I RAN AGAINST US
[ Black & White, Sarcastic, Comedy ]
by the cynics Jared Hopkins & N. T. Bullock

An American couple, Jon and Sandy, have your typical American break up. Six months later Iran threatens the United States with massive destruction if Jon and Sandy don't get back together, but both John and Sandy have moved on. A U. S. government agent is sent in to get them back together in the name of national security - at all costs. The situation goes awry on national television when Jon and Sandy have yet another falling out - this time broadcast live. Iran responds, exacerbating the situation further. A new war is hinged on Jon and Sandy's ability to work it out. The fragility of their relationship mirrors the relationships between nations. Will Jon and Sandy save the world from war?

So we wrote a script? Now what? Well, we make it. Problem is we've written scripts before. They were too expensive to make for this first-time Director/Producer duo. So, let's write a script that's cheaper - less locations, less props, less everything. Well, we went and did that in January 2008 with, "I Ran Against Us." Then we realized we actually hadn't done that. Then we realized that we may just be incapable of writing a truly simple script. There is no therapy for this disorder.  We've looked.

What now? Well, we make it... somehow. Funding is always tricky, especially your first time. You've got no feature-length track record to show investors. I guess at some point, unless you're extremely privileged, you've got to really concede on certain elements to get it done. We're at that point. Our first script we wrote years ago we estimated the budget at about $400K including the film transfer. Ok, too much? Maybe $200K. Still too much? Alright, we'll write for sub-$100K. Wait. That's still too much. How about we try to produce it ourselves for $15K? Gotta start somewhere...

Jared has been working down in New Orleans as a 2nd Assistant Director, and I have been doing commercial work in Mississippi while also creating original content for my website. He's garnered invaluable experience down there, and I've been honing my production skills. Jared will be producing and I will be directing. We feel like this pairing will work because he's the first person who hasn't wanted to bring harm to me after working together. Yeah, it's special.

We are in the pre-production phase until the end of the month [July]. We are funding this ourselves at the moment. That in conjunction with some truly special individuals lending their time and talent to the project, we may be able to pull this off. Thanks go to all the current cast and crew who are gracefully indulging us. Cheers for now.

Also check out my personal production journal for regualr updates on the project's progess.

IMDB link  [still updating cast and crew]

- N. T. Bullock