For a project which is now a decade old, it sure has turned into a beautiful baby. "God Help The Girl", the brainchild of Stuart Murdoch, begins filming in Glasgow today.
Today.
Actually, as I write this I realize they are probably wrapping up the first day's shoot. Twenty-four more days on the set!
Originally, the songwriter simply wanted to write songs for girl singers to sing. Belle & Sebastian, the band he is in, is not a girl band. It has a girl in it, yes, but is not predominantly girls and Stuart is the lead. So, in 2004, he developed this concept of songs to be sung by girls, songs about girls and young women. Then, he auditioned and finally found the ones to sing on this album he was constructing, of girls singing about girls. Finally, in 2009, God Help The Girl was completed and released.
A couple of the songs made it onto other albums by the band. Here's a video of Stuart singing "Funny Little Frog", a tune found on GHTG as well as The Life Pursuit.
Even with the completion of the album, he wasn't done dreaming about it and the songs. Now, that dream was to turn the music into a film. So he started talking to the kind of people you talk to when you're trying to make a film. No one would buy into his dream.
No one.
At least, not until Barry Mendel stepped in. He would produce the film, but financial backing was needed, more than he could give.
So they tried to obtain funding from the usual sources and no one would agree to underwrite the costs of turning the dream into reality.
No one.
Not until they found www.kickstarter.com. That's where I found out about this grand dream and bought my way into it. I know Mama would definitely see the merit of this use of her money.
Now, I'm one of the collaborators on this project.
Because I "get it", as Stuart said.
I've even received two of my rewards already! I'm listed as one of the 1,334 Supporters on the website for the film. And I received a digital postcard of thanks! (I even printed it and framed it!)
I am so very grateful to have found this beautiful, hopeful project!
Break a leg, y'all!
3 comments:
Update #38
Aug 14, 2012
And That's A Wrap!
It's official, we completed all filming for God Help The Girl at 21.10 last night. It's been amazing, exhausting, stressful, wonderful. Thanks to you all for the generous support that allowed us to go out and shoot this movie.
We are packing up the production office and absolutely promise we will get on with delivering all of your rewards to you. Many apologies for the delay on these - we've had a lot to deal with over the last few months.
Here's the final slate of the film! Big thanks to Ian Larsen who pledged to come along and shout 'That's A Wrap' last night - he did us proud.
Thanks all.
GHTG HQ xxx
fliss on August 19, 2012
"S wonderful!!! Looking forward to seeing the action here at the home of Johnny Mercer!
Faustina "Fliss" Smith
Update #40
Oct 18, 2013
And finally...an update!
hello kickstarters,
apologies for our long silence. we've had our heads down finishing the film and getting it ready to be seen.
to recap, we shot the movie in the summer of 2012. during the fall, spring and early summer, we edited and did six rough cut screenings in glasgow, london and LA which you might have heard about. those helped us hone the film, which is now complete. it's been edited, scored, mixed, color timed, title cards made, outputted, it’s done.
this summer, while stuart was on tour with belle & sebastian, we submitted it to the major north american festivals and thankfully, were met with an enthusiastic response.
we've chosen the one where the debut will take place, but we've been asked not to mention it until the official announcement in a month's time.
we can say that the festival will be early next year, and it will be a good one.
we've not yet shown the film to any american distributors, the festival will be the first time any of them see it. once we know who that is, we'll be able to set a release date for the film to come out in theatres in the states.
we do already have deals with some great distributors who showed faith in the film sight unseen, in the UK (metrodome), australia (transmission), spain (avalon) and taiwan (atom), for example.
we've decided to wait to set release date outside the states until we know the US release date in order to take advantage of the publicity that will be kicked up there.
as for your prizes, we've had visitors to the edit and mix, stuart's played scrabble, and we're working our way through getting them to you as each are ready.
there's not yet a poster or the main iconic image or images that will carry the torch for the film. we’re at work on that now. once we have it, we can fulfill all the poster, t-shirt, etc. prizes.
the premieres will happen a week or two before the general theatrical release in each of the respective cities. the DVD and digital downloads won't happen until after the theatrical release in each territory.
the bus tour will be 2014 - possibly just after our festival premiere. we will update those backers on that shortly as we know you have to book travel.
if you're owed a prize and are wondering when it might be ready, please write us and we should be able to give you at least a general timeframe. rest assured every prize will be delivered at its earliest date.
if you're feeling frustrated by the wait, we definitely understand. the kickstarter campaign was in december-february 2011-2012, for christmas' sake!
this film, like most, has taken a long time to make.
after we complete this first festival and also screenings for international distributors in berlin in february, we will start announcing release dates. we expect the film to actually be available in theatres for you to see in either the summer or fall (2014), with DVD and digital to follow.
we're grateful as always for your support and also your patience.
if you have any thoughts, questions or worries, please write us.
thanks, barry
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