session that is so erotic it'll blow you pants off and drop you name on the dotted lines to sign up for further experiences (only ppl with big bank accounts need apply for this loving session)

{the word 'adonis' is use to help with the phrasing, girls take note.}

from yours truly -line producer

DOMINO EFFECT

we're at it AGAIN! we are pushing our shoot till another date just because of 1 person. and the best part is, that 1 person can't even confirm his schedule AGAIN due to his other commitment on another production. moolahs are fyling off, my bank account is drying up, yet i have to pump more money from God know's where is it coming from. someone please pray and pray hard that i win a lottery ticket to make this movie happen. it's a domino effect. the rest of my stars are not too happy with the situation.
JUST BECAUSE OF ONE MAN! - producer

YOU'RE FIRED!

there's exactly 33 days left for principal photography. counting down on the day that we start filming our movie. today I have fired my wardrobe artist. for the past 3 months in pre production, i have not see a wardrobe reference presented to me. the excuse, " i need more time". just yesterday in mere half a day, he and his assistant came out a so call styling board, mainly made from reference from my previous production. i have paid him a hefty sum for salary for the last 3 months. when the time is drawing so near, he came out with stylings and reference used from my previous production. he sure got the nerves! if u ever do a film production, make sure you really scan thru peoples resume before hiring them. don't make the same mistake i did. now i have to look for a new wardrobe stylist that can actually deliver. oh! the best part is, he send in a requisition for wardrobe purchases, it costs more than MYR20K for wardrobes that you could buy from factory outlet. even though i don't shop much, i'm not stupid either. i went around to look at prices. with a MYR20K budget, i could get stuffs for the whole entire production personnel and all of the artists, even the "extras". i have never fired anyone in my years as a producer, this is the 1st. it was not easy. but like donald trump said "nothing personal, it's business" and for my wardrobe stylist, he is ruining my business. - producer

TEST

in order for us to save up on time and money! every production requires to do "test". so that during on set (when we are actually filming), we won't waste unnecessary time trying to figure out how to it. in hollywood, moolahs are spend just to "test" stuffs out, to make sure it works. they built it, write a software for it. peter jackson's team wrote a sofware to manipulate every individual characters in LOTR. look out for scenes that has lots and lots of creatures/men. all those are designed in a computer. back home, NOT HAPPENING AGAIN! we go back to the old school version. draw it on paper, use ourselves, and dear old "BOB". our action figures. since we're making an action film, must got some posing shots mah! this is what happen when you put a few guys who passed puberty long long time ago. - producer

THE HARDWARE 2.0

the main function of a production designer! "Production Deisgner is responsible for creating the physical, visual appearance of the film-settings, costumes, properties and character make-up, all taken as a unit. The production designer works closely with the director and the cinematographer to acheive the "look" of the film. The production designer will also work closely with the production manager and producer on budget allocated for prop buy/rental/sponsorship. "IN OTHER WORD! HE OR SHE HAS TO STEAL/BEG/BORROW" to make the film look how it supposed to look. here comes the hardware. believe it or not, what you're seeing is all "fakes". nothing works. not a spark would come out from this toys. but they sure look real isn't it? these "hardware" will be modified by our pyrotechnician for "sparks". unlike hollywood whereby you could actually get real hardware for a film production, in where we come from, not happening! too dangerous and too much red tape to go thru to order or buy from overseas. so! we do what we do best! modify the piece and make it do what it was meant to do in the 1st place. of course we have to also have to get permits from the local law enforcement for "special plastic made hardware that can't hurt caused its a toy that don't work". if you have the time, go watch a local tv series thats about cops. see it for yourself on the hardwares they are using. "don't laugh" after watching! - producer

SPECIAL EFFECTS

what do you think? think my line producer got slash on her face and got beat up real bad? welcome to the wonders of special effect make - up! we could go way further than this! we're trying on getting the hand chop off. do come back soon for the next posting! - producer

REACHING THERE!

last saturday we went for a recee on a rally track, how does a rally drive near 180kph on a curvy road filled with nothing but dust and soil? fantastic! the 4X4 we're in was red in colour when we came out. it was black when we went in. i almost proud to say this that we're near to our shooting dates. near in completion of what we're supposed to do in the 1st place. to make a movie without a movie budget. well, a lil better than rodiguez when he made el mariachi for 7,500usd. i got about 2million myr to spend on this. yet it is absolutely not easy to do this. when you want to amke a good movie out, i'm not even talking about making a great movie. and this is just malaysia standard, not even close to hong kong or india yet alone to compare to hollywood.
at times it's a great disappointment that we have such ridiculous budget to run with. i mean, we're trying to make a movie, not just any movie but "A MOVIE", something that will impress. Right now, we're squeezing water out from rocks, asking for favours everywhere, next thing you know, i don't have any favours coupons left to ask for anything. this is actually sad.

well, the only thing i can do is pray and pray hard, i think its time for me to go back to church on weekends. ask "favours" from GOD this time around. wish me luck on my production. - producer

lite fun pix

A PRAYER FOR STRESS

Dear Almighty

Grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change. The courage to change things I cannot accept, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
And also, help to be careful of the toes I step on today, as they may be connected to the “BUTT” that I may have to kiss tomorrow.
Help me always give 100% at work, 12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday, 40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday, 5% on Friday.
And help me to remember when I’m having a really bad day and it seems that people are trying to piss me off, that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to extend my arm and smack the Bastard in the mouth. - producer

timing

a standard hollywood production would take three years to complete. 1st year for development, the script needs to be convert into a shooting script. 2nd year would take you into pre production, thats where all the recee's, production design, casts selection, budgets...etc and principal photography. and final 3rd year is in to post production, getting the whole picture together with music scoring and of course promotion. in malaysia, we take half of that time, sometimes even less. our movie has gone into a 1 year of script development, even until today we could still be talking on how to improve the script. 3 months of pre production, 1 month of production and 3 months of post production.
so as you can see, we work extremely fast, not that we want to but we can't afford it like hollywood. i was asked by a producer from the u.s. of a. "how do you guys finish up a movie in less than a year and with that kind of budget?" our average film budget costs no more than 2 million ringgit per film, thats less than 1million usd.
so is it a good thing that we could finish up a movie with that miserable budget? most definately not. as a producer myself, there's endless days and nights that i count and count and recount with my faithful calculator, how am i going to squeeze all that into 2million ringgit? at the end, it's the sacrifice that i have to make, cutting down on so many items that is crucial for making a movie, the director wants this, i said "cannot, no money", the dop wants this and i said "cannot, no money". the 1st ad said we need to have 45 days of shoot, i said "cannot, no money, bring it down to 30 days". it's a crying shame that we have to go thru this, we're trying to bring our movie to the next level yet anything that goes beyond a 2million budget, the likeliness of recouping is hard.
we now face another set of problems, actors commitment on the shooting schedule. our time has been bouncing here and there and everywhere, morale of the team is low caused we can't get into the action. for those who wants to join the entertainment industry, think twice, it's not as glamorous as you think it is. we face situations that laymen could not understand or relate themselves to. and you have to have a deep well of patience with you. blowing your top won't help much in this arena, with a clear mind and sharp focus attention is what we need in this industry. and i'm loosing both of them. think it's time to consider optioning a second career path. - producer

HARDWARE

Guns Guns Guns, from Glocks to Barettas to MP5's not to mention the action sequences of fists n kicks n punches.
Looking at a genre that has eluded malaysian audiences for a long time. Something that has often inspired the looks of Quinten , Michael Bay Ridley Scott gory bloodbaths in the name of justice and personal vendettas.
We should all go back to sticks n stones - 1st AD

never never argue with a woman!

this posting has nothing and i mean absolutely nothing to do with our movie . a few days back, we the production team as usual, were talking on our movie production, again, thats our daily routine before we commence principal photography. somehow somewhere we diverted into talking about food, just to clear off our mind about budget problems, logistic, more budget problem...blah blah blah! we were talking about food and a particular peculiar item. roast pork sandwich. now i have eaten it, tasted it, touched it, saw it with my own eyes and yes, it does exist. some says it's a creation from ipoh, a food haven. and i have eaten it in ipoh itself for breakfast. my best friend wedding, we had it for breakfast again at his house before we got trash by chi muis (brides maids).
so it does exits. back to the present day, as we were talking about it, my line producer who hails from ipoh rejected the whole idea that roast pork sandwich came from ipoh, they don't have it there. she starts calling her mom, uncles, aunties, friends and if she could, she would call up ipoh town council to verify that roast pork sandwich does not hail from ipoh. and man! you should see her face, she was all fused up with the idea or concept that roast pork sandwich DOES NOT come from ipoh. i told her that, "i do not know whether it hails or created in ipoh or not, all i know i have eaten it there and it taste great. so to me, ipoh or not, it's good food". she was pissed! till today she is still trying to get a concrete answer from ipohreans whether roast pork sandwich hails from ipoh or not.! the morale of the story is, DO NOT ARGUE WITH A WOMAN! we'll never win. - producer (for those who has tasted roast prok sandwich aka siew yuk min pau. do write to my line producer and tell her where can she finds it in ipoh. the last i check, gunung rapat wet market, do verify it!

budget! show me the moolahs!

budget, budget, budget! thats the real "fark - up " part of a production. i have been going around the figures in and out for the past 2 months, nothing concrete. from a 40 days production down to 22 and up to 35 again. everyday extra means more moolahs. and i dun have that great amount of moolahs to be spend in the 1st place. for a fact that m'sia film could not be made for more than 2million. yes! you heard me right, no more than 2 miilion. even at that rate, the recoupment period is drag longer than expected. its a domino effect on what our nature of business. sigh! ever wonder how hollywood does it? "this movie is made at 300million usd, this is 150million usd...the numbers are mind blowing! back home, what? 3.5million to make? you mad ar?

ever wonder when you go watch a local flick and the night scenes always seems more blue in colour even there is a full moon out there? i'll tell you the reason, we don't have the budget to colour correct! film making is a painfull process and damn long one too. just my movie, it would take up a minimum 1 year to complete and of course there's the waiting period for it to be screen. "take a number and we'll call you when there's an opening in the cinemas" yup! thats the way it is. we have the expertise in movie making but not the equipments. most would have to get it from either thailand or hong kong or a little further australia. since we're in a good spot, logistically wise, we're at the centre, why can't we have the equipments to go further in film making? oversea production could come here to film and to post production since our ringgit to dollar is cheap for them.

well! thats the way it is! struggling film makers. lets hope things will smoothen out soon. - producer

it's the weather, definately the weather

"line producer sick", suggested my producer, after telling him I dunno what to write. I've have this page opened for about 15minutes now and not knowing what to write.

Took me about half an hour to look at how to join this blog. Still can't find it! so, we're all logging in thru the same user. uh, interesting, if I dun like anything written, I can just delete or modify it >:) hehehe..

But, it's true. We here in the office is getting sick, over again. I recovered to only get it back mid of last week. Last week, the producer had the longest migraine I've ever heard of in my entire life. Got in one day cheerie and all, only to be sick few days (or was it the next day) after. That was mid of last week, him coming in with a plastic bag filled with meds. Think maybe I should also get a pack myself soon! if i were to get well and party this weekend~! I've missed out a lot of my weekends becoz of this darn cough.

tataz~ *off to get meds* -line producer

a good weekend recee

the team had went for recee (scouting for locations) with the permission of the Polis DiRaja Malaysia PDRM, to view their latest facilities at Salak Tinggi. It was an absolute architectural eye opener. You might have never guess that PDRM would have a command centre this beautiful. Truly the "Malaysia Boleh" spirit has been put to the test here. You'll be able to see the place in the silver screen next year, once we have the master reel up to the cinemas.
We have also spoked to Supercharged magazine, our media partners thats gonna help us to get some really nice wheels for the production, we have car chase sequence in the movie, the version of "Terlalu Cepat, Terlalu Ganas". It's Monday now, we have lots of meetings and permission to apply and a whole lots of actors and actresses to get confirmation from us whether they get the job of not. Oh! My 2nd Assistant Director was absolutely early today, he came in before 10am, never happen before for the past 2 months. - producer.

2nd month into pre production

It has been a sea rough 2 months of pre production. making a movie is a tough deal. just by waiting for confirmation on dates and timing for actors and permission from designated bodies will make your head spin. from a 101 scene script has been change to about 90 in order for us to fit into a 100minute picture. 800 over frames of storyboard has been drafted, just scanning it took 2 whole week. right now we're waiting for more cofirmation from higher authority to approve our script before we commence principal photography which is expected in August 2007. audition has been done yet we have to change actors and actresses due to timing problem. we're trying to expend malaysia movie making horizon, trying to bring malaysia movie into asia pacific. at least for now. hopefully 1 day to the world where we could garner millions of movie goers to appreciate malaysia film. right now we just need to get this film done. - producer