Project Update #28: Two Weeks To Start: Updates on the Movie & Kickstarter
Backer_white For backers only, Posted by Rob Thomas Like
Dear Backers,
I know. It’s been over a week since the last update. Production is starting up soon. Perhaps you’re waiting for confirmation that your favorite actor will be in the movie. Maybe you’re wondering where your t-shirts are. Somewhere deep down, a little part of you is wondering if you’ll hear from me less, now that we’re moving into production.
Please don’t despair. If you haven’t heard much over the last few weeks, it’s not because I've forgotten about you, or don’t want to share details. Instead, it’s because we’re in meetings around the clock, and working to get many, many details figured out before we go into production.
Let me share a few of those details, so you can get a sense of how much has been happening.
Production Updates
1. Our official production start date is June 17. If you do the math, that’s less than two weeks away. (I prefer not to do the math.) Exciting as this is, it’s also a bit like standing on a train track, enjoying the sight of a train as it hurtles straight toward you. Deep breaths.
2. We have an official production office. This is where our families will find us over the next several months when we don’t come home.
3. Casting is almost finished, and I have several big announcements that I’m almost able to share. You can expect more on this very, very soon, but I think most of you will be pleased. (If you’re holding out for characters who died on the show, you’ll probably be less pleased.)
4. Our production staff is growing daily. New additions include a Line Producer, a Production Designer, and a Director of Photography, among many others. You’ll meet more some of them in future updates. Like me, every member of our team understands how unique this project is, and is excited to be part of it. I feel lucky to have them involved. When you see the movie, I think you will too.
5. Location scouting is going well, and has taken up a lot of the last few weeks. We have several important locations figured out, but are not ready to announce where just yet. I’ll share photos when I can. Another notable decision: we’re planning to shoot the entire movie using practical locations. (This means that instead of building new sets on a studio lot, we’ll be shooting in existing locations.)
6. Our production design team is hard at work designing costumes, props, graphics, and all of the other details that will bring Neptune back to life. In future updates, we’ll try to give you a detailed look at some of this work — but we’ll also be careful not to show anything that might spoil the movie for you.
7. Our documentary crew is capturing everything. When the behind-the-scenes documentary comes out next year, you’ll get an even better look at what’s been happening. There are already dozens of hours of footage, and we haven't even started production yet.
Kickstarter Updates
We’ve also been working on backer rewards around the clock, literally. With more than 91,000 backers, it's turning out to be almost as much work as the movie itself, so I appreciate your patience. Since we’ve been receiving a lot of questions about the rewards, I thought it might help to give a quick update here.
SURVEYS
No, you haven’t missed them: the official reward surveys haven’t been sent out yet.
We don’t like to keep you waiting, but we want to be absolutely sure we get this process right, and test it first, because we don’t want to confuse everyone with a do-over if something goes wrong. The survey will be sent out in the next two weeks, I promise. Until then, I appreciate your patience.
When the survey is sent out, I will also send an update (like this one) to let you know.
T-SHIRTS
When we launched on Kickstarter, we estimated that we would send out t-shirts sometime in May. I realize now that we were young and naive then.
It was a simpler time.
At this point, we’re doing our best to get the shirts to you as soon as we can. We'd like to make sure they arrive in time for Comic Con. If we can send them out sooner, believe me, we will. I want to wear them just as much as you do.
When you receive your reward survey, you will have a chance to tell us which design, size and style you’d like for each shirt. And yes: you will still have a chance to purchase the second t-shirt design if you want to own both of them.
OTHER QUESTIONS
If you have other questions about your pledge or rewards, then you'll be glad to hear that we finally have an up-to-date FAQ page! If you can’t find an answer there, you can also email us.
For customer service and questions about rewards:
Info@TheVeronicaMarsMovie.com
Questions for me, or the production team:
VeronicaMars@RobThomasProductions.com
I’ll have another update about casting soon -- several updates, in fact. Now, it’s back to meetings.
Less than two weeks until production!
Deep breath.
- Rob
Spoilers!