News and Updates
Blog And Updates
August 9th -
Today I woke up at 3:30am, eager to get to editing. Maybe I should have showered first. My hair is a bit greasy. Meh, I'll get to it. The bathroom is right behind me. Anyway, I have been assembling the movies we have officially wrapped. It's quite an undertaking. Dylan and I have grown accustomed to doing most things ourselves. I write, direct, act and edit. Dylan produces, writes the contracts, caters (and cooks), operates the cameras and helps in every other way possible. We've both considered changing our names to Jack so that we can say we are "of all trades". Why do I mention this? Well, we would love help on next two projects. We need crew. We need reliable people who can help us with the day to day stuff, doing food runs, working as animal wranglers, script supervisors, grips, boom mic operators, whatever. We were so grateful to people like Em English, our outstanding star of "I'm Losing Me" for helping with crew on "Dopamine". We need more people like her. So I'm putting this out there for the few people who read these updates, if you live in Arizona and want to help us with crew we will take whatever help you can give. You don't have to have experience. You'll get fed and credit on the movies you assist with. Keep it in mind. Right now we are trying to keep our shooting dates strictly on weekends to best suit most cast and crew.
Jacob O'Neal
August 7th -
It's official! We have completed principal photography on "Dopamine" today. We finished "I'm Losing Me" two weeks ago. Now comes the task of post-production. Let me talk a little about the cast and crew for "Dopamine" first. Antonio came in an nailed the character of Edward. He brought more to the movie than was on the written page. He had no problem being bold and daring with everything in his scenes. You're gonna love his scenes in the movie. Lauryn - she came as a last minute addition when our original actress dropped from the film, a girl with whom we harbor no ill will. We are so grateful to Lauryn for what she did for us. She came in without knowing much more than a few phone calls and being sent a copy of the script. She was ready to play when she arrived on set for the first day of shooting. Finally, our lead, Hayley - what can I say? She was fun, embodied the character of Marnie in so many ways and was so eager to make sure that her performance was good...except for the scene where I'm supposed to kiss her with a mouthful of eggs. That part was hard for her. And I don't blame her, there. It's sort of like if I asked a girlfriend if I could spit in her mouth. Even though saliva is exchanged while kissing, spitting seems gross and weird. I say this because having someone shove eggs from their mouth to yours is the same sort of thing. I will say, she still did it. She was a trooper. Thanks to all three of the cast members. Great work!
Now back to editing. I only have roughly 9 days to lock the scenes with Lauryn and get the ADR recorded before she moves. So I need to work fast. Then, once we get that part done we start looking at the next two projects - "Ellipses..." and "Sloshed".
Jacob O'Neal
July 21st -
I spent a good chunk of time after the weekend's long shooting schedule looking over footage for both "Dopamine" and "I'm Losing Me". I have to say I am really proud of my actors. Wow! I threw a lot of crazy stuff at them over the weekend and they rose to the challenge. It was a really odd weekend. I had one actor state the following line of dialogue for a scene - "I paint everything I see in this world, but everyone does not see the same. To a miser a guinea is more beautiful than the sun. A bag worn worn with money is more beautiful than a vine filled with grapes." He said the words with conviction and was super creepy in the process. Great job, Donovan.
And what can I say about Em? She nearly made the whole set cry with her breakdown on camera. It was chilling. I don't want to talk about it much because I don't want to give much away about the movie but she was incredible. I'm just glad I had a camera in front of my face to detach from seeing it directly or I may have shed a sympathetic tear.
Now on to "Dopamine". We had the pleasure of having Lauryn on set over the weekend. She was so much fun and an absolute sweetheart. She went for everything we threw at her. She got the character and came to play. She got along with Hayley and Em really well. I feel like she helped to elevate Hayley's performance that day as well. She went from being the girl we cast because we loved her to being even better than that. We have been truly blessed with the cast and crew we got for this movie. I can't wait till we wrap so we can start editing and show the cast how well they did. I threw a lot of salty language and weird situations at them and they just went with it.
I have added some new photos under each of the pages for the movies, as well as on the home page. Check them out.
Jacob O'Neal
July 15th -
I know it's been a while but that's because we are hard at work on both "Dopamine" and "I'm Losing Me". I have some both sad and exciting news. We had some casting changes in both movies. First, we lost Mayu Mancera. We know she would have done a great job but she decided not go forward and play Danika. Although she will be missed we have found a wonderful young lady named Lauryn Steitz. She was someone I have been talking with to play a role in "Sloshed" once we move forward with that project. Since this slot came up in "Dopamine" Dylan and I reached out and decided to see if she was interested. She gladly accepted. We can't wait to start working with her on Saturday.
We also lost an actor from "I'm Losing Me". Dave Holloway will no longer be playing Mark due to commitments that he could not change. Our wonderful lead actress Em English got us in touch with Donovan Malsom who came in at the last minute and, without knowing anything about the project, found the character immediately and knocked it out of the park on his first day!
Now on to the fun stuff. We spent all last weekend shooting both movies. Tonally, they could not be more different. It's a fun challenge to switch from the light romantic comedy of "Dopamine" to the weird and dark "I'm Losing Me". That said, it is rough. We started Dopamine first on Saturday and shot the first 11 pages of dialogue. Hayley Scott, our lead actress was nervous but was fantastic. She used that nervousness for the character. After all, Marnie is nervous about seeing her ex again so that really works for the first bit of the film. Then we shifted to "I'm Losing Me" after the sun set and we had Em doing all sorts of weird things while her spirit guide almost seemed to be seducing her. I had Em in the hallway at one point saying the same line of dialogue in different emotions and laughing hysterically for the scene. She was amazing. Finally, what can I say about Mariia Tensina? She came in with not much to do on paper (most of this movie is visual, after all) and found this line between creepy and comforting. Incredible performance from all involved. And that was just Saturday!
Now on to Sunday. Boy, was that a weird day. Weird in the best way. We had so much fun and laughed a lot. I don't want to spoil anything but you're gonna love Antonio Rosales in "Dopamine". He was hilarious! The scenes he shot with Hayley Scott for a flashback sequence were amazingly funny. I asked them to improv some dialogue so it felt natural since this was a silent flashback. I may include those as deleted scenes or outtakes for everyone after we finish the film. There was also some really great stuff between him and another actress we brought in for a couple hours that was much funnier than we could have ever hoped for. Em was helping with crew and laughingly stated she never thought that when she agreed to help with crew she would be witnessing the stuff she was involved in that day.
Then we switched over to shooting "I'm Losing Me", our first day with Donovan. Em and Donovan were great together. They both took direction very well. We got some really great footage of her making a sandwich with a cinnamon raison bagel, moldy turkey, chocolate syrup, mustard and apple sauce. Now you all may be wondering what the hell we're making. Honestly, I don't even know, but I'm loving every minute of it.
We will be updating the cast list soon. In the meantime I wanted to make sure I gave a quick shout out to everyone here for the amazing work they've done so far and know that they will continue to astound us with their talent.
Jacob O'Neal
June 20th -
Well folks, day one of shooting "I'm Losing Me" is in the can and I cannot say enough good about about our actors. Wow! They all came to play yesterday. If you go over to the page for the movie you can see some still photos Dylan shot while we were in the very hot desert, slowly being baked to death. I would strongly encourage you all to go the page and check out the pictures. It was a rough yet fruitful day, and not just because Mariia brought blueberries. Dylan and I reviewed the footage last night and it was awesome. We may need to get some pick up shots when the weather cools. Sebatian Heat Delirium was setting in and some stuff was out of focus or just missed entirely. Yes, that was reference to Farscape, for those in the know. After the shoot we went to Cracker Barrell and had a nice lunch, sat in some rocking chairs and relaxed for a bit. It was a good...despite the heat. But that was not the end of it for Dylan and me. After showering the dirt and heat off of ourselves (not together, in case you were wondering) we had a table read for "Dopamine".
The cast of "Dopamine" arrived right at 6pm and we sat down at the table, went through the script and enjoyed each other's company. It was a great read. Hayley and Mayu were great as Marnie and Danika, respectively. Antonio, as Edward, is going to be hilarious with his role. Between these projects we are doing I have to say I am truly blessed to have found some really great talent. With that, I will take my leave of this for today and get ready for Father's Day lunch with the family. Have a great day, folks!
Jacob O'Neal
June 18th -
It's just a few hours away. We're about to start shooting "I'm Losing Me" out in the desert. The temperature is supposed to be 115 degrees tomorrow. What are we thinking? I was sitting here doing a checklist in my head of everything we need for tomorrow. One of the first thoughts I had was how I need to make sure I have a nice big cup of piping hot coffee! Hot coffee driving out to the hot desert to shoot in the damn heat for hours. Likely, I'll decide better of having coffee in the morning. Maybe just some cottage cheese and a glass of tea. Not hot tea, mind you. I like my coffee hot and my tea cold. Nothing against hot tea. I rather enjoy it when eating Asian food. But this isn't about my preferences in hot and cold beverages. Quite to the contrary. It's about how excited I am to have an amazing cast in Em, Dave and Mariia, an awesome partner in this crazy little venture, Dylan, and how all these people have banded together to help make this weird brain vomit I spewed out onto my computer over a year ago. It's really happening. We're doing this.
When I think back over the last year I don't think of the time as being wasted as I once did. For a long time I was down about everything, ready to pull the plug on this little shared dream of Wolf Glitter Productions. We were stuck in Corona hell. And I'm not talking beer. Although, I'm not a fan of beer in general. No. I'm talking about Covid 19. I wondered if we would ever get back to a place where these ideas in my head could be realized. What I discovered was that God, Buddha, Xenu, whoever, had a plan. That plan was to wait for the right people, people who could do what I envisioned and do it well. Nothing against the people we had cast before. They were fine. But these people believe in the project. They believe in Dylan. They believe in me. They want this to be good just as much as we do. And that, all jokes aside, gets me a little choked up. We found our people. Now it's up to me not to let them down tomorrow.
Wish us all the best of luck.
You're friend and mine,
Jacob O'Neal
How does one go about casting a silent film? The normal audition process allows for actors to read lines and give their take on the characters and materials. All I can figure is that I tell the actors to show me expressions and move in exaggerated ways physically, as it is a broad comedy silent film. If they get it then I guess I'm gonna be pretty damn impressed.
In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're prepping a silent comedy called "Sloshed". I am looking for actors to audition as we would like to start this very short production sometime around the end of August or early September, around the same time as we shoot "...Ellipses". I know this treading very close to my previous post. But maybe I have no tread left and am down to the wire mesh that should be holding me together. Being totally treadless can be a daunting thing. Apparently it can cause a man to ramble about tread. Maybe I need to bring this back down to Earth...not that I want to mix metaphors. Although, maybe if I mix the metaphor with some pineapple juice it could be a pretty damn good one. You never know. Plus, they say pineapple makes certain things a man produces taste better. Okay, I really need to bring this back to whatever it was I started off talking about. What was that? Oh, casting a silent film. Right.
...Eh, it's gone now. I cannot seem to get it back. I just keep thinking about metaphors. I guess I'm gonna go now, before I embarrass myself.
Jacob O'Neal
June 14th -
Are we gluttons for punishment? Here I am today, working my regular job at 5am, reworking scripts and writing new ones on my down time, as well as planning for the two shoots we are currently about to start. To top it off Dylan and I were discussing doing two more shoots concurrently in August or September, pulling double duty - shooting one in the daytime and one at night. Those projects are "...Ellipses" and a recently announced short silent film called "Sloshed".
It's amazing. Here we were last year trying to figure how to get one project going. Now we have two in production, another two slated and three more written and ready. One of the things that Dylan and I have discussed recently is that we want to make sure that we are not repeating ourselves with these projects. Each one has its own distinct flavor - romantic comedy, supernatural drama, silent film, science fiction, slasher film, etc...
We have been trying hard to make sure that everything is different and distinct. I really hope we succeed on making each one have a different visual style and a unique voice. Now I'm gonna get back to my day job and, later, try writing some more of "Angst In My Pants".
Jacob O'Neal
June 12 -
I'm back again. I decided to share with you all a little more about another project I recently wrote. It was floating around in my head for over a year. But it was some pretty serious subject matter. I came up with the idea shortly before my father passed away. The opening scene of the film has to do with a man suffering the loss of his wife. Then my father passed. Having just lost someone very dear to me I was not in the right mindset to write what would eventually become "...Ellipses". Now that there has been some time I finally sat down to try and find a way to put together the random images I had in my head. I had no real story. All I knew were a couple of the things I saw in my mind's eye. So I sat down in front of my trusty computer and decided to figure it out. Two hours later I had a script I was mostly proud of. It's a first draft. Even as it is, if we put it in front of a camera tomorrow, I would not be disappointed with the pages I wrote. That's not me tooting my own horn. I do that at night, with the doors closed and tears of shame streaming down my face as I make God cry. But I digress.
When we were casting for Dopamine we had so many talented people come to audition. Dopamine only has four speaking parts and one part for an extra. We ran into a problem - how do we find ways to plug all these amazing people into projects so that we can utilize and showcase those talents? Simple, fast track other productions and plug these people in. We had a script for "I'm Losing Me" ready so Dylan and I decided to take two of the people we loved from the auditions and offer them parts in that instead, deciding to shoot both that and "Dopamine" at the exact same time. Are we crazy? Maybe. But we didn't want to lose these talented people. Then, I reworked the script to put another person into it that we loved from auditions, writing the part just for her. That brings me back to "...Ellipses".
Recently, there was a moment Dylan and I both did a late audition for a character in "Dopamine" that we could potentially use as an understudy. We both loved her take on the words I wrote. I decided, on a whim, to send her the script for "...Ellipses", offering her the right of first refusal. Thankfully, she really liked the script and wants to do it. Now we have two projects moving into production starting next week, another production we could hopefully move onto as soon soon as August or September, another project after that we potentially like to do by October or November ("BabyFace") which will require a budget. We hope to have something to show before then so we can generate a budget for that film. Slasher films can be made cheap, but not for free. So, if you like what we have to show you in the coming months, we hope you'll be kind enough to help support our future projects.
I think I have taken up enough of your time today. Now I need to get ready to leave for the AJJ concert that Dylan and I will be attending tonight. If you don't know them, check them out. They're a lot of fun and put on an awesome show.
Jacob O'Neal
June 12th -
Here we are, a week away from starting production on I'm Losing Me. June 19th is coming fast. I feel like there's so much to do. And right after we finish the shooting for the day and have lunch we're doing our first rehearsal and script read for Dopamine. it is gonna be a long but fruitful day.
Speaking of Dopamine, we hit a minor setback with a person cast in a small role. Thankfully it didn't take long to find a replacement. We are now fully set with our cast. That's a major reason we held off announcing our cast. Now we're about ready to announce these awesome people to you all. Look for photos and maybe some video soon.
In the meantime, I have been working on some other scripts. We will be adding pages for these upcoming projects soon. I have one that is a dark science fiction story about a man slipping through time, reliving the days before his wife's suicide out of order. Another project is a college sex comedy that subverts the normal preconceived notions we have about stereotypes. Look for more info on those and more soon.
Jacob O'Neal
June 4th -
We are nearing our first day of production on I'm Losing Me. If you go over to the page dedicated to the film you will see our cast announcement and photos of the cast. We're so extremely excited. We're driving out to the desert on June 19th to shoot at an abandoned farm house. It's creepy and beautiful. I am sharing some photos here we have shot at the location previously so you can see what you're in store for when we have this film edited. It is an amazing location and we cannot wait to have our actors out there to play in this world we're creating.
Please check out the pages for each of our upcoming projects for more information.
Jacob O'Neal
All photos are the sole property of Wolf Glitter Productions and cannot be used without express permission.
May 31st, 2021 -
Let me first start off by saying Happy Memorial Day. This holiday means a lot to me as my grandfather served in WWII and both my father and step-father served in Vietnam. I am forever grateful to every man and woman who have sacrificed so much for what we have. I am honored to know you.
Now for what I came here to say today. Not only have we started hammering out a schedule for shooting both Dopamine and I'm Losing Me but I have completed two other scripts - Babyface and an as yet untitled short film. We're hoping to get started on these in the next few months. And we have the cast in place for Dopamine. I cannot wait to announce these folks. They are gonna knock it out of the park. We have also set the cast for I'm Losing Me with a crop of actors that are going to do amazing with that weird little movie. I cannot wait to start showing you all photos and BTS footage from these films.
What's funny is that I initially wrote a short slasher film called Babyface and Dylan and I thought that would be our first project together. The script wasn't up to snuff. It needed some work and I moved on to writing Dopamine as an exercise to myself. I wanted to prove I could write something with no horror or science fiction elements, something that would be easy to shoot and take only one location. Then I wanted to make something really weird at the same time. So I wrote I'm Losing Me. We had been talking about Babyface since 2017. It's a movie that's been rattling around in my head since then...and it will get made. Of that I can assure you.
As for I'm Losing Me, the start date is right around the corner. We're going out to the desert on June 19th to shoot a dream sequence. From there we will start principal photography on Dopamine shortly after, on July 10th. We have a lot of work ahead of us. It'll all be worth it once we have something to show.
More announcements to come very soon.
Jacob O'Neal
May 28th 2021-
Just a short announcement to let everyone know the URL is being updated, and we should see changes within 24-48 hours to our own bona fide URL. Thank you for your patience, and keep your eyes out for further updates!
-Dylan Turnage
It's May 26th of 2021 as I write this. And I am excited, almost as excited as I was to shed my eye glasses and get contact lenses. I should have done it when I lived in rainy Washington. But that's neither here nor there. Okay, maybe more excited than that. If I had to rank getting contacts and starting production on movie projects I think the latter wins. And, although I may not be much for emotion (just ask my ex-girlfriends), I am feeling something right now. And since both my hands are on the keyboard it must be an emotional feeling. Sorry, I'm rambling. Let's get to why I'm writing this post, shall we?
Back in 2019 we had high hopes. I had written a couple scripts I was proud of. We even started production on both. We were trading off on days, shooting Dopamine and I'm Losing Me at the same time. The footage looked great, the performances were good, everything was coming up roses. Then the world lost its shit! We all went into lock down. How are we supposed to make a romantic comedy in the time of Covid without social distancing? How do you show passion and romance without touching and kissing and seeing a man sit on the toilet (well, people could do that during Covid. It just wasn't recommended to do in front of strangers or less than 6 feet apart)? The answer for the romantic comedy Dopamine was simple - we don't. We just had to wait. Now we're halfway through 2021 and some semblance of normalcy is beginning to rear its beautiful head...and we have missed it sorely. So we are grateful for normalcy's return. And that means we are back, baby! There are a lot of great announcements to come.
Here's what I can tell you so far, we have cast both Dopamine and I'm Losing Me with a fresh batch of actors we have complete faith in. Their auditions were fantastic. They are eager to get started. I have made a few tweaks to the scripts that I feel make them better than they were. We have more confidence and excitement than we ever have! Now Dylan and I are embarking on a journey we started over a year ago. But this time with more vim and vigor than ever before. Am I making myself sound old by using phrases like vim and vigor? Too late. I can't take it back. Besides, that phrase is the cat's pajamas.
As you can all clearly see, this website is still under construction. We will be adding and changing things periodically, including the URL. I mean, who really really wants to have a website that starts with site.google.com? So don't save the URL yet. We will have it set to wolfglitterproductions.com soon with more content, more behind the scenes photos and videos, as well as whatever else we feel like...because it's our website and we can do with it as we choose. But, fear not, there will not just be random pictures of cows eating grass or boiling clam chowder. Now, if we can get a picture of a cow boiling clam chowder we may post that.
One other thing while I'm still writing this - I want to give a HUGE shout out to everyone that came and auditioned for us over the last few weeks. We saw so many wonderful people, so much so that it inspired me to write scripts with those actors in mind just so Dylan and I have an excuse to work with them in the future. We are truly blessed to have met so many talented people. June 19th, listen for the starting gun. Check back here soon for more information on these and other projects. We can't wait to share what we're doing with you all.
Jacob O'Neal