The concept for my most recent writing assignment began with an idea by Nikki and Drew Mayer-Oakes (San Antonio’s Film Commissioner). And when Nikki shared said idea with me, of course I was in.

To elaborate: The San Antonio Film Commission is getting ready for this year’s SA 48HR Film Experience. For the uninitiated, it’s an annual event that’s pretty much what its name implies: a competition wherein teams of filmmakers race to complete a short film (from pre-production to post-production) in two days or less. If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ll know that Nikki, Chadd, and I have been through several of these rodeos, leading to films like Dating Danielle, La Vida de Noche, and Nikki’s most recent 48-hour appearance, in (you may have guessed this was coming) 48 Hours Later.

For the 2013 edition, Drew and Nikki came up with a very novel theme, a fun and creative way to announce it, and an all-star cast and crew to create their promo. Which is where I came in.

As a writer and production manager, I worked with the team (all 48-hour veterans) to get the script right, while they worked on casting and securing the location. Then, once everything and everyone was in place, we met at Monarch Academy to shoot our interiors and exteriors.

It was a lot of fun – the cast really got into the spirit of the whole thing (the outtakes alone are worth a film unto itself), and the crew matched them in energy and enthusiasm, both in the moment and in post-production.

The final result: this…

I hope you like it. And more importantly, I hope it inspires you to sign up for this year’s Experience. (Like the ad says, it’s free for the first 20 teams, but spaces are filling up, so get to the choppah.)

And with that, I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this happen:

Derek Adair
Dylan Cody Altman
Alex Avilez
Lisa Avilez
Raemelle Andino
Dane Berkshire
Brandi Blevins
Misha Bostic
LeRoy “Mr. Brown” Botello
Anne Bristol and the faculty & staff at Monarch Academy
Brant Bumpers
Communication Arts High School
Joel “Turtle” Cruz
Dangerous Nerds Studios
Andrew Diehl
The Digital Video Program at Northwest Vista College
Maxine Greco
Roy Haynes
George Hornberger
Taylor James Johnson
Juice House Productions
Tyler Keyes
Scott Langford
Oscar Laun
Luisa Leal
Shane Leal-Willett
Johnny Luna
Drew Mayer-Oakes
Randy McIntosh
Jesse Mendoza
Kimbra Nicole
Than Niles
Jordan “Blackbeard” Rangel
Miguel Romero
Beto Salinas
Cindy Salinas
Jonathan Salinas
Adrian Siordia
Donna Swafford
Stephen Villela
Nikki Young
AND Bugsy (as himself)

To everyone in that list, we couldn’t have done it without you all, and I look forward to working with you again.

Finally, to you the readers, thank you for following along and supporting me and us. If you can’t be part of the shoot, I hope you can make it to the screening on December 5.

Until either then, “be seeing you…”