yes, believe it or not (and I’m not quite sure I do yet) we are done on principal photography on our first film. Sugarhouse Lane wrapped last night: on schedule and amazingly on budget. A testament to the remarkable cast and crew who assembled under the slingshot banner to prove that a thing can be done differently and well at the same time.

Tonight the party, tomorrow the sleep; and day after normal service will resume over here on the slingblog.

Somthing that has been occupying me this week is how much a movie going audience values “newness”. That extra value that we impart to something, because it is so NOW, so JUST OUT, so the FIRST.
Three very different contexts for thinking about this:

1. First, in the release-windows. Do you remember the days that VHS used to be premium priced on release, in the early 90s a VHS of a block-buster could cost as much as 40 quid when it first came out. Why? because people value new-ness. In all the debate (not all of it civil or sensible) about day and date, VOD and collapsing the DVD window, people should remember some basic economic theory about premium pricing - there is almost certainly a way to still capture the value that people place on “newness” whilst catering to the reality that not all of them will be able to get to the cinema to experience that newness on the big screen.
2. Another example that demonstrates the value of newness is the current consternation about Infamous the 2nd movie in as many years to investigate Truman Capote and the writing of In Cold Blood. Despite the excellent pedigree and advanced notices that the movie is getting, it is received wisdom everywhere that it won’t come close to achieving the audiences that Capote did. Why? Because its second. Despite the convicing arguments made here that “We do not write off this year’s “Hamlet” because we enjoyed last year’s”
3. Finally, an example of our own. We released a photograph of the Sugarhouse Lane logo this week on the production blog to immediate excitement. Despite the fact that its not necessarily the logo that the film will have, but a tag done by graffiti artists that we like. Why? Cause its new and they saw it there first.

oh yes. it begins. SUGARHOUSE LANE, slingshot’s very first film starts shooting this Sunday. After a year of tears and fears the moment appears. Clearly we are just giddy from the excitement and can’t help but write in rhyme.

And the excellent news is that you can be a fly on the wall for all the latest on-set intrigue and high jinks. Watch Andy Serkis in tatoos, see Ashley Walters with fake teeth, behold a production crew second to none over at the sugarblog

(but don’t forget us back here, where normal service will continue more or less uninterrupted)

Couple of other lovely pieces about Sugarhouse Lane and slingshot in The Stage

(which references the original and excellent stage play, Collision, on which our film is based)

and also in TotalFilm, which includes the lovely image of their journalistic staff: “stamping their feet” in support of slingshot… Thanks Guys, we stamp our feet right back at you!

Well, you heard it here first, loyal slingbloggers, but the rest of the world now knows also. SCREEN covered the announcement of SUGARHOUSE LANE today - slingshot’s first film…

“Walters, Serkis and Mackintosh on board for Sugarhouse Lane”.

“New UK-based digital film production and distribution company Slingshot will begin shooting its debut feature Sugarhouse Lane on Aug 21. Director Gary Love makes his feature film debut, with a script by Dominic Leyton based on his stage play Collision….”

And then there’s a quote from me, which sounds suspiciously premeditated:

“The energy and pace of this project make it a perfect fit with slingshot’s own ethos. In less than six months we have gone from our first meeting with the writer to the first day of principal photography – this is not something that happens very often in the British film industry. For SUGARHOUSE LANE to have managed it - and with a cast and crew as excellent and exciting as this - categorically proves that what matters is the strength of your belief, the integrity of your approach and the quality of the material; not the size of your budget. The talent and commitment of our collaborators on this project affirms our faith in the slingshot model, and fills us all with fire to make a really great film”.

So, filled with fire we are…more about Sugarhouse Lane here

Arvind