Circle B Productions LLC

07/25/2024

On Tuesday evening 7/23, the CFAA Screenwriting Lab Meeting presented a "cold table read" of a feature film script by members Lorna Norrise and Lauren Rossun called "Unemployed Santa." This family friendly work provided laughter and in some instances teary eyes as CFAA Screenwriting Colleagues and members from the Actors Workshop lent their talents to the event.

An important element in workshoping screenplays involves "cold table reads." It allows writers to hear their work spoken out loud and gain new perspectives on what is working and what needs more development. The CFAA Screenwriting Lab is held the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM at 1767 Tribute Road Suite J (The home of Imported Studios). The Lab Director is Todd Bull. The Lab Education Director is Dawn Spinella. The Lab Activities Director is Olivia Bull.

07/23/2024

Name our new baby! Once in a lifetime chance. Suggestions gladly welcome.

Well we did it! We added a fully refurbished Dell Enterprise level T2920 computer that we've been tracking since we reached a deal for a partial reimbursement on the MEGA PC we had custom made in January 2023 and returned last week.

The custom made unit never fully lived up to its promise, and we worked a deal to get out with an equitable solution as it became clear relaying on one MEGA unit was a bad business strategy. In the future, we'll look for newer refurbished Enterprise Level Units and spread the work out over several workstations.

We now have three Desk Top units and a mega laptop in our arsenal. Our current units in the house are Bighorn (iBuyPower) Ontario (older Dell Enterprise unit) and Hiouchi (Orbital Laptop).

We don't have a name for our new Enterprise Dell Level PC, and we're open to suggestions. It's scheduled to be here later this week. What do you think we should name our new baby? Leave your comments below, and we'll update you on our top selections.

Here are the specs:

Dell Precision T2920 with 2 × Xeon 6148 CPU's with 2.4GHZ for each processor. 20 Core with 40 threads. 256 GB RAM and 1.92TB SSD Hard drive with P5000 Graphics Card, which is built for CAD or Animation work. It comes with Windows 11, but we may pay to license Windows 10, because it has fewer issues. It is WIFI enabled. It has a 1 year warranty from eBay.

Watch for the name of our brand new refurbished Dell Enterprise Unit PC. And be sure to give us a Like, because we like you.

07/20/2024

In the 2015 Feature Film "The Martian" character Mark Watney says "You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem... and then the next one, then the next. And if you solve enough you get to go home."

That quote sums up what we've been through with our custom built animation computer. It's been one heartache after another with excessive crashing and the loss of painstakingly difficult animations scenes. Earlier this month we finally solved enough problems to earn a partial reimbursement for our custom built PC and replace it with two older, but fully refurbished PC's we've named "Bighorn" and "Ontario." We're eyeing yet another spectacular refurbished Enterprise Level Unit, but it's much younger. If our reimbursement money hits our account in time we'll add it to our stable and move forward in warp drive.

Even without the new "apple of our creative eye", animation is back on the menu. Check out these two images. Olivia created one earlier in the week with "Bighorn." The one on the right is an oil painting of Captain Samuel DeWolf, who perished in the tragic sinking of the S.S. Brother Jonathan on July 30th, 1865 off the coast of Crescent City. The avatar on the left is what we'll be using for our Brother Jonathan documentary currently in production. Imagine this avatar saying to our audience " Tell them, that if they had not overloaded us we would have got through all right, and this would never have happened." WOW! It's great to be creating again.

07/15/2024

We've been off social media and quiet in our Filmmaking Community for the last week, because we were overhauling our animation lab with the help and guidance of our dear friend Mark Cieslikowski. For the last eight months we've suffered through constant computer failures with our $8,000 custom built animation PC.

After a few weeks of negotiations we reached an arrangement for a partial reimbursement from the builder of our mega custom computer. That unit will be back on its way to Washington State later this week. We decided to diversify our animation lab so in the future the failure of one computer will not shut down our production work.

We installed two refurbished workstations after we modified upwards their hard drive and RAM capability. They joined our mega laptop system, from our former computer vendor, so we now have three machines that can handle the memory load and processing speed required for the Reallusion Suite of Animation programs and for all our audio and video editing packages.

Once we have our partial reimbursement from our old computer vendor in hand we're going to purchase yet another refurbished Enterprise Level PC to fully create a system that can always move forward even with computer challenges.

06/29/2024

Here are some pictures from our Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) Screenwriting Lab meeting held Tuesday June 25th. Our Educational Director Dawn Spinella provided an informative presentation on the use of "Theme" in creating successful screenplays. After an interactive activity on "Theme" that Olivia designed we had a table reading of Dawn's short script "Owl Creek Bridge." This was our last meeting at the Folsom location. Our July 23rd meeting will start at 7:00 PM and be held at the home of Camera Kitchen and Imported Studios located at 1787 Tribute Road Suite J.

06/22/2024

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." These famous words by Charles Dickens encapsulate the human condition. The quote suggests that in certain periods of time we can experience both immense joy and unbearable suffering. Well folks, that's an extreme, but somewhat accurate portrayal of our current emotional state at Circle B Productions. Permit me to clarify.

Since the fall of 2023 we've had consistent computer issues with our specifically custom made computers for animation. For months and months Olivia has spent hour upon hour trying to sort out if we're having a computer issue or a animation software issue. She has created support ticket after support ticket trying to correct constant crashing of the animation software tools and destruction of time consuming animation work. Every week we fell farther and farther behind on our production schedule for "Singlewide Pride" and "Fawn's Justice."

Today it was decided by Olivia and our computer vendor that our operating system on our monster PC is corrupt and we need to start over. That really stinks, because it's a mammoth undertaking for Olivia. We have to wipe clean the correct internal hard drive (we have more than one), reinstall Windows Ten and then figure out how and where we want to reinstall the dozens and dozens of software package we need to make our animated films.

There is a great deal more darkness we're navigating through - but we'll save those "jewels" for another day. Our immediate business concern, while we sort out our animation computer woes, is how are we going to produce some sort of film so we can move our brand as filmmakers forward? We've only had talking about tomorrow for far too long. We need to create something apart from our animation features, which are behind schedule due to technology woes. While I was walking the dogs it came to me. We've done a ton of research on the sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan on July 30th 1865, three miles off the coast of Crescent City California. That event is detailed in our 3D Photorealistic Civil War drama feature film called "The War of Wills." Olivia has already created hundreds of stills from that time period.

There have been several books and hundreds of articles written about the sinking on the Brother Jonathan where only 19 out of 244 passengers were able to survive. Several influential persons of that era perished, yet there is no significant video representation except for a Travel Channel program that spends just 4 minutes on the actual sinking.

Last week, we reached out to the Del Norte County Historical Society expressing our interest in creating a historical documentary about the sinking of the Brother Jonathan. As previously mentioned, we have already done a great deal of research, some of which have our father Nate Bull's handwriting on photocopies of the material. Del Norte County Historical Society has first hand accounts and original documents, which would add the extra texture we need to create a special film. Museum Manager Karen Betlejewski asked us to send a proposal she could present to the Board of Trustees at their Monday June 17th meeting. Olivia and I rushed out a compelling document about our company and our ties to Del Norte County. Here is the last paragraph:

"Todd and Olivia hope that the Historical Society may see a mutual interest in the realization of a historical documentary about the SS Brother Jonathan. A documentary dedicated to the poignant human interest stories of the victims and survivors would allow for greater depth than previous coverage by other documentarians. The filmmakers hope to gain access to the materials in the Historical Society’s possession for use in the documentary. This would allow the story to be told with the richness it deserves for the benefit of history lovers everywhere."

When I spoke with Karen on Tuesday June 18th, and asked how it went? She answered "Unanimous approval by the Board of Trustees. They said Let's go for it." So we're in production for a "Ken Burns" style historical documentary on the sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan in 1865 except we'll be fortifying the meager historical photographic material that currently exists with AI generated images, historical documents, and interviews of regional historians. Eventually we'll have the main players in this drama recreated in 3D photorealistic animation, speaking the words history has recorded. Image if you will a brief animation of Captain Samuel DeWolf shouting out to the only lifeboat to successfully launch "Tell them, if they had not overloaded us, we would have got through all right." Circle B Productions will figuratively be bringing back the dead. Perhaps we should call on Charles Dickens once again to end this post. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

06/11/2024

I'll be there manning a Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) table this Saturday at this outstanding Indie Filmmaking event. Amazing workshops and networking events including a mixer. Check it out and make sure to stop by our table.

Northern California's all new film, animation, and vfx expo!

06/02/2024

A few quick pics from the Film Fiesta last night with our host D'Adonis Moquette. We wish more filmmaking creatives had shown to celebrate filmmaking in Sacramento, but there was a steady stream of folks enjoying the open bar, great tacos and exciting networking. CFAA was one of the sponsors and they were represented by five active CFAA Board Members. Laurie Pederson, Donna-Lisa Otto, Steve Orceno, D'Adonis Moquette and myself represented CFAA. I had great discussions with Kierre and Elizabeth Stowes from SacTown Movie Buff FF and Donovan Murphy - Mr. Sound Engineer in our region. I also spent some time talking with several aspiring screenwriters pitching our Screenwriting Lab at CFAA.

05/31/2024

On Tuesday, May 28th, the Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) Screenwriting Lab convened for the first time with its newly instated leadership team, comprising Todd Bull as Lab Director, Dawn Spinella as Education Director, and Olivia Bull as Activities Director. The Lab has evolved from a peer review-centric format to one that encompasses screenwriting education, interactive activities, and table readings of CFAA members' work. During the meeting, Larry Wattson's short script, 'Love Wins,' was selected for the Table Reading portion of the evening. The script, which has been chosen for the 2024 'A Place Called Sacramento Film Festival,' is currently in pre-production. The CFAA Screenwriting Lab aims to assist writers in crafting exceptional stories that will be transformed into remarkable indie films, further solidifying Sacramento's reputation as a unique filmmaking destination.

05/24/2024

I had a great time earlier this week at the CFAA monthly Filmmakers Forum in our new location of 1767 Tribute Rd in Sacramento. Our hosts are Camera Kitchen and Imported Studios. We had a very interesting and informative panel discussing working as Director of Photography or DP.

05/16/2024

At Circle B Productions, we have been working tirelessly on multiple endeavors, including our two 3D Photorealistic Animation Feature Films, 'Singlewide Pride' and 'Fawn's Justice,' as well as Screenwriting Instruction initiatives with a new partner. These income-generating activities complement our enhanced involvement in the Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) Screenwriting Lab, where we recently sent our first monthly newsletter to 130 members via our upgraded 'free' Mailchimp account. We are pleased with Mailchimp's advanced design and analytics, which also serve as valuable training for our future 'paid' Mailchimp account to promote our films and screenwriting services. Despite our recent focus on other projects, we have continued to make progress on our movies, as evidenced by the additional stills from 'Singlewide Pride' below.

04/26/2024

It's been a long road, building the Twilight Mobile Home Park and surrounding neighborhood, but the work is finally done. We're in the process of saving the park in a variety of iterations, including weather changes, time of day, and a decade of transformation.

In the upcoming weeks and months we'll share stills from what is essentially the set for a large percentage of "Singlewide Pride" our 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Film now deep in produce at Circle B Productions LLC.

The theme for this feature film is:

"How far would you go to do the wrong thing for the right reason."

04/13/2024

After three years of rigorous research and overcoming various life challenges, including the loss of loved ones, financial difficulties caused by COVID-19, a time-sensitive renovation of two bathrooms, orchestration of a public wedding, finding revenue for two replacement custom made animation computers, and recording two separate voice over casts for 3D Photorealistic Animation Feature Films, we have finally reached the exciting reboot of our first screenplay created from the beginning as a 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Film script titled 'The Hunting Cabin.'

This highly anticipated film stars the enigmatic metaphysical being commonly referred to as Sasquatch or Bigfoot, and today marks the beginning of our renewed script journey, featuring a unique 'Crash' style screenplay that showcases the world from the perspective of this fascinating creature. We are thrilled to embark on this new chapter and cannot wait to see the finished product.

04/09/2024

This is Tony Freeman's Harley - the gift he gets for spending 10 years in prison and keeping secret the name of his ma*****na sales partner, a man named Art Perfect. Tony Freeman and Art Perfect are two major characters in the 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Film "Singlewide Pride." In fact, Art Perfect is the lead role, voiced by veteran actor Peter Allwine. Tony Freeman is Art's life long friend, portrayed by Sacramento voice over actor Stan Bautista.

Olivia bought this model at an online 3D model clearinghouse. It came with a whole lot of cussing. There were over 350 unique pieces that needed to have textures added, probably 5 or 6 textures for each item. Every leather stud and engine bolt had to be addressed individually. With few exceptions, Olivia had to create the textures herself; the model only came with a couple of lights and a speedometer. Some of the meshes (items) could not be changed, so she had to delete them and create replacements by hand.

Olivia chose the color, what she calls cat's eye green, because she thought it would stand out without being as brash as red or as dour as black. We think the color highlights the details more clearly than other options. It also happens to match the color of the eyes of her favorite cat. It just worked out that way. We especially like the personalized license plate: Free Man.

03/31/2024

Whether you celebrate Easter as part of your religion or just enjoy a chance to spend time with family and friends we at Circle B Productions wish you all the best.

03/27/2024

Last night was an exciting event at the CFAA monthly Screenwriting Lab Meeting as we had a Table Reading of the 1997 Academy Award Winning Original Screenplay "Fargo." The Screenwriting Lab is dedicated to helping members develop their screenplays through Table Readings, Peer Reviews, Presentations from Accomplished Guest Speakers, and much more.

Award Winning Screenplay Writer Aaron Sorkin believes reading other successful screenplays is critical for success. "A good writer borrows from other writers. A great writer steals from them outright." We realize people have busy lives, so when we don't have our members work ready for review in a cold table reading, we're exposing our members to the cream of the crop of award winning screenplays. The CFAA reading of "Fargo" attracted new writers and actors, many of which inquired about becoming CFAA members. Feedback from participants is extremely positive.

In our April Screenwriting Lab Meeting, we're scheduled to have two CFAA member short film scripts up for review and table readings. The CFAA Screenwriting Lab Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 6:30 to 9:00 PM at 909 Mormon Street in Folsom.

03/26/2024

Don't miss our Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) Screenwriting Lab Table Reading of the 1997 Academy Award Winning Screenplay "Fargo." All CFAA members are encouraged to participate, especially actors, as there are 46 parts of all shapes and sizes available. This is a "cold reading" event starting at 6:30 PM on Tuesday March 26th. Casting begins as early as 6:00 PM at 909 Mormon Street in Folsom.

03/15/2024

The sets and characters for our film Singlewide Pride are a mix of homegrown assets that we make ourselves and ready-made assets that we buy online. For example, it's really tough to find tire tracks in use in sand, so the tracks in this character study are indeed homegrown.

All the characters in our film are a bit unusual, but attorney-turned-hippie Patrick Stamper is among the most eccentric. For example, he drives a Volkswagen Bus model T2 that's constantly breaking down even though he could easily upgrade his wheels. He refuses to on general principle. Accommodating this particular eccentricity means we need a 3D model of a VW bus - not only with doors that open, but with a complete engine as well.

After a diligent search over the course of the past several months, we finally found a model that fits the bill. It's a splendid bonus that it comes complete with a custom paint job, hippie style. The paint job wasn't called out in the script, but now we can't imagine our film without it.

The images in this sequence are purely for the purpose of character study - study of the VeeDub, not the man. We know all about Patrick Stamper already. He's the one who delivers the line that's the theme of Singlewide Pride: "How far would you go to do the wrong thing for the right reason?"

This is how we meet Patrick Stamper and his VW bus in the photorealistic 3D animated feature film script "Singlewide Pride."

EXT. TWILIGHT MOBILE HOME PARK - DAY

PATRICK STAMPER, a scrappy man in his sixties, tries
unsuccessfully to get his 1971 Volkswagen Bus to start.
Harmony skates past followed by Duke. Art trails them.
Stamper swings open the engine covering.

ART
Now, there’s a ride you don’t see
everyday.

PATRICK STAMPER
Can’t afford a new starter or the
mechanic to install it.

ART
Can we push start it?
Art stops. Patrick Stamper puts the engine covering down.

PATRICK STAMPER
Hi, I’m Patrick Stamper.

ART
I’m Art, and I have an idea.

PATRICK STAMPER
I wish everyone did.

03/08/2024

Here are stills from a set Olivia's been working on for "Singlewide Pride" for the past four days. These houses will surround Twilight Trailer Park that is the central setting for our film.

While AI offers a great boost for creating custom backgrounds (like a flat in a play), we're making a 3D animated film. A static backdrop works best when the camera isn't moving. It's hard to replace models like these in scenes that involve a lot of action or movement because you lose the parallax effect.

Two of our main characters Art Perfect (portrayed by Peter Allwine) and Tony Freeman (voiced by Stan Bautista) will drive past these homes more than once in our film, so it's worth the time and care we've invested.

This complete neighborhood comes from a vendor Olivia found at an online 3D model clearinghouse. The market caters to creatives like us, plus architects and people who do 3D printing. It's a great boost to be able to buy assets online and then customize them. This is a real time saver compared to building the models ourselves.

The problem with buying assets outside of the Reallusion store is that a lot of the models are in FBX format, which means they are completely white when they're imported into the scene. They're all shape and no color. The colored texture files come separately (if at all), and they have to be applied manually to every single asset.

This set includes more than 80 buildings, plus about as many street fixtures such as mailboxes, street lights and fire hydrants. The road comes in several hundred segments. Each asset has half a dozen texture files. In short, Olivia touched everything in this scene, from the grass to the sky. It's a lot of work, but it will all show up as part of our Twilight world.

03/02/2024

You may not have noticed, but our webmaster Eddie Madrigal, has been slowly transforming our Circle B Productions website into something very special. Please note the pace of the transformation is not a reflection on Eddie, but rather the realities of our budget. We are a two person company self funded and years away from producing revenue from our feature films. Nevertheless as we find extra money here and there we send it to Eddie with suggestions and additional content for him to work with. These two pictures were recently added to our website slide show for "Fawn's Justice" and "Singlewide Pride."

https://circlebproductions.com

02/29/2024

We had a second informal Table Read in our revamped Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) Screenwriting Lab, which occurs on the fourth Tuesday of each month. CFAA member Chris Wallace authored "The Call-In" a 29 page script in development, but showing amazing promise as an indie short or if he chooses a great start towards a feature film.

Several CFAA members of the Actors Workshop and other writers volunteered to cold read the material. Chris received many helpful notes from screenwriting members as well as interesting thoughts from actors in attendance. Part of the new CFAA Screenwriting Lab features Table Reads of new material in development at each and every meeting except when quest speakers are lecturing. The CFAA Screenwriting Lab is led by Board Members Rick Kuebler and Todd Bull.

02/28/2024

We recently received our copyright confirmation from the Library of Congress for our screenplay "Singlewide Pride." As you may know "Singlewide Pride" is presently in production as a 3D Photorealistic Animation Feature Film and once it's complete we'll file a copyright for the actual film before it's released.

02/20/2024

This is the Come-In Motel from our 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Film "Singlewide Pride" currently in production. We will continue to refine it even more once we get actors into the scene. For now, we think it's pretty good. Even though it's not in the script, we found it necessary for Art & Tony to drive past this motel on their way to Twilight Mobile Home Park for Tony's big homecoming.

The screenwriting set up and pay off can be found below in actual lines from the copyrighted script. *Please note the text is not set to proper screenwriting formatting so it can fit into this space.

EXT. TWILIGHT MOBILE HOME PARK - LATER

This shabby section of Eureka has gone farther downhill. Art
drives Sapphire past the Twilight Mobile Home Park sign.

TONY
First day out of the can and you
drag me back to this cage?

ART
Didn’t exactly see anyone with you
at the funeral.

TONY
I got a voucher for the Come-In
Motel. Take me there, man.

ART
Come-In Motel rents by the hour.

TONY
How do you know?

ART
Everybody knows.

Tony punches Art’s upper arm.

ART (CONT’D)
I missed you too.

02/12/2024

Work on our 3D-animated dramedy Singlewide Pride continues apace. Since our 2-day recording session in early December, we've been working steadily on the audio aspects of the film. This includes selecting takes from the sessions, choosing and editing the soundtrack, and refining the voices. Even though it's exciting to hear to film come alive through our talented actors, the work is exacting and sometimes headache inducing. It's nice to be able to take a "sidebar" now and then.

Today was one of those times we needed a break from the minute details involved in normalizing levels, rolling off the messy low end, applying compression, and otherwise cleaning up the actors' voices. The result can be seen in these stills of the deluxe law offices frequented by our hero, Art Perfect, as he builds up his real estate development business - just in time for the housing crisis and economic crash of 2008. The name of the firm? It could only be Dewey, Cheatham & Howe.

02/04/2024

Sometimes it feels like all I do each week is handle business roadblocks and avoid corporate firestorms. Most of my Circle B Productions activity this week was dealing with legalities.

Our General Liability Insurance was not renewed by Liberty Mutual because they are pulling this product out of California. I scrambled to find a new policy required by our lease agreement.

We got a letter from the wonderful folks at the Franchise Tax Board asking me if we filed our 2020 LLC taxes. I spent hours photocopying documents so we could prove we did file, but it was part of my personal tax return. My tax return, including the California documents, is 277 pages long.

I filed an updated Singlewide Pride screenplay Copyright claim with the Government Copyright Office. Their website is complicated and outdated. I had a lot of starts and stops before I could figure it all out.

I negotiated a better deal for our Circle B Productions Internet services in our business office saving $115 dollars a month. We were paying $247 a month and we're only in that office three or four days a week.

I got into this business so I could create, yet most of what I do is to determine creatively how to keep the lights on. I long for the day, hopefully in a few weeks, when I can file our 2023 taxes and get back to writing "The Hunting Cabin" script.

Until then my creative side is satiated by consulting with Olivia on 3D animation strategy, working with our web designer on updates to CircleBProductions.com. This week we added some new Singlewide Pride stills and loaded the Fawn's Justice Teaser. I also reviewed and consulted with a CFAA writer on his screenplay "Two Brothers". Next week I will do the same with another CFAA writer and his short script "The Call In." I guess that's why they call it "Show BUSINESS."

01/28/2024

Olivia and I attended a premiere in Fairfield last night for this short film called "Wonderville." We were invited by Scott Slagle, pictured on this poster as "Worm", the guy blowing out some smoke. Scott has done voice over acting in both of our 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Films in production "Singlewide Pride" and "Fawn's Justice."

The project was started as a film project at San Francisco State by Director and Writer Tony Alfaro. It is an interesting twist of "Alice and Wonderland" as a 30 minute neo-noir film. It was produced by Swing Shot Films. An interesting Q and A session with some of the cast and crew followed the screening. We ran into Donovan Murphy, who did sound recording, producing and post work on the project. He was accompanied by Sacramento based Screenwriting Expert and accomplished Film Director Dawn Spinella. We did a great deal of networking during the champagne and cake portion of the event.

01/25/2024

Here are some stills from today's work on Singlewide Pride our 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Film currently in production. This particular scene required some specialized knowledge as well as custom assets. It takes place in the construction trailer on a commercial job site in Eureka, California.

This scene is set in October 2008 at the start of the Great Recession following the greatest mortgage loan crisis in recent history. This scene takes place just after Art & Leslie meet with Timberman's bank and discover that there's no more funding for the final phase of their commercial project, a quaint boutique mall named Perfect Places.

It's a tense confrontation with their Project Supervisor, Buster, as they tell him to layoff the entire crew without pay. The situation tests not only Art and Leslie's romantic relationship, but Art's physical mettle as well. The crew turns on him and soundly beats him to a pulp. Seeking "medication" from his neighbor Sheila in the form of medical ma*****na, Art discovers a new path to riches - a situation that lands Leslie squarely in Sheila's crosshairs.