I have a VERY exciting announcement.  Last week we released our first video clip, a prequel teaser trailer that we shot as a test to get our production team working together (http://moviepals.org/blog/open-source-sci-fi-movie-trailer-for-jathias-wager-released/).  This was a just start, but I was happy enough to release it at this stage and get the project moving.  I knew it would spread quickly online, but after only one week this no budget film with only released a trailer is receiving mainstream press and has been mentioned in the same articles as big budget Hollywood movies - incredible!

If you've been watching this project and waiting to "step up" and get involved, this is your wake up call.  Some press references ( 4 in English and 1 in Spanish) are listed below.  Gawker media's io9 said some really positive things about the project.  Premiere (yes that's right premiere magazine one of the largest and most influential Hollywood news destinations) mentioned Jathia's Wager as newsworthy on the same page as Terminator Salvation and I am Legend .  That in and of itself is a major complement.  The Premiere review was extra critical, but they said the project was a "curious experiment".  When we pull this off it's going to explode and be EVERYWHERE.  Let's make this movie as good as we can!

Recent Press:

http://io9.com/5097616/new-movie-let-fans-choose-their-own-adventure/

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/431606/0/pelicula/gusto/consumidor/

http://news.premiere.com/blog/2008/11/112508-i-am-legend-sequelized-terminator-rumors-cleared-up-and-more.html

http://www.scifiplex.com/jathias-wager-an-open-source-scifi-movie-everything-gets-decided-by-the-fans/

http://worldofhiglet.blogspot.com/2008/11/star-trek-trailer-oh-my-and-more-films.html - I want to give a special thank you to our team member and avid blogger "m" for mentioning the project - I appreciate it!

To all the writers ou there.  Although the script has been decided upon for the initial short film, I'm open to taking entire scripts and especially ideas / plot lines for the web series and perhaps feature film that will follow up the initial short film from our new Wiki (http://jathiaswager.wikia.com/).  It works just like Wikipedia, you can add pages and content.  If you have trouble with the wiki or want to do a large contribution so you want to maintain full ownership (wiki's allow for anyone to edit yoru stuff), you can send it to me directly to post at moviepals.  Wikis are really useful for people to collaborate on simple things like a list of characters and their descriptions / back-stories,  possible plot scenarios etc.   I hope we can get some use out of this one eventually.

I've been publishing video blog entries on the status of the project and the most recent one has clips from Karly Shea's Audition for Ezra at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j96dbxbJQ54.  I'll be posting another video blog entry with audition clips from star and Joe later this week.  I'll try to release a video blog entry as often as I can.  If you're working on the film and have the ability to send me a clip of what you're doing (even post production) please do, our audience is interested in the movie making process as well as the final production.  We're breaking new ground with this collaborative approach to filmmaking and that's part of the reason for all the press and buzz on the project.

Everyone reading this is invited to join our meetup group and contribute to the film production. I also want to say welcome to all the new members and to remind them that they can view our full character here:   http://www.meetup.com/opensourcefilms/calendar/ .  It's great to see the group growing and I can't wait to work with you and see your contributions.

For those of you brand new to meetup.com. The way meetup works is you RSVP for individual events directly from the meetup homepage. You can view the meetup page for open source films here: http://www.meetup.com/opensourcefilms/ You’ll see some events posted, notice the RSVP links. When I put new events into t he group you’ll also receive e-mail updates with all the specifics.

Please do not hesitate to e-mail or call me with questions, concerns, feedback, or just to say hi.

Thanks,

Solomon Rothman
Write, Director, Actor
solomon@rothman.name
http://moviepals.org