SPIRITEUR diary

After getting the script put together and giving the whole thing enough time to really crystalize in my mind, the next step was setting it up.

One of the reasons I got into screenwriting is that I hate dealing with the actual production, organizing, telling people what to do, having to think on my feet with major time pressures. When I first set up MONGREL I tried to get several producers involved by putting out ads on craigslist (this is where I find everyone and basically everything). There were two who expressed enough interest to keep meeting with me. One of them flaked out, and the other ended up burning MONGREL for about a thousand bucks (before we went full on guerrilla we shot enough material from my script Red Hands using the traditional Hollywood model. The producer said she wouldn't work for free, which I thought was okay and I told her to charge what she thought was fare considering that we had absolutely no money to work with -- and she ended up charging five hundred bucks a day. A fifth of the total 2 day budget. Pretty sleazy considering the rest of us were gladly working for free.) Long story short, I realized that if you want to do anything you really have to nut up and do it yourself. So, I quickly taught myself how to produce.

Since we were working with a budget of $800 (for food and some props only) producing for Spiriteur meant securing locations, finding the co-stars, and coming up with a super tight shooting schedule. And working a full time day job. And trying to finish an absurdest mystery novel. What's cool about MONGREL though is that I love doing this so much I ended up having a lot of fun.

I got in touch with this friend of mine who's an amazing artist and writer out in Palm Desert - Kimberly Nichols - and got her to sign on as associate producer and actor. With her we found the majority of our locations, and set up a party so we could introduce MONGREL to the desert coolies and also shoot a scene from Spiriteur. Kimberly is basically one of the coolest people I know and she instantly "got" that MONGREL is all about art and freedom and community. Without her involvement this project wouldn't have gotten off the ground.