Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 in Review

As we reach the end of 2012 we wish to take a little time to reflect and to give thanks.

Early in 2012 we began the first steps of developing our comedy feature film, MEGABALL$. We fine tuned our offering, created MegaBalls Movie LLC, thanks to the efforts of legal counsel Jonathan Fischer. We revised and updated our Project Overview, pre-scouted locations, created our Twitter account (@Oroloro) and grew our base of followers in Facebook. We quickly shot a teaser, and short video of the story-behind-the-story, and uploaded them to our website (www.MegaBallsMovie.Com) and our YouTube account (OroloroSM) where they have been viewed all over the world.

We began meetings, in New York - Florida - Los Angeles, with potential investors while building relationships with distributors and fellow producers. We confirmed the key players on our production team. We met with several actors for lead roles, and have commitments from Joe Gannascoli (Vito Spatafore of THE SOPRANOS) and Joyce Randolph (Trixie Norton of THE HONEYMOONERS), and interest from others. Our first investors were Mike and Rayanna Bramblett - and we greatly appreciate their faith and support.

The screenplay is essentially finished, though occasionally it's fined-tuned. The response from those who have read it is extremely positive.

We attended the 2012 IFP Film Market in NY. These efforts have added to branding and to raising awareness/interest of the film and its progress. These efforts have resulted in:
  • 420 Twitter followers
  • 288 Facebook followers
  • 167 YouTube subscribers
  • Teaser Video has been viewed 14,782 times
  • Story Video has been viewed 16,701 times
We have designed a mobile APP and received several bids for its programming. The APP, which is actually featured in the film, will be a unique way to promote the film while creating a small revenue stream. Today we updated the film's website with new animations (WWW.MegaBallsMovie.Com).

2013 will provide us with great opportunities to move forward. SEC guidelines will change in ways that will be favorable for funding the film. We have several meetings planned early in January which hold great promise for both funding and promoting the film. We'll be attending the Miami Film & Media Market in late January, thanks to our casting director and associate producer, Ellen Jacoby.

Most of all - we'd like express thanks for all the wonderful faith and encouragement from our families, friends, and our team in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Texas, Florida, Chicago and the New York area. It is with their help and support MEGABALL$ will become a reality. Among them are: Ellen Jacoby, Elizabeth Wentworth, Allan Schollnick, Salina West, Jonathan Fischer, Joyce Randolph, Don Pippin, Dejan Georgevich, Melanie Norton Scheller, Rosemary Ponzo, Sanna Choe Lund, Rebecca Damon, Tom Fabrizio, Dave Cadena, Alan Gershowitz, Arch Smith, David Mitchell, Keith Thomas, Rachel Kadushin, Anne St. James, Mike and Rayanna Bramblett, Eileen Maranzano, Erin Wahl, Doug Redenius, Achilli Raspantini, Beth Rosen, Liz Zazzi, Dave Bachman, Bill Pepe, Gini Dustin, Jim McLean, Joe Gannascoli, John 'JB' Bruno, John Gallagher, Sylvia Caminer, Lisa Norman, Lou Mastantuono, McKenzie Westmore, Nick Sakai, Rolando Eddy, Ruben Brache, Nandina Lesmerises.....and so many more...

We are blessed to have this wonderful group hoping and helping!

May 2013 be full of good health, joy and prosperity!

Warmest regards,

Marc & Joe
 

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

An APP a day ...

We're developing a mobile APP for MegaBall$. The purpose is to both promote and 'brand' the film, but to create an entertaining and functional APP theme related to the film.

Within the story line a character does create an APP - and it dawned on us, why not make the APP for real!? We've been working with three programmer/designers and have refined what the APP will do, and we're now waiting on bids. Once we have chosen the vendor and know our price, we'll begin a separate effort to fund the APP.

67.5% of the American population buy lotto tickets on a regular basis creating a $56 billion US Lottery industry in 2012. The largest-ever lotto jackpot worldwide was the US MegaMillions jackpot which totaled $656 million on March 2012. Popular lotto-based APPs have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. The demand is huge and these buyers represent not only a market for the MegaBall$ mobile APP, but an audience for the film.
 
Additionally, the APP will be used to sweeten any product placement/donation deals allowing those companies to advertise on the APP, which will be available for iPhone, iPad, and Android phones/tablets.
 
We are examining the possibility of doing a reading of the screenplay and, if we do, that would also be the launch of the APP. The reading will be to hear the script read before a live audience where, hopefully, potential investors and distributors will be in attendance. The first reading would be in New York, at the historical actors club - The Lambs. Two additional readings may be considered for Los Angeles and south Florida.
 
The promotional side will allow users to view the teaser, and when the film is completed they will see the trailer. Users may opt to follow our Twitter or Facebook accounts, and they will occasionally receive project update notifications. Users will also be able to see showtimes/places of the film's screening and purchase a download to their phone/tablet.
 
The funtional side is about .... well, we won't say yet. But it will be practical and entertaining.
 
Stay tuned!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Attended the Digital Hollywood Summit NYC 2012 today - and more tomorrow. Many good panel discussions about taking advantage of the digital world when promoting and marketing films.

Hoping more will follow us on Twitter @Oroloro and refer to #MegaBall$.

We're still refining the design of the MegaBall$ APP and getting estimates - it's going be a useful and fun application that will also promote the film.

We've also been thinking a little about the storyline of MegaBall$ and how it applies in real life. 67% of the population regularly plays the lottery/lotto/Megamillions/Powerball. Please comment below: Do you play the lottery - and have you ever won more than $100.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

MegaStorm?

We're slowly recovering from the affects of hurricane Sandy. Although we have sustained some damages we're grateful that our friends and family are safe. We certainly hope you are all well!

In short time we'll continue our efforts to promote and finance our comedy film, MEGABALL$...and we're keeping as active as circumstances allow.

We're pleased that over the past week interest continues to grow and our 'numbers' are up. Our Twitter account nears 300 followers and our Facebook group has 282 followers.

Our video "The Story Behind MegaBall$" has 16,665 views. The video 'Teaser'  has 14,736 views from 82 different countries; our YouTube Channel has 171 subscribers. Please feel free to encourage your friends to view these videos and to ask them to follow our progress on Twitter and Facebook....and ask the same of their friends

The film's website continues to attract good traffic and we've added a page for comments from persons who have read the screenplay. We frequently review and edit the screenplay - to make the film 'tight' and filming efficient.

We have gotten our first estimate on a MegaBall$ APP, which will help promote the film throughout the various stages of production and sales. The design of the APP is not only for marketing, but it will randomly select numbers for lotto games while 'speaking' a line from the film. We also hope to add a similar feature to our web site. We plan to have the APP running before we begin production, and all our supporters and investors will be the first to receive the APP. (FYI the APP is featured within the film!)

The damages and costs associated with hurricane Sandy will limit interest from local investors for some time....so, as we continue to set up meetings we'll need to depend more on networking to find other potential investors. We are also looking for other sources of funding, such as grants and 'crowdsourcing,' to combine with private equity financing. We have responded to encouraging requests from the Tribeca Institute and submitted for one of their grants. There remain several interested individuals considering financial involvement.

We greatly appreciate your support and faith!

 
Best regards,
Marc Baron & Joe Cirillo
Oroloro Entertainment, LLC / MegaBalls Movie, LLC

Thursday, November 1, 2012

We hope all our friends and followers have managed to get through hurricane Sandy safely.
To to the demands of the damages here, we'll be off line for a few days....but we'll be continuing our efforts to produced MEGABALL$ soon.

A recent trip to Los Angeles included a few meetings, but overall plans were changed because of problems with return flights to New York. We'll report on those meetings soon.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

We're proud to announce that our casting director, Ellen Jacoby, has received more awards and recognition. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Franklin College, Indiana, and last night was awarded the "Iconic Woman" and "Casting Director of the Year" by the Women in the Arts in Miami Awards, and Ellen will be a guest juror for the Bahamas International Film Festival.

Past awards for Ellen include the Casting Society of America Artios Award Nominations (for Excellence in Casting) for the films "The Bird Cage" and "The Truman Show, and winner of the Artios for "Parenthood"...and in 2000 Miami Metro Magazine named Ellen the Woman of the Millennium. Her credits include "Burn Notice," "Rock of Ages," and "There's Something about Mary." In 2011 Ellen was presented with the Key to the City (Miami).

Visit Ellen's web site at www.EllenJacobyCasting.com

We're honored to have Ellen as the casting director for "MegaBall$." View a short video of Ellen talking about how much she likes the Screenplay of "MegaBall$," the video can be found on YouTube or on our web site.

You can the bios of other other team members here.

Friday, September 21, 2012

IFP Film Week

Each year the IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project) holds a film week/Conference. This year's Film Week is at NY's Lincoln Center, with some satellite meetings at other venues....and this year Oroloro was in attendance. We had done our homework in researching the listed speakers - some of whom we have already been in touch with.

The first panel was comprised of the filmmakers who made Beasts of the Southern Wild, an ambitious indie film made for only $1.5 million.

The second panel was about the art of the pitch - how to entice people to want to know more about your project in 2-3 minutes. This panel was moderated by Darrien Gipson, the head of SAGIndie, with Winnie Lau (ExVP of Acquisitions for Fortissimo Films), producer Lisa Cortes, and casting director Paul Schnee. This panel had four people in attendance give their pitch, then highlight the good points of what they said and make recommendations of how to improve it. Two of the pitches were fairly good! Based on what we saw, we're convinced our pitch for MegaBall$ is solid.

The next panel discussed writers and screenplays that were good yet not produced. The Black List was started only a few years ago by Franklin Leonard of OverBrook Entertainment (who moderated the panel), and titles on that list went on to win major awards. Here writers talked about their struggles and successes, and how being on the Black List helped them.

The finally panel was a keynote, with speakers Christine Vachon and James Schamus, moderated by the IFP Exec. Dir,  Joana Vicente.  James coined a great phrase that best describes today's world on Internet connection as a "surveillance culture." Another panel was with J.C., Chandor, writer and director of the film Margin Call, talking about the process of getting that film onto the screen.

Dylan Marchetti, of Variance Films spoke about today's world of independent film distribution and marketing, as did Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment. There was talk of crowdfunding by Stephen Paternot of Slated.com, Elizabeth Holm of Kickstarter, Paolo Freccero of Crowdstarter, moderated by Janet Brown of FilmBuff.

Another panel talked of methods of bringing eyeballs to your project with Marc Schiller, of Bond Strategy and Influence, Caspar Newbolt, a designer with Version Industries, moderated by Jon Reiss of Hybrid Films. There panels on self-distribution with guests Amanda McCormick of Jelly Bean Boom, Pablo Gonzales of TUGG, Erick Opeka of Cinedigm, moderated by Christopher Horton of the Sundance Institute.

On Tuesday, we had a 'speed dating' situation, where we were able meet several industry people in smalls groups to better understand what they could do, and how our projects might fit. Our meetings with Melissa Wells of United Talent Agency, Ryan Harrington of Tribeca Film Institute, Dan Berger of Oscilloscope Labs, Dylan Leiner of Sony Picture Classics, and Jon van Thaden of Magnolia Pictures all were helpful. We walked away with a better understanding of their needs and how Megaball$ would fit in - and how it was best to approach them. We handed each person a #10 envelope with our logo on it; inside was a simple one sheet on our film, a business card, and a bona fide lotto ticket. Hey, since MegaBall$ is about the lotto real tickets make great attention getter's.

After each day we'd reach out to these guest and connect via Twitter, Facebook, email and/or LinkedIn, thereby starting the process of branding our project to keep their interest. In the case of the Tribeca Institute, we were invited to apply for some of their film grants,  are filling a submission now! The grants not only include money (up to $50,000) but some mentoring along the long road to the finished film.

Overall it was a good few days that will payoff long term.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Still at it...

We spent the Labor Day weekend...laboring. Reviewing and amending the project overview (aka the Venture Plan) which outlines who we are, what the film is and how we'll make and market it. What was added was revenue projections for our maximum budget ($980,000). We already had projections for our minimum budget ($700,000) but after a meeting last week realized we should have both.

The overview is a 20 page document that includes photos and links to outside relevant source material. More links were added and some photos of our team updated. One thing that was interesting was a Daily News Report about MIT Grads who almost beat the Massachusetts lottery - and that report is now an attachment to the overview.

This week we'll begin to focus on preparing for the upcoming IFP Indie Film Market in Manhattan on Sept 16th. We've got our admission tickets! The event will include seminars on financing, producing and marketing films. There will also be a lot of networking and opportunities to meet people in distribution - all to brand MEGABALL$ and better position as we move forward.

Monday, August 27, 2012

What's Going on Now

Join our Facebook Group where we have fun. For example, the current trending is taking a famous line from a movie and replacing one word with "MegaBall$" .... there have been many very creative and funny posts! https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/oroloro/ You can also follow our progress on Twitter @Oroloro.

Our videos are gaining some momentum. The 1-minute TEASER now has over 14,660 hits, the Story Behind the Story has over 16,600 hits! Check them out!

Our Web Site has had some fine-tuning - there's even a donation page should anyone feel generous and helps us continue all our efforts to finance the film. We spent many thousands of dollars out-of-pocket and feeling the 'pinch.' There's still much to do, such has attending the IFP Filmmaker Week in New York this September.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Yasoo YouTube?

We've been pushing viewers to our MegaBalls teaser...and it's been paying off. As of today we are just shy of 14,200 views! 151 Likes, 112 comments, and 128 channel subscribers.

If you haven't watched the 1-minute teaser yet - CLICK HERE
You can also watch a video about the story-behind-the-story CLICK HERE

And a short video where casting director Ellen Jacoby tells how much she likes the script, along with positive comments by Elizabeth Wentworth, who was the Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County film commissioner for over 20 years. CLICK HERE

For those who truly want to support us but find investing out of reach, we'll be adding a donate button to our web site. We've spent more than just time, and there's more needed ahead. So any and every dollar is appreciated. Watch this addition in the next few days! (And all the videos mentioned above are on our web site.)

Keep following our progress - we need all the support we can!

Twitter @Oroloro
Facebook Group: Oroloro


Monday, August 6, 2012

Life Imitates art?

Here's a recent new story that truly parallels part of the story line of MegaBall$. In our film's story, an insurance actuary is determined to prove there is a probability in predicting lotto tickets. All the conditions are right for his big win, but he needs 500,000 tickets to win. He is so obsessed with proving his theory he fails to use good judgement, and gets $500,000 from two older Italian men. Overtime he believes he's gotten involved with the mob and will be killed because, if he wins they'll want the $120 million dollar jackpot, and if his formula fails he's lost their $500,000. There's many surprises at the ending and this loser may actually be a winner. The 'tag line' is "Ya never know when your numbers' up."

Now the reality.
A group of MIT students had found a way to beat the lottery in Massachusetts!
MegaBall$ is now financing $700,000 needed to produce and market the film. Maybe we should by some lotto tickets? After all, our story came first!

Friday, July 27, 2012

AFM or bust ...

We are now examining the benefits (and costs) for attending the 2012 American Film Market (AFM) in Los Angeles this fall. It may be wise to attend the market before our film, MegaBall$, is completed so we'll be better prepared to attend when the movie is marketed. We've also heard that there have been filmmakers who located financing on projects in development. It will certainly be a good networking opportunity. We have several friends/supporters who are attending, so will have a 'group' there.

The teaser for MegaBall$ is now viewable online at FilmProposals.com - check it out. Our web site has also been updated to address some video problems. If you haven't visited, please do and watch the posted videos - the teaser, the story behind the story, and the talking Megaball$ where casting director Ellen Jacoby, and Elizabeth Wentworth (former Ft. Lauderdale film commissioner for over 20 years) praise the screenplay.

Viewing the videos helps by raising the viewer count. You can also help by searching on Google "MegaBalls" and "MegaBall$" then click on the web sites for MegaBallsMovie.com and Orolro.com...and if you have a web site, linking to our sites also helps.

Thanks for all your support!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Teaser on IBChannelTV

The teaser for MegaBall$ is now featured on www.IBChannel.TV - it was requested!
You can also view the teaser on Vimeo and FunnyOrDie.com ... and of course it's on our website, along with several other promo videos.  Follow our progress on Twitter @Oroloro

www.MegaBallsMovie.com

Sunday, June 10, 2012

The next video about MegaBall$ is now online for viewing.

The video was shot using a simple $120 Canon Elph (point & shoot in auto mode). With a comical twist it tells the story of the story behind the film and was shot in New York, New Jersey, Beverly Hills, Miami and Fort Lauderdale. There are some recognizable faces including Ken Howard, Marcia Wallace, Joseph Gannascoli and Joyce Randolph (Trixie of "The Honeymooners"). We also had access to a real batmobile - used in the Warner Brothers' film Batman with Michael Keaton - courtesy of the Dezer Collection of Miami. The Bat-footage is at the end of the video.



Friday, May 11, 2012

We just returned from a Florida trip where we met with our team members, Elizabeth Wentworth and Ellen Jacoby. Elizabeth was the Broward County/Fort Lauderdale Film Commissioner for over twenty years, and Ellen is a casting director who just celebrated her business' 25th anniversary. Ellen's work includes USA TV's Burn Notice and the soon-to-be-released Tom Cruise film, Rock of Ages. Both Ellen and Elizabeth did a video commentary about MegaBall$ which we'll post on our film's website in the next few days..

Ellen is going to give a copy of the MegaBall$ screenplay to her friend Sharon Gless, who is known for her TV show Cagney and Lacey, and now co-stars on Burn Notice...in hopes that Sharon will be interested in playing a featured role in MegaBall$.

We then visited the Dezer Car Collection, managed by my friend Doug Redinus. It was our second visit to the collection, which boasts over 950 vehicles purchased/owned by Micheal Dezer, and among them are many that were featured in movies and television. The day of our visit there was a commercial shooting using the BatMobile from the Warner Brother's Batman film featuring Michael Keaton; watching over the work was a BatMobile from the TV show that starred Adam West. We were able to shoot some video that we'll include in our next MegaBall$ teaser.

Pow!! Bam!! Stay tuned!

Above - the original TV batmobile, one of two in the collection

The Warner Bros./Michael Keaton Batmobile - one of several in the collection.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Google Me This ...

We started a new title-specific web page for our comedy MegaBall$  (www.MegaBallsMovie.com). After working on web pages I've learned to Google the page to see how it falls, and I was very happy to see that our page falls in the top position. So, as I am one to keep promoting our film and building interest in it, I Tweeted the Google response. And about an hour later was totally surprised when Matthew Broderick reTweeted our post.

I've worked with Matthew as his stand-in and double on two films: Family Business and The Freshman.  We had a great time in both and he really treated me well, as a friend not just his 2nd teamer. It was due to his encouragement, and that of Dustin Hoffman as well, that got me to continue screenwriting. So to Matt, and Dustin, thanks!

By the way, Joyce Randolph (Trixie on The Honeymooners) tells me she saw Matthew's new Broadway show, Nice Work If You Can Get It, last night. She says Matthew, the cast and the show are great, that this will be a hit. I Tweeted that yesterday to Matthew...perhaps that's why he reTweeted today.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Internet-Radio Interview

I don't know why anyone would listen to what I have to say...I'm flattered that Beth Rosen would devote an entire show to listen to me saying it, whatever I said ...Tune in online Monday Morning at 10:00 a.m. EST for her RhinoOnTheAir Spotlight Radio: The Business of Show Biz with Beth (and me). I'll talk about film, some of the things I'm involved in, and of course, MegaBall$. After the airing, I'll load up an MP3 of the interview and create a link to it.
I'm also working on a second short video...to reveal the story-behind-the-story of MegaBall$.
UPDATE: the station aired the show later than scheduled. For those who would like to listen, you may do so  on SoundCloud.com by CLICKING HERE
UPDATE 2: Rhino On Air apologized for the scheduling mishap. They liked the interview and have invited me to do another, this time 'live'....I'll post when we have a day/time set.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Some Minor Attention

Later today I'll be interviewed by friend Beth Rosen as the subject of her Internet radio-show "Spotlight," which will air sometime April 16th on www.RhinoOnAir.com - we'll record via Skype then Beth will edit it later for her broadcast. Beth is, among other things, a screenwriter and filmmaker. We'll talk about Oroloro and MegaBall$ as well as other activities we're involved in, such as The Lambs, The Episcopal Actors Guild, the SAG-AFTRA merger and more.

Many thanks to Erin Wahl for her generous effort using a fine-toothed comb to edit the screenplay for MegaBall$ and the project overview we use to interest investors.

Friday, March 30, 2012

In the Starting Gate

Our investor documents are finally completed and are now being released to our investors. The document is called a Private Placement Memorandum and offered under the SEC Rule D - 540 exemption. If our investors are true to their word, we should begin filming by late summer.

Wish us luck!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Still working ... and working ... and working...

We are awaiting the next draft of the formation papers for MEGABALLS, LLC...and the Private Placement Memorandum. Meanwhile, we're working on adding our projects to IMDBPro, and we're refining our YouTube Channel ... and driving more views to the little teaser.

We have two budgets completed, one for $700k and one for $5.9 million ... but the reality is it may be easier to raise the $700k. We'll know more in a few days.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Workng hard ...

The screenplay for MEGABALL$ is getting great feedback. One new contact in Hollywood said it's one of the best screenplays she read in a very long time. She caught all the hidden references and even thinks we should consider a possible sequel.

Our lawyer is working on finishing touches for the investors' document, called a private placement memorandum. There will be 100 units at $7k each. We'll form a separate LLC solely for the production of the film, tentatively called Megaballs, LLC. But ...

... a little flag on the play. Well, not really a flag, more of a fork in the road.

It seems that the Hollywood contact is working with a film finance group, and has asked to redo our budget to reach the $5-$5 million dollar range. The line producer who originally did our $700k budget is now working on the larger budget.  Things are heating up in a very good way.

Our strategy has been all along ... to get MEGABALL$ made, then follow-up with our two other romantic comedies, "LOVE OF A LIFETIME and HOT PROPERTIES at a higher budget.

One small hitch, though. In order to attract the fund our casting may change, and some of those local actors we had hoped to use may not make the cut. A few roles seem to have the 'meat' to attract bigger names. The fund wants to realize a profit and proper casting will not only increase the odds of getting distribution but may result in bigger sales.
Gonna be an interesting year!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Getting closer...inch by inch ...

It's been a busy time since my last posting...but here's where we are now.

I'm off to Los Angeles to be part of a historic vote to merge to actors unions, SAG and AFTRA. I'm staying a little longer on my own to meet with some friends, and some supporters of our film efforts.

When I return, or shortly after, our entertainment lawyer should have completed the legal instrument needed to solicit financing for MEGABALL$. The offering, called a Private Placement Memorandum (PPM), divides the total budget into 100 units and and investors can 'subscribe' to units. Once the PPM is in hand we'll get on the phone calling our investors. That will mean another trip to Florida (not that I mind that).

We have worked 100's of ours and spent a great deal of our own funds to bring this comedy film to production. Meanwhile, follow our progress on Facebook (Oroloro) and on Twitter (@Oroloro). One of our campaigns has been posting one-liner jokes full of double entendre that brand the MegaBall$ name. Examples.... Tiger Woods' balls have dimples, but Oroloro has Megaball$ ... and ... Soda Jerks have wet nuts, but Oroloro has MegaBall$