Following a very successful screening of his short film We Have Your Daughter at The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles, Bill Johns of Cinevid Productions in Painesville is beginning development on a feature film based on the short. "Years ago I was inspired by the way Billy Bob Thornton got Sling Blade made." Bill reminisces, "He made a short, black and white version of the opening scene, then used that to promote the feature version."

With so many films being made each year, screening a film (especially in LA) is a rare opportunity and Bill is grateful to the festival for securing the plush Charlie Chaplin Room at famed Raleigh Studios for his LA premier. Bill recalls, "It was pretty cool to walk around the same backlot where Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger filmed In the Heat of the Night and sit in the same cantina where they shot the old Hop-along Cassidy series. So much history was there"

More recently Raleigh Studios has been the site for The Larry Sanders Show and Drew Carey's Whose Line is it Anyway?, but it was the regular people in the 175 seat screening room that Bill wants to remember the most. "We had a pretty full house in LA and it was great to overhear people saying how good they thought the film was," says Bill. "You can tell you've done a good job when the audience applause erupts the moment the end credits start to roll. With some of the entries I saw, there'd be dead silence at the end, then slowly a few people would applaud... that's mercy applause; I definitely didn't want that." Bill was awarded a plaque from Danielle Hartzell, the festivals' Program Director, for Best Action Short Film at the LA screening and now looks forward to screening the film in New York City as well. "The whole cast and crew is going with me to New York," Bill exclaims, "and that'll be great. They all worked so hard to make it a success."

Cinevid Productions new digs at 3 South State Street in Painesville, OH.

In the meantime Bill has just finished writing the screenplay for the feature length version entitled, The Reunion. The film, which hopes to begins principle photography in August, will be shot in MiniDV format on a micro budget with Bill writing, producing and directing. "My hope is to keep taking these small steps until I'm in a position to produce full blown 35mm feature films in the Painesville area." Bill says, "The crew, equipment and talent are all here in Northeast Ohio. They just need good projects to be involved in." and that's where Bill hopes to make a difference. "So much of the stuff done in the area will only play in the area and we need to foster storylines and scripts with mass appeal." Bill laments, "It's great to do a causal piece that wins awards, but it doesn't get you money for your next project if it doesn't sell to a mass audience."

Bill's long term goal for Cinevid is to build a state-of-the-art sound stage in the Northeast Ohio area. "If we build it, they will come." He laughs, then adds, "Lots of major productions come to the area for our wooded landscapes or industrial exteriors, but have to go back to LA for their interiors because we don't have the facilities for doing set work. If we had a decent sound stage, who knows how many productions would spend their entire budgets here instead of LA. But that's down the road a bit, right now I just want to do the best films I can with the resources I've been given."

Having been Director of Photography on four previous features, Bill seems well suited to making the most of what's available. "I recall on one production using a single light with a blue gel on half of it to illuminate a tree for a night scene and an amber gel on the other half with a dangling rag in front of it to simulate a fire light on the actor. It looked ridiculous until you looked through the lens and saw that it actually worked." And making things work is what keeps Bill going. "I've done four features for other people and now it's time to make one for me. One way or the other, I'll make it happen. It's just a matter of time."

If you would like more information call Cinevid Productions at 440-796-7417

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