One of the ways we plan to keep down costs on All the Others Were Practice is by owning as much of the equipment as possible. New camera technologies allow us to buy the equipment for less than it would cost to rent it. Plus we save on insurance costs and the equipment is always available to us with no extra rental fees. If we have to re-schedule a day or get a pick-up shot we can schedule it around the actors and locations and not the equipment.

The downside of using new cameras is, well they’re new.

In Early January, we ordered a Blackmagic Digital Cinema Camera. The camera seems to be a perfect fit for our production, with RAW images captured directly to solid state drives. But the camera is still back-ordered, and we have no way of knowing if it will be shipped in time for us to complete our tests before production begins.

We have a Plan B camera package, but we’ll wait until the beginning of April before we abandon the Blackmagic.

In the spring of 2011, I decided that I was ready to make a feature film. It was a simple idea – make a funny, beautiful film on a budget that will allow it the best chance of breaking even.

I had just finished a script. We’d had some readings and gotten good feedback. It’s a film that I’d like to see, the comedy of an average guy looking for love. He’s thoroughly queer but doesn’t fit into many of the typical stereotypes seen in film.

As the summer started, I began working with a producer. We tried a crowd funding campaign, held a few rounds of auditions, and applied for some grants that seemed a sure bet. We planned on filming in the fall.

Well, fast forward a little more than a year.

Every source of funding that I had hoped to tap has proven much harder than expected. It’s been frustrating, because we know we have a great film, and the only thing stopping us from filming it has been a lack of money, which is a lame reason.

While we’ve been working on funding, I’ve been lucky enough to make some short films. With The Beginning and Obit, I’ve been able to refine the production methods that we’ll use in All the Others Were Practice. I’ve also been able to use their productions as a template to make All the Others an even leaner production than it could have been a year ago.

I’ve been able to whiddle the budget down to a point where I can cover the basics. We’ve built this site to help us share the film with people like you, in the hopes that you can help us fill in some of the gaps in the budget. In return, you’ll be one of the first people to see the All the Others Were Practice.

We begin filming in April 2013.

If you’ve read this far, consider becoming a Crowd Funder.

Share this film with all of your friends. Tell them to share it with their friends.

Thank you,

– Brian Tolle

San Francisco Bay Area comedian Charlie Ballard has joined the cast of All the Others Were Practice as Jôrge.

Charlie has been seen nationally on Logo, Comedy Central and NBC – locally he regularly performs stand-up, and produces the Hella Gay Comedy Show.

Our shirt store is a fun way to support All the Others Were Practice.

The shirt store let’s you choose the style, color, & artwork to create your own unique shirt. There’s thousands of combinations, which one are you?

All the Others Were Practice is a human-scale production, an independent film in the truest possible sense. Our small, talented cast and crew use our efficient production pipeline to achieve clean, sharp images – with aesthetics driven by the story.

Our production budget covers all expenses related to the 24 day filming schedule: development and pre-production; actor and crew wages, location rentals, props, wardrobe, food and camera & lighting equipment.

This week, I’m in New York City for the IFP Independent Filmmakers Conference. The sessions are very informative, and I’m meeting filmmakers from all over the country that are making films of a similar size to ours.

I can’t wait to get back to SF and our production team to start implementing some of what I’m learning.

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Today, we marched in the 2012 San Francisco Pride Parade!

It was a long, beautifully sunny day, and we all had a great time. We were near very end of the parade, so we had a bit of a wait to even start, but we were entertained by the contingent from kink.com on the flatbed truck in front of us.

As we marched down Market Street we were between the Asexuals and people from a storage company wearing boxes (and their underwear) We passed out our entire stash of 2,400 buttons to the crowd, before we were halfway down the route!

Did you get a button today? Welcome!

Our goal in the parade today was to share our film with as many people as possible, so we can gauge the potential audience. Please share us with your friends and other fans of independent and queer film.

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We took a trip up to Guerneville and the Russian River, to scout locations. The area around there is beautiful, and we’ll be able to find everything we need.

ALL THE OTHERS WERE PRACTICE is a feature film set in San Francisco.

It’s about Jôrge.

It’s the post-gay romantic comedy of how Jôrge finds true love – how he learns that what you want from love and what you need from love, aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Filming begins in April 2013, bringing together some of the best Bay Area actors and artisans. The film celebrates the long cinematic history of San Francisco – creating beautiful images and compelling stories – on an independent budget.

JOIN US

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On Saturday August 20, we had a reading with the whole cast.

First, we read the script straight through, without stopping for questions. Hearing the characters come to life through these talented actors is a treat in itself. After a chat about questions that came up during the reading, we did a second reading, a bit in the style of a radio play.

We recorded the second reading, so that we could go back and hear the pacing of particular scenes.

The reading was tremendously helpful in refining the script, and seeing how the cast melds as a whole. Thank you to all of the actors who participated: Alex Moggridge, Chris Morrell, Kimberly MacLean, Bennie Bell, Chantelle Tibbs, Kathleen Antonia, Liam Vincent, Lawrence Radecker, Monterey Morrissey, Paris hunter Paul and Kathleen Park.