News from the front!
We will be shooting in May (Exact date not yet determined).
The film will be a crime-suspense genre film, and it will be shot in Eagle Pass and San Antonio.
We will only hold a casting for MINOR roles.
We are casting the LEAD roles as we meet people, so if you want to setup an appointment with us please email me immediately at rm@digitalworkstudios.com
IMPORTANT NOTE:
NO Actors (or actresses :-) will be paid.
ALL work is on a voluntary basis, however full credit will be given.
Thanks to everyone for their help on this project.

Ash Wednesday Details

This is what we know so far:

1. The script looks great (but not finished)
2. Production will begin (approx. last week of April or Early May)
3. We will film in both Eagle Pass and San Antonio (Texas) hopefully 50-50 %

About the release of El Escape De Los Santos:

1. Dish Network will begin to show EL ESCAPE on Pay-per-View to (Dish Latino subscribers only). $3.99 is the cost.
2. The DVD will roll out in the Summer (July-August 2006).
3. EL ESCAPE will be available to the mass market on Pay-per-View throughout all of the majors (Time Warner Video on Demand, ComCast, etc.)

Please keep checking this blog for more details on the production of Ash Wednesday.
Thanks to everyone for their support!
rm

Developments....

Well...
April 14 will be the first day of the rest of my life... (as eloquently put by HH).
April 14 will be the last day of my real 9-5 job with the City of San Antonio.
4 years of city government video work! WOW!
And what now...?

As Presidente of Digital Work Studios I plan to continue to make movies, but now FULL TIME!

Rolling...

Finally, Ash Wednesday script looks incredible... and is almost finalized...
We are already casting and people are very enthused about the film...
On El Escape: The special edition DVD is coming together and is looking incredible... many thanks to Roberto Rdz...
Also April will be the month it will be released on Pay-per-view, and the film will be highlighted on the nationally syndicated TV show American Latino TV... (thanx Renzo)...
Ash production is set for April... we'll see...

It all starts with a script...

On Friday I mailed 2 very important pieces of paper pertaining to the US rights of EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS.
Venevision International is to distribute nationwide EL ESCAPE on Pay-per-view, Video on demand and DVD.
After the success of the Hollywood DV Festival, and every twist and turn we are finally relieved that our excrutiating hard work has paid off.

Currently I am in major writing mode.
Although not as exciting as making babies, but this is how all movies start out. (whatever that means...)
We do have a teaser to our new film ASH WEDNESDAY. The film is to be bold and different, it is apparent in the teaser, however it is not public yet. The script is looking very damn good.

Hollywood Aftermath...

We stayed from Thursday Dec. 8 to Monday 12th in Hollywood, Ca.
Our goal was to get important people into the screening, and if not available get them a DVD...

After all the hard work put in by ourselves, but especcially Hector Hernandez, I'd say it was pretty damn well worth it.

Attendees:
Gabino, Alonso, Paco, Robert, Hector and myself.

Recap:

In 2 days we'll be in Movieland's front yard promoting the hell out of EL ESCAPE!
Yesterday we were in Austin:
Hector, Chicken, Paco and myself had a frickin blast... CON MADRE...
we were interviewed by RENZO and Wilton... (from the shows American Latino TV and LatinNation)... it wen't extremely well, but the show won't air until Feb. - March...
So let's recap:
-Monday got interviewed by National TV show
-Thursday we leave to Hollywood
-Saturday EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS will Premiere in Hollywood
cool. I'm just thankful for everyone that was invloved in this film. GREAT WORK!!!
woo-hoo!

Hollywood!

After a storm of 'nothingness', finally a shimmer of light is bestowed upon us!
how poetic!
Anyway here's the Highlights:
-'Escape' Officially selected to World Premiere at the Hollywood DV Film Festival! (Dec. 7-11)
-Bob Polunsky reviews 'Escape' with glowing remarks!
-and last but not least 'El Escape' and its filmmakers are going to be the subject of a story on the nationally syndicated TV show American Latino TV

All these amazing news (+ more) were all dumped on me in a period of 7 days!!!
We are just very thankful to all the people who have helped us along the way...
woo-hoo!!!

More rejections- not good

Hamptons.
what a downer.
The film is currently running at 5 rejections already.
not good.
On the ultra bright side, the upcoming festivals do have some potential... so hopefully some good news will come very soon.
Also, we have been getting a lot of press lately, so it isn't all bad.

San Antonio Living Show

Whoooooaaaa!
This makes me really nervous. The 1st time I did an interview in English I messed up and mumbled.
Tomorrow is the big day at San Antonio Living on Channel 4... the bright side is that they are going to play the trailer in its entirety so that is very cool...
We'll see how it goes.
O todo o nada.... - Lic. Aldrete
Put your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye... - G. Graffin

Premiere + Rejections

The Premiere Screening is inching its way... August 26 gets closer and closer...
I just cannot believe the amount of press we are receiving... it is very cool...
I've gotten 3 rejection letters so far from the film festivals:
1- Telluride (THE toughest fest to get in)
2-Toronto (very dissapointed =( )
3- Heartland (Family oriented festival, which I didn't know that fact when I applied)

Still, I won't let myself be discouraged... We've made it this far, something HAS to come out of all this... PREMIERE PREMIERE PREMIERE
i can't wait to see the reaction...

Patricia Vonne + Del Castillo

Yesterday we went to see Del Castillo and of course Patricia Vonne, got her new CD and she was kind enough to sign it. she is so cool.
She has been helping us out since we began production of El Escape, she's been extremely kind and generous to us. Thanks Patti.
PS: I also met another interesting filmmaker, very cool guy.

Film Festivals

I have been submitting to festivals (at least to the most important ones).
Withoutabox.com has been a life(time)saver, but overall it has been a lot of work to put those damn media kits together and make them look good.
I'm confident t people will respond to the film, the good thing is that nothing negative can come out of this. The film is finished, I'm not completely broke and I still feel energized to write our next film, so if it sells internationally, or just a national release on DVD I'm hoping to still get my money back, and still make my next film for free.
no complaints.

Finito! Finito!

Finally, I have completed the film EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS. It has been a great experience throughout. It was great writing it with Alonso, great time filming it in Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras, and a hell of a time editing and scoring the movie.
(The film's 1st final cut was made June 9, 2005)
Special thanks to EVERYONE that helped out.
Now this is only the beginnning.
Time to shift to full gear.

Subtitling and ER's

I just spent the WHOLE weekend subtitling the film in English.
I finished today at 5 am. It was a lot of fucking work.
On friday, my PC busted and spent that night fixing the damn thing
Sunday night, little Ricky was sick and we took him to the ER. We had to stay there all night...
oh well, at least he's fine now and I finally finished with the subtitling.
phew...

Finally

Finally good news!
My Grandpa is getting a lot better and spent the afternonn with him and my sister Luana.
I also heard back from someone who is willing to represent El Escape in a very important way. Obviously I cannot detail any info but is very good news considering all of the hard work we have put into this film.
relief.

Last 2 weeks

These last 2 weeks have been really hard on my family. My Grandpa Wheeler is in the hospital for removal of brain clots and it has been very stressful.
Everything went well but he is going to need intensive therapy for a month!
Oh well, I am back in editing mode, and finally finished yet another rough draft.
So I should be finishing the whole thing in 5-6 weeks.

Del Castillo Music

Yesterday evening, Chicken, Chato and me went to see Del Castilo at Sam's Burger Joint.
Their show was really cool.
I actually met Alex (lead singer) very cool guy.

MTY: Mission Accomplished

What a relief.
We finally mastered all of the orchestration pieces.
We covered the WHOLE movie. The soundtrack sounds amazing. The musical production of "el Escape" is finally over.
Very special thanks to Valhalla Studio in Monterrey, N.L.
Rica "Waris", Fer "el Dude" and Giuliano for their hard work and enthusiasm.
You guys kick ass!

-rik

MTY Day Two

AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
We woke up not knowing what would happen.
The studios were awesome. Guillianno and Fer "el Dude" saw our flick and liked it very much. They started experimenting with the arrest scene and sounded very, very cool.
We finished at about 10 pm. I called my old friend Mario Aldrete.
We went to his house and trade stories and some beers. very fun.
Today we are going to experiment with some crazy instruments and see what we can come up with.