The budget issue is still not resolved. Either we get more money or we have to cut $4000 from the production costs. This means recasting two models, cutting back on the cost of the sets and creating the film's score from my music library. With co-director TY HUDSON currently in Europe, the decision-making process is a slow one, as I am only able to communicate with him via e-mails at 6:30am every day.

I talked to the studio to see if we could cut a grand from our set budget without compromising the quality, and I'm waiting to hear back as to what the owner thinks. There are two sets that need to be constructed. The first is the monastery of the Dark Monk, the negative or "bad" deity who is trying to throw Dante's life into chaos. Ty created some very nice production sketches for this set, and I thought I'd show you a couple of them. This is from the perspective of standing at the opposite end looking directly at it.



Note the black and white checkerboard floor, which will be the most difficult part of making the set, as a painted floor is easily scuffed and must be constantly retouched as people walk on it. The floor is symbolic of the chess game the two deities play, manipulating events that will affect Dante's life. The symbol in the middle of the floor will be a tattoo that Dante sports. The yellow strips on the walls are rolls of fabric that hang over. The archway in the back of the set will have a curtain of fog behind it for a dramatic entrance by the Dark Monk (played by Ty). Perching on the two short columns, you will see the sex demons (which kind of remind me of the demon dogs from GHOSTBUSTERS). They will be played by ZACKARY PIERCE and another model who is up for replacement. They will have a three-way with Ty.

Next is a topical schematic of the Dark Monk monastery:



Here you can see how the short walls will jut out from the back set and end in the short columns. There will be a small space behind the archway where the Dark Monk can wait before he makes his appearance. On either side of that space are areas that Ty wanted to decorate as the monk's personal study and bedroom, but costs prohibited that, and since no scenes actually took place there, I felt it was unnecessary. The camera will never look back there, so it doesn't need to exist.

More to come...

JBK