How high is this mountain??

Hello to everyone and anyone who gives a shit about a struggling filmmaker and his never ending quest for success. I guess I can start by saying THANK YOU! I can’t believe its been almost 4 years now since I have set out on this journey with my film Bong OF The dead. It seems that time has passed me by and I am somehow still stuck in the same place I was almost 4 years ago when I only had 7 pages of a script with no title. Of course that is not entirely true because my film has become a life force of its own and has shown momentum. After all It has become a cult hit and landed 3 magazine issues! Fans and critics from all over the world have seen it either on DVD or at my local theater and they have approved! I guess my fears of being torn apart by film goers and film critics can be laid to rest because that is not the case. In fact the amount of love and support and praise Ive received is quite incredible! My film has been accepted into a couple major festivals from Cannes Independent film festival to SITGES and now I have received word from Toronto After Dark that it is in consideration for their festival as well! I guess I have to keep going and keep doing what Ive been doing in order to keep the flame alive. Promoting a movie by yourself is no easy task let me tell you.

Most people who read all the press that the film is picking up probably think that I’m off to Hollywood already and that Im a millionaire because the film is doing so well etc. Although Ive been on 3 major TV shows from Urban Rush to Reviews on the run and Electric playground with major air time, it has not equated to my phone ringing off the hook. Robert Rodriguez nor Quentin Tarantino have not called as of yet…wait my phone is ringing as I type this…….nope! neither of them again! My film has become a global sensation and has had over 50 reviews all %100 positive but still I find myself working vigorously to get picked up as a director. This film is my resume and being as such you would think I would be getting directing gigs left right and center! Who else can boast about making an entire film by themselves aside from the 15 days on set where I had a cast and crew?? Not to mention for only $5000!! I know if I was a major Hollywood producer and caught wind of this little film by some jo shmo who did it with nothing but passion and pure love for his craft, I would be all over him like a zombie on flesh! Yet with all the great reviews and all the publicity I somehow manage to exist without true recognition. I appreciate all the awesome reviews and all the hype from fans etc. but when will my phone ring with that golden opportunity to direct the next Friday the 13th or the next Saw or the next cool feature film needing a new visionary young director?? At the end of the day that is all I want out of this. I use my talents and my passion to display what I can do in hopes of being picked up and given the opportunity to do more. That has not happened yet.

Im sure no one aside from myself, not even my wife knows what I truly do when I lock myself away in my basement. Ill break it down for you briefly. I have a regular job as a guy who hauls really expensive furniture from a warehouse or delivers it to a show room or to the homes of the more fortunate people in society. I deliver dressers that cost more than my whole film and then some! A couch which could be another budget for me 3 times over! It kills me to drop this stuff to peoples homes who are throwing money away on such items just because they can. All I keep thinking is man I can make 3 movies with the amount of money this person spent on this one coffee table! I dropped off a piece of furniture to the home of a pretty big actor yesterday and the whole time I’m thinking I should be making movies but instead I’m delivering furniture to this cool actors house. The worse part of it was I knew in advance that I would be going to this persons home, who will remain anonymous out of respect, so I decided to pack a Bong shirt and a DVD for him. I felt like a total asshole standing in this guys nice multimillion dollar condo over looking the ocean thinking in my head how am I going to give him the shirt and DVD without looking like a douche bag “Furniture mover guy” with a pipe dream! How is he supposed to take me seriously when im in grubby clothes holding his iron dresses in my hands as he points to where he would like me to put it. Since I have no shame and imn proud of being a dreamer I put his piece of expensive furniture down then opened my nap sack and pulled out the shirt to which he replied “Fucking cool!” I knew he was a cool guy right away and felt more at ease. I then pulled out the Bong OF The Dead DVD an put it in his hand and told him I was a director who had made his own film named Bong Of The dead to which he replied….”Ive totally heard of it!” To be quite honest I kind of expected that reaction because my best friend/Co Producer of Bong of the dead and his girlfriend happen to work on this actors show which is pretty major right now. they’ve been plugging him for days since the film was released. It was still weird to be in his living room having this conversation. However I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason. I dont think that I would have ever had the opportunity to approach this actor on set and have this conversation or hand him the items. That would be considered unprofessional and looked down upon by production. Im glad I got the opportunity to introduce myself in person and do what I did. What will it do for me or my career…….absolutely nothing! Unless this young actor sees the film and passes it along to someone he knows who is looking for a director. Maybe it’ll happen, who knows. I guess being a crappy furniture mover guy is not such a bad gig. Still its not nearly as cool as filmmaker guy!

Dont get me wrong I’m not vein at all and a job is a job so I couldn’t give a shit if I had to scrub toilets for a living just as long as it kept me afloat so that I could continue to promote my movie. Wait….I did scrub toilets for a living year 2 of being in post production making my movie just so I could pay bills as I edited my film. To me it means nothing whatever job title i hold just as long as it keeps the greedy fucking government and the credit card companies off my ass while I work on my true job and calling. Trust me I have had a few jobs through out this journey always looking for the perfect job which would allow me maximum time for working on Bong Of The Dead. Ive run junkie infested roach hotels, managed seedy bars like Dalton from Roadhouse, worked in the worlds shittiest electronic retailer rip off store to managing warehouses and scrubbing toilets as a late night janitor at a local martial arts gym. I love the stink of sweat from other peoples workouts at 3 AM, then scrubbing their urine off the toilet seats! Yup….love it…..sigh. Currently Im working 2 jobs back to back in order to keep paying bills which I have to accumulate for life and for Bong. A lot of people have no idea that after you make a movie it costs money to keep the movie alive! I have to pay for DVD.s, screeners, postal fees for each screener, posters and print materials, festivals which cost hundreds of dollars.

I love festivals! This stage of the film game is so fun and uplifting. They take your money first and then tell you DENIED! Nice fucking gig, I should get into that festival thing at some point. They seem to make a lot of money! I mean they must because they attract people like Brad Pitt and other A-listers who show up to promote a film they are in which is supposedly indie which is why the festival chose it. Has nothing to do with the 2-3 million dollar budgets and the fact they are directed by directors like James Cameron…nope NOT AT ALL….its indie all the way! Im sure they lived in cardboard boxes and had to brown bag their lunches each day in order to stay within their tiny 2-3 million dollar budgets just to qualify as an Indie film for some prestigious festival. Here I am a guy who made a film which is actually good for the equivalent of what one of these other “indie” films would spend on coffee alone on their films! Breath……sorry festivals are a touchy subject with me right now. Where were we? Oh yes, Im currently also working 2 jobs which occupy about 14-15 hours of my life!

I come home from job number one being rich peoples furniture bitch, shower then drive off to some far away location being an EPK bitch on some other directors film set. Dont get me wrong I know Im lucky to have not only one job but 2 in an economy that’s ever collapsing. Im grateful for that because it allows me to keep paying for Bongs promotions and keeps the wolves at bay! I just wish I was making movies is all. That is why I do crap jobs in hopes that one day I will be making movies and I can look back to all this shit and say to myself…imagine if I gave up? Anyways after my long days of working, I get home to my 3rd job. The one which does not pay me anything but rather costs me my mind, health, relationships and money and every last second of my life even during my first 2 jobs! I try to answer and send emails when i can while on set or in the warehouse. Bong Of The dead is my life and has been for almost 4 years now since its birth. Its like a child or rather more like a growth which feeds of of you and drains you and breaks you down to your moral fibers with little to no satisfaction as of yet. Making the film is satisfying but keeping it alive is draining.

Trying to keep the film on everyone’s mind and in the spot light is far more draining then when I was editing or creating the music or doing complex composites. Ive contacted every major distribution company from Hong Kong to Germany! Ive contacted every major Podcaster and film reviewer and horror magazine from here to Nantucket! I send an average, no word of a lie, an average of 3-500 emails a week! That is non stop contacting and sending emails to tell anyone I can about the film and ask them for their help in reviewing my film. A small fraction of all the people I contact will get back to me asking for a screener which I then have to ship out at cost to myself.

At the end of the day I have done and am doing everything I can to make this film blow up but it would be nice to see some kind of financial gain and career boost from it. Im not upset about my slow success Im just growing impatient and wish I could just be making movies for a living by now. I know my film will be released all over Europe and Australia come October. Although that is awesome Im just not sure what that would mean really for me. Will I get “The call” from some big Hollywood Producer who begs me to make his next film? Will the movie blow up even further and I end up on some late night talk show talking about how I almost went crazy 100 times and contemplated the question of life another 100 times or wanted to just say fuck it all and quit? Or will I become the worlds most famous broke filmmaker? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I did hear that the world is supposed to end sometime in October of 2012. Maybe Ill just ride it out until the true zombie apocalypse happens then build myself a kick ass truck with lawnmowers welded to the front of it.

For now, thanks for listening to my rants going from positive to negative every other blog. I dont mean to be that way its just the train im on right now. I’m up and I’m down all at the same time. Thank you to all the fans and critics of BOTD and all my friends who send me positive reviews which help me stay on track knowing that Im doing it for a good reason. Until next time…

Dare to Dream!

Time to Flip the Script!

Ok so I know that my last blog was on the negative side so I want to formally apologize for getting negative at a time when I should be positive. I seem to have trouble with not being able to express myself without sometimes coming across as harsh or pessimistic. For the record I want to say that although I don’t approve of “The System” in my industry I realize that I have to follow it in order to succeed…..for now anyways.

I understand that distribution companies and agents all have their purpose in the whole scheme of things. I guess if you were to refer to it as the machine that “It” or “the system” is, then all the parts of the engine have their place in order to move the whole vehicle forward. I just hate starting out as the whole engine and body myself then after its said and done being reduced to a nut;). At the end of the day I’m still in a far better position than most first time filmmakers out there. I have distribution offers coming in! I mean that is a lot more than some others can say about their films. I should be happy and grateful that people are paying attention and that my work is getting noticed. I’m actually getting a lot of emails from random people who want to either congratulate me on my achievements and talk about how they really enjoyed the trailers and posters etc. The film has been featured on over 200 websites to date and climbing. I just landed a large spread in Rue Morgue magazine, Girls and Corpses and Fango is coming around finally after 2 years of me pestering them! All these things are more than any lone filmmaker can wish for. I suppose I should be grateful and jumping up and down with joy and not stuck in this funk!

I am also grateful for my Agents efforts and I actually genuinely like him. He answers my calls and my e-mails even though I’m not the only filmmaker he has on his watch list. Hes a tough old dog with a lot of experience under his belt and hes got a lot of fight left in him still and doesn’t bullshit me which is the most important part of doing business to me. I’m also happy to have friends in the distribution circle who are keeping an eye on me and give me advice when I need it. You space cowboys know who you are. Thank you for your words of encouragement during my darkest hours and thank you for always being there when I need your advice regardless if I ask or not. Especially thank you for catching my bad tweets with missing links and missing pictures now and then;)

I think its time I stop wasting precious time and good blogging space with whining and flip the script! I need to do what every other creative does when they enter the darkness….self destruct with booze and drugs until I’m in a self induced coma! Just kidding…I’m not much of a drinker. Nope, I think I will do what the next best thing is and that is keep going and doing whatever I can to move forward. Ive been working on my new Bong posters and now I’m about to cut a new demo reel for myself since I need to start looking for work while Bong does its thing. Its time I update my old demo reel and include my biggest achievement to date! I know that I will get out of this funk and the positive energy will come pouring back into me before I know it. Its just tough being in my position and trying to remain positive. I think I need to read “The Secret” again starting tomorrow!

In the mean time here is my latest poster!

Another new poster art!

From Famine to Feast!

I’m sure every filmmaker out there knows what its like when you struggle and try so hard for so long just to get your work noticed. Its not easy getting peoples attention these days unless you do something completely crazy that most people would say is not worth the effort for the slight possibility that it may still not get noticed. I say to hell with that “Its easier to not try the try at all” mentality! If you are as serious about your dreams as I am then there are no limits and there are no boundaries unless of course you harm another human or animal or do something so sick in the process that its simply morally wrong. I guess common sense which isn’t so common would come to play there. I know that I have sacrificed my home, wife and my health on many occasions just to get my movie done and in the process Ive been documenting it all on video accumulating footage for a documentary which I plan on releasing tilted “Dare To Dream”. Its about my struggles right from day one, actualy 5 years of footage of trying to make it even before I started Bong.

I really don’t know why I’m so obsessive with making movies or why watching them and collecting them makes me feel the way it does. Its almost like oxygen to me as in I need them to breathe and to live. Its also a great means of escape which we all need now and then in today’s fast paced world of credit debt, global tension and economical hardships. Im sure some of you know exactly what I mean when I say movies are like my life line.

Now that Bong is officially finished and I actually am in the marketing phase of things it seems that important people around the world are finally beginning to take notice. By important people I mean dream makers who have the authority and the connections to put my film in the light where others can finally see what I’ve accomplished for the past 2.5 years all alone in my dark basement studio. All the thousands of hours of neck cramps, leg cramps and carpel tunnel is finally becoming worth it!

Dealing with distribution offers is a whole other ball park when you’re used to trying to get a hold of them and instead ending up with the same generic answer of “Just send us a screener copy and we’ll let you know”. It seems that distribution companies are a tight nit circle of friends who pass information to one another and somehow they are all interconnected from all corners of the world. Of course most are in competition with one another but others have partners in corners of the world which help extend their reach. I am now getting emails, and phone calls from them instead of the other way around and its a great feeling that someone is noticing my hard work! However not all distribution companies are interested in the struggling filmmaker trying to make it scenario which is a major back story to my movie. Some simply want to buy the product, ie The movie and turn around and sell it for a profit and dont care whether or not Ive almost died several times trying to make the film. Others on the other hand love the idea that there is more to the film and that there is passion sweat blood and tears which have made the final product and they want to explore that aspect as well. I’m leaning more towards the companies that care about my story as a filmmaker and my movie at the same time. At this stage most filmmakers get taken for everything because they are so excited that someone is finally paying attention to them so they sign without knowing what they are actually giving away! I’m lucky enough to have been researching distribution offers and the dos and donts for the past 2 years way before I even shot my first scene. Best thing I ever did was invest in Stacey Parks Book “The Insiders Guide to Independent Film Distribution”. This book is the bible for indie filmmakers and if you don’t own it then you are already on the wrong path! Do whatever it takes to get a copy and read it then once you’re done reading it, read it again then repeat! I always had distribution in mind which is why I did a lot of the things I did during production and post such as creating various posters for the different corners of the world and translating my press kit to 4 different languages and so on.

Filmmakers need to realize that the days of having no options but to go with a distributor are over! Finally the little guy has a voice and has a very big friend in his court and that friends name is “THE INTERNET!” In today’s world we have so many online options for self distribution which makes it a whole lot easier to get found! We have Netflix,Amazon,Createspace,IMDB,Youtube,Without a box etc. the list goes on and on. All these companies are now a huge part of self distribution which is a common root for people like me and you. We no longer have to jump to the first offer that comes down the pipe because we can do it ourselves and its been proven. Look at “Paranormal Activity” which got rejected from every major festival and distribution was not knocking. A film which cost peanuts to make grossed 240 Million! Of course using a reputable distribution company will give you a more wider reach right from the start but heck if you self distribute and it blows up then distributors come knocking anyways.

I’m of the opinion that if you want to get your film noticed then do whatever you can to make sure its done rationally be it self distribution or taking the first offer on the table. If the deal is good and its what you want then go for it! That said if you are not in any hurry to recoup your expenses which is my scenario then take your time and do the festival circle and build clout, do the platform theatrical release in your hometown and generate press etc. Remember I only spent 5 grand on my movie so im not in a desperate position to make that money back. I plan on making sure that Bong not only becomes a success but that it also launches my name and allows me to be able to do more films. I am not a one hit wonder and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I simply want whats best for the film and myself which is why I’m actually turning down some offers and asking others to hold off until I look at all the offers carefully. You should never jump into a decision that could affect the rest of your life without scrutinizing it to bits! Having a lawyer helps a great deal especially one who specializes in entertainment law. Now being a brokeass filmmaker means you probably cant afford one and neither can I quite honestly but Im lucky to have one through a family member so it helps a great deal. I have no advice on how to get one without going further into debt. I’m pretty sure you can get a one hour free consultation perhaps with a lawyer who actually cares. Pick their brains and see if its worth retaining one.

All in all I’m happy to be where I am right now where I can say yes or no or maybe to the offers coming forward. It lets me know that I’m on the right path and that there is great potential in my film. Remember though don’t be cocky just be realistic and honest. When I say be honest I mean be honest with the distribution comapnies you are dealing with and with yourself. Does your film have the potential to become the next “Blaire Witch Project” or “Open Water” or “Paranormal Activity” ? If you think it does and others who have seen it say it does then in the famous words from Fubar….”Giver!”

New trailer and website coming up soon so please check it out!

Thomas

4,3,2,1….Count down starts!

Well it seems as if I have been stuck in a world of constant stress ever since I wrapped on my film 2 years ago. Some of my stress has been due to not having the man power to do a whole film in post. Other parts of the stress have had to do with learning new software and doing things Ive never done before and acquiring new skills I never thought I would need. The biggest part of the stress has been attributed to the constant paranoia and fear of losing the entire film that Ive devoted my entire 2 years to. I guess that little nightmare came true on the 11th but I’m not gonna go there so read the previous 2 blogs if you already haven’t. The wounds are still too fresh. BUT…since that incident I have become more confident and have had to pick myself back up and go at it again for the sake of the movie!

I am now scoring the entire film and am doing it in only 2 days! This is all the time I have for now before my Cuban side kick kicks my ass because I have not met his deadline and expectations. I am pretty sure I can meet his request and have the entire film scored by using everything I have in my “loops” library as well as any music I get submitted and acquisitioned or purchased. Wow just writing all the things I need to do for music it seems like yet another insane undertaking which once again I have no choice but to bare. However I do know a thing or two about music so I think I may impress even myself! Fingers crossed. The bonus of me doing all my own music on the film is that the music credit will read, Music by: THOMAS NEWMAN. Of course everyone will assume its the famous Thomas Newman that does all the major films in Hollywood.

Once I meet Andres’s deadline and get him the music for the entire film, he and I will be setting up camp for another 4 days from the 26th-29th! This time will be used for us to mix and master the entire film! Andres has already performed miracles when he set up “ADR camp” at my studio and we banged out an entire film recording all actors dialogue again. He then did the amazing job of mixing all the tracks with the sound FX as well as folly. Once we complete “Sound Camp” the film should be complete 2 weeks into December!

The count down to the finale begins on the 26th!

The count down begins!

Well, I cant believe I’m about to write an actual date which Bong will be done by! It has been an incredibly exhausting trip from day one of pre production to filming and then especially post. I must say I have had more near death experiences while in post than I did during pre and actual filming of the film itself. I guess the majority of my stress has come from bizarre software related issues in post which caused my film to not be accessible at some point or another. The amount of technical glitches and mishaps were honestly enough to make me want to quit many times and find the nearest bridge! However having been through many sleepless nights which blurred into days then weeks, I can say that it has been worth it. I never expected to take a film which I shot for only 5 thousand dollars and then turn around and make it look like a couple million all in post. The truth is I have done my best with what I have had available and I believe Ive succeeded in proving that I can do it. Along the way I have made a few new close friends and lost a few but some how through it all I managed to end up exactly where Im supposed to. Im glad to have had the help and support of all my friends and family who contributed their efforts to help me pursue my passion and dream. The film will be finished at the end of this month and ready to hit the circuits. November 30 th is the official completion date of Bong Of The Dead. Since I am at the end almost I decided to celebrate by designing a final film release poster which I will post here. Its almost the same as the last one but has a lot more grit. Ill keep you posted!

Bong Of The Dead Film Release poster

What a week!

Its been a crazy few weeks as I worked my ass off towards meeting a ridiculous deadline for two events at the same time! The first was the first time “Dead on Film” Rio theater zombie film festival which I had promised myself not to enter but could not resist since its the only zombie specific film festival Vancouver has to offer! Yes its a first time event but I know a good thing when I see it and I think this festival will get bigger as years go by. The reason I hate entering these stupid competitions is because the winners at these events are generally selected by other stupid people. Before you get your panties in a knot and bite my head off for sounding like an asshole please allow me to explain.

These competitions are no different then Halloween costume party contests! By that I mean its usually a place where a bunch of drunk and stoned individuals get together to watch some trippy shit that makes them laugh even though its probably not even funny. Then everyone gets to vote based on how many friends you have in the audience or how drunk the guy beside you was when he selected “Pissing doll” because it was great hand held camera work by a couple amateur stoners who thought it would be funny to shoot and place on you tube! Along comes a festival hell lets enter it! If these things were actually judged by a panel of experts who actually know what quality looks like and understand the process and can tell that a single shot may have taken a person 3 months to compile, then they would be worth entering. I think once again I am going back to the Fuck silly competitions and concentrate on the bigger picture.

Now that Im done venting lets talk about a much better day that definitely helped people know about Bong! The 2010 Vancouver Zombie walk kicked off on the 21st on a beautiful sunny day and was lead by the Bong OF The Dead cast as we marched down the street with a banner held up high! Lots of pictures on my face book wall posted by everyone so feel free to take a peak! Here is a couple cool ones of us leading about 6000 people on the march!

Bong OF The Dead March!

Leading the pack!

Finaly 260 shots done!!!

So it has been one year and a bit since Ive been stuck in the dark confines of my theater slash Office where every second of my life has been dedicated to finishing my film entirely by myself now that in post! At the rate of 30 frames per second and shots varying from 1.5 seconds to 18 seconds long you can imagine the amount of work involved in trying to complete this movie when adding 260 shots which required compositing!

Through it all I have changed immensely not just as a Producer/Director but as an individual all together. Ive discovered who my true friends are and who are not. I feel a lot more knowledgeable of my craft now then ever since I had to submerge myself into editing and composting and learning software that is new to me in order to make it all possible. I can finally look back at all the hard work it took right from the start when I set out with to make a movie for only $5000. Had it not been for my loyal friends and family I would not have been bale to pull it off by spending so little and getting so much. Im now hoping to have the film done sometime in October as I push forward with Audio part of the project which deals with some rerecording of actors dialogues, sound FX and music.

I will hopefully have a new official trailer and some new mini documentary footage coming soon!

Thanks
Thomas

The road to completion is a constant uphill grind

Its hard enough trying to do a film on your own in post with no crew but then throw in all the digital errors and glitches that come along every other day and its enough to want to hang yourself with your computer cord! I have had to endure so many silly glitches even though I spent $ 5000 on the latest and greatest Mac Pro Quad core in hopes of being able to breeze through my editing. The fact is no matter how much you spend you will always have to spend more! The computer does not like the codec, the video card does not like the filter, the Camera codec does not like the video card and on and on and on! For every problem you have to spend countless days without sleep trying to figure out why? why? why?!! I am a huge fan of MACs and have been for over 15 years but I must admit the new intel chips have taken them to a new low! I have never had so many crashes and stupid little glitches in my life. It sometimes feel like Im editing on a PC with the amount of problems I face on a daily basis.

NOW….all that BS aside I am still grinding and I refuse to be beat by a bunch of 0′s and 1′s! This film will get completed the way I want it to and on time! I just have to keep my sanity and hope I dont have a heart attack every time I turn on the mac. Im trying to get the film off to a submission for a film festival in the next couple of days and hope I can without any more trouble.

Big thank you to Video Copilot and Andrew Kramer!!

Its been over a year since I’ve been working on Bong OF The Dead grinding away and learning some new tricks as I push forward. One of the biggest challenges for my movie was not having the budget to get the exact shots I wanted with exact locations during the filming process. However knowing that I was limited in the real world was not at all discouraging given the proper tools for post production. I was guided to a great website called Video Copilot which was founded by one of the coolest and most original Digital video Production gurus known to man! Im talking about Andrew Kramer the man who has dedicated a web site to the art and technique of post digital effects. The web site is not only incredibly helpful for learning great FREE techniques for creating stunning visual effects, but also an incredible resource for independent Film makers such as myself who have the ideas but not the budget. I have learned so many incredible techniques from Andrew Kramer, that with out him this film would not be possible. The film itself cost me 15K but the look and feel I am able to create by using Andrew Kramers online tutorials has given it the big budget look I was going for. Here is a small sample of a scene in which the heroes are preparing for war against the hordes of zombies to come. I had initially hung a homemade green screen beside the cabin we were filming at in order to hide cars and the house in the background. By using the techniques I have learned from Andrew Kramer I was able to remove the background and place in a deep wooded forest in order to make them seem isolated.

Before shot with green screen in background.

Forest with no lighting.

Final composite with Tommy as he walks out of cabin in battle gear.

Creating some cool advertisement for Bong Of The Dead!

Hello to all you fellow Bongers! Its been a while since Ive posted here but its because I am unbelievably busy with editing and creating the final look of Bong Of The Dead. There is literally so much to say so instead of writing it all here I encourage you to check out the Tweets and Blogs which you can access right fr…om here:

http://www.bongofthedead.com/blog/

Most recently I got together with my Co-Producer and great Friend Mike Fields who surprised me with a totally cool design for the new Bong shirts! My jaw dropped the second I saw the shirts and jumped at the opportunity to get them made so that we could get the message out to the world while trying to raise a few bucks in order to pay for more shirts! Basically everyone who is a fan and wants to help support this film can purchase a shirt for $20 and the money raised will just buy more shirts. The circle will continue until the entire world is infected!! You cant be a real zombie if you don’t have a shirt! The coolest thing aside from the designs on the shirt is the fact that they were each hand made by Mike Fields himself and me. Every one has tremendous TLC go into it so you will be happy if you chose to sport one of these limited shirts. The more we get out into the world the more people will know about this special indie flick that will blow them all away! I am working towards a realistic deadline now to submit to an upcoming few festivals! As always please keep in mind the reason its taking a year and a half or more is because I am only one person doing an entire film by myself in my basement just like my mentor Robert Rodriguez. Only difference between Robert and myself is I dont have millions of dollars or a post crew. Not yet anyways!

So in closing if you want a shirt please send me an e-mail or a note and I can figure out how to get one to you with payment process and things. Also please help keep the Bong lit by telling as many people as you can about it so that they too end up infected! Bong has now spread across over 87 countries around the world and been translated into 13 languages on the web with promo material downloadable in over 4 major languages.

Keep on Bonging!

Sincerely
Thomas Newman

New limitted Bong OF The Dead shirts!