The lastest update:
Dear Backers,
Don't worry, I'm still alive. It's been much longer since my last update than I had hoped, but I promise: you haven't missed anything exciting. As we're discovering, running a Kickstarter campaign with 91,000+ backers is almost as much work as making a movie. (Maybe more. It depends on who you ask.)
The good news, for both the Kickstarter and our movie, is that things are starting to speed up.
On the Kickstarter side, we're working through the many details involved in producing and shipping all of the rewards, because we want to get your stickers and t-shirts in your hands as soon as possible. (That still could mean June or July, but we're going as fast as we can.) We will be sending out a survey in the next few weeks to ask for your t-shirt preferences, shipping address, and any other details we'll need to get your rewards out to you.
(Don't worry, you haven't missed the survey. It's coming soon!)
On the movie side, a million things are happening at once. (Maybe more. It depends on who you ask.)
A few highlights:
The response to the script from the studio, and perhaps more important, from Kristen, has been incredibly positive. And as you might have read, one of our amazing writers from the series — Diane Ruggiero — just spent a few weeks working with me to finish it up.
As far as casting goes, we're still in negotiations, so I can't officially announce anything yet. But I can make two promises: first, we're working furiously on it, and second, when new cast members are confirmed, you'll be the first to hear about it. Bonus tease: I'm really excited about some of the cameos we're hoping to land. If all goes well, I'll be able to share more soon.
And finally, location. I would have sent an update earlier this week, but we were so close to making a final decision that I wanted to wait, because there's a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, and I wanted you to hear it first. This morning, I got final approval on our shooting location.
Thanks to you, the Veronica Mars movie will be shot in Los Angeles!
From the beginning of this project, we always hoped we'd be able to shoot in Southern California. That said, it's not the cheapest place to shoot a movie. If we had only raised the $2 million we set as our original Kickstarter target, we'd have been forced to choose between fewer shooting days in Southern California, or more shooting days somewhere less expensive. Thanks to you, we didn't have to compromise.
Shooting in Los Angeles is great news, for many reasons.
For starters, it gives us the best possible look for the movie. If it came down to it, we could have re-created Neptune somewhere else, but nowhere else would have looked quite like Southern California.
Even more important, shooting in LA gives us the best possible chance to bring back our original cast and arrange some amazing cameo appearances, since it requires far less time, travel and expense.
On a more personal note, I lived in Los Angeles for 15 years before moving back to my home town of Austin, TX in 2009. So in addition to all of the important movie-making reasons I'm happy we'll be shooting in Los Angeles, I also have several personal reasons.
1) We moved my 8 year old daughter away from her favorite Los Angeles Chinese restaurant three years ago and she hasn't stopped harping about it since. We're going to rent a house for the days we're shooting in Los Angeles. The only requirement is that it must be in said restaurant's delivery radius.
2) We will be able to take my son to Disneyland for his 5th birthday in July. His sister has been lording her trips to Disneyland over him. I heard him say, "Small World this" in the next room the other day.
3) It's never 75 degrees in July in Texas.
4) I plan on wearing jodhpurs and holding a riding crop while directing. Anywhere but Los Angeles, people might question these choices.
5) Yes, I would like to be valet parked, thank you. And yes, I would like my table to be waited on by someone much, much better looking than me.
So, there it is. The Veronica Mars movie will be shooting in Los Angeles, starting in mid-June. At this point, we expect the shoot to last for about a month, and if you're scheduled to join us on set as an extra, you'll want to bring some suntan lotion. (Spoiler: it's going to be nice out.)
One last note: moving forward, I expect to start sending more frequent updates again, since I'll have more news to share. As we get into production, the updates should also be more interesting, unless you find news about contracts, negotiations, and Kickstarter reward fulfillment exciting. If you do, this might be as good as it gets.
And if there are specific things you'd like to hear more about, let me know in the comments. I can't promise I can answer all of your questions, but I'd be interested to know what you're curious about.
Have a great weekend, gang.
Rob
