Thursday, April 9, 2009

WILL IT BLEND at BYU MAKES 100, WIB DVD and THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT


First, I want to mention that we had just produced our 100th Will it Blend.  (Now I can produce the show with my eyes closed.) That might be it for a while.  

This time, Cosmo the Cougar came out and we produced a Will it Blend for Brigham Young University (where all of us graduated, ironically).  It will not be seen through our regular channels, but will be posted on our website under "friends of" and where ever BYU decides to put it (I think the Alumni section, BYU Magazine).  

Now, I am working on a DVD that will feature all 100 videos, including episodes that were not released through our regular channel, one's that were more for companies such as Novell and Alteris.  The DVD will also feature a documentary I am producing about the start of what some are calling "the most successful ad campaign on the Internet."  

Article after article, interview after interview denotes the success of Will it Blend to Blendtec and the use of the new social media.  I, myself, find the story behind the show more interesting then the videos themselves.  The series, now at about 200 million views, has driven sales up for the Total Blender by 700 percent, which is amazing in this economy.

We will still be producing an episode here and there, and I will still be working for Blendtec for as long as they need me.  But now I get into pre production mode on my next film, The Last Eagle Scout.  This will probably be a landmark turn for me, now that Will it Blend has helped pull me out of the doldrums of life and showed me that I can accomplish anything.  

I have been writing The Last Eagle Scout for about 6 years and was about to film it 4 years ago, but divorces and relocation created pitfalls and challenges that I never new existed.  Making films (not the crap you see on YouTube, but the real thought-provoking motion pictures) takes a lot out of you.  So you need to have all your ducks in a row before going through that again. 

The Last Eagle Scout will actually be my 4th feature film I have produced (3rd I have directed).  I hope to take the mistakes I have made from the earlier projects and make sure to do them all over again (just kidding).

This film follows a boy in the not-so-distant future who presumes himself the last kid receiving his eagle.  Political correctness has crept into every facet of society, mandating every move we make.  Boy Scouts becomes one of the last great American institutions that gets eliminated by popular opinion and the media... except for the Last Eagle Scout.

Fights ensue, protests are had, buildings are blown up (man, I am just sweating at the idea, I have to shoot all this).  But what fun we will have as we start filming in August.  Our objective is to get people to talk... talk about the difference between what is logical and what is absurd...  hopefully in a "sing and dance" fashion that our numbed minds have become accustomed to.

Will they blend?... That is the question.

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