The First Annual ZUF Film Festival is just around the corner so mark you calenders! The ZUF Film Festival will feature 19 original short films from all over the state of Texas.  It will be this Wednesday at the Blue Room in Kingsville at the Texas A&M campus starting at 6 pm.  FREE ADMISSION! 

Some of the films fixing to have their film festival premiere include Zero Untitled’s latest film, the film noir styled “Over White Wine”.  Here are a few more films:

Carpe Diem

Waiting for Helen

Til Death Do Us Part

Green Blood…Ouch!!!

Tent to Fiesta

and plenty more to come!  Come check it out for a guaranteed good time.  Stick around after the show for the Zuffy Award Ceremony.  The Zuffy Awards are voted on by a collection of local film/theatre enthusiasts.  No Zero Untitled staff member was allowed to vote for a Zero Untitled production.  Zero Untitled projects collected 17 nominations!

Well, guys, 2008 was a relatively slow year for us.  No year has come close to being as busy as 2006 (we did 10 that year).  We produced only 2 shows in 2008.  We brought you:

–          Quickies  (“The Mattress”, “Regrets of Idiocy” and “Taming of the Fleas: Act I”)

–          Fractured (“Through Glass”, “Before We Met” and “Red Roses All Over Me”)

We thank you for your support for the arts and our cause.  Like all artists, we have many projects on the horizon (some of which we’ve procrastinated over for years). Instead of a season, here’s our “shows we’d like to see get done if we aren’t buried in work schedule”:

–          Over White Wine  (film version. Yep, it was the top of our list last year, but after getting senior editor Megan Saenz on board, her expertise will get this show ready for its film festival premiere.  Speaking of which…)

–          Zero Untitled Original Film Festival (already set for Jan-Feb)

–          Charming / Before We Met (two radio versions of some great original short stories; possible Spring/Summer)

–          Twas the Flop Before Christmas  (never too early to get on a Christmas show; this comic script was written this year in mid December and is ready for a 09 performance; obviously Winter)

–          A Happening – due to the nature of happenings, this is all we can technically say about them except they might be happening; obviously “unscheduled”)

Yeah, Someday List:

–          The Rape of Lucrece (this piece has always been on this list because of the sheer magnitude of the work; Verderber has been spending more time on it this December; possible Fall)

–          Still Standing Still  (Verderber’s novella that has been slowly worked on for 4 years now; he’s thinking of finishing it off soon and create some sort of performance for it; possible Fall)

So, our goal this year is at least 3-4 shows.  We promise to not have another dismal 2 productions year.  The good news is that (as mentioned above) 2 are already scheduled (film fest and Xmas show).  We’ll squeeze in the happenings at random (obviously, or they wouldn’t be called a happening) and the radio shows in as well (hopefully).  We’re eager to be working and are ready to get productions going.  That’s the problem with the winter break; all this down time and no stage/venues available. 

Well, folks, that’s that! Thanks again for coming out; we had some record numbers with “Fractured” and we’re hoping to repeat that success in the coming year.  2009, here comes Zero Untitled.

verderber

Location: Blue Room, Sam Fore Hall at the Texas A&M Univ – Kingsville

Place: February 18th (and possible extended to the 19th, pending films).

Time: 6:00pm

Technically, it’s our first film festival for original works; Kult Klassics 1 and Kult Klassics 2 were screenings of classic films in the “cult” status.  For now, we’re planning a late January film festival (possibly early February).  We’re discussing the location (or multiple locales for this venture).  Here are some of the films set to be playing:

1. Over White Wine

2. Green Blood…Ouch!!!

3. Til Death To Us Part

and plenty more! How do I submit?  Simple!

1. Films needs to be mailed (as a DVD movie, not file) to:

        Zero Untitled FIlms/Productions

       C/o Michael Verderber

       347 E. Holloway

       Raymondville, TX 78580

2. FIlms can be be of any length (we prefer under an hour but exceptions will be made).  The only limitation to content is that the films cannot be pornographic and Zero Untitled has the right to deny any film access.

3. Deadline for films: February 11th (postmarked by).

More information will be announced shortly! Stay tuned.

What’s that you say? “Over White Wine” is getting done after all? Yup, you read correctly.  “Over White Wine” went on hiatus after a slew of editing problems and was, basically, left to die. (Sure that’s overdramatic, but you get my point).  Our senior editor on the project, Megan Saenz, had this to say:

“Over White Wine is winding down near its end with only a few more adjustments to be made. The editing process has been without a doubt an interestingly superb challenge. Shots are composed in an artistically fluid manner with exceptional lighting in many of the scenes. An ongoing slightly problematic factor is the overpowering echoes during dialogue in the restaurant scenes due to the absence of a noise reduction mic filming took place. Although this small factor almost seemed impossible to edit with, with one actor’s line echoing into another actor’s line, precise editing allowed the echoes to add a sort of timeless feel to the restaurant scenes. Other small challenges included freeing up the hard drive space so that the video would not lag and slow the editing process. Heraclio Gonzalez jr. previously edited some scenes so a small amount of time has gone into recovering the video files already edited. Overall, the editing process for Over White Wine is flowing far more smoothly than expected thanks in large part to the organization and patience of its director/producer/writer Michael Verderber.” – M. Saenz

Expect to see Over White Wine‘s world premiere as part of Zero Untitled’s short film festival coming in early 2009 (probably January).

Zero Untitled’s 25th production is now over and done with it! We had some record breaking crowds for the show.  Here’s the turnout:

Monday – 66 people (new record)

Tuesday – 74 people (new record; broke previous night’s)

Wednesday – 84 people (new record; broke previous night’s)

Grand Total: 224 (approximately)

The show went off without a hitch (except for the emergency cancellation of “Hemlock”).  The audience reacted well and we even had one of the writers present in the audience two out of three nights (Coy Bolton – “Through Glass”).  Zero Untitled couldn’t be happier! Thanks to all who came out to the show and many thanks to the directors and actors that helped galvanize this production.

Click the hyperlink and check out our myspace page for all the pics! Enjoy!

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The latest  Zero Untitled show, collectively called FRACTURED, has been officially cast!  I also want to point out that we added a fourth show to the foray! The fourth show is called “Hemlock” written by Michael Verderber and directed by Melissa Anne Scott.  Here is the official cast list:

“Before We Met” by Liza Morin; dir. Jannah Morales

Girl – Olivia Cervantes

Boy – Jeanepierre Heurtelou

Chorus – Sara Flores

“Red Roses All Over Me” by David Gutierrez; dir. Barry Berryhill

Man – Barry Berryhill

Woman – Erika Cashwell

“Hemlock” by Michael Verderber; dir. Melissa Anne Scott

Hemlock – Savannah Martinez

“Through Glass” by Coy Bolton; dir. Michael Verderber

Chance – Chad Wallace

Dr. Campbell – Brian Worrall

Hope – Savannah Martinez

Alphonse – Barry Berryhill

Abbey – Olivia Cervantes

Lena – Sara Flores

Daniel – Jeanpierre Heurtelou

Thanks to all who auditioned! If you have been cast, please keep an eye on the “Rehearsal Schedule” page for the latest updates on your rehearsals.

After the Quickies hiatus, Zero Untitled is back at work postulating over possible show ideas.  Although, at press, nothing is set in stone, Verderber is planning some shorts featuring 3 very different works and even a possible duo of radio shows!  Here’s the breakdown:

“Before We Met” by Lisa Morin

“Red Roses All Over Me” by David Gutierrez

“Through Glass” by Coy Bolton

What makes these three pieces different?  A lot, actually.  For starters, they’re all written through different narrative styles and only one piece’s original writer’s conception was for the stage (“Red Roses”).  The other two works are written as short stories and have an abstract feel and a (Zero Untitled) characteristically dark vibe.  These should be great once we get directors and venues lined up.

For the radio shows:

“Charming” by Heraclio Gonzalez, Jr.

“Before We Met” by Liza Morin

ZUFP is always interested in experimenting with different mediums.  So why not dabble with radio?  “Charming” is the twisted interpretation of “Cinderella” – the story is through the prince’s eyes and he has an ulterior motive you wouldn’t expect!  “Before We Met”, as briefly explained above, could also work as a very potent radio piece.

Keep in tuned!

verderber

Not really, but there were the typical share of chaos that ensues every Zero Untitled show. And we love it.

First were the audience: we had 37 chairs set up, which is more than neccessary for such a small billing like “Quickies”.  At 7:28 the house was packed and two poor guys were left standing to watch the show.  At 7:30, a DOZEN more folks walked in!  We ran out of programs and were forced to hold off the show a couple of minutes to get more chairs put in the Blue Room.

Stressful fun.   The show went off pretty well and the actors were given the opportunity to work the crowd and improv a bit.  It worked well.  The crowd reacted well to every show, without a clear favorite being noted.

Second, there was a last minute show change: due to reasons beyond our control, we had to cancel the play “I Got Nothing” and Barry Berryhill stepped in to write a new script called “Taming of the Fleas: Act I.” The show starred Berryhill and Chad Wallace.

Third, Gabriel Ruiz stepped in to help with “Taming…” because Wallace was not available to perform one of the two nights. A special thanks goes out to him.

A thank you to all of the TAMUK Language and Literature faculty that announced the show to their classes.  The extra advertising put a LOT of people in the audience.

So what’s next for ZUFP?  Well, Verderber is still (and very slowly) working on Shakespeare’s “The Rape of Lucrece”,  “Chupacabra!”, and a children’s show.  At press, these are still in script format and we have not scheduled a time yet.  Ruiz is lengthening the “I Got Nothing” script and is balancing other projects.

In other news, Heraclio Gonzalez, Jr. is submitting several films to a film festival in Corpus Christi.  One of the films is “Mimeumentary” and he is also editing “Over White Wine” with better software than when we began.  Stay close to see what is going on!

verderber

Here are a few rehearsal pics of “The Mattress”. For more pics check out our myspace account!