No Sanctuary IndieGoGo Campaign from Jake Stetler on Vimeo.

Only hours remain. As of this writing 9,995 people have viewed the IndieGoGo campaign video. This has brought an increased awareness of the film and many people have expressed positive feedback about the project. During this time I have burned the midnight oil, trying to complete the final edit. We are 29 backers strong. There have been many generous contributions. I am deeply grateful.

Make no mistake, I am not asking for donations. By contributing to the film, you will receive VIP Perks and become a vital collaborator on the movie. The theory behind crowdfunding is that the audience supports artists who create content that they enjoy. For example, if everyone who had seen the video contributed only $1, we would have already surpassed our $3000 goal.

WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT NO SANCTUARY:

CLICK on http://www.indiegogo.com/no-sanctuary-movie and contribute what you can. A dollar can make a difference. VIP PERKS start at $10. ALL BACKERS WILL RECEIVE A PASSWORD PROTECTED LINK TO VIEW THE FINAL TRAILER WHEN IT IS POSTED. [You will see it before the general public.]

PASS the link onto friends and family. http://www.indiegogo.com/no-sanctuary-movie

REQUEST the film be screened in your area. http://www.openindie.com/film/no-sanctuary

I want to express my deep gratitude to all those who have supported No Sanctuary throughout the production.

Warm regards — Jake Stetler 

SINCERE GRATITUDE TO THE CURRENT BACKERS: Mark Coppola, Lyle Beidler, Elaine Zelker, Kevin Sharp, Daryl Hrdlicka, Bruce Mazurkewicz, Susan Williamson, Merle & Bonnie Sharp, Bob Charles, Don & Loretta Sharp, Ron Baker, Andrew & Amy Sharp, Phil Holbrook, Lance & Suzann Umble, Michael Dougherty, Kurt & Sandy Chillas, Melissa Dunphy, Keith & Gail Stetler. [As well as three anonymous contributions.]

Thank you for the support.

Jake Stetler

I recently read a tweet from Melissa Dunphy that she had made it onto the Ripley’s Believe it or Not website. (Melissa plays Tanner in No Sanctuary.) Sure enough it featured a video of Melissa playing Bach upside down at the piano. I realize that she is a musical prodigy, but had I known that she had this stunt in her repertoire, I would have written it into the script… There could have definitely been a piano in the ruins of the church! (Now that I think about it, there should have been.)  Seriously though, she is a very talented musician and it was cool to check out the video.

That may have been the end of the story, but my wife saw that the video was featured on the Comcast homepage today. [Apparently it had also been featured on a national morning news program.]

Way to go, Mel!

Believe it or not…

Just wanted to take a quick moment to sincerely wish you and your family peace and joy during the holiday season. Please be safe on the roads (and avoid Highwaymen at all costs).

The editing computer has been resurrected and post production continues on No Sanctuary.

Look for it to be released in 2010.

Very early in the year a new trailer will be released and No Sanctuary merchandise will be available for purchase.

Thank you for your continued support.

Blessings and Peace.

- Jake Stetler

I recently experienced a temporary, but nerve racking setback with the film. I came home early in the week to find that a power surge had killed my editing computer. [Despite the surge protector.]  Stifling the urge to scream, I quickly setup my laptop and connected the external drive that holds all the crucial files for the film. The hard drive worked, the film was intact. Whew! Thousands of hours of editing had not been in vain. But the editing computer remained dark. After troubleshooting I found that it was, in fact, inoperable. I am currently working to repair it and hope that it lasts for awhile, until I can raise some additional funds for a new workstation. Until I can edit again, I took the opportunity to create a recent backup.

So to summarize.  The film is safe. The computer is dead (or at least in a coma. I hope this is temporary.) And despite the difficulties of filmmaking, I am still in love with the process.  I am still in love with No Sanctuary: The story, the characters, and the journey to bring it all to life.

- Jake Stetler

Wait a minute… VACATION & WORK in the same sentence?  That’s right.  Welcome to the challenges of Independent filmmaking.  I spent last week on vacation from the “day job” to dedicate every waking minute to editing, trying to finish this picture and release it to the wolves… I mean world.  Worked round the clock.  Burned myself out, but I can finally see the flick coming together.

Master Fred Waters Jr. was a featured guest at Armed Forces Day on City Island in Harrisburg this past Saturday. He demonstrated hand-to-hand combat and disarming weapons for the military. Master Waters played Bartimaeus and was Fight Choreographer on No Sanctuary. He is the president of the Institute of Self Defense. A fighting style he created. Check out the press release HERE.

The new No Sanctuary trailer is online!  For background on this video check out the previous post New Trailer to be Released Soon! I have decided to leave the Preview Trailer online for now as well.  I posted the video on two sites.  The video embeded here is the best quality if you connect to this link and hit watch in high quality as soon as the page loads.  I also placed the video on Revver.com if you want to check out the encoding quality on that site.