Life of Kyle Prohaska

I woke up Tues morning a little under the weather.  Itchy throat, feeling a bit “off” I guess you would say.  Not really sick at that point but it was coming.  Standing Firm was Blessed a lot today.  I had a lot of great conversations on the phone, one of them like 2 hours.  It seems more and more others are finding out about our project, asking questions, wondering what our distribution plans are, what’s left to finish, etc.  God brought us two possible investment opportunities to get our film done but until we get a response from one of the distributors that have the film, we’ll wait.  My only worry in having a distributor pay for something on the Post end (particularly the score) is me not having much say in who it is.  We need a great score, but I’m sure they know that lol.

Either way the comments we received were great.  I even spoke to Patrick Dougtie who Directed the recent Letters to God, which will be in theaters this upcoming Spring.  I showed him the first few minutes of the film, an interview clip or two, all comments were very positive  Our fan page on Facebook broke 4600 today which blows my mind!  That’s over double what we had in the beginning of the month.  Fans seem to be praying a lot for our film which is great.  That’s what we really need…is to build up a large following well before the release date is even set.  After the release date is set and we have distribution, start marketing, etc. that fan base will just grow on top of what we have at that point!  Some don’t start anything then by the time the marketing starts they only reach so many before release…we’ve been spreading the word for almost 3 full years, even having a website active 6 months before shooting.  It’s important when your not sure you’ll have any money to market

I think the demand for this movie will be high when the news gets out.  There is so much for people to grab onto in the story and relate to.  It has a lot of layers, where the viewer will either connect with all of them or just one or two, but that’s what makes the film a good sell I think…a wider target.  Even though it’s tailored towards the Christian market (which is a niche market anyways), it’s target within that niche really doesn’t have any limitations. (at least I think so, hopefully I’m not wrong, lol…what a shame that would be!)

Father and son relationships (two of them in this film), marriage issues and unequally yoked relationships, romantic interest for the son (courting and dating for teens), dealing with an unsaved co-worker (very common), loss of loved ones (the suffering lesson can be wrapped into almost any “negative” circumstance), and the list goes on…

I’m extremely excited to see if anyone catches that about our film and makes us an offer.  I want to see this film reach as many people as possible.  It was after all this talking, online chatting, etc. that my body began to shake.  My head was hurting a little and my balance was off.  I normally kick sickness really quickly.  My body is a tank when it comes to that stuff, but when it fights it really hard…it’s like a war going on.  My muscles were aching, body shaking, throat sore, etc.

Like an idiot I decided to go to Vintage tonight because it was a big event I didn’t want to miss.  I was there about 10 minutes and got in the car to come home.  By time I got there, I realized how hard it was going to be to drive home if I didn’t leave.  Ah well, it was worth a try.  When I went to bed, I must’ve crashed hard because after only about 4 hours I woke up at 3am feeling much more normal but my body was on FIRE.  I had a fever and my heart was pumping like crazy.  I counted like 130 bpm and that was after I went downstairs to get something to drink and I had sat for a few minutes.  Luckily my body seemed rested because laying down again really made the headache worse…not fun.  I’ve been up since then and just working on a website that is due really soon.  I’m meeting a guy from that Buffalo Magazine @ 1 in Lewiston so hopefully I’m much more up to driving and going out at that point.

Till next time…*cough*

awesome...

This blog entry will include the last three days (27, 28, 29th) so bear with me.  My car was pretty well packed when I got up in the morning but personal stuff that I needed for the trip had yet to be packed.  Drinks, food, etc.  I didn’t get out of the house until about 9:30 and that was after I stood in my home and just soaked everything in, that includes my room.  The last thing I took from the house was a picture of me and my parents.  I really wanted at least one photo to have in my room.  On my way out of WNY I stopped at the church to grab something and ended up staying longer than I thought.  We all prayed in the office (the NFBC team I guess you would call us), and while I was there I burned some sermon CDs for the trip.  I got out of there about 10:30am, a lot later than I would’ve wanted but that’s ok.

The drive was a little tough the first day because I was still a little sick and my head had a lot of pressure going on.  NY, PA, OH, etc. all look a like so the drive was boring, but I knew I had prettier states to look forward to.  I stopped at a rest stop to eat a salad (no it wasn’t a BIG salad) <–Seinfield reference.  On my way out of there it was pouring really bad.  I haven’t seen rain that hard in a while.  Of course I had flip flops on and got my jeans all wet on my way to the car…Oi.  It was raining so hard that on my way out of the rest stop on the highway people pulled over and had their four-ways on.  I was fine driving in it so I kept going and in no time at all I was out of the rain.  I drove about 850 miles that day and stopped outside of Iowa City in Iowa (duh).  The in I was at was a Days Inn and was in a really weird spot off the road, the kind of environment you expect to be attacked in, lol.  I fell asleep almost immediately after about 13 hours of driving.

The next morning I got on the road early and felt great.  The sickness had worn off pretty well and I had a clear head.  I try and keep my mind occupied when I drive like that, almost zoning out to keep your mind from moving too fast.  Mine goes a million miles an hour so to make time fly I need to be still.  I drove a long time that day, at least 1100 miles or so.  It was a 16 hour drive day, and I pushed it a bit far.  I could barely stay awake at the wheel but it was at a point in the drive where rest stops weren’t anywhere and neither were hotels/motels.  I made it to one though so that’s good.  On the way there though I saw some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip.  Denver is absolutely gorgeous, and the rocky’s are incredible to look at.  All the little towns in there have so much history just by the buildings, and the small is like a really rich pine smell, much more potent than where I live (which is covered in pines).  The drive itself was fun too.  Lots of windy roads and fast speeds.  It kept me interested as every turn revealed a more incredible display of nature.  I loved it.  I eventually stopped at a rest stop and slept on and off for 3 hours very uncomfortable.  My car is far too packed to put my seat back so it was really hard to feel good, although I was so out of it at that point I could still fall asleep.  Just not long obviously…and I decided to drive a bit more after that 3 hours to find a motel/hotel.  I eventually found one but not without some really windy roads, really late at night, at very high speeds, with little or no sleep.  16 hours and 1100 miles later, I rested.  It wasn’t another small Inn and the price was kinda high, but I was so tired I didn’t care what it cost.

The next morning I got on the road earlier than the previous day, and I was ready to finally make it to CA.  Utah was absolutely gorgeous, the most beautiful state by far.  The rock formations and mountain towns were breathtaking, and they were SO BIG.  I couldn’t help but be distracted quite a bit while driving, and stopping to take photos whenever I saw something amazing.  This drive was getting more and more beautiful as time went on.  I eventually hit the desert which actually wasn’t as boring as I thought…because it wasn’t flat.  There was tons of hills and awesome red rock formations out there to keep me interested, and man were they cool.  I hit Vegas after a while and that was interesting.  On the way into the city it was hitting 98 degrees or so and it felt wonderful having the windows down.  Everyone really started to pick up speed around there too, with everyone over 15 miles the speed limit and even the slowest person at 10 over.  We were flying around those hills leading into the city.  Once I got there the traffic was pretty heavy, even heavier than when I got to CA, or pretty close.  Their was tons of roadwork.  The hardest part about driving through there was the temptation surrounding the place.  There were dirty billboards all over the place for lots of things.  It was tough to keep my attention on the road.  Luckily I got through ok and started heading towards CA.  I got there in good time and the last 200 miles felt really long.  I think my back was hurting the most then and I hadn’t taken a rest since a gas stop in Denver.  I had to stop for gas eventually though as my needle was hitting the E.  Still I was really uncomfortable in my seat.  When I got to LA finally I hit work traffic.  It really wasn’t as bad as people make it out to be.  Even at a dead stop sometimes it was fine.  After waiting for many hours to make it across the US, waiting for people to merge and such was a cake walk.  I was happy to be at my new home, no matter what.

When I got to the apartment, I was a bit jarred.  I couldn’t find any parking, and couldn’t find the apartment either.  Thanks to a friend that used to live there, I eventually found it.  Turns out most of the time I’ll be parking on the side of the road, something I haven’t done in the past.  I’m always nervous some drunk retard is gonna take my rearview mirror off.  I was really tired when I got all my stuff in the house, and sweaty.  It was time for a shower, one problem, no shower curtain in my bathroom.  There was some things about my room I wasn’t a fan of.  It wasn’t very clean, at least not as much as I thought.  I made sure I cleaned the bathroom as best I could in a short amount of time, at least enough to make me feel comfortable using it.  When I took my shower, the water got all over the floor.  Luckily I put a towel down before I got in to clean it up.  I’ll have to go buy a shower curtain tomorrow so I can get rid of that problem.  I only unpacked a little after the shower and decided I wanted to go do something.  I wasn’t tired anymore and didn’t know what to do.  It was a bit odd going through my contact list with only 2 people I could call.  Wonders never cease, I ended up going to a screening for No Greater Love that Brandon Rice had told me about earlier in the day.  I didn’t think I would make it and actually did miss the actual screening but met up with Brandon and folks afterwards as they left.  I have talked to Brandon for 3 years online buy never met him, so that was great.  I also got to meet his brother and Brad Silverman, who is the Director of No Greater Love.  We have messaged a bit and talked on occasion so it was neat.  Oddly enough, people recognize my name and my face.  It was odd to see Brad’s wife say “O your Kyle!?  Kyle Prohaska!?” and know who I was, what film I was doing, and be excited to meet me.  That was an odd thrill I must say.  A lot of my existence is online and in the digital realm, so I guess finally seeing me in the flesh was an interesting experience.  Afterwards we went to go eat and had a fun time.  I honestly found LA traffic at night to be easy, much better than I would’ve thought.  With a GPS too it’s really easy, and the speeds are so fast there that you can get anywhere fast.  I’m used to driving 30 minutes or more to get to where I need to go so it’s nothing to be in traffic for a little bit.  I’m sure that’ll change when I’m in it for more than an hour, but so far things don’t seem that bad, even after hitting 5pm traffic.  I got home and unpacked more stuff and stopped at Wall-greens on my way home.  It’s open 24/7 which is AWESOME, and I picked up some personals that I needed.  Chris Jones and his girlfriend showed up soon after I got home so that was cool.  Chris is one of my roommates who has been here since 2006.  We had a nice chat as I unpacked and they did things around the house.  They seem like really great people, I look forward to doing more with them in the future.  Same goes for Brandon and his brother and girlfriend Kristen.  I already have friends on the first day, not bad for someone who has been labeled “antisocial” in the past.

Now it’s time for bed, after a really long day.  I’m now a resident of Los Angeles, CA…who knew?

TO SEE MORE PHOTOS click here.

We wrapped Standing Firm today, thank goodness. What a journey it’s been. You can read about the day here. The day started off with me finishing prep for that last day. I did as much as I could the previous night but I’m starting to get sick (getting over it now) and didn’t have the energy. I’ve be hacking up awesome colors for a day or so. Beyond that the day was relaxing. When I left the church I didn’t even feel that excited, I just felt exhausted. I was excited but not jumping around because I couldn’t. Down in Lewiston I stopped by Hibbards to get a milkshake. That just sounded good to me…and it was. I barely had enough for it though and had to settle for a small. I hate not having enough for something, that doesn’t happen to me often. I don’t say that to be a jerk I just mean I normally have enough on me to get what I’m looking for. Either way I went home and relaxed, took a look at some of the footage we shot, posted on Facebook that we wrapped, and sat around the rest of the day. I got to bed at about 11 or so and had a horrible nights sleep.

The day was fun though, bittersweet but awesome at the same time. I’m glad to be done, just a few video interviews to do and some ADR and I’m finished until I get to CA.

5 Days left…say what!?

*sniff* *sneeze* Yep, I’m sick.  I’m sick like this about once a year so I guess now is my time.  Blowing my nose all day, the really corny sounding voice, blah blah.  Today was a typical Sunday, more people seem to know about my move now and have given me all sorts of comments about it.  Everyone seems really excited but a bit surprised that I’m leaving.  I think that’s because they don’t understand why I have to, but I don’t blame them for not knowing that.  There aren’t any jobs for me here, none that will let me build a family the way I hope to.  People keep asking me who will fill my position at the church despite the churches current efforts to find volunteers.  I just shrug and say “I don’t know” because I honestly don’t have a clue.  It’s up to the church and its people to fill the position.  Having your sermons available on DVD is a luxury not a right, and standing around wondering how the ministry will continue is exactly why things die off in churches.  If everyone cares enough, somebody will step up.  If not, well you know the rest.  I’ve made it an unhealthy habit of mine to care about other peoples responsibilities far too much in the past, normally ending in an unhealthy result for myself even if I help the situation.  I’ve sorta backed off of that a little bit lately realizing there is a line.  I refuse to make it my responsibility to find someone who can do my job.  Not out of some sort of prideful arrogance, but simply because as a ministry staff member, at my time of resignation, it is the churches job to find a replacement.  Hopefully someone steps up, because the church is doing whatever they can to figure things out.  We’ll see what happens…

I went to lunch with my mom today after church.  It was nice as we don’t do it as often as we probably could.  Most of our conversation lately revolves around the move, how excited she is, and how hard it’ll be for her and dad.  It makes sense, I’ve been around many more years after high school than the average person.  They’re just being parents, it’s no surprise.  When I’m asked “how’d your mom handling it?”  I response, “She’s being a mom…what else?”  We had a good time, and the food was good.  I had a big salad with some cornbread and mexican food.  I think being sick has allowed me to eat more lol.

After that I went home to try and finish prep for tomorrows big shoot.  It will be a trying day, especially if I don’t feel better.  I should be Eric and Robbies last day working together on the film.  I hope we finish what we need although I think it’s pretty safe to say I’ll be back to the house at least one more time to shoot with Rob since last Fridays shoot didn’t go so well.  I just want to finish Eric ASAP since he has to drive 2 hours every time we shoot.  I hate having him come from that far over and over again then not finish then say “well looks like we need another day.”  It’s getting to the point where we need to just get the crap done…period.  No wining about “we need to finish this because I’m getting busy blah blah blah.”  Sacrifice is required, and everyone has sacrificed much.  All the previous sacrifice means NOTHING if we all get an attitude now.  I’ll be doing a post sometime soon about what my heart is on success and determination…I got a hefty post coming.  God has given me a heart and passion for the way I do business and the way I conduct my life and I’ll be sure to spill that and hopefully inspire a few of you.  Excuses are for wusses, get your crap done and get it done with integrity and heart…no matter what.

I’ve been showing the first 10 minutes of Standing Firm to some friends and getting some great feedback.  I’m glad to finally have the film moving along where people can actually start seeing it without holes.  There is so much work to be done yet, with the whole film lacking sound mix, score, etc.  However, it is neat to get enthusiastic comments from people, it gives me a boost of confidence.

Tomorrow is a big day, pray that it goes well!

Woo!  What a day.  I went to a movie last night (shouldn’t have gone…I was way too tired) and got to bed too late.  When I woke up this morning at 8am, my head was killing me.  I called Dave Gifford to tell him we had to cancel shooting (not because of the headache but because of scheduling issues proposed the night prior).  I went back to bed for another 45minutes and got up.  I felt TERRIBLE, I haven’t felt this way in a long time.  I used to get really bad dizzy spells and stuff some years ago.  I could never figure out what it was, but it was always an event I could remember specifically.  Not a normal feeling for me as I’m sick about 0.5% of the year (knock on wood).  I went throughout my day feeling like junk, staring at a computer screen at work didn’t help, and then finding out the possibility that tomorrows shoot also could’ve been cancelled didn’t lift my spirits.  I remember thinking at one point “God your in control…” and just continuing the day.

I went to check out a location we needed to shoot in on Thursday.  Luckily it checks out fine, but I’ll have to shoot alone.  I was able to snag a friend to help me (thanks Ben) on short notice so I’m not 100% alone.  I’m glad the location checked out.  It also frees up my Saturday more as that day was originally scheduled for then (juggling schedules on a day your head feels like it’s going to explode doesn’t help your head…trust me).  I also found out today that something else I need to shoot is on Saturday (a real event taking place I can’t control but need to capture footage of) so the freeing up of the day is perfect.

I went home, and on the way called into WDCX 99.5 to talk to Neil Boron on the air.  They were talking about Facebook.  I told them what a great tool it was for those who know how to use it, how groups and fan pages are great for marketing and spreading the word, etc.  I bashed Myspace for a moment and said a few other things.  Maybe that show will be on iTunes or something, maybe I can find it!  Either way after that I went upstairs and ate a bowl of cereal in front of the computer…and began editing.  I was looking at what we had shot on Saturday and started putting it together.  It came out fantastic!

Two of the scenes we shot totaled about 2.5 minutes of the film with more from that day still to edit.  Shooting that much of a film in a day is a pretty big accomplishment for us, especially considering it was the most complicated scene we have ever shot in terms of angles, continuity, etc.  I was thrilled to see how well it turned out.  I wont ruin the film so you’ll just have to wait and see!  Either way it should really add some spark to the film and give all of you a laugh.  We’ll see how the other stuff pans out that we shot.

Oddly enough, I wrote a post about Julian Smith a few days ago.  I remember saying that he would be on TV soon and to keep and eye out.  Well wouldn’t you know it?  He got a call earlier today to come on the Tyra Banks show tomorrow at 12 noon EST!  Imagine that?!  Congratulations Julian!  The first of many my friend!  That guy is awesome, all the best to him.

So yea all in all the day started horrible and ended up great.  I’m feeling much better and I’ll know whether or not I kicked whatever tried to start when I wake up in the morning.

Let me say this though, and here is your spiritual lesson for the day.  If I didn’t go out to the movie, and the schedule for today wasn’t ruined, I wouldn’t have been over tired and gotten sick, and therefore wouldn’t have gotten the email from one of my actors that ended up landing us a shooting day on thursday.  Not only that, but I probably wouldn’t have been home to edit and get this great scene completed!  What we were supposed to shoot on thursday was supposed to be on saturday but I had forgotten.  So if I wasn’t sick and ended up at work and then contacted to move that shooting day to thursday…I would’ve missed out on saturday!  Funny how God works, I was sick for a reason.

Time for bed soon.  We are shooting a scene at a diner tomorrow, one of our few locations in the film outside of the church, and homes/yards of the main characters.  Pray that it goes well!