For all of our sports fans out there, you may be aware that we are currently developing a television show with NBA All Star, Chris Kaman. In lieu of being picked up by a network, the show will be released as a webisode series sometime this fall. In preparation for this release, we have been researching and exploring the best ways to market our content online. Our model is currently rooted in the Free! model as outlined by Chris Anderson in Wired. (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free) We don’t know if it will work, but if this past week is any indicator, we might me onto something.

On Monday afternoon we posted a short edit of Chris and his buddies blowing up fireworks in his front yard. Well, actually $10,000 worth of fireworks. Anyway, it’s gone viral. Crazy viral. By Wednesday morning we’d gotten footage requests from ESPN and TMZ, and clips of the video had run on local Los Angeles news broadcasts. On Sunday morning, it was featured on the front page of the Sports Section of the Grand Rapids Press. In six days our potential audience has gone from zero to nearly 80,000.

While we have no idea whether this model will continue to work in longer form content, Exploring Kaman is a great vehicle with which to explore the future of self-distribution. Fun stuff.

Watch the youtube video HERE.

If I was a Vodka man, I’d be hard pressed not to drink Absolut Vodka. These guys are marketing in a way that only a filmmaker can truly admire. As a follow up to their sponsorship of a comedy short by Zack Galifianakis (with Tim and Eric of Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!), Absolut has gifted us with a new short film from director Spike Jonze (Were the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovitch, Adaptation) called “I’m Here.”

The short film has remarkably high production value; the kind that makes you break the tenth commandment. And if that wasn’t enough, it is being presented in a spectacular way. Each day, limited screenings take place in a virtual online theater, making views feel so exclusive that you’re not likely to turn it off half-way through. If there’s any way to get an audience to sit through a half-hour short film, this may be the best way I’ve seen yet…but being Spike Jonze doesn’t hurt either.

The first Gorilla production of the year begins this weekend! The Lost and Found Shop, a short film written and (to be) directed by Caleb Alexander Slain, will be filming over the weekend in Spring Lake, Michigan on the RED Cameras and ARRI Master Primes. The production is ambitious (71 shots kind of ambitious), and with 45 people (crew, company, and cast) on set Sunday, we can promise one of two things: A.) Joy, elation and high fives when we get off 40 shots and finish an hour early or B.) Caleb’s body is dumped in Spring Lake and found in the spring thaw along the shore. Let’s hope it’s option A! Because The Lost and Found Shop is slated to be entered in the Doorpost Film Festival and if all goes right in the world of film production, we’ll need Caleb well into the spring. The turnaround on the edit will be quick so check back soon for more information.

And, lastly, for your entertainment: Peter Pan Play

The link has nothing to do with Gorilla’s production company or The Lost and Found Shop. It’s just funny to laugh at high school plays that go horribly wrong. And watch the whole thing. It only gets more delightfully cruel. (My favorite parts — at 0:23 a guy in the audience makes the most underrated statement of the year and 1:17 is just … great.)

If you are hip to the indie movie scene, then you may have heard of a little film that was theatrically released this past summer, THE STONING OF SORAYA M. It was produced by Santa Monica-based Mpower Pictures and stars Shohreh Aghdashloo (you know I had to Google that spelling) and Jim Caviezel. It’s definitely not one for the kiddies but is a powerful movie with important themes, focusing around oppression in Iran and women’s rights (or lack of rights). It’s based on a true story.

We were asked to cut a teaser of sorts for Mpower, which they used as a vehicle for submitting to film festivals and distributors. I like to think that we did something halfway effective because THE STONING became an official selection at the Toronto Film Festival in 2008 and won an Audience Choice Award, runner-up to some joke of a film called “Slumdog Millionaire.” (Whatever happened to that thing?!) See our teaser below and then visit the website here: www.thestoning.com