Chris Jay on “The Bet”

The Bet

Ventura Rocks has been a big Army of Freshmen fan for years, and so when we heard that fellow bandmates Chris Jay and Aaron Goldberg had a new project which was a movie being filmed entirely in Ventura, we had to get on board!  Initially, Polly Hoganson did an interview with Chris Jay before they even started filming, and then Ventura Rocks showed up for one of their first (see photos) and final scenes being shot at Camino Real Park baseball field using lots of locals and musicians as extras.

Ventura Rocks:  Your film is finally ready for the world to see. How are you and Aaron holding up?

Chris Jay:  Holding up but… barely. We’re now wearing the hat of publicists, party planners, marketers, social media promoters and trying to hold down part time jobs to pay full time bills. We’re three weeks away from release as of this interview and two weeks away from the premiere so it’s just insane but kind of exciting too!

Ventura Rocks:  Taking a look at what your vision was before you started filming, and the final product, are the two pretty close or did it turn out totally different?

Chris Jay:  Good question. We can’t complain. Is it exactly how we envisioned or wrote it? No but it’s not that far off which by all accounts we are really lucky to be able to say that. We hear horror stories from other filmmakers that what they set out to make ends up completely different when it gets released. If anything it’s just some scenes and locations that had to be cut due to time and budget. We basically wrote a studio comedy but we only had a micro budget. So the flashback scenes of each girl in The Bet when they were back in school all had to go and we couldn’t get all the characters back to be in the stands at the final ballgame, like a bigger movie would, but all things considered we’re very happy with it. I think any artist be it a songwriter or filmmaker always has something they wished they did different but you have work with what you got and to pull off a feature with multiple locations in 13 days is pretty amazing in it’s self.

Ventura Rocks:  Tell me about the support you’ve received from Army of Freshmen fans, local musicians, family and friends.

The BetChris Jay:  We simply could not have made this movie anywhere but Ventura. I mean that. Locations were donated, which is unheard of in LA, then from all the bands we are friends with, we were able to have a ton of extras where most small movies barely have any in the background, and when it comes to family the first people willing to invest in the film were family. This really was a grassroots effort and so many people went out of their way to help us. I also think we pissed off a few people in the process, half kidding, but no… this really is testament to Ventura and the support that’s here. We were able to save so much money on locations, catering, extras, props that overall made it a better looking film then when should expect on our small budget. I think people got inspired by how insane the undertaking was and wanted to help us.

Ventura Rocks:  I know you had a producer and you did a lot of fundraising for the film, how did that go? Meet your budget?

Chris Jay:  Flat out the most difficult aspect of filmmaking is finding the money. That’s most difficult aspect of a lot of things in life of course, but we did raise enough to get it done. We were lucky to land two amazing executive producers, Craig and Teresa Beech who produce theater productions in the United Kingdom but they believed in the project and along with some smaller investments from family and friends, we got it done. But it is a rabbit hole, at every corner you spend money you didn’t expect to for example we frankly weren’t prepared for how long post production would take and how expensive it is to do right.

Ventura Rocks:  Originally you thought you’d need only 13 days to film, but in reality, how many days did it take? 

Chris Jay:  We filmed 13 days in Ventura. Then we did an afternoon of some pick up shots with a drone, then an afternoon of no dialogue pick up shots, then at the last minute we had to replace our baseball crowd footage, long story but it involved not having releases for some young kids that snuck into the shot who we possible couldn’t find, so we shot an hour or so of a new just recently to fill like 10 seconds. But ultimately it was not a deal where we did a ton of filming after the fact, 98% of the movie was done in those 13 days in Ventura.

posterVentura Rocks:  How about post production? How long did that take?

Chris Jay:  I shudder at the word. Aaron and I were very naive to how long post takes. On top of that we (by that I mean myself, Aaron, the director Ryan Ederer and the producer Reza Riazi were all very passionate about virtually every single aspect of the movie and I think that drug things out sometimes as opposed to a dictator making all the calls but ultimately it’s for the best. There’s a world where this movie could have come out a year ago but no way it’s as good as it is now.

Ventura Rocks:  There were a few name changes for The Bet, how come?

Chris Jay:  Urgh. The film was shot under the name, Baker’s Dozen. The generic title aspect made us change it to Betting on Baker shortly after filming. Then when we got distribution, our distribution company asked for a more generic title that didn’t have the word “Baker,” as quite frankly, if you don’t know that’s the character’s name then you think it’s a movie about a baker. So we went with The Bet and right now I’m thrilled. It’s easy to remember. It’s quick to type for hash tags and social media. It’s doesn’t take up a lot of space on adds and designs. As much as I went kicking and screaming each time a name change came, I am really starting to love it. I still find myself calling it Baker a lot thought and I need to break that habit before all the press starts.

Ventura Rocks:  Tell me about the main actors.

Chris Jay:  If there’s one thing I think we knocked out of the park, it was the casting. We spent so much time on it. Much more than the average movie our size does. It was incredibly important for us to love the people that played these characters we invented and were so connected to. We did auditions in LA. We scoured casting sites. We contacted friends who were actors and ultimately it paid off. Our two leads, Alex Klein and Amanda Clayton who are just wonderful actors both went on to land parts in big movies. Alex has a role in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel and Amanda is currently starring in Tyler Perry’s If Loving You Is Wrong and the upcoming Marin Scorsese produced movie, Bleed For This. Not too mention the lead character’s friends, who are played by a trio of three incredibly funny comedians and actors all who have a lot going on. Yassir Lester, Jeremiah Watkins, Brian Allen. Oh and our bad guys, Michael Consiglio and Paul Natonek are great too. Lot of new faces in the movie but they are clearly the type you’ll be hearing a lot more of. Then of course we got some great cameos from the wrestlers, Chuck D, Gerry Bednob, Dave England. We called in all the favors!

Ventura Rocks:  I found it quite endearing how the guys (local musicians) were jazzed to see wrestlers involved in the movie. What inspired you to get Jake “the snake” Roberts, Tommy Dreamer and Diamond Dallas Page involved? They just happened to be available?

Chris Jay:  From day one writing the script I had a vision of the two dads in the film being played by wrestlers. I am an out-of-the-womb pro wrestling fan so it was important to me to get a wrestler or two in the movie. The story how they got involved is epic with twists and turns but the long and the short of it is, I was aiming for Mick Foley and Roddy Piper, two of my all time favorites to play the roles. I landed Piper and thought I had won the lottery and cause of him got DDP. Then days before we shot, Piper got called to the WWE and clearly he couldn’t turn that down. DDP was awesome, stayed on board when he didn’t have to and helped get us Jake 48 hours before we shot. In the hunt for wrestlers, I reached out to Tommy and even though we had just filled the dad role with Jake, he agreed to come out to do a cameo. Then during filming Roddy reached out to ask how it was going and I begged him to come to a cameo when he got back to LA, he agreed. Got to spend the whole day with Roddy in the car on the way back and forth from LA. We became friends after that and kept in touch and then he tragically he passed aways last year which affected me quite a bit. To have him in our film even for that short scene and it’s one of the last, if not the last, film he ever made is something I will be proud of forever. The guest bedroom where he stayed at my house is forever known as The Roddy Room. I got one of his action figures on the shelf. It’s an amazing thing when you meet a childhood hero and he exceeds every expectation. He was and is a special human being.

The BetVentura Rocks:  Is there a soundtrack? If so, what music was used?

Chris Jay:  Yes! It’s coming two weeks before release on iTunes and Spotify for those cheap millennial types! It’s got 5 original comedy songs we wrote for the film, including the greatest song I have ever been a part of recording, “Sneaky Beej” and 5 songs from local bands who are in the movie. In addition it’s got an intro, interlude and outro from one of the characters which I think is pretty amazing. It’s more a promotional tool for the movie than a proper soundtrack you buy at Salzers but we can’t be musicians who makes a movie and not have a soundtrack. We have some locals helping out on the comedy songs, we got Frank Barajas to do a song in Spanish and Aaron Orbit to sing an 80’s hair metal love anthem. We spent a lot of time working on this soundtrack, we almost drove our music supervisor, Michael Mason to the nuthouse but he never bailed on us. We also got an amazing composer, Michael Leslie who helped give the film the big movie score feel and not just 25 rock songs in the background which is common for lot of small comedies.

Ventura Rocks:  How will The Bet be distributed?

Chris Jay:  The film will be coming out July 26, 2016 via Screen Media Films on all cable VOD outlets, iTunes, Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Xbox, Playstation and more. Then there will be a DVD/Blu-Ray release August 23 then if all goes well a streaming and cable TV deal in the fall. In this day and age at least right now, Netflix is the goal, at least when it comes to the amount of people that see your film.

Ventura Rocks:  What were some of the surprising aspects of becoming a filmmaker? I’m sure you went in thinking, “How hard could this be?!”

Chris Jay:  There’s never enough money. There’s never enough people. There’s not enough time for pre production and there’s way too much time for post production.

The BetVentura Rocks:  Who helped walk your through the process of getting a film out the door?

Chris Jay:  While Aaron and I wrote the film and co-produced, the head producer was Reza Riazi. Reza worked with Aaron and I and guided us through everything since we first told him we wanted to write a screenplay. He was with us every step of the way and I think he was so close to the damn thing that he didn’t have any other option but to produce it when the script was ready. When many producers would of long ago bailed and moved onto the next project, Reza has stayed in the trenches with us. His company is called Balding Penguin and I truly believe in a few years that company will be synonymous with comedy films and TV. He’s just a gifted hard working and funny guy. Look forward to forcing him to work on our next movie, Wedding Or Not.

Ventura Rocks:  What was the most valuable lesson you’ve learned?

Chris Jay:  Wow. The big question. I will look at the glass half full and say… why not? Why not write a movie even if you’ve never done it before. Why not try and film it even if people think you’re crazy. Why not spend two years of your life making no money but doing something you love that no one can ever take away from you. Granted we’re talking about a raunchy comedy but I think it holds true whether you want to be an astronaut and walk on the moon or write dick and fart jokes to make your friends laugh… somebody’s gotta do… why not you?

The Bet Official Website
The Bet Facebook Page

Official Trailer for The Bet

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 7/8 – 7/21

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
Ventura Will Always Rock!
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

Queen Nation at Discovery, Thursday, July 2, 2015

Queen Nation at Discovery, Friday, July 3, 2015

I just had to see Queen Nation at Discovery Ventura on July 3; I was such a Queen fan back in the day and saw them live at least 4-5 times. All I have to say is the band totally nailed it!

I ran into Ventura resident Nick St. Nicolas on July 4th. Nick and the boys of Steppenwolf are responsible for such quintessential rock anthems as “Born to be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride.” He’s been touring with the World Classic Rockers (with members of other iconic bands) and has several out-of-state dates lined up doing corporate gigs. He’s such a classy super nice gentleman; I’d love to get see him do an intimate acoustic show sometime!

Music Under the Stars finally kicks off on July 11 with Britain’s Finest, a Beatles Tribute Band, and then on July 18 it’s Porterhouse Bob serving up New Orleans Boogie & Blues. You can find a complete listing for their summer schedule on VenturaRocks.com.

The summer event of the season, Surf Rodeo, takes over Pierpont Beach on Saturday and Sunday July 11th and 12th. You won’t want to miss dozens of bands all day both days on the sand, a surf competition, a bikini cowgirl competition, a cornhole contest, vendors up and down Seaward from Pierpont Blvd to the sand, food, beverages, friends, family, and of course VenturaRocks.com will be representing! Go to SurfRodeo.org for ticket information.

I have to admit being a fan of all three, I’m totally looking forward to the Tequila and Taco Music Festival on July 18 and 19 at the Collection in Oxnard. Foreverland, 14-piece tribute band to the music of Michael Jackson, will be performing. Other bands include Caliente Band 805, Instone, Zeal Levin and the Bomb. For more information you can go to TequiliaAndTacoMusicFestival.com.

A couple of touring/studio notes: Mario Calire hits the road this summer drumming for legendary singer-songwriter and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Stephen Stills. Shawn Jones has been touring Italy and Switzerland but he’ll be back late July, he’s also been recording new material. The Pullmen have been working on their latest Beast Records release, “Going Dark;” they’ll be returning to Europe for a Fall France tour this year.

And finally, while catching 8Stops7 at the Pierpont Inn on July 2, I caught up with Chris Jay of Army of Freshmen, and longtime writer for the VC Reporter. We reflected on the state of music in Ventura and how there are ebbs and flows, venues come and go, bands peak then disappear, and through it all, supporting Ventura’s music scene are a number of media including The Ventura Breeze, The VC Reporter, The Ventura County Star and of course websites like VenturaRocks.com. What a privilege it is to be a part of such an amazing music scene. Ventura will always rock!

If you have any music related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing?  Send all information short or long to  Pam@VenturaRocks.com, and for updated music listings daily, go to www.VenturaRocks.com .

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze – 10/29 – 11/11

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
Ventura Continues to Rock!
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

Army of FreshmenChris Jay of Army of Freshmen is totally looking forward to their upcoming UK tour with the band Lit. Jay told me, “I just love being on tour. We don’t get to do it nearly as much as we used to so I think we tend to enjoy it more and appreciate it. Every night is like a big party. It’s more like vacation than work.” The dates in the UK run from November 13 through the 23 so it looks like the guys will be back in time for Thanksgiving. See complete interview with Chris Jay at VenturaRocks.com

No news yet on the Discovery entertainment permit appeal. We have our fingers crossed this matter will be settled sooner than later and with Discovery retaining the right to have live music in their venue.

Way to go for The Velveteen Band who has been invited to play the Steampunk Worlds Fair in Piscataway New Jersey. The SPWF is the world’s largest gathering of steampunks. After only six months of being a band, the Velveteen has gained national attention with their Puppets, Rabbits, and big rock band sound. You can find them playing locally at Bombay’s The Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, party on November 1 with Cirque Noir, Angie’s Curse and Fangboy and the Ghouls.

Kelly’s Lot will be holding a fundraiser for one of Kelly Zirbe’s favorite charities, C.A.R.L. at the Patio at The Player’s Club which will raise money for Canine Adoption and Rescue League. Look for appearances by Teresa James, Guy Martin, Steve Hinojosa, Lenny Mazzotti and Bobby and lee Orgel. The event will be held on Saturday, November 8 from 6 – 10 pm. $10 donation plus 15% of food sales donated.
Looking forward to hearing the new song that 8Stops7 has been recording. Bass player, Cory Tarallo, says, “This song is straight up awesome!” I can’t wait to hear “Center of Our Universe” after they put on the finishing touches.

Jan McWorter of Hi Hat Entertainment reminded everyone, “When one door closes, another one opens,” after Hi Hat said goodbye to over six years at Yolie’s on October 17 with the R&B Bombers. But after just a couple days of searching they found their new location just a stone’s throw away, at the newly renovated facilities at 281 W. Main Street at Ventura Beach Club (formerly Fuegos). Just a quick head’s up as Ventura Beach Club already had a previous obligation, on Halloween, Hi Hat’s James Harman party will be at Peirano’s on October 31.

There will be a cool fundraiser at Bombay’s on Saturday, November 1, to help raise funds for Dawn (single mom) and Damian (7 years old) and their battle with Cancer. There will be lots going on all day but on the music side of it there will be Alastair Greene, James Harman, Morganfield Burnett, Hot Roux and more.

And finally, I’d like to wish Ken Winters, “Happy Birthday!” Ventura’s jazz scene will be helping to celebrate his 88th birthday on November 4th during the bi-monthly jazz jam at Squashed Grapes. I’m sure cake will be involved.

If you have any music related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing? Send all information short or long to Pam@VenturaRocks.com.

Chris Jay on Army of Freshmen UK Tour

Army of FreshmenI once wrote that it’s been such a pleasure getting to know our venue owners and artists and that the gamut of personalities range from sweethearts to dickheads. Enter in the boys from Army of Freshmen and they definitely fall on the sweetheart end of the spectrum.  Chris Jay is one of the hardest working, nicest guys in Ventura’s music scene and one of my favorite people to run into when I’m out and about. He was happy to answer some questions about the band’s upcoming tour of the United Kingdom (November 13 – 23, 2014).

Ventura Rocks:  When was Army of Freshmen’s last time in Europe?

Chris Jay:  We were over there last year in the spring for the Hit The Deck Festival and a one off show with The Aquabats in London. Short run but a lot of fun. We try to get over there at least once year.

VR: In ten words or less, how did this tour come about?

Chris: We bothered our booking agent in the United Kingdom. For the record, I just did that with nine words meaning I have a word to spare. I shall make that final word be coolio, as in the state of being, not the rapper.

VR:  Had you played with Lit before?

Chris:  Actually, no, but we’ve had a writing session with Jeremy from the band on two different occasions. The two songs we wrote together never made it to a record but we got a long really well. We came close to the playing with them on occasion but never really happened. We’re excited cause they’re a band we’ve always thought we’d fit well with. We consider ourselves a rock band but we do end up playing with a lot of punk bands and ska bands which we don’t mind but it will be nice to play with a straight up rock band. Crowd will be a little older I imagine and since we’re old too that will be nice! They seem like really good guys too so hopefully we’ll get a long well on and off stage. We have a lot of mutual friends as well.

VR: What are you looking forward to the most?

Chris: I just love being on tour. We don’t get to do it nearly as much as we used to so I think we tend to enjoy it more and appreciate it. Every night is like a big party. It’s more like vacation than work. In all honesty the UK in November is not the greatest place on earth, cold rainy, dark but it’s still being on tour. Looking forward to seeing old friends and hanging with everyone in the band too. We don’t get to see each other as much as we used to.

ItineraryVR:  How big are the venues (crowd-wise)?

Chris: It’s a large club tour. Not sure how crowds will be as later in the year is always a difficult time to bring people out- lot of distractions and people are saving up money for the holidays but I think no matter the size, the audience will be made of people that really want to be there and that always makes for really great shows.

VR: Getting the band’s schedules all aligned to hit the road can’t be easy. What’s the biggest hurdle you guys had to overcome?

Chris: You nailed it. Schedules. Work schedules for the most part. Everyone has “real” jobs and financial commitments and what not so getting everyone to be able to take a week or two off at the same time is not easy. Then of course the money to fund it all.

VR: Who pays for your travel? If you guys pay your own way, I trust the tour will reimburse? Just curious.

Chris: We pay for our travel and that’s the other big issue. Being an opening act or supporting act, the pay is bizarrely uneven versus the headliner. International touring is especially difficult cause of the cost of flights. Makes it all extremely difficult. Most of the time the tour doesn’t reimburse. More than ever, with a few exceptions, you do it cause you love it not to make money. But with that said, we’re always looking for financial help from donations to just buying a t shirt at the show. Everything and anything helps. It’s hard times for dope rhymes. The whole music industry and labels collapsing has been a real double edged sword.

VR: Feel free to add any additional thoughts you’d like to share.

AoF-PodcastChris: Thanks for talking to us as always and keep up the good work on the site! I know how much time and effort it takes. Ventura’s music scene is special but it has it challenges. For more Army of Freshmen news come find us on Facebook and be sure to listen to our weekly podcast, Fresh Talk!

www.ArmyOfFreshmen.com/freshtalkpodcastwww.ArmyofFreshmen.com
www.Facebook.com/ArmyOfFreshmen

 

Baker’s Dozen Movie Set – (Betting on Baker)

(5/4/16: This just in….movie title officially changed to THE BET)
(3/5/14: Just announced, movie title officially changed to Betting on Baker)

Monday, January 20, 2014

Chris Jay and Aaron Goldberg of Army of Freshmen have started filming for the screenplay they wrote called Baker’s Dozen.  The movie is being shot entirely in Ventura using some legendary wrestlers and calling on some of their best buds from local bands here in town. VenturaRocks.com got out to check out the action and got a number of great photos while filming was taking place at Camino Real park.

We caught up with Evan Sula-Goff of 8Stops7 who had kids in tow.  He told us he was super excited that his left foot may have been included in one of the shots taken yesterday.  He just smiled that famous smile of his and said, “I’m just glad to be able to help Chris.”

Yes we are.

See Polly Hoganson MusicMuse interview with Chris Jay.

 

Interview: Chris Jay – Baker’s Dozen Film

THE FILM “BAKERS DOZEN” IS BEING SHOT ENTIRELY IN VENTURA WITH CAMEOS BY LEGENDARY WRESTLERS AND YES, THEY NEED A BUNCH OF LOCAL PEEPS AS EXTRAS.

During their down time local musicians Chris Jay and Aaron Goldberg (Army of Freshmen) decided to write a screenplay. As anybody in the biz can tell you this is not a small feat. This project has been a long time dream of the super energetic Chris Jay. We chatted about the low, low budget film and their decision to shoot it entirely in Ventura.  They will film all over the city for the next 13 days but their immediate need is for extras on MLK day – 1/20/14 at Camino Real Park Ventura from 10am-5pm.

Army of Freshmen

Polly: Tell me about this film project that you’re working on, how did it come about?  It’s you and Aaron right?

Chris JayChris: It’s me and Aaron, we co-wrote it.  Actually, we started to not tour as much when the music industry got a little funky.  We began working on a little screenplay on our off time, here and there, just a little bit, for the past couple of years really.  It’s a comedy.  What happened is we got a producer who produced one of our old videos. We got in touch with him, turned him on to the project and he helped us put the script together to a presentable point.  We made the decision we didn’t want to do what we do with music where you spend so much time begging people to listen to you and help you and sign you. And we knew that for first time screenwriters no one is going to read a script two musicians wrote.

Polly:  Right

Chris: So we decided to fundraise on our own.  We thought the film was funny, the concept was funny.  For the past couple of months that’s what we’ve been doing raising money but we have also been working on pre-production we’ve actually been putting it together.  Like you know I contacted you months ago asking to film a scene at Zoey’s long before we got any interest.

Polly:  Yes, I remember.

Chris: We were hoping once we got the funding we could jump.  We were basically in pre-production on a film that had no money and may not exist.

Polly: Haha, well did you finally get that producer on board and who is that?

Chris: Yes a gentleman by the name of Reza Rezai and you know he’s just a friend who did our video and also did some smaller indie films.  So he knew really low budget.  Even if we did raise some money it was going to be incredibly low budget.

Polly: So what is your budget?

Chris: I can’t really tell you our budget because we don’t have a finalized one yet.  And frankly we are trying to continue to raise money but we did get more people on board and one or two investors who decided to back the project enough for us to get cookin’.

Polly: Nice, good for you.

Bakers DozenChris:  We’ve been going absolutely nuts for the past two months basically putting the movie in to production.  And we are happy to report we’ve been working, working, working.  We kinda kept our months shut, because we didn’t want to seem like we were bragging and telling people we were doing it because these things can fall apart so easy especially when we had this many people, and money and stuff,  we didn’t want to embarrass ourselves.  So we put everything in place.  We picked a date, got tons of people, we’ve been casting, working on the script, just literally doing a crash course on the film business.  We started filming yesterday [1/18/14] and we are filming 13 days over the next 19 days all in the city of Ventura. Every single scene is going to be shot in a location in Ventura.

Polly:  Wow!

Chris:  So we have 13 more days on 6 days off on a 20 day schedule.  We wanted to keep it homegrown.  We wanted people to contribute and people have been amazing!  We got all of our locations for free with the exception of the baseball field we had to rent from the city which is understandable because we had to shut down part of the park.  But we got everything else for free.  We have gotten every single meal donated for the whole shoot, just local restaurants helping us out.

Polly: That’s so cool.

Baker's DozenChris:  It’s been wonderful! Our producer was hesitant to film in Ventura simply because it’s an hour outside of L.A. actors driving and all that kind of stuff, but he’s been thrilled and what we’ve found is that community feel, and all the bonuses, and the fact that people are excited!  So say if we did go down to L.A. and we walked into the “Zoeys” of LA and asked to film for a day you know their fee is going to be $1000 bucks. Flat out.  That’s how they make extra money.  So many people are filming down there, film permit people are hard, it’s a nightmare.  Here it’s been such a smooth ride.  Especially since we are so ultra, ultra low budget just to be able to have people so on board and so helpful it’s been really, really cool.

Polly:  That’s so great.  So you started yesterday.

Chris:  Yes, and it’s been more work than I’ve ever done in my entire life.  Music videos are great but that’s one day.  This is a like a music video times 2 weeks.  We got enough people to be in the film but we are so low budget we couldn’t hire a production crew.  We do wardrobe, we do location scouting, we supervise catering.  Literally we weren’t prepared for that on set work so for the past 48 hours it’s just been this whirlwind of four hours of sleep. Getting there at 6am it’s great.  The energy has been great but it’s been a whirlwind.  We are going for it!  Tomorrow is day 3.

Polly:  Tell me about tomorrow and needing Extra’s at El Camino Park

Chris:  It’s our big baseball day and we’re at the park we need a bunch of people hanging out, in the stands, kicking it, we just need to create that vibe.

Polly:  What’s the basic storyline?

Chris:  It’s a raunchy comedy in the vein of “40 Year Old Virgin” or “Super Bad” or “Old School”.  The plot is a loser in life and love gets into a high stakes bet where he has to find and go out with the girl he had a crush on for every single year he went to school.  So he’s got to go back and find 12 different girls, find out what they’re up to now and somehow convince them or trick them into getting with him.  That’s the gist of it but there is an evil company owner that if he wins the bet he gets the company and he can give it back to his dad.  This is not high brow.  This is Adam Sandler stuff.

Polly:  Haha, right.  Is this a short film?

Chris:  No, it’s a full length feature film.

Polly:  Wow.

Baker's Dozen setChris:  We are going for it a full length movie.  That’s the insanity of it.  If it were a short film we’d shoot for 3 or 4 days but we’ve got tons of characters and locations. We’re basically making a low budget movie by Hollywood standards on no budget. To be frank we are trying to make a million dollar movie on a tenth of that budget.  People are telling us we’re insane, we can’t do it, you’re getting in way over your heads but that’s the only way we’ve ever don it, we don’t know any other way.  So if we’re going to fail we might as well fail in a big way. We’ve got a bunch of extras in it, bunch of homies from the local music scene.   If this comes out, when it comes out at least from a local stand point we’re going to rent a screen at Century 16 and invite everybody and say – we don’t know what the hell we made here but at least we’ll get a kick out of it.  And you’ll see a bunch of people on the screen.

Polly:  That’s awesome. I’m so happy for you guys.

Chris:  It’s always been a dream of ours.  It’s a weird thing.  It’s either put up or shut up.  It’s one thing to work on a screen play but it’s completely another thing to make it because the whole time you’re wondering man if this stinks I just spent a massive amount of my life working on this project.  So it’s wild.  And you put your faith in so many people.  That’s what I’m learning too.  You know me, and much like yourself we’re micro managers.  We want to have our eyes on everything we do.  But it’s hard to trust someone with your baby.  That camera man he’s got your baby.  That director, he’s got your baby.  Those actors they have your baby.  You may have a little bit of say but you’re not going to tell the camera guy who’s gone to school where to put the camera.  You’ve got to roll with the flow.  So in the last 48 hours I’ve learned to breath and if you’re not digging what you’re seeing you have to trust that they are doing it for a reason.

Polly:  That’s so exciting for you guys.  We’d love to be involved.  How can we be involved?

Chris:  Well thanks for spreading the word and encouraging people to come out.  There’s going to be some really neat stuff.  We have cameos from three legendary wrestlers.  I know that sounds funny but I’ve always been a big wrestling fan.  We ended up getting Jake “the snake” Roberts, Tommy Dreamer and Diamond Dallas Page.  So if anybody comes tomorrow afternoon, if you’re a wrestling fan, these wrestlers will be hanging out, in Ventura, in Camino Real Park, and will be accessible for autographs and stuff.  And I know this is super last minute.  But that’s how film world is.

 Polly:  I know, you audition on a Friday and then you have to be on set at 7am Saturday. 

Chris:  Exactly.  Thanks for everything, spread the word and if you can please swing by tomorrow it will be an experience!

 Links:
www.facebook.com/armyoffreshmen
www.BakersDozenTheMovie.com