Welcome

This is the current home to pre-production news, thoughts and rumblings for the upcoming feature film "The There There", written and directed by me, Jason Ryan.

Instead of crowding the blogosphere with yet another self-serving promotional site, I'd like to use this space to fully explore what I'm feeling as I gear up to finally complete my first feature length motion picture this year.

Over the last couple years I watched a project very close to my heart, "Ugly (Is a Movie)" die a slow and agonizing death. So at the very least, this "mulligan" of a new project should be interesting.

So, let me introduce myself and the project with a few tidbits of confirmed information:
1. The film will be primarily shot on HD video in and around the Seattle area. This is a break from my previous works which have almost exclusively been shot on Super 8 or 16mm film. While I do acknowledge a sadness in letting go of my passion for celluloid temporarily, I just simply can't afford to shoot on film. So video it is. I am going to incorporate some footage shot on film though, which brings us to...

2. The film is about a projectionist, who earlier in his youth was an experimental filmmaker. He abandons the craft to raise a family when he gets his girlfriend pregnant. This structure allows for some narrative diversions (which some my might call my "jam") as "his" older films and some movies-he's-projecting-within-a-movie diversions creep their way into the narrative.

3. "The There There" will be a very bare bones production with a very minimal crew, only an outline of a script and a cast of almost entirely non-actors. While this might smack of "mumblecore", I assure you the workflow I have in place isn't to glom on to some Joe Swanberg-fueled bandwagon. It truly makes sense for a film of this scope and size and I'm looking forward to working this way for this project. I'd like to try a crack at a very produced, minutely detailed "magnum opus" someday but for now the more laid back approach is crucial to actually make this project a reality.

You might be getting the impression that I'm being unnecessarily cautious or pessimistic about this film seeing the light of day and while you may be right about that, the failure of "Ugly (Is A Movie)" was hard to recover from and much like a jilted lover, I'm really trying not to get my hopes up too much with something new on the horizon.

Having said that, I am excited about this film and do think it's within my grasp. So what to expect from this blog? In the coming weeks I will begin to outline the film in detail little by little (without giving too much away, hopefully) and will post any production information as it is confirmed. More importantly, though, this will primarily serve as a place for me to bare all - the frustrations, the inspiration, the excitement, the trepidation, the nervousness, the giddiness - as I embark on the journey to realize a life-long dream of mine: to produce and direct a feature film fully independently. Wish me luck.

-Jason Ryan
writer/director and producer of "The There There"