The slate we’ll be using on our next film is a really nice affair.  It’s a dry-erase clapboard (very like the one you’ll see to your left) that Nikki picked up at MPS Studios in Dallas as a birthday present in 2009.

And tonight we’ll be using it to call “action” on one of our projects for the first time.

We’ve been working toward this moment for a while.  When we decided to return our focus to production (as PDP started out as a production company back in 2000), we had a few ideas we were very excited about developing.  And we’ve spent these early weeks of 2011 working out the game plan for making them happen.

First out of the gate will be a short film (directed by Chadd, of course) called Three Yellow Roses.  It’s based on a concept Nikki has been considering for a while, and together we turned that idea into a shooting script.  Much as I know writing is usually a solitary process, I always gain something from collaborating with others.  I learn a little more about the mechanics of screenwriting, and I often find a better path to what I’m trying to say through that exchange of ideas and feedback.  Which is to say I really enjoyed the writing process on this film, and I think we came up with a pretty good script.

All we needed now was a cast and crew to give it sight and sound, and after a couple of rounds of auditions and a few meetings and calls, we found a great team.  In front of the camera, we have Maxine Greco, Pedro Castaneda, Katsy Joiner, Cassandra Lazenby, Rip Lowe, and Michael Patrick; behind it, we have Will Shipley as Director of Photography, Oscar Laun as composer, Erik Bosse on sound, Taylor James Johnson running the behind-the-scenes camera, Eddie Felan and Michael Patrick (pulling a kind of double shift) as production assistants, and me as production manager.

I’ve come to know all our cast and crew over the last few years.  Some of them I’ve worked with before, and some I’ll be working with for the first time.  But I’m thrilled to be on the team with them, and with all of us together, I think that in Three Yellow Roses we have the makings of a great film.

Those makings begin tonight, as we shoot our first scenes with Pedro and Maxine in Leon Valley.  Next week, we’ll be joined by the rest of the cast at Green Fields Market in Stone Oak for another evening of shooting.  I’ll be there through the whole thing, managing and coordinating and documenting as much as I can of the process, and I’ll share our experiences and insights here as well.

It’s going to be a very exciting month.  I’m looking forward to seeing how all our pieces come together.  And I’m looking forward to sharing the film with audiences once it’s done.

Until then, thanks for continuing to follow us.  Whether it’s online or at the theater, “be seeing you…”