Racing to picture lock

Hi everyone! MJ here! Sorry for not posting in a while. It was a very busy winter! Here's a quick summary of what we've been up and where we're at.

Kickstarter backers, you should see an email in your inbox with extra details. We're shipping some of your goodies and need a little information from you. If you don't see an email, please check your junk mail or send me an email at downthefencedoc@gmail.com and we'll investigate.

TED LEVINE NARRATION

Last November, I headed down to Santa Barbara to spend an afternoon with the ridiculously talented actor Ted Levine to record narration for the film.

Ted Levine and Playback Recording Studio hard at work

Ted is generously donating his time and talent to the project. We still can't get over the fact that he'll be the voice of the film. What a treat to work with such an incredible actor! You should have heard Eric (co-writer/editor) after he heard the recording for the first time. He was so excited about the way it turned out. I just grinned and nodded my head excitedly, "I know! I know! Right?!"

We were also very lucky to have had Playback Recording Studio hosting the recording session. They have a suuuuuuper fun and talented crew. They treated all of us so well and delivered beautiful recordings. It was a very successful day!

THE ORIGINAL SCORE

My next stop was LA (ish) to meet with our composer Grant Fonda. We watched a cut of the film and had a nice long conversation about the music. Grant is such a pro. I learn so much about film scoring every time we work together. The original score he's written for the film is gorgeous. We're counting the days til we can record it and you'll all be able to hear it.

EDITING

Eric and I have been working away on the editing. We've about gotten that 500 hours of footage down to about 1 hour and 20 minutes of beautiful story. It wasn't easy! It didn't help that Lori, Fernando, Ben, and Patrick got such beautiful footage. Trying to choose what to leave out was so hard! "oooooh, okaaaaay, let's delete that one but keep that sliding stop one of the roanie horse....wait! ooooh...ya, ok! You sure? okay!" Shut eyes. Press delete. eee! :)

What's Next?

We've known that in addition to the incredibly generous Kickstarter and UFC donations, the project would need funding from private and corporate sponsors. We thought we had a few that would work out, but didn't.

Backer patch

Due to our funding challenge, we won't be able to finish the film in time to show it at the end of March at the Stallion Stakes in Las Vegas (we were hoping for that, but it is not to be).

We've been working to get the film to picture lock before the funding runs out. We're just a few weeks away from picture lock, so now we'll focus our energy on fundraising again. There are a few folks who have stepped up to help us in our search for sponsors, so fingers crossed it will happen soon. We have a faith!

Thank you to everyone who has helped us along the way! We're very close to finishing and are so happy and proud to have an edited film!!!

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, please visit our donation page. You can also send donation via check to our fiscal sponsor:

Utah Film Center
122 S Main St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
**please note 'Down The Fence' in the memo line

If you would like to make a donation via a Wire Transfer please contact:
Mario Herbst - mherbst@utahfilmcenter.org - 801-746-7000.