The clock ticks away… the sundials sit mute as the shadows carousel past with increasing speed… and calendar pages fall…

The tag on our “Altered” movie artwork says “Reality Changes 2012,” and “…2011″ on our Facebook, expressing the altering, shifting realities already.

For the audience, it is 2012; but for us, those who are working on it, 2011 is here and certainly changing our lives even now.

My huge crew at this moment is the smallest, yet indomitable spirit and voice of the team, Captain Crazy herself, Jessica Imoto Harney. Though the days are dropping at a frightening rate, 68 and counting, the panic is mitigated by Imoto at my side and knowing she has my back. A genuine production ninja, we are slowly working out our plan and moving toward the welcomed Hell of “Altered.”

Notes and to do lists and notes about the to do lists are being tackled, each representing an integral part of the puzzle that will be forged into a movie.

Back to Chicago, where we hope to film the bulk of the movie this summer. Scouting in nearby Indiana – towns that have taken a hit in the social migration even before the economic downturn. Terrible for their citizens, but searching for the bright side in the darkness they offer, perfect for a story that twists and turns through the tentative grasp on reality of our lead character and the serial killer she tracks, and hopefully, the audience participation of trying to decide what the experience of watching the movie means to each.

The first steps at casting - 6 of the lead roles – have been locked. The logistics to having these fine actors to be able to work and play is another matter, but just a couple hundred things at a time please… First monies have already been paid out the special fx team, the composer I discovered last year in southern England, and to start the web presence and identity that will hopefully bring not just our audience, but even some of the resources we’ll desperately be needing… did I say will be needing? Eeesshhhh… 68 days and counting…

So yesterday, I did a short and sweet video interview on Doobious.org about what I am doing. Just the first of many we think.

A couple days before that, an interview about this crazy task for the VRO – Variety Radio Online - an awesome entertainment site that predominantly covers the Vampire Diaries and the Twilight crowd. They are an awesome site for awesome fans, and have been a big supporter of mine for Blood Ties and Kerberos. They have no idea what they are in for on “Altered!”

The script breakdown continues, trying to make sense of what I need to even attempt to pull this off. We’ve reached out to Chicago and everyone one we know who has ever even been there for whatever help and advice they might have. We need pretty much everything! Except for the determination to make it happen… we have that in bucket loads.

The reality that won’t change is One: that I have a focused vision of a story I worked out in my mind and heart for almost 10 years. Not a story for everyone, which is one way I know it’s worth doing.

And Two: That I have Imoto, my production ninja, at my side, and my back, and charging the way forward to take on the challenges that we’ll face… well past 2012!

Okay – back to work… blood, death, and allegorical madness are calling my name…

Want to keep up? Check out the FaceBook Page and the kick ass Altered Movie website Imoto put together!

There’s a good chance I’m going to go from Google’s “Kely McClung is ‘the coolest filmmaker on the planet’ – to Kely McClung is ‘the most insane filmmaker on the planet’. Having already written, directed, and edited my next feature film – “Altered,” somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four hundred times over the past several years, it’s now time to film it. What?!

The above has only been in my mind! Maybe we’re all twisted… but my friend Lolita thinks I’ll be committed long before I ever have it to the point where outsiders can experience it… she may be right!

“Altered” is twisted; to the point I had thought of that as a possible title. It pushes boundaries in concept and execution of structure and expectation. The reaction from the 10 actors who I’ve shared it with so far have been extremely excited, extremely supportive, and thoroughly confused. I now have decoder rings available… of course you need a cipher code to understand the decoder ring and that I’m keeping that to myself.

Just like the characters in the story, I want people to experience and discover how the events and ideas effect them. I can live with the idea that not everyone will get it, that not everyone will like it, that not everyone will even get through it. People will get to watch it, turn it off, or take it home in their thoughts until they are replaced by something more immediate, but I hope the images and words and thoughts will linger for the crew and the audience, stimulate and provoke, create dialog both internal and external. Still, I know that I’ll be living with this the rest of my life.

Movies are either the vision of the collective or the vision of the creator. In this case, it’s the tapping into the fears, and the dancing around the guilt of the profane that hide just out of edge of understanding in the shadows of my own mind that I am committing – myself and my sanity – to putting on screen.

I’m sure some people are already thinking, “Yeah, yeah… we’ve heard and see it all before.” All I can say is “nope – you haven’t.”

Once again, I am making a multi-million dollar film – without the millions. That by itself is enough to make you insane. Or more likely, I couldn’t even think about doing it if I wasn’t just this side of bat shit!

Still, I already have much besides my own energies to bring to the table.

Everyday now is a roller coaster of excitement and doubt – thrills and dread. Not that much different than the movie I am getting ready to make – so maybe I’m on the right track.
Where am I filming? Not sure… Who is in it? Not sure… How the hell am I going to do this? Vague ideas and shadows… excitement and depression… and profound gratitude.

But you have to start somewhere and that’s where I am at… somewhere.

The script is done. 100 pages of twists and turns and then turning inside out on itself. There are images on nearly every page that either fascinate or repulse or both. I have stacks of notes and thoughts that take all of them to an even deeper and disturbing level that I am just now starting to share with my fellow perpetrators. Some, even they won’t know about until they see the film on screen.

That I have convinced anyone to share in this adventure into Hell is a mystery to me, but gives me the strength to lead on.

As of this minute, I have only a very few who I know will follow no matter where I take them. I take the encouragement and responsibility of that to heart in my fears, my dreams, and every waking moment.

One: my friend and all around crewman Dan Slemons. ‘All around’ is not to imply that he is half-ass at a bunch of things. It’s actually hard to believe how many things he is great at, including putting up with me. Dan was pretty much my entire American crew on my first film, “Blood Ties.” The movie could not have been done without him, and he stepped up even more on my short film “AM Session,” and my second feature, “Kerberos.” Now is the time to push each other to new levels – maybe as much downwards as upwards on this one!

Two: my friend and confidant of both the entire filmmaking process, and the world of writing and acting, Stan Harrington. He is one of the only people in my circle of friends who has truly done it all, and can understand what goes into the conception and delivery of a movie. He understands the fears and doubts and frustration and exhilaration of a creating a vision, from thought to screen, because he keeps himself in that world all the time.

My friend Robert Pralgo. More brother than friend, and more friend than most brothers could ever be. Rob has watched and shared and been a part of my filmmaking life almost from the beginning. He continues to grow as an actor, a businessman, and as a person, so I’m thrilled he’s insane enough to trust me one more time.

Amanda Dreschler: stunning, goofy, talented, and dedicated to the craft of becoming another on screen. The hints I saw as I was privileged to work with her for brief moments on another project puts me back into exhilaration mode. That she barely has an idea what she is really in for is pretty damn cool… that the world has no idea of what they’re in for with her is even better.

And last for now, and in hope and expectation of her becoming one of the most important parts of this puzzle, Jessica Imoto Harney. Talented, beautiful, fearless, and devoted. I know more about her from the team she is helping to assemble than from just the brief time I’ve had working with her. She’s a 5 foot dynamo that I’m inviting along to be at the very least my left hand… and maybe my right foot. Anyone who knows anything about me, knows that’s asking a lot – and nearly everyday it becomes obvious that all parts of me are better because of her.

The adventure is just starting for all of us – and we are hoping to document and share a bit of that so others can understand where we’ve been and where we dream of going. Straight to Hell for sure…

One of the most elegant and meeaningful bits of encouragement I’ve received as I push forward on this roller coaster to the dark side, came from across the pond from my friend and retired BAFTA winning “Kerberos” sound engineer Rob James; “Just do what you do.”

For a movie about the agonies of Hell – both real and imagined - I am truly blessed.

kely

“Talking People and Doing People – I hope to do! Reality Changes in 2012″

Kely McClung

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