Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Exciting year ahead!

Victoria and I had a great American Film Market (AFM) this year! Not only was the weather just beautiful, and great friendships made and renewed, but we managed to find new distribution for "Dancing On the Edge" and $25,000,000 in production financing for our slate of features.

As you may or may not know, I reclaimed the rights to D.O.T.E. from Breakthrough Entertainment as they were unsuccessful marketing the picture. We knew from the start it would be a difficult sell due to the fact that there are no marketable 'stars'. That, and the fact that poor production sound made it necessary to record a new M&E track necessary for foreign sales and that was not financially plausible.
So we decided to reclaim the rights and reshoot the entire picture with 1 or 2 bankable stars  for domestic release where it was designed to go in the first place. But it seems God had a better idea!

Victoria and I were passing through the lobby when a fellow came up to me and said, "You're a MacKenzie"! Naturally I was wearing my MacKenzie kilt (I always wear a kilt to these things) and we introduced ourselves. He said his father is a MacKenzie and that I looked just like him. "Are you buying or selling" he asked. "Selling" I replied and he proceeded to invite us to meet up in his room on the 8th floor ($8K/Day) and we'll talk.

So up to his room we went and he asked what we had. I told him that we have a slate of feature films ready to shoot but we were looking for co-production deals with distributors and funding. We talked for awhile about our slate then he asked if I had anything in the can. I told him the story about DOTE and he wanted to see the trailer. He was blown away and said he'd take it just as it is.

So, you can expect to see Dancing on the Edge on TV, in the big-box stores and Redbox this spring courtesy of The Movie Studio,Inc.( As soon as I know the network I'll let you know). Then he showed us a picture of his dad and now I know what I will look like at 93.

But the best is yet to come!

We also found two investors that between them will bring in $25M in production funding to Highland Light! In order to bring this money home it will require a moderate amount of legal work for my attorney in LA that along with travel and living expense for me in LA should run around $30K in bridge funding. With the holidays coming up I don't expect much to happen before the new year dawns, but then things should happen quickly. I expect we'll shoot Michael's Ride here in late June as soon as school lets out. The rest of the slate hasn't been set but perhaps we can get Devil's Walk in before the weather in Central Oregon turns.

That's it for now. We at Highland Light Productions wish you all a happy and blessed Christmas and New Year!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Time to get back to work!

Hey Friends,

I'm so happy to be sharing with you all again now that our web issues have been fixed.

Much has transpired in the last year, My grandson Desmond James McFadden is a year old, and Victoria has retired after 25 years in the Clark County Sheriff's Dept. and is now producing full time at HLP. But not all has gone as we had hoped.

Like the old Scottish soldiers quote; "I may be wounded but I am not slain. I'll lay me down to bleed awhile then I'll rise and fight again". After two years with a distributor, we have yet to realize a single sale. So HLP has reclaimed the rights to Dancing on the Edge and will pursue other marketing alternatives. I need to do a bit of research on the best avenue to follow but we're not going to give up on it.

Victoria and I will be at American Film Market, November 6-14 in Santa Monica, California where we will try to move D.O.T.E. and I Hate Soccer as well as to solicit interest in the other films in our portfolio.

We are putting Michael's Ride on hold until next year as scheduling conflicts as well as the tragic passing of one of our key investors has delayed us to deep into the summer to be able to shoot. This delay will cause the school year to begin before we can finish shooting.

In the meantime, I have been signed by IHS Productions in LA to direct a $2.8M romantic comedy called "I Hate Soccer" to be shot in Portland, OR this fall. Highland Light Productions will co-produce.
For more details check it out here ; https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Hate-Soccer-The-Movie/452915874803626

We are also in the process of updating our website so please be patient while we make it better.
More fun to come,
Sandy