Gasp!  I’ve been going non-stop since before the holidays and realized that I’ve been a bit off the grid because of it.  Well, I’m still here.  Busier than ever but coming up for a breath of air before the next round of productions.  So what have I been doing?  

November started with a video job for Prolacta BioScience, a company who takes breast milk donations from mothers with excess, processes and fortifies the milk and then provides it to hospitals and doctors for premature babies.  The videos I produced are “How To” videos for donor mothers to walk them through the steps of becoming a milk donor.  We had a great two day shoot and a quick post schedule.  Our cast was awesome: Chenoa Mitsui and Tanya Ihnen.  Also, huge props to our team including Maura Concannon (Director), Jorge Urbina (DP), Eli Benavidez (Script Supervisor), and Moira Taylor (Hair & Make Up)! 

In December, we went into production on the drama, “Cost of Capital,” a new webseries created by Brian DeCherase, produced by Goldie Chan and myself, Allison Vanore, and directed by Jorge Urbina.  We had an ambitious 9 day shoot and rocked it out just before the holidays.  We’re now well into post-production.  I can’t wait to get these episodes online for you all and especially for Brian’s investment banker audience!  

Literally within 24 hours of landing in LA after the holidays on the East Coast I was back on set.  This time for a feature horror film by Todd Johnson and Mike Campbell, The Rental.  We shot for 3 weeks with a small but very talented cast: Kimberly Browning, Mike Campbell, Ashley Love, Leah Verrill and Tiffany Walker.  Our crew was amazing and included some who I’ve worked with before: Frederick Snyder (1st AD), Erin LeBre (Make Up, SFX, Hair), Moira Taylor (Make Up SFX, Hair), Mike Halper (Sound), etc. And I met some new people: Rick Greenwood (DP), Mohnish Sawaswat (Gaffer) and their teams.  Now Todd is going to hybernate for a few months editing and creating the VFX for the film.  At some point he’s going to emerge to hand over the edit to music composer, Rob Gokee.  For more updates about the film check out the Facebook Page and follow on Twitter!

Now there’s more to do so I’ll be updating you about that soon.  Happy New Year!

I think back to the 80s and early 90s… my sisters and I were big into movies and had a huge collection of tapes (VHS) in drawers.  They were mostly recorded movies and shows off of the television.  We watched them over and over.  I know my parents wouldn’t let us watch scary movies – or at least they would attempt to keep us from watching.  ”No way!” to Friday the 13th, Halloween, Chucky, Gremlins, etc.  However, movies like Howard the Duck and The Peanut Butter Solution, Dark Crystal, Interview with a Vampire and Labyrinth were okay – though watching them now as an adult I wonder how these movies slipped past my parents. Other films I did see: Poltergeist I, II, and III, The Exorcist, Silence of the Lambs, Pet Sematary, It, Tremors, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Death Becomes Her, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Frankenstein, The Craft, Fear, Scream….  You get the picture.

So what draws me to Love in the Time of Monsters?  Well, it’s a great script for one (thanks to long time friend, Michael Skvarla).  Second, the leads are women and they rock.  Third, the themes of the movie are sacrifice, courage, forgiveness, and Zombie Bigfoots.  (Okay Zombie Bigfoots isn’t a theme but it should be!!)  Fourth, the amazing people we’re pulling together for this film.  It’s guaranteed to be fantastic. 

Introducing the director, Matt Jackson, a good friend and dedicated filmmaker – I’m so excited to watch him on this journey!  Andy Gunn – Producer and ring-leader – I worked with Andy and Matt on Background(ed) about 4 years ago and after numerous awards and festivals I’m happy to be making another film with them.  

Our Cast: So far we’ve got Kane Hodder – the guy who has played Jason in the last four Friday the 13th movies.  Kane is also our stunt coordinator and he’s bringing along a bunch of his best stunt guys to play a handful of other key stunt performing roles in the film.  We’ve got Doug Jones – the guy who has played a million creatures (okay a million is a slight exaggeration) such as Fauno in Pan’s Labyrinth and Abe Sapien in Hellboy.  The rest of our cast is growing – more juicy details to come in the near future.

Then we’ve got behind-the-scenes guys and girls with credits such as Thor, Hatchet, The Avengers, Transformers, Jeepers Creepers, and Dragon Age.  Every day we are joined by more and more skilled and gifted people.  And the best part – as if that wasn’t enough, they are all damn cool, down to earth people and I’m excited to spend a few weeks up in the redwoods with them all.  We may never return.

So just to recap: Love in the Time of Monsters is oozing awesome.

What now?  Stay in the loop, of course.  Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.  Also, subscribe to our Blog.

On March 29th 2010, Cornbread Films and Peninsula Productions hosted a private industry screening of Hopelessly in June at the Majestic Crest Theatre in Westwood, CA to a packed house of 400+ people.  The night started with a glamorous red carpet where our cast and executives spoke with red carpet host Kristyn Burtt (video coming soon).

As the crowd settled our director, Vincent Brantley, introduced the film and the lights were dimmed.  Our audience enjoyed 90 minutes of pure laugh out loud moments, amazing music and a story to match the talent on screen.  In attendance were our stars, Carolyn Neff and Vincent Brantley, Keith David, Peter Jason, Stuart Pankin, Tiny Lister and Ella Joyce.

After the screening we headed to X Bar in Century City were we reminisced about the two and a half year filmmaking process and made plans for the future.  At this time we are actively pursuing distribution and film festivals.  Our goal is to get this film in the right hands so we can share the film with the world.  Check in here and at the official Hopelessly in June website for more information about future screenings and deals.

Here we are, time to jump into Replaced Series pre-production!  We have less than a month to plan our shoot dates and I can’t wait!  We are so lucky to be working with such a talented cast and crew and to have so many resources at our disposal!

Firstly, I wanted to announce the newest members of our cast, Brian Majestic and Dave Reaves.  Brian is a co-star on the recently released GOLD: Night of the Zombie King series.  Dave Reaves has been filling his time on the set of Criminal Minds in SWAT gear!

What are our biggest tasks at the moment? Locations, Picture Cars, Wardrobe and the possibility of shooting an additional scene or two.

Locations:

We are looking to shoot in Orange County.  Why?  Firstly, our creator, Heath Vinyard, and DP, Jorge Bicer, live in the OC and secondly, permits are a lot cheaper there than in LA.  We are scouting for alley ways and industrial areas – think good chase scene locations.  Our interior locations are locked down already – offices are easy to come by.

Picture Cars:

We are in need of unmarked cop type cars as well as one cop car with lights.  I have a few people looking into this for us and so I’m confident that we’ll be able to pull this off.

Wardrobe:

Dealing with cop and US Marshal uniforms are both fun and expensive if you’re renting them from a rental house.  We’ve opted for a combination of both – make some of the items and rent the things we can’t make.  Arts and crafts time!

Additional Scenes:

There is an additional location that we can shoot if we are able to come up with the dough and the access.  This additional location will add a huge amount of production value to the show as well as introducing another character – which is yet to be cast.  If we can secure an awesome actress for this role as well as the money to lock down this location, it’ll be a go!

Replaced is set to shoot the first 2 episodes March 25 – 27.  We are actively looking for investors and distributors who are interested in seeing the entire show produced.  Please contact Allison Vanore for more information.

Weeks of prep, four days of shooting and a day of striking and we’ve now officially entered post production on ‘A Boy’s Life’ starring Christie Lynn Smith (The Crazies) and Griffin Gluck (Just Go With It).

This short film, written by Elias Benavidez and produced by Allison Vanore was shot on the RED over four days in Pasadena, CA.  Benavidez brought in Production Supervisor, Melanie Wagor (Chain Link) and Director of Photography, Aaron Moorhead (Kill Katie Malone), and the results are exciting!

Benavidez and Vanore plan to complete post production in the next few months in time for some key tier 1 film festivals.  Editing will be done by Frank Mohler (A Note to Etienne, SOLO The Series) and sound design by Michaela Pentacoff (A Note to Etienne).

Stay tuned for more information about the completion of ‘A Boy’s Life’!

Excerpt from an article by Charlie LaPlaca of Wall.Patch.com

Allison Vanore to return in March for the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park

Wall can now claim to be the hometown of a Hollywood producer.

Allison Vanore, a 2000 graduate of Wall High School, has spent the last two years in Los Angeles producing various independent… [read more]

Today I was featured in the Arizona Daily Star – check it out!

Local Scene: UA grad reaches goal of making feature film

by Phil Villarreal

Movie producer Allison Vanore left Tucson nearly seven years ago to make her mark on the Los Angeles film scene. She’s paid her dues… [read more]

Events this week:

**January 20, 2011 – January 30, 2011**

Event: Sundance Film Festival (Park City, Utah)

Hosts: Sundance Institute

Where: Park City, Utah – View the Interactive Festival Map

Monday, January 24, 2011

7:00pm – until late

Event: LA Actor’s Tweetup

Hosts: @TheJudalina, @LaurenDWebb, @TiffanyPrice, and @BenWhitehair & #ConnectionExperiment

Busby’s East

5364 Wilshire Blvd. 90036

(2^nd floor. Go up the stairs and turn left)

Cost: FREE – RSVP here

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

8:00pm – 10:00pm

Event: The Treasure Hunt Premiere – Chad, Matt and Rob

Hosts: Rob Polonsky, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Chad Villella

Where:

The Laemmle Music Hall 3

Thursday, January 27, 2011

7:30pm – 11:59pm

Event: New Media Vault

Host: Damian Pelliccione

Where:

Libertine

8210 West Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90046

Cost: FREE – RSVP Here

Friday, January 28, 2011

7:00pm – 11:00pm

Event: Come celebrate GOLD and NOTZK! Official Wrap Party

Host: GOLD, a Web Series

Where:

Meltdown Comics

If you know of an event, are hosting an event or would like to submit information for next week, please email us here.  Thank you for contributing to the event list!  If there are mistakes above, please contact us here and provide the revised information.  Thank you!

Check out my interview on the Replaced website… here’s a short excerpt form the interview:

How did you become involved with Replaced?

I met Heath over a year ago at a lunch that was inspired by a Twitter conversation.  A few of us were discussing how to market and promote our shows online.  Bernie Su and Matt Meeks had amazing insight as to how they were promoting their shows and so we all decided to meet for lunch to discuss.  At the lunch: Bernie, Matt, Jamie Fishback, Jonathan Nail, Heath Vinyard and myself.

Continue reading….