Did you know that Rising Star actors Gary Ploski, Michael Barra, Emily Morse, Greg Nutcher, and director Marty Lang all acted in a short film together this summer?

It world premieres Friday night (10/21/11) at Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

A-1 QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT

Check out our flyer and our director in a clown suit…

Phew! What a day that was!

Almost 600 people voting for Rising Star, in what was a record-breaking performance for one-day polling for indieWIRE.

We’re all amazed, and humbled, by the support everyone’s shown us in this process. I want to thank all of you, again, for taking the time to vote, repost, tweet, call, recruit (our actress, Leah Deveau, actually went to Hartford-area coffee shops, asking people on laptops to vote for us!) and everything else.

This Sundance consult is big; we’ll be able to make our case to the Sundance Film Festival as to why we feel Rising Star should be there. Not many films get that chance. And it’s because of you we’ll have it.

Thank you so much for supporting us!

Hope everyone enjoys this beautiful weekend.

From Friday afternoon until Monday morning at 10am the cast and crew of Rising Star along with 500+ other Stars! joined together to push Rising Star into the winners circle in IndieWIRE’s “Project of the Week.” The ground swell of support was humbling.

IndieWIRE released this official announcement: (http://www.indiewire.com/article/iws_project_of_the_week_rising_star_vote_again/)

Congratulations to “Rising Star” director Marty Lang. The filmmaker will receive a digital distribution consultation from SnagFilms and is now officially a candidate for Project of the Month. That winner will be awarded with a consultation from the Sundance Institute.

Marty will be speaking with SnagFilms soon.

Who or what is SnagFilms?

SnagFilms was founded in 2008, our mission is to bring the world of independent film to broader audiences everywhere. SnagFilms.com offers thousands of great independent movies and documentaries for free. Our films entertain and inform, engage and inspire, satisfy every taste, encourage discovery, and create community. We offer free online streaming and viewing via a wide range of devices.

They’re online at http://snagfilms.com/.

Congratulations to The Kitchen and Man-Child teams!

We can’t wait to see your films at the next film fest.

Hey everyone, Marty here.

Just wanted to touch base with everyone, and let y’all know what I (and we) have been up to this summer. Our post-production has been on hold for a little while, because our composer/sound designer, Tom Varga, got an amazing job. He works as a sound mixer on films and TV shows, and he got an offer to sound mix a movie called Gods Behaving Badly, starring Christopher Walken, Alicia Silverstone, Sharon Stone and John Turturro.

So while he’s been on that job, we’ve been working on doing a little bit more editing to the movie. Cutting out scenes that slow the film down, stuff like that. Once Tom finishes the film up (by the end of September, most likely) we’ll be able to get back to work on it.

We’ve also been plotting our film festival strategy, too.

We brought on a Film Festival Coordinator, Leah Deveau (who also plays the Mark Twain House Tour Guide in the movie!), and we’re working to put a list of festivals together we think would want Rising Star. And we’ve already sent the film off to the grand-daddy of them all – Sundance! (Now I know what you’re thinking – the film’s not done yet! That’s okay, because Sundance accepts works-in-progress for consideration.

Even though the film’s not completely done, it’s far enough along that you can see what the whole thing would look like. Hopefully, they’ll like what they see. We’re also planning on submitting to the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas; their deadline is in November, so we’ll be able to work on it a little more before we send it out to them.

I’ve also been snooping around, trying to find places that might be interested in showing Rising Star once it’s finished. I can tell you that the Mark Twain House would LOVE to have us back, and we’ve even gotten a little interest from The Bushnell, in Hartford. That’s in the very early stages, but it could be promising.

Admin note: Contact the Bushnell to express interest in a screening of Rising Star via 860-987-6000.

I’ve also been up to some cool promotional things for the movie, too.

I’ll be in Los Angeles on September 17, talking about the Rising Star Kickstarter campaign at the 2011 Screenwriting Expo! I got asked to speak, along with indie filmmakers Victoria Westcott (Locked in a Garage) and Lucas McNelly (A Year Without Rent), about crowdfunding for indie films, so that’s going to be a blast.

If you happen to find yourself in LA then, come and say hi!

Get tickets at: http://screenwritingexpo.com/program/speaker_detail.php?speakerID=1037

I was also interviewed by filmmaker John Hoff for his blog, where I talked about the movie, and the film scene in Connecticut. You can check that out at: http://wp.me/p1B7Vj-th.

That’s the latest from RS-land.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day, and talk soon!

–

Bushnell image credit

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Chris (Gary Ploski) learns a big lesson from a most unlikely source – the bus driver (Gary Craig) he saw earlier in the day.

Note: This is not the final version of the scene.

Written & Directed by Marty Lang

A test version of our teaser trailer presented at the CT Film Industry Mixer on 04/16/11.

Lucas McNelly, @lcmnelly on Twitter, stopped by to see how things were treating Rising Star during post-production. He visited Marty and Alec while they were editing the film and then attended the rough cut premiere at The Mark Twain House and Museum. He slept, well, wherever he could.

For the next year this will be a normal thing for Lucas. His project, A YEAR WITHOUT RENT – @yearwithoutrent on Twitter, will take him all over the USA and beyond the borders to help filmmakers with their film in whatever way he can.

Below are a series of videos Lucas posted to his project page. Every commercial that plays will help Lucas because it ads to his budget. So, feel free to lend him a hand by refreshing and then replaying each of the videos.

Editing RISING STAR

We’ve left DREAM LOVER behind (but we have more video on the way). But first, we’re in Rhode Island, as Marty Lang and Alec Asten prep RISING STAR for a test screening tomorrow in Hartford.

RISING STAR screening, Part 1

Marty Lang sits down with us minutes before the rough cut screening of his feature-length debut RISING STAR.
He’s nervous.

Conversations with Lucas: Marty Lang

Filmmaker Marty Lang talks to Lucas about his test screening while the whole experience is still fresh

RISING STAR screening, Part 2

Actor & Producer Gary Ploski reflects just after the sold out rough cut screening of his film RISING STAR.

Follow Lucas as he travels the country on http://ayearwithoutrent.com, on Twitter @lcmnelly & @yearwithoutrent or on Facebook https://facebook.com/AYearWithoutRent.

Best of luck Lucas! You’re doing something amazing.

(Fade to Black)
“Here. We. Go.”

And with those words spoken four trailers played followed by the first rough cut version of Rising Star the Movie at The Mark Twain House & Museum on Friday 02/25/11 to a sold out house.

I was able to record 6 minutes of footage before things got under way.

Watching it again I found was able to feel the energy in the room as though I were still sitting in the room and hope you can get a sense of what it was like if you couldn’t be there.

A few snippets about the evening:

• The Mark Twain House & Museum’s amazing staff were amazing
• Over 240 people attended the sold out screening
• Two screening rooms were necessary
• Jacques Lamarre of The Mark Twain House introduced the event
• Marty spoke with the audience and introduced the rough cut
• Four trailers were played
  David Branin’s “Goodbye Promise” — https://facebook.com/goodbyepromise
  AD Calvo’s “The Melancholy Fantastic” — http://melancholyfantastic.com/
  Gary King’s “How to Write a Joe Schermann Song” — http://joeschermannsong.com/
  Gary Fierro’s “Firefly Jar”–  http://roadworkpictures.com/?p=89
• Lucas McNelly of “A Year Without Rent” — http://www.ayearwithoutrent.com/ — was on hand to document the evening and to get behind the scenes footage/photos
• A feedback questionnaire was handed out to attendees to help improve the film
• A Q&A session wrapped the evening

It was an amazing evening. Amazing! I’m still reeling from the fact that we shot Rising Star in October and screened an 87 minute rough cut version of the film last night. If you’re counting, that’s only four (4) months from principal photography to screening a rough cut. Wow.

PS – Sorry about the shaky footage.

GP
Actor/Co-producer

They arrived today, just in time for the rough cut premiere at the Mark Twain House and Museum on Friday.

Our thanks and congratulations to Alex and all the other Stars! who submitted entries.

Find him on Twitter @adcalvo or online at http://goodnightfilm.com/.

GP
Actor/Co-producer

D.R. Ceballos is Awesome!

Mike and Matt put this video together with the following information provided by D.R.

Let’s just say Jersey has never looked this good. Enjoy the Awesome!

What is your name? — D.R. Ceballos
What is your sex? — Male
What do you do for a living? — Full time Pre-Med Student, Part time Crime Fighter
Do you have any hobbies? — Movie buff, Dallas Cowboy Football and Volunteering at a Hospital
Do you like to party? — Yes, Jersey shore style: alcohol chugging, spray tan smearing, one punch slugging
Where are you from? — South Texas, 10 miles north of the mexican border
Do you play any sports? — Muy Thai kickboxing, Golf
Would you like us to do a shout out? — Natalie Portman, Adriana Lima, Betty White, Tony Romo, Leonardo DaVinci, Pauley D and the BEAST Marty Lang
Is there anything that you would like us to say? — The theme song from Laverne & Shirley – “Dreams Come True”
Put anything you want us to potentially talk about here that wasn’t covered by the questions above. — The power of Grayskull that gives He-Man his power.

Thanks for supporting Rising Star, D.R.!

GP
Actor/Producer