Day ? of UNTITLED LUCAS MCNELLY PROJECT?

I spend a lot of time looking for projects. Well sometimes I do and sometimes a couple in a row will just fall into place, but mostly I search projects out, or at least make sure people know that we've got openings in the schedule. I think it's important to make it clear that we'll go work on any film, provided it makes sense for what we're trying to do. There's no minimum (or maximum) budget I'll work on. I've done a little bit of everything. Still, it's time-consuming and annoying to hear that so many projects are falling apart or trying to get started. And, hey, I'm not doing anyone any good sitting in Starbucks, killing time.

Well, actually right now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Denver. Don't worry, budget nazis, someone else is paying for it.

Sometimes, when I have trouble finding a project, I get a little annoyed. Like this:



Nothing. (And I've been looking for something for days.) But then Paul Osborne replied:



And then, holy shit, all hell broke loose.

Within 20 minutes, Joe Shapiro (ZOO, etc) had offered to edit it, Wonder Russell wanted to be in it, and Paul was trying to figure out if he could talk his wife into letting him come to Denver (no luck). Thing is, I've done this before. Nothing beats the frustration of projects falling apart and scheduling nightmares quite like the "fuck it, let's make a movie" ethos.

Also, there's the "if no one else wants to make a movie, I'll do it myself" approach.

Plus, it's a good story.

So we're kicking the tires. We have no story. No script. But we've got actors trying to figure out how they can get to Denver. There's a murderer's row of people who've offered to help from out of town.

Worst-case scenario it turns into a total clusterfuck. But, still, that's more interesting than me sitting in a Starbucks, right?

Stay tuned.



Filmmaker Lucas McNelly is spending a year on the road, volunteering on indie film projects around the country, documenting the process and the exploring the idea of a mobile creative professional. You can see more from A Year Without Rent at the webpage. His feature-length debut is now available to rent on VOD. Follow him on Twitter: @lmcnelly.