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"WIL" PRODUCTION NOTES

"WIL" was first conceived in October of 2004 when Jeremy Weinstein, the director, uttered the phrase "I"ve always wanted to make a film set entirely inside an elevator". Not long after that the writer, Paul Kooperman, had a raft of ideas one of which was to make the elevator the inside of someone"s head. Perfect!

The goal with "WIL" was to make something different as well as to make it differently, there was a specific interest to make this film outside the traditional government-funding route.  Ask, and ye shall receive, and on January 3rd 2005, before the first draft was even complete, the film had an expression of interest from a financial institution. It looked like the planets had aligned and the film would be made.

Wanting to see the script before any final decisions were made the remainder of the first draft was completed in just three days and mailed off. The major investor loved the script and set about structuring a deal whereby ten of his best investors would invest AUD$150,000 each.

Between January and May of 2005 the script was refined and improved, the numbers crunched projections made and a creative team pieced together, all for the purposes of pitching the film to a group of investors from the financial institution. However, just days before the planned presentation the unthinkable happened the key investor withdrew his support leaving the film in a precarious position.

Whilst alternate financing was being sort a blind optimism insisted that September 5th 2005 remain as the first day of principle photography despite the setbacks. Several meetings were held with a range of funding sources during which the project stalled but there was a belief amongst the creative team that it would all work out. And soon enough there was a hot lead.

A friend of the director, visiting from Sydney suggested an that an ex boss of hers, Domenic Benvenuto, had a latent interest in the media and filmmaking and it would be worth giving him a call, in fact she insisted on calling him there and then. A brief meeting, the following day, and he too loved the idea, but he wanted to read the script.

Two days later a call from Mr. Benvenuto"s office  he liked the film and wanted to invest  how much did he want to invest? Enough to get the film shot? Enough to get the film edited? No, he wanted to invest the entire AUD$1.5M budget that would see the film finished to 35mm and ready for a cinema release.

We were back in business and again ready to make this unique film by non-traditional means. One single private investor who shouldered the entire financial burden was something not seen in this country for a long time  if ever before.

With little time to get everything together between June and September the production team worked feverishly and as hoped principle photography began on September 5th. Such an ambitious idea and such a small budget the film was shot on Super16mm in just 20 days.

A first time executive producer, a first time director, a first time producer and a first time DOP spelled potential disaster, in fact it was looking more and more like the "behind the scenes" team would make the better film as everyone crashed and burned under the pressure ala "Lost in La Mancha". Yet, against all odds, not only was the film finished, but it came it in under budget as the director ran a very tight ship, fun but tight.

On the last day of the shoot as an act of good will Mr. Benvenuto subdivided his profits among the entire cast and crew making this a profit share film for all to benefit from. Another first, surely.

So far so good  the film was on time and under budget, unheard of. Then the process of post-production began and the film was edited. A test screening was run to gauge the response and it wasn"t looking good  audiences hated the ending. So in true democratic style the ending was changed to the rapturous applause from the audience.

With the music being written and the finishing touches put on the film, a consensus (is there ever?) about the final cut of the film became an issue and more specifically the grading. The look of "WIL" was always an issue, the film should be fairly realistic but also contain elements of fantasy, this is where the film benefited from the brand new digital intermediary (DI) technology because the film was graded digitally and the "burned" back to 35mm without a noticeable loss of quality. Something a traditional S16mm to 35mm blow-up would not have been able to handle.

The film was finished to 35mm with remarkable results, impressing all that have seen it. The film premiered in Melbourne to an invited audience, who thoroughly enjoyed the film.

With the film complete the search for a film festival began and the hope of attracting a distributor. It could be you that writes the next chapter in this exciting project.