Because you demanded it, Wakeup Call: Chapter 2 is now live on Youtube, Flickr, and the Wacko Productions website.

That’s right, what was supposed to be a one off experimental project and test for the longer 7 part serial coming this fall, is now a serial on it’s own. Everyone wanted to know what happened next (including me!) so we decided to keep going. Chapter 3 should be online early next month with the conclusion coming in Chapter 4 a month after that. Then, this fall, a new as yet untitled serial will reveal exactly what sent Joe and Grace on the run.

The first of the bunch, Edward Kittenhands can now be viewed, favorited, and rated with 5 stars at YouTube. The film dates all the way back to 2001 so keep that in mind as you laugh, shriek, and realize that you watched it for free so there are no refunds. As always, spread the word (you don’t want to be the only one caught watching this film).

More old stock will soon be pawned off, er, released over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned (to the TV and away from the computer).

All of that to say, I have a completed script so I need to do some casting. The film is a film noir style piece with three roles. One male and one female (who are also leads in the serial I’m writing so hopefully whoever I cast will be available for that when I finish it) and one role that could be either gender. If you’re interested in auditioning, being crew, or know someone who is, let us know via comments or emailing us at iwanttohelp@wackoproductions.net.

Here are some very brief, rough character descriptions:

Joe: Bartender; fast to react, slow at thinking things through, but clever once he does; broke up with Grace once because of her shady life, but kept returning to her; Bogart in Key Largo

Grace: Precisely what she does is a mystery, but it’s shady and criminal; more likely to rescue Joe than he is to rescue her; pieces things together quickly, sometimes too quickly; Bacall in Dark Passage

Thug: Not quite as smart as he thinks; soft spoken; menacing; Lorre in The Maltese Falcon

To help ring in the new year, Wacko Productions has released its first two viral videos. “The Hot Seat with Shoulder Angel & Shoulder Devil” is available on Youtube and Myspace (as well as any of our usual haunts), and is a new series.

Word has it that this started when Sasha (who helped crew “Of Vice and Hitmen” as a streetlight, among other things) twisted Jason, Mike, and Aya’s (and her own) arms to make an improv video, featuring Aya’s wonderfully crafted sock puppets of Shoulder Angel and Shoulder Devil.

Mind you, “Of Vice and Hitmen” is still being worked on. There’s even a secret deadline we’re trying to make, so keep us on your radar.

If you would like to sit in The Hot Seat, or help out in any other way, send an email to iwanttohelp@wackoproductions.net.

I moved to New Jersey at the end of July, and in a mad rush of two weeks, managed to dub all of my lines that really needed it.

Jason assures me that he is well into the process of editing, going so far as to have a few screenshots available. Let’s have a look, shall we?

Here we see the lovely Shannon, as Christina, in raw footage. She doesn’t particularly look as though she were in a freezing car in the middle of December, does she? I guess someone should fix that.

And luckily Jason has: the image has been blued a bit, to help with the intimation of both cold and helplessness. I don’t know how many filters he’s adding, or what other technical stuff he needs to do, so I can’t give you an exact time line for release.

Instead I’ll give you another screenshot, featuring the inimitable Leo as Nikolai.

Also note that this film features every Wacko member in a prominent role. All five “acting” members appear in front of the camera: Alex, Shannon and myself reprising our roles from “Best Laid Plans,” and Leo and Ellen getting some screen time too. Meanwhile, Jason labored intensively to write, shoot, and edit the film. The antagonist, Bernie Bricks (an allusion to the first film), is played by newcomer (to us anyway) Maurice Thomas.

In other news, a first draft has been completed on the upcoming internet noir serial.
Having been one of the privileged “beta readers,” it gets my thumbs up as a rollicking good time. Of course, revision is taking a back seat to the post-production of “Of Vice and Hitmen,” so it will be a while until the serial gets up and running.

So keep in touch, let us know what you think, and if you’re interested in helping out in any way, drop us a line at iwanttohelp@wackoproductions.net.

As for future projects, we’ll soon begin production on Caught Red Handed: 3D, a sequel to the first two Caught Red Handed films (which we hope to have online soon). After that we’re working on a film hour serial which Jason is writing right this very minute.

On a more technical note, we’ve finally done some work on the backend which should see us updating this news page more than twice a year.

That’s all for now. As always, if you’d like to help us out, drop us a line at iwanttohelp@wackoproductions.net

Part of the competition involves online audience voting. You can cast your vote for our film either from the viewing page or by sending an email to vote@cinematiccd.com with a subject line of “077 Good-Bye, Sweet Night” (without the quotes). Voting is only open until November 26th, so get those votes in soon!

In other news, we have been slowly uploading our films all over the place. You can see our current crop of films at Google Video, YouAre.TV, YouTube, or MSN Soapbox (ironically enough “Soapbox” was the title of a short film compilation tape we put out several years ago).

Visit the Watch page to take a look at our most recent films.

Let us know how you can help, on our Help Us page.

Check out the list of completed and in progress films on the, you guessed it, Films page.

Learn a little bit about who we are and what we do on the About Us page.

Lastly, be sure to check back on this news page often for updates on what we have in the works.

I need to “hire” a producer to work on the feature film project Neon Blue Skies and I need to do it right now.

It’s a job that is often misunderstood, so here are a couple of links to job descriptions. In short, it doesn’t mean you’ll be paying for the film (or getting paid, no one is), but that you will be managing and supervising the production and post-production. Hence if you’ve never worked in a supervisory position, then it’s probably not for you. It will require some time, though if several people are interested the duties can perhaps be split. And due to the nature of the position, those who aren’t local might be able to do this job as well.

As I said I will be “hiring” for this so there will be something of an interview.

If you’re interested, please contact me ASAP, jason at wackoproductions dot net or call me.

(For other Wacko Productions members: I’m going straight to the public with this because we need to get this rolling as quick as possible and all of you have a good deal to do already with acting. If you’re interested in taking this on though, let me know. I will want to have as many of you present as possible for the interview step and will tape it for those that aren’t there. And please pass this info along to those not who aren’t on here.)

to that end I have started on the dvd which will include that film along with Best Laid Plans. as I hope to give copies to my family for christmas, you can expect this dvd to be finished by christmas. so far, thanks to the wonderfulness that is apple software i have the key menus setup for Can’t Live Down (main film menu and two chapter menus) and have the chapters setup, 11 of them for the 21 minute film. I’ll likely set up a shared special features menu and will include all the stills I have for Can’t Live Down and of course other stuff.