In the last update, I said “The Catalyst” was in a hurry up and wait phase, partially due to the holiday weekend and partially due to our Director of Photography Timothy Naylor being out of the country until the first week in June. Well, that’s when we learned Mr. Naylor took another job. Producer Anthony Vorhies and I are looking for a replacement. Temporarily on hold then are the ghost special effects tests with our Visual Effects Supervisor Lucien Harriot of Mechanism Digital.As a contrast, our Anthony Vorhies is producing two other feature films, but is still onboard. In fact, he is slowly trying to line up investors from those other films as possible investors for us. He is also putting the word out in those circles that we need a DP. 

Another delay occurred on the first day of casting about two weeks ago. “A” List actors were not responding to the description of our project because we signed a “New Media” contract with SAG in order to be able to show the film on the internet. As a result, in the announcements we were listed as a “single-episode web series,” an unattractive prospect for top actors. As much as we wanted to be able to show the film on the web, we would rather try to attract top actors and be able to show the film at Film Festivals. So more time slipped away as we canceled our new media contract and applied to be a short film signatory. This required extra paperwork, so special thanks goes to our legal team at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, specifically Rachael Moss, Yuko Kusano and Michael Canencia. Their firm is part of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and has been working for us pro bono, yet always treated us with the same energy and respect as their paying clients. We highly recommend them to any person or company looking for a strong, diverse and prestigious international law firm. http://www.paulweiss.com/The SAG paperwork cleared on Thursday, so our Casting Director, Donna McKenna, will announce the roles today! Here is what is being posted:

• [BECKY]  Female, (early 30s) very attractive, vulnerable, and smart.  An Audiologist, wife and mother, Becky is married to Rob. They look good together, have chemistry and seem very much in love, even when under extreme stress, which is what they are suddenly experiencing. They tragically lost her first daughter at age 7 in a school bus accident and their second daughter is now that age. An infertile couple, conceiving the first child was difficult, but the second was physically and emotionally draining. These incidents left Becky extremely overprotective at a time when accidents seem to be causing increasingly terrifying hauntings in their home, but no one believes her. PLEASE SUBMIT NAME TALENT NY OR LOCAL HIRE- LEAD ROLE – 1 DAY OF FILMING
• [ROB]  Male, (early 30s), husband, father and, rugged building contractor with a soft interior, which is how he won his beautiful wife, Becky. They tragically lost her first daughter at age 7 in a school bus accident and their second daughter is now that age. An infertile couple, having the first child was difficult, but having the second was physically and emotionally draining. He struggles to support his family, regretting he did not pursue a career as an artist or architect. Becky and Rob look good together, have chemistry and seem very much in love, even when under extreme stress which is mounting since his wife, Becky, believes the accidents which occur in their home are causing increasingly terrifying hauntings.  He worries his wife is losing it, and that her over-protective nature is crippling their family, preventing their remaining child from achieving all she could be. PLEASE SUBMIT NAME TALENT ONLY NY OR LOCAL HIRE- LEAD ROLE – 1 DAY OF FILMING
• LOGLINE: A young family becomes deathly afraid to do anything in their own home when simple household accidents trigger increasingly violent paranormal events.

Fingers are crossed. Please wish us luck…

Our Twitter following was just under 2216 when we last communicated. Now it just broke 2400 and counting! A lot of that credit goes to our intern Brendan Bennett, the grandson of my late high school science teacher, Robert Bennett. Thank you so much, Brendan!

More ghost stories are being donated to www.catalystghoststories.com, including one from another former science teacher, .Brian McGuinness. As his is an audio recording, we will need to turn it into a video, but please note that is an option on the submission page for those who would prefer it.