MUTANTVILLE.COM

Muticia meets Night of the Living Dead in one week, Retro offers Science fiction double feature and more on Fridays with MVP!

Get ready for a Good Friday throwdown with MVP! Welcome back mighty Mutants! It’s time for your end of the week update here at Mutantville.com. We’ve had quite a wild ride since the beginning of the year as we’ve been prepping for as well as promoting everything from the Nevermore Film Festival to the Mad Monster Party to Muticia’s Movie Morgue. We’re catching our breath for a moment before we start the mad rush to our last big convention appearances of the year including Charlotte’s own ConCarolinas and the big Lousiville slugger of a convention – the Fright Night Film Fest and Fandom Fest! By catching our breath that means we’re taking a break from promoting to focus on actual filmmaking.

Last weekend we shot 75% of the first episode of Muticia’s Movie Morgue. We knew going into it with a cast comprised of Vanelle, England Simpson, Patrick Simpson, Mutie the Mutantville Mutant and Todd A. Britt that we were in good hands. Well – maybe putting Todd in front of the camera was a big gamble – but in the end it paid off. He managed to bring his role as the ornery makeup FX artist to believable life. I guess all those years as an ornery makeup FX artist on MVP sets really paid off. Who knew it was method training all along?

Our cast put on a stellar performance backed by a strong and dedicated crew and we managed to put some really fantastic footage in the can. We have but a handful of minor scenes left to shoot before Muticia’s Movie Morgue episode one is ready – starting with a massive shoot next Sunday April 15th as MVP and Muticia’s Movie Morgue unleash ZOMBIE DAY on the unsuspecting masses. We’re meeting in Albemarle again to shoot a really cool skit for the show that features Muticia as a news reporter reporting from the site of the initial zombie outbreak in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Grab your kids, drag your wife along and wheel grandma on down to the Mutantville Productions Studios and get lathered in grey greasepaint so you can all spend the day staggering around a cemetery. It’s going to be a wacky day and we need all the zombies we can get so come out and let your inner ghoul out for the day!

Get the rest of your horror induced MVP feed right after the leap!
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Mutantville Productions to Host Private Screening of G.H.O.S.T. for Halloween.

Mutantville Productions is proud to announce that we will be screening the final cut of our full length feature G.H.O.S.T. for the cast and crew this Sunday at 2pm and 6pm respectively.  MVP’s own Johnny Brento and his wife Nancee are hosting the event at their home in Albemarle.  Everyone is invited to come in costume and prepare to have fun.

There will be a selection of the best horror short films from the area screening before the movie starts.  We are very happy to have Michael Sharpe’s Deviling, Chris Gervais’ Junker and Last Call Pictures’ Desdemona 6 on the program.  It is truly going to be a Halloween weekend to remember.  Visit the official G.H.O.S.T. fanpage on Facebook to R.S.V.P.

Mutantville Productions Casting for Three Short Horror Movies for October!

http:///www.mutantville.com

Mutantville Productions is proud to announce the casting call for three short movie projects to be shot during the month of October.  Please note that the dates for these shoots are already set and cannot be changed.  Do not audition for a project unless you are available for that shoot date.

Mutantville.com is producing three new horror short movies to accompany our award winning zombie movie Devil Comes Down on an anthology collection titled Tales From Mutantville.  We will shoot all three short movies during the upcoming Halloween season in October.

The address for the casting call is in Stanly County about a half an hour from the Charlotte area.  Use the following address in your GPS, Mapquest or Google Maps to get directions.

Auditions will be held this Sunday September 12^th from 12 noon to 4 pm.

Please contact us via email at mutantville@hotmail.com to request a copy of the scenes for the audition – or we will have scripts available for you on the day of the auditions.

Please note that these are non-paying projects.  All participants will be guaranteed full screen credit and listing on IMDb as well as a chance to be a part of what is sure to be a memorable film making experience.  Horror fans are preferred but we will work with n00bs as well.

Family Fiend (October 9th & 10th) (to be filmed in the Stanly County area.)

Leonard (Leo)

– Male, Old enough to have an 8-10 year old child,

Strong but not silent type, has a temper but working on it. Loving father.

Adelah

– Leo’s wife, Female, Old enough to have an 8-10 year old blond child

Was an honest, loving mother but it doesn’t matter because she is dead throughout the entire film.

Tess

– Female, age range – at least very late 20’s and up

Tes has some issues, she is delusional, hyper-religious, but very loving and wants the best for those she cares about.

Raya

-Female, late 20’s, 30’s, early 40’s

Raya is upfront, doesn’t mind letting people know what she thinks, nice but tough

Edwin

-Male, late 20’s, 30’s, early 40’s

Raya’s boyfriend, Wealthy, high class, dresses nice, tech savvy

Innya

-Female, 8-10 years old

Kind of quite but fun loving, doesn’t always listen to her parents(normal kid)

Scarecrow at Midnight (October 16th & 17th) (to be filmed in the Durham area.)

Sarah Ward:

Female, 42.

Single mom, tough as nails with a heart of gold.

Charles Ward:

Male, 21.

Happy go lucky, athletic, handsome, jack of all trades.  The ideal brother that loves his family.

Sonia Ward:

Female, 18.

Shy, intelligent, loves to read.  Enjoys stopping to smell the flowers as much as reading a good book.

Young Sarah Ward:

Age eight to fourteen, beautiful, shy young girl.  Very playful and innocent.

Grandma Derby:

Elderly female.

Stay at home Mother and Grandmother.  Has spent years raising her family and taking care of her abusive husband.

Grandpa Derby:

Elderly male.

Former surgeon now stuck at home and dealing with alcoholism.

Daniel:

Male.  18.

Charming troublemaker.  Bully. Has the fastest car in school and loves to show it off.

Robert:

Male.  18.

Daniel’s dumb buddy.  Big dumb jock type that loves to drink and party.

Megan:

Female.  18.

Robert’s stupid girlfriend – also a bully.

Indigo Child (October 23rd & 24th) (to be filmed in the Gold Hill community near Richfield, NC)

The Priest  Connor McLennan – 28

Orphaned and raised by the Catholic church in Ireland. He’s been in the United states since his teenage years and attended seminary here. He speaks with no noticeable accent.

Anna Bartlet – 40

Mother of Amelia. Health conscious, attractive, calm. Used to dealing with a child that many misunderstand due to her quite demeanor and introspective disposition. Passionate about being a mother.

Judy Bartlet – 46

Wife of Russel Barlet. Sister in law to Anna. Typical Mom and house wife in a small country town. Loves home making.

Carl Kimrey – Late 30′s early 40′s

Slightly muscular build, hard working, ethical but with a slightly warped sense of humor.

Amelia (The Indigo Child) 10 – 14

Intelligent and gifted yet seemingly withdrawn. Keenly observant with senses that border on the supernatural. It’s as if she can see through a persons eyes into their soul, instantly reading them before even a word is spoken.

Joe Farmer -40 or up

He speaks his mind and is a bit gruff, not always choosing the most polite way to say

Beth Farmer -40 or up

Typical Mom and home maker from a small town. A little reserved and slightly intimidated by her husband.

Zoe Farmer 8 -10

Typical healthy child.

Dead Child 5 – 10

Smallish or slight built child.

Family Fiend will be directed by Geo Swanko.  Scarecrow At Midnight will be directed by Streebo.  Indigo Child will be directed by Brent Bowers.  Each film is slated to shoot over the course of one weekend each.

LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION

Many people have asked how we managed to get access to such an amazing location as the historic Albemarle Opera House for our current project G.H.O.S.T.. In truth it takes fineness, accountability and most of all relationship management skills.

I first met local business man and downtown Albemarle champion Gene Starnes many years ago. It was only last year that I discovered the amazing piece of history located above his place of business, Starnes Jewelers. Gene is a member of virtually every civic organization related to doing business in Albemarle and has a list of community contacts that boggles the mind. I began to ask him about the possibility of a tour of the opera house which his grand father originally built in 1908. Gene readily agreed and before you knew I was filming our walk through.

I, of course instantly realized the cinematic potential for the space, with it’s aged walls, circular French balcony windows and extremely high ceilings, but it wasn’t as simple as winning Mr. Starnes over to the cause. The space covers a neighboring building as well and is co-owned by the adjoining business underneath. There was the matter of establishing a certain rapport and illustrating that Mutantville Productions can be trusted. I really needed Gene to sell the idea to the co-owner of the space with whom we personally had no contact.

To satisfy certain insurance requirements a few ground rules had to be established. For instance, no smoking up there or out in front of the building. As far as I know this only inconvenienced one or two cast and crew members the whole time. As Dave Mustain of Megadeth  once said, “We don’t smoke in this band!”

Contact numbers in case of power failure had to be maintained. I think there are 6 – 8 numbers in that call chain for instance. It turned out that we needed these on the night of the black out so that preparation paid off.

I recall a solid 3 months of discussions before final approval was granted. Even after that through the 9 months of pre-production I kept in constant contact with Gene, say on a bi weekly basis at least, keeping him up to date on the productions progress.

Throughout the process and even in the face of what I’m sure must have been an annoyance to him personally, the night the power went out and it took us 4 hours to find the fuse in the 100 year old structure Gene has really been amazingly supportive of MVP. At this time he is reaching out to a few contacts to help us possibly locate a local resource where the civil war period dream sequence can be shot.

Jumping back into to our mammoth half decade horror film production C 4 Chaos, we actually managed a ton of real locations. If a bar was called for, we were shooting in a bar. If the script called for a bunch of scenes in a comic shop, of which there are precious few around these days, you betchya we were in a honest to goodness comic shop. This really, really elevated that production to be working in the great locations instead of sets.

Like they say, it really is all about LOCATION! LOCATION!LOCATION! Remember this above all else Mutantville Players, Johnny Brento loves ya!

P.S.

Visit the most amazing Jewelry Store in Stanly County. Gene Starnes wants to be your jeweler. Tell him MVP sent you.

My Band is Called Mutantville

This past week with the cancellation of one shoot and aggravation of some misunderstandings about a pickup shoot schedule have served to  remind me of just how much like a music band or even a family our group of merry guerrilla film makers really is. I can only speak for myself when I say that I love these guys I work with. They are my best friends on the planet Earth. I really do think that I have more in common with my partners than really anyone else. Sometimes, just like in a band, the singer might think that the guitar is walking all over his lead, or the bass player can’t hear himself and insists on turning up his amp until everyone gets nauseous.

The core members of MVP have been working together for the better part of a decade and that hard work is starting to pay dividends, but from time to time myself or one of the other fellas will slip into a little bit of burn out and get caught up in a quagmire of interpersonal B.S. I want to jump up like Valentine McKee , Kevin Bacon’s character in Tremors, and yell at the top of my lungs, “No! No! No! We HAVE GOT TO GET OUT.” Get out of the muck and drive on. Why? Because that’s what we do. Another shoot, another script, another project. I feel that remaining productive is the key to success as any sort of actor or film maker. George Romero himself advised Streebo this way. “Finish that first one and the rest will come.”

So, if any of you Mutantville Players are missing the invigorating G.H.O.S.T. shoots in the Albemarle Opera House, or feel your creative yen waining, remember this, if it was easy to make movies, anyone could do it. It’s not and and not just any group of people can hold the band together. You are a rock star already for being active creating your art!  Above all else remember that Johnny Brento loves ya BABY!

G.H.O.S.T. Puts Another Great Week Six Feet Deep!

The Mutantville Players converged upon the haunted opera house in Albemarle, North Carolina for another amazing night of filmmaking last night. We filmed another encounter with something from the other side last night!  I can’t tell you what happened or to whom – but I will say that you will be scared out of your pants – so be sure to wear two pairs when you watch this.

I ran out of ways to describe the talent and enthusiasm we have for this project and find myself resorting to simply telling you that we are doing some of our best work ever. The cast and crew continue to impress with their dedication and professionalism. Please enjoy your rest for the day. We have one more major scene to shoot next week, then we break for Halloween in order to prep for the major finale at the first of November. I continue to feel blessed and honored to work with you all. You inspire me to keep pressing hard working day in and day out to make G.H.O.S.T. the best short horror film of the year. Thank you all.

~~Streebo

Lights, Camera, HORROR!!! MVP Set For G.H.O.S.T.

The producers at Mutantville Productions were out in full force last night as we decended upon the historic opera house in downtown Albemarle.  We spent a full six hours on the set testing the lights for this weekend’s scenes, shooting behind the scenes videos, as well as continuing our construction of MVP’S How-To seris on no-budget filmmaking – the Guerrilla Filmmaker’s Cookbook.  We’ve just about run ourselves ragged through pre-production – and filming hasn’t even begun!  That’s OK because the harder we prepare – the easier it is for everyone when we’re all on the set.  All that’s left now is to put the finishing touches on the costumes and props and email the directions to everyone.  We’ll see you all soon, MVP.

Luis Machicao – Couture Designer to Helm Costuming for G.H.O.S.T.

World renowned fashion artist Luis Machicao has agreed to provide costuming for G.H.O.S.T.  If you are interested in becoming part of his portfolio, take advantage of this historic collaboration between Mutantville Productions and Luis Machicao.

Be sure to attend the casting session for G.H.O.S.T.  in Albemarle, NC on Sunday September 13th from 12PM to 3PM.