theprophetelijah

Long time no speak, folks! So sorry about that. We’ve been very busy over here, finishing the film. Good news, though: it is done!

It’s been quite the journey to completion, but we couldn’t be more proud of the finished product, and hope you’ll share our enthusiasm once the Kickstarter rewards start shipping out at the end of September.

Reminder: if you haven’t filled out your backer survey, please do it ASAP so we can get you all your cool stuff!

The team is now beginning to submit to film festivals for our inevitable 2013 premiere and are very excited to see where the film plays.

Head over to the Making Of page for some awesome behind-the-scenes videos to whet your appetite for the film. Our EPK team did a fantastic job putting together a whole series of videos. We’ve been releasing them weekly, and have two more to go, for a total of five. Kickstarter backers receiving the Special Edition DVD will get all the videos plus two exclusive behind-the-scenes videos that will not be released online until next year. Nifty, right?

Thanks to everyone for all your support so far. Onward!

JC

It’s been a week since we wrapped production on Elijah the Prophet, and I’ve finally caught up on my sleep. It’s a strange feeling to not wake up and know there’s nothing to be done for the film, as David and I have been working on it nearly non-stop for seven months.

The film is now in the capable hands of our Editor, Laurence Cohen, and we’re all excited to see the assembly cut. We’ve set personal deadlines and are hoping to stick to our schedule, so keep your fingers crossed for a smooth post production phase.

In recalling the production with friends, I can’t help but gush about my talented cast and crew, all of whom this film wouldn’t be the same without. As we all departed Sunday night, I made many claims to the effect of “I hope we can work together again soon” and I meant it every time. The crew was ace, and I consider myself lucky to have worked with them.

I’ve had some preliminary discussions with Andrew, our Composer, and we’re both excited about the sound the film will take on. I don’t want to give anything away yet, but I think you’ll dig it.

We’ll keep you posted as post moves along, but just wanted to stop in and say hi.

James Cooper
Director

Ho-ly shit! That’s a wrap!

2:48am as we ship out our equipment on the second and final day of production, and it’s been incredible.

The debt I owe my cast and crew is insurmountable, and I thank each of them from the bottom of my heart.

Art Hindle brought Elijah to life in a way I could have only dreamed, and my fantastic Director of Photography, Alwyn Kumst brought his A game, creating shots beyond what I thought we’d ever see when we set out to make the film.

No production is without hiccups, however, and we ended up having to make some tough decisions tonight after unforeseen circumstances lead to our police car being towed only a few shots after we began using it. Through some ingenuity and creative problem solving, though, we made our day with little sacrifice.

When I’ve had more sleep I’ll give a full view of the production, but I am just too excited right now to not write anything.

Thank you for your support and/or interest in the project.

James Cooper
Director

As I type this, we have under twenty four hours until we go to camera on Elijah the Prophet!

Aside from a few small details, we’re ready to rock and roll. Wardrobe has created the looks for our great characters, our prop department has bags upon bags of items to bring the world to life, and I’m exhausted from a long day of traveling around the city doing prep work.

Writers Zach & Jesse Herrmann are in town from New York, and they (along with everyone else on our cast/crew) are excited to see their script come to life before them.

It was seven months ago that David and I set out to make Elijah the Prophet a reality, and it’s been exciting every step of the way. We thank everyone who has played a role in bringing the film to this point, from the cast and crew to the backers that brought us success in our Kickstarter ventures and anyone who has shown their support for the project. It’s taken a lot of people to get us here, and we appreciate everything you’ve all done for us.

Onward and upward!

James Cooper
Director

by Zachary Herrmann

There are not many things I can think of that began life on a stretch of highway between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. I had a friend whose mother gave birth in the back of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. But actually, now that I think about it, that may have been in New Jersey.

When my brother Jesse and I came up with the idea for Elijah the Prophet, there were less bodily fluids involved. Unless you want to count creative juices (ha!). It definitely happened on that quiet stretch of highway though, heading back from our family Seder in Harrisburg.

The Cliff Notes blow-by-blow of Jewish history doesn’t exactly read for chuckles. Maybe that’s why humor (albeit guilt-ridden and self-deprecating) seems so essential to me as a part of a “Jewish” cultural identity. Granted I’m not an overtly religious person, but the tradition part is pretty entrenched in my life. So many of my best memories come from family get-togethers, specifically, those tied to Passover.  As Prince once said, “There is joy in repetition, there is joy in repetition, there is joy in repetition”.

What I’m trying (and failing) to convey here as a writer who always wanted to write something

a) funny
b) on the nature of family

it’s a bit surprising I never looked to Passover for inspiration. Thank Jesse for that. If we’re keeping score (brothers always do), I’m fairly certain Elijah was Jesse’s idea first.

But, since we have now established we are in fact keeping score (brothers always do), I was the one who sent the script off to the Canadian Screenplay Competition. And promptly forgot I did so. And accidentally ignored the first email telling us we were finalists*. But then got the threatening last notice.

With James’s and David’s involvement, coming in the wake of our CSSC win (natch), Elijah has new life. Hearing both of them talk about the script, I realize Jesse and I may have hit on a lot more than I thought we could in a brief, irreverent piece — family, faith, loss of innocence. This from a short script that started as a joke after a few too many ceremonial glasses of wine.

I have said to James many times in the past, that “my fake ideas are infinitely better than my real ones”. Now that we have blurred the line by raising $21,000 for an idea we might have casually discarded as a funny piece of dinner conversation, I don’t know what to think.

Except that, maybe I should go with my gut instinct: I blame Jesse.

* To be fair, if I have learned nothing from a lifetime of computer viruses and spam, it’s that an email titled “Congratulations!” is junk mail. This happened to be the exception proving the rule.

Thank you one and all for stopping by the project blog/site for our short film Elijah the Prophet. We’re just getting things under way here, so pardon the sparseness of the site at the moment.

Keep your eye on the site for blog updates from our crew, video diary entries, casting announcements and a lot more. We’re going to do our best to pack the site full of fun stuff to keep you coming back. In a bit, we’ll post some of the awesome concept artwork being done by our illustrator Dave Francoisa.

If you ended up here through our Kickstarter campaign, I want to take a moment to personally thank you for your support, be it financial, spiritual, whatever. This project will never see the light of day without people like you to help champion it, and we’re grateful for every pair of eyes that give us a moment of their time.

Check back soon, there’s more coming. Promise!

Sincerely,
James Cooper, Director