exittheapple filmography: 6 stops

This project was conceived in late 1995. Since then it has been an ongoing struggle to bring it to the big screen... or any screen for that matter. 6 years later, despite sustained effort, numerous shoots, the changing of entire casts, myriad revisions, and many interested people making promises, the film as a complete project has not seen the light of day. I'm including it here because I believe the telling of how this project did not get made is as important as telling how the others did get made.

the story was simple enough...

One morning, like every other morning, a frustrated artist heads to her meaningless 9to5 job. On the train that day she meets a homeless man who claims to be the "real" Michael Jackson. Unconvinced, she challenges him to prove his story before her stop comes. Your typical enlightened homeless person story, exittheapple style.

well, what happened?

here are some of the highlights:

Hollywood producer expresses interest during preproduction/fundraising stage. "Suggests" multiple rewrites. 3 months are spent converting exit-style loose script and storyboards into conventional Hollywood three-act script structure, after which time the producer loses interest.
Pierre gets development contract with successful & supportive film producer who passes away before implementation.
Well-intentioned offers are made for pro-bono PR work, equipment loans, and general industry advocacy, which fizzle out after a matter of weeks…
Three days of shooting by a volunteer crew on borrowed equipment w/a brand new last minute lead go better than expected... only to discover a technical glitch has rendered 80% of the footage useless.

what was fresh

The process has been educational beyond measure. And it would've been impossible without dozens of dedicated people whose donations of time, energy, skills and equipment kept us going from one incarnation of this project to the next. Many members of our production family worked their butts off to make this dream happen.

so now what?

Now we take a break. Perhaps we will make this experience into a book, and include all the various production notes, emails, budgets, and promotional materials we've amassed over the years. Perhaps we'll make a documentary, using the footage we've shot, the audition and rehearsal tapes, and the periodic self-documented cries for help we used to keep ourselves sane during this process. Perhaps we'll rewrite it again and try one last time in 2003. Perhaps the story will dissolve and show up in another of our scripts in another form. If we've learned one thing from this process, it's that life is change... and the universe works in divine time.

Holla.

--pete & j

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