Amazing news! Eleanor and I are very happy and proud to announce that STRANGER THINGS has won the IFP Narrative Lab’s Finishing Grant! The award is a package of services worth $45,000, including post-production services from Goldcrest Post New York, post-graphic services from Edgeworx, Inc., legal consultation from Gray Krauss LLP, publicity consultation from International House of Publicity, test screening space courtesy of The Tank, and promotional materials from 4over4.
This award make an enormous difference to us in finishing STRANGER THINGS. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the grant donors listed above, Rose Vincelli, Amy Dotson and everyone at the IFP, and the grant jury members: producer Lisa Cortes (Precious); Warrington Hudlin, filmmaker and founder of DV Republic and Black Filmmakers Foundation; and filmmaker Paola Mendoza (Entre Nos).
We also wanted to congratulate Rebecca Richman Cohen whose documentary WAR DON DON won the Documentary Lab’s finishing grant.
Our fellow finalists for the Lab Grant were Russell Costanzo and Mellisa Miller with THE TESTED and Amy Seimetz with CITY ON A HILL, both awesome films.
Christina Beck and Annette Murphy (PERFECTION) get feedback on their cut from editors Kate Williams and Sabine Hoffmann, in the 2009 IFP Lab
The IFP Filmmaker Lab is accepting applications. This is an amazing opportunity for all you first-time feature filmmakers out there. Eleanor and I participated in the 2009 Lab last summer and it was an incredible experience – it made an enormous difference to how we’ve approached finishing our film STRANGER THINGS. During the course of the lab, we got advice from some amazing mentors (indie producers Scott Macauley, Gretchen McGowan, and Anish Savjani, editor Brian Kates, new media genius Lance Weiler, just to name a few…).
There’s one lab for narrative films and one for docs. Each section accepts 10 films. Applications are due February 12 (for documentary) & March 26 (for narrative), so hurry up and apply!
Adeel is currently on the front page of the Guardian website, starring in a very funny clip from Chris Morris’s new film FOUR LIONS, which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this Saturday.
The holiday season is over and it’s straight back to work for independent filmmakers. Ron and I have just returned from London where we caught up with a lot of people and got the new year off to a great start with a very successful ADR session / get-together with some of the Stranger Things cast.
Record quantities of tea and crumpets were consumed!
We would like to thank Bridget, Adeel, Keith, Victoria and Taran for their wonderful work.
If you are based in New York, be sure to check out Tom Quinn’s film THE NEW YEAR PARADE on Reel 13 tonight. Tom was in the IFP Narrative Lab a couple of years before us and has been a fantastic mentor to me and Ron in making STRANGER THINGS. THE NEW YEAR PARADE is the story of a brother and sister making it through the first year of their parents’ separation. It was the winner of the Slamdance Jury Prize for Best Narrative and is a nominee in the Independent Spirit Awards for the John Cassavetes Award this year. The film is also available on Netflix and Amazon.
Wishing all of our supporters, fans, cast and crew a fantastic new year. Thank you all so much for your support over the last year. We’re looking forward to exciting new developments with the film in 2010.
Congratulations to our IFP lab-mate Christina Beck, who was just awarded the Adrienne Shelly Foundation’s female directing grant for her wonderful film PERFECTION. Christina came to New York to receive her award, which gave us the chance to catch up over drinks — with Melissa and Michael from the Lab too.
According to the L.A. Times, Paramount is launching a new production business for films budgeted at less than $100,000. Apparently they’ll be financing 20 or so films per year, which sounds like good news for independent filmmakers! Unfortunately they won’t be acquiring completed films like ours, but who knows for the next one!
Bridget Collins will be reading the audiobook for her new novel A Trick of the Dark, which was published in September.
Bridget is still receiving recognition for her first novel The Traitor Game. This summer she won the 2009 Branford Boase Award, which is an award for excellence in writing given to the most promising new writer and their editor each year. Congratulations Bridget and her editor Emma Matthewson!
You can read an interview with Bridget about The Traitor Game here.
Adeel has sent us news of what he’s been doing out there in the world since shooting STRANGER THINGS and we’ve updated his bio on the website, so check it out. Not only did he sport a dashing turban in the Bollywoodized version of Wuthering Heights (which toured the U.K. for six months this year, ending at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith) but he recently finished work on Chris Morris’s new film Four Lions, which is a satire based on a group of Islamist terrorists in the North of England.
STRANGER THINGS is the debut feature film from Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal. Find out about the latest news here, or visit out the official STRANGER THINGS website at www.strangerthingsfilm.com
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Amazing news! Eleanor and I are very happy and proud to announce that STRANGER THINGS has won the IFP Narrative Lab’s Finishing Grant! The award is a package of services worth $45,000, including post-production services from Goldcrest Post New York, post-graphic services from Edgeworx, Inc., legal consultation from Gray Krauss LLP, publicity consultation from International House of Publicity, test screening space courtesy of The Tank, and promotional materials from 4over4.
The holiday season is over and it’s straight back to work for independent filmmakers. Ron and I have just returned from London where we caught up with a lot of people and got the new year off to a great start with a very successful ADR session / get-together with some of the Stranger Things cast.
