We’ve already passed the middle of the year and here are some sobering stats before we dig in to the meat of this post:

It’s been more than 5 years (2004) since we started filming our first movie EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS, AND 3 years since its release (2006)…

It’s been 3 years (2006) since filming ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS and it is still unreleased…

It has also been more than a year (April 2008) since the idea for our third film was conceived…

That being said, since April 2008 we’ve been slowly climbing this steep mountain.

We have achieved so many “mini” goals, and I have been privately updating this journal (without publishing)… which I hate because there’s so much material that could be so useful and entertaining (especially with the characters we’ve been meeting with)…

We have fought so damn hard for this new movie… just to get the permissions has been a challenge, to get the support, the writing has been very challenging, the research has been extensive and intensive, every single wall that has gotten in our way we have destroyed it with our bare hands…

we are bloody and we are hungry…

It has been quite a journey and the coolest (or saddest) fact is that we are in the very early stages of pre-production… So there’s still A LOT more that needs to be done…

What’s also cool (at least in my little world) is that we are building all this from the ground up.

We have learned from our mistakes and this time around we are energizing and building an infrastructure way, WAY before we start shooting… It is imperative and of the utmost importance that we attain the support of as much people as we can.

If you are a fan of San Antonio, we need you… If you are a fan of Eagle Pass, we need you! If you’re a fan of Monterrey or Piedras Negras, we need you!

If you are a fan of Art, Love and Life, we need you!

If you want to be inspired by this incredible true story, we need you!

In October (2009) we will be releasing a teaser and a full fledged website that will announce to the world our very precious and ambitious project…

Lots of stuff is happening and for now please help us by subscribing to our blog or to our twitter thing-a-majig…

twitter.com/dworkstudios

ALSO, special thanks to everyone that has lent a helping hand to some humble independent filmmakers (us).

Thank you for helping us make our past two films [sad isn’t it? two films since 2004! Ha!] and we hope you can join us into the dark and treacherous path of our next motion picture.

This week we will head on to even more encounters (or meetings, as the upper class call them) with a bunch of individuals that are crucial for the continuation of our illustrious path.

Before I go, I’ll leave with one of those “inspirational” quotes from a guy that looked like the penguin in Batman:

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”-Sir Winston Churchill

PS: if you are one of the privileged few that have a netflix account, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top, take 5 minutes of your time and post a review of EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS… thanks!

Like the obedient pack of sheep that we are and to jump on the opportunities that these new communication methods have to offer we will now have a dedicated Digital Work Studios twitter feed at:

twitter.com/dworkstudios

My personal account is still open, along with many other crazy characters from our family, here’s a partial list:

@chavirovilla
@pacoft
@bighect
@lbasi

Obviously the DWS feed will be more dedicated to the film aspect of what we do, our projects, and other DWS related stuff…

Thanks for following and see you on the twitter…

PS: A facebook page is on the way, along with the new film’s website which will be fully operational in October…

I am finally ready and tinkering with the outline, the map of what is to be the new script.
There is so much information, hundreds of minutes of audio interviews, news reports, newspaper clippings and just a swamp of information.
I’ve been struggling during this whole month on how to start, how to end, how to set up a story, the focus…

I could not focus myself, I couldn’t get into it. I felt distracted from the real world. My multiple paying gigs (I have 2 TV shows to edit, 1 writing gig, commercials for the TV station and my own show), my outings with my friends, my family time, my writing time.
I have to juggle all this and somehow make it work.

Yesterday I decided that somethings have to sacrificed so I could have more time for the movie.
I decided to not go out anymore.

And today I decided I wouldn’t drink anymore, and not because I’ve been drinking heavily, but because its a distraction.

But back to the script. I have been drawing and writing down notes and memory maps that will help me sort the story.

I want characters, I want a clear narrative, I really want need to have both.

I felt stuck last week. My wife said it was writers block, but I don’t think so.
A block is when you can’t go forward, something, or nothing rather is in the way and you’re unable to write.

I don’t feel that way. I feel like I have too much to write. There’s so much information.

My approach to this, is to treat it like a puzzle. I am on a search for the perfect way of assembling it. The right way.
Something from the heart.

You can’t just put down anecdotes and place them in a sequence. That would be too easy.

I am working on a story, a journey. An adventure of the human spirit, that will make you get out of your seat and do something…

I can’t wait to see this movie…

I finally came around and updated our website to prepare ourselves for our next movie.

This new website represents more clearly what we do and what we are all about!
It also goes hand in hand with our blog, and soon we will be updating our myspace, youtube, and other social sites which we use to broadcast our trailers and other clips…

We are excited to the extreme, we can’t believe that this new project has gotten a life of its own, and is rolling along very smoothly…

As of now we are researching and have begun an outline of what is to be a first draft of the script.

Thanks to everyone who has been helping and still are helping us along the way.

Give our new website a try, it still is missing some minor stuff, but I’m still working here!
www.digitalworkstudios.com

OK, this is getting weird…

First we saw the Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus poster for sale without our permission, and now it’s the Escape De Los Santos poster up for sale on eBay in 2 sizes!

Here’s the latest search from eBay.

I believe that it’s kind of cool that people think they can make money off of our posters, being that we are a humble independent movie company in Texas… brings a tear to my eye ;-D

Oh, and on Ash Wednesday the search is on (again!) for a distributor… surprisingly we’ve got two companies now interested and it looks like pretty  soon there might be three companies…

There’s nothing even close to a bidding war, but it’s nice to have options.

Hopefully Ash will be released sometime this year.

We’ll see…