{"id":2142,"date":"2014-01-20T07:26:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T15:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/venturarocks.com\/blog\/?p=2142"},"modified":"2014-01-20T15:31:46","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T23:31:46","slug":"interview-chris-jay-bakers-dozen-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/venturarocks.com\/blog\/interview-chris-jay-bakers-dozen-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Chris Jay – Baker’s Dozen Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>THE FILM \u201cBAKERS DOZEN\u201d IS BEING SHOT ENTIRELY IN VENTURA WITH CAMEOS BY LEGENDARY WRESTLERS AND YES, THEY NEED A BUNCH OF LOCAL PEEPS AS EXTRAS.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0They 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.<\/p>\n

\"Army<\/a><\/p>\n

Polly: Tell me about this film project that you\u2019re working on, how did it come about?\u00a0 It\u2019s you and Aaron right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/a>Chris: It\u2019s me and Aaron, we co-wrote it.\u00a0 Actually, we started to not tour as much when the music industry got a little funky. \u00a0We began working on a little screenplay on our off time, here and there, just a little bit, for the past couple of years really. \u00a0It\u2019s a comedy.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We made the decision we didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 Right<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris: So we decided to fundraise on our own. \u00a0We thought the film was funny, the concept was funny. \u00a0For the past couple of months that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been doing raising money but we have also been working on pre-production we\u2019ve actually been putting it together. \u00a0Like you know I contacted you months ago asking to film a scene at Zoey\u2019s long before we got any interest.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 Yes, I remember.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris: We were hoping once we got the funding we could jump.\u00a0 We were basically in pre-production on a film that had no money and may not exist.<\/p>\n

Polly: Haha, well did you finally get that producer on board and who is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris: Yes a gentleman by the name of Reza Rezai and you know he\u2019s just a friend who did our video and also did some smaller indie films. \u00a0So he knew really low budget. \u00a0Even if we did raise some money it was going to be incredibly low budget.<\/p>\n

Polly: So what is your budget?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris: I can\u2019t really tell you our budget because we don\u2019t have a finalized one yet.\u00a0 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\u2019.<\/p>\n

Polly: Nice, good for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Bakers<\/a>Chris:\u00a0 We\u2019ve been going absolutely nuts for the past two months basically putting the movie in to production.\u00a0 And we are happy to report we\u2019ve been working, working, working.\u00a0 We kinda kept our months shut, because we didn\u2019t 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, \u00a0we didn\u2019t want to embarrass ourselves. \u00a0So we put everything in place.\u00a0 We picked a date, got tons of people, we\u2019ve been casting, working on the script, just literally doing a crash course on the film business.\u00a0 We started filming yesterday [<\/b>1\/18\/14]<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 Wow!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris:\u00a0 So we have 13 more days on 6 days off on a 20 day schedule. \u00a0We wanted to keep it homegrown.\u00a0 We wanted people to contribute and people have been amazing!\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But we got everything else for free.\u00a0 We have gotten every single meal donated for the whole shoot, just local restaurants helping us out.<\/p>\n

Polly: That\u2019s so cool.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Baker's<\/a>Chris:\u00a0 It\u2019s been wonderful! Our producer was hesitant to film in Ventura simply because it\u2019s an hour outside of L.A. actors driving and all that kind of stuff, but he\u2019s been thrilled and what we\u2019ve found is that community feel, and all the bonuses, and the fact that people are excited! \u00a0So say if we did go down to L.A. and we walked into the \u201cZoeys\u201d of LA and asked to film for a day you know their fee is going to be $1000 bucks. Flat out.\u00a0 That\u2019s how they make extra money.\u00a0 So many people are filming down there, film permit people are hard, it\u2019s a nightmare.\u00a0 Here it\u2019s been such a smooth ride.\u00a0 Especially since we are so ultra, ultra low budget just to be able to have people so on board and so helpful it\u2019s been really, really cool.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 That\u2019s so great.\u00a0 So you started yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris:\u00a0 Yes, and it\u2019s been more work than I\u2019ve ever done in my entire life.\u00a0 Music videos are great but that\u2019s one day.\u00a0 This is a like a music video times 2 weeks.\u00a0 We got enough people to be in the film but we are so low budget we couldn\u2019t hire a production crew.\u00a0 We do wardrobe, we do location scouting, we supervise catering.\u00a0 Literally we weren\u2019t prepared for that on set work so for the past 48 hours it\u2019s just been this whirlwind of four hours of sleep. Getting there at 6am it\u2019s great.\u00a0 The energy has been great but it\u2019s been a whirlwind. \u00a0We are going for it!\u00a0 Tomorrow is day 3.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 Tell me about tomorrow and needing Extra\u2019s at El Camino Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris:\u00a0 It\u2019s our big baseball day and we\u2019re at the park we need a bunch of people hanging out, in the stands, kicking it, we just need to create that vibe.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 What\u2019s the basic storyline? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris:\u00a0 It\u2019s a raunchy comedy in the vein of \u201c40 Year Old Virgin\u201d or \u201cSuper Bad\u201d or \u201cOld School\u201d.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So he\u2019s got to go back and find 12 different girls, find out what they\u2019re up to now and somehow convince them or trick them into getting with him.\u00a0 That\u2019s 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.\u00a0 This is not high brow.\u00a0 This is Adam Sandler stuff.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 Haha, right.\u00a0 Is this a short film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris:\u00a0 No, it\u2019s a full length feature film.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 Wow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Baker's<\/a>Chris:\u00a0 We are going for it a full length movie.\u00a0 That\u2019s the insanity of it.\u00a0 If it were a short film we\u2019d shoot for 3 or 4 days but we\u2019ve got tons of characters and locations. We\u2019re 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.\u00a0 People are telling us we\u2019re insane, we can\u2019t do it, you\u2019re getting in way over your heads but that\u2019s the only way we\u2019ve ever don it, we don\u2019t know any other way.\u00a0 So if we\u2019re going to fail we might as well fail in a big way. We\u2019ve got a bunch of extras in it, bunch of homies from the local music scene.\u00a0\u00a0 If this comes out, when<\/i> it comes out at least from a local stand point we\u2019re going to rent a screen at Century 16 and invite everybody and say – we don\u2019t know what the hell we made here but at least we\u2019ll get a kick out of it.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll see a bunch of people on the screen.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 That\u2019s awesome. I\u2019m so happy for you guys.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris:\u00a0 It\u2019s always been a dream of ours.\u00a0 It\u2019s a weird thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s either put up or shut up.\u00a0 It\u2019s one thing to work on a screen play but it\u2019s completely another thing to make it because the whole time you\u2019re wondering man if this stinks I just spent a massive amount of my life working on this project.\u00a0 So it\u2019s wild.\u00a0 And you put your faith in so many people.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m learning too.\u00a0 You know me, and much like yourself we\u2019re micro managers.\u00a0 We want to have our eyes on everything we do.\u00a0 But it\u2019s hard to trust someone with your baby. \u00a0That camera man he\u2019s got your baby.\u00a0 That director, he\u2019s got your baby.\u00a0 Those actors they have your baby.\u00a0 You may have a little bit of say but you\u2019re not going to tell the camera guy who\u2019s gone to school where to put the camera.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to roll with the flow.\u00a0 So in the last 48 hours I\u2019ve learned to breath and if you\u2019re not digging what you\u2019re seeing you have to trust that they are doing it for a reason.<\/p>\n

Polly:\u00a0 That\u2019s so exciting for you guys.\u00a0 We\u2019d love to be involved.\u00a0 How can we be involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris:\u00a0 Well thanks for spreading the word and encouraging people to come out.\u00a0 There\u2019s going to be some really neat stuff.\u00a0 We have cameos from three legendary wrestlers.\u00a0 I know that sounds funny but I\u2019ve always been a big wrestling fan.\u00a0 We ended up getting Jake \u201cthe snake\u201d Roberts, Tommy Dreamer and Diamond Dallas Page.\u00a0 So if anybody comes tomorrow afternoon, if you\u2019re a wrestling fan, these wrestlers will be hanging out, in Ventura, in Camino Real Park, and will be accessible for autographs and stuff.\u00a0 And I know this is super last minute.\u00a0 But that\u2019s how film world is.
\n\n\t\t