The truth about this film community is that we have some of the most hardworking and dedicated professionals I've ever seen.  Keep in mind, I've worked in nearly every major production area (on each coast as an intern)...  and I must say we have the best and brightest right here in Central Florida.

Yet, I think this community struggles because of a few bad apples.  There are people in this community who trash talk everything and everyone -- Nothing is ever good enough for these petty few.  I'm proud of my body of work.  Much of it was produced as a guerrilla filmmaker (My nickname is the OTown Guerilla).  Yet many in this community have delusions of grandeur and walk on water.  I feel sorry for these few who collectively give the area a bad name.  For these people, I can never do anything but fail.

Will everyone like the films that I've made?  Never.  Why do I make them?  Because I love what I do.  Its as simple as that.  For these bad apples, feel free to trash my name as much as you want behind my back.  It changes nothing.  I love making films and I will continue to do so until the day I die.   Just realize this -- Karma has a way of biting you on the ass when you least expect it.

For me, I'll try to keep Karma on my side.

I'm very excited to tell everyone that my feature film debut just got a DVD Release! Back in 2004, I directed an urban drama called "Alone and Restless." Its a wild ride through the world of a drug dealer. I had a great experience making that first film and the DVD is really nicely produced with some great special features.

Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Restless-Medina-Belanger-Annalisa-Michael/dp/B001N0LE8I/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1228603745&sr=8-4

The cast and crew really did a great job making that film. Actors Allan Medina and Martin Seijo really turn in riveting performances. Jamie Belanger also steals the show as the homeless drifter, Molly. I'm very proud of the film -- check out the movie trailer if you have time.

Filming continues to roll along on Bloody 27. We filmed some great seqeunces over the last month. We should have the teaser trailer up in December sometime. We recently had a media event and gotsome great photos of the cast and crew. It was a lot of fun. we are still making some casting decisions or the later scenes in the film. We'll have some more announcements shortly. Overall, this film should scare the hell out of all of you! Just like a horror film should!

Man, what a great audition session this past Saturday! I don't think I've ever seen so many talented people in one place before. It was probably the strongest auditions we've ever held. I'd like to take the time to thank FullSail, its staff and students for helping with our Bloody 27 auditions!

The Alone and Restless web site got a comprehensive overhaul with a new interface. We are proud of our first feature film as its launches it film festival run. Bloody 27 will begin filming later this month and we are about to announce more cast additions. Great news is coming -- stay tuned.

The first open casting call went better than we anticipated! Approximately 127 actors (well, at least that's how many filled out our sign-in sheets) attended our first open casting call! Its wonderful that we've discovered so many great actors and actresses in Central Florida! We are currently reviewing the tapes to narrow down the field. We've got at least 2 more open casting calls -- then callbacks will take place in September. Principle Photography is scheduled for late September.

These are exciting times -- Alone and Restless is finished with Post-Production (finally, I know I'm slow at editing... my attention to detail is probably overkill, but I wanted the first feature film we made to be absolutely perfect) and heading for Film Festivals! We just launched the new web site for our upcoming horror feature film, Bloody 27. I think its got a great look.

Its been a busy year and the best is yet to come.

Finally got to see Reservoir Dogs for the first time yesterday.... I gotta say its one kick ass indie flick from Tarantino!

We'll begin principle photography on July 22nd for Bloody 27! I also just added the movie trailer to my first student film, a short called "Midnight Conflict" -- so you can see where it all began for me... it was a crude effort but I still like to watch it to remember my old film school days!

I'm gonna add a teaser trailer for Bloody 27 probably by September... So stay tuned. Things couldn't be better. I just raised some money to build a new sound stage -- when the building is finished, we'll really be able to crank out the project.

Until then... thanks for all the support and welcome new friends!

Well,

We have filmed the first action sequence on "Bloody 27!" It was a great experience and many thanks to the cast and crew! We've got some spectacular footage and it will make a great opening sequence for the horror film. We'll resume in a couple weeks (I am out of town currently meeting with potential distributors).

The crew was incredible! This is the first time that I was able to work with FullSail graduates and students -- we are really putting together an incredible team of Film grads from UCF, FullSail and Valencia!

I'll post a teaser trailer for "Bloody 27" in August -- so stay tuned!
Also exciting is that when the horror film wraps, we've got a second feature film financed that will start filming in October. We plan on showing all 3 movies at the Enzian theater early next year -- We're gonna call it the Triple Play Premiere (we'll also exhibit my 2004 feature film Alone and Restless)!

We're gonna try to make Orlando the Indie Film capital of the Southeast!

That's all for now -- Mike.....

I'm really excited. We are now conducting auditions for the new feature film. Its going to be quite a roller coaster ride! The film is going to be action packed and we've already got a few great actors attached. This will be the first project we've done with SAG, the previous projects were all non-union.

So what is Bloody 27? Well, its a feature film that blends some Florida folklore with a scary horror film. It will prove to be quite a unique mix. We've got a great crew assembled: The A-Team! Alex Frielings will handle the sound, Ashton Bracciodieta is our Cinematographer and Gabriel C. Pitt is the Executive Producer.

If you are going to be in Florida and would like to audition for a role, don't hesitate to email me. That's the whole reason I joined Myspace.... and thanks for reading my Blog!

I'm getting old -- so I was a little slow signing up for MySpace....  Want to give a shot out to all those living in O-Town!  On the film side, the DVD for Alone and Restless is nearly ready to be fabricated.  We've just got a couple of soundtracks to drop and to wrap up the featurettes.  I'll post shortly the details on the horror feature film that will start filming shortly.