On The Path

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

Thanks to all of you, we are underway. It’s time to give you an update.

Firstly, prizing. We know you’re excited to get those. We’re excited to see that stuff too. Prize fulfillment is now in process, and we’ll be contacting Clandestine Founders based on your Reward Tiers with more information.

We’re in pre-production. (We’re in pre-production!) You met our above the line filmmakers and principal talent, but that’s the tip of the spear. We just signed our line producer (aka production manager), which is the beating heart of a filmmaking collective. We’ve started casting additional roles, including more martial arts talent. (Bodies folks, a fight film needs able bodies!) We’re also in the final stages of filling two key positions – production and costume designers. They’re instrumental in making the world of Clandestine authentic, which is paramount to our vision.

As you all know, we hit one of our stretch goals at $85,000. We said if we hit that goal we’d spike our film quality by upgrading to cinema camcorders. We’re now exploring options and testing cameras such as the Canon C300 and Sony fs700. Besides better visual fidelity, these cinema cameras’ capabilities go well beyond anything we’ve used in the past. Using them is going to help set Clandestine apart in our body of work.

Location, location, location – it goes for restaurants, bars, and filmmaking. If you know Thousand Pounds’ films, you know we’re not about to shoot behind a 7-11 in LA and try to make it look like Tokyo. They call it location scouting. We’re location scouring.

That’s it for pre-production updates. Trust us, things will get more and more exciting as we go into production. We do want to address a production-related question that’s come up. People have asked whether we’re planning more clan trailers like the Lion and Eagle teasers. We don’t like to say no to fans. At the same time, those were planned as part of the Kickstarter campaign to show glimpses of what Clandestine could be. Now we’re making the real thing and our resources are 100% dedicated to finishing the final product. Who needs teasers when you can have the real show? (But yes, there will be more trailers before we premiere!)

We saved the best news for last. When we launched Kickstarter, our vision for Clandestine started with getting your support to create two pilot episodes. We would use those to find a distribution partner. Well, thanks to the AMAZING SUPPORT from you, our Clandestine Founders, we killed it on Kickstarter and are now in the final stages of securing distribution. It’s a huge network. It’s perfect for Clandestine. You’re probably already part of it, taking in their other awesome gamer inspired entertainment. But we’re on the verge of saying too much, so…

Stay tuned! Stay true.

The Thousand Pounds Crew

Thousand Pounds at Fan Expo Canada


Fan Expo Canada (TM) is just around the corner and members from Thousand Pounds will be in attendance! (Aug 23rd-26th) Hopefully some of you all will be there. It’d be great to meet you in person!

We’ll be showcasing some of our past works including Naruto, Street Fighter x Tekken and of course more information of Clandestine. Be sure to hit us up! We’ll have more specific info in the upcoming weeks.

http://www.fanexpocanada.com/

Kickstarter ending celebration (Live!) & Enter the Lion teaser

We’re set to start building the Clandestine universe one frame at a time. First though, we want to thank all of our fans. We want to do it live, candidly and as close to face to face as we can get to all of you.

To our Kickstarter backers, each of you is now etched in Thousand Pounds’ history as Clandestine Founders. For that you’ll always have a place in our hearts. So come for a celebration and a chat with us before we embark on the most important part of this journey, one that you helped make happen.

We also want to reach out to all of our fans. We relied on some to help make Clandestine reality. We now need all of you to make it a true success.

Join us today for a come one, come all live video celebration, what we’re calling the “Clandestine is Real” party. It’s a video chat with filmmakers Chris Cowan and Haile Lee, along with Clandestine stars Amy Johnston, Brendon Huor, Mickey Facchinello, Vonzell Carter and some of your favorite Thousand Pounds performers. The session starts at 4pm Pacific Time today, Tuesday, July 31, on TwitchTV.

Here’s the link: http://www.twitch.tv/thousand_pounds_action

Please represent the Thousand Pounds community as best as you can – be cordial, be respectful of one another, and if you can muster it, bring the love. We’ll see you there!

Thank You!

WE ARE SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED AND HUMBLED THAT WE’VE REACHED OUR GOAL!

We couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you, and we appreciate you guys so much. Thank you! We can’t wait to make Clandestine into the most epic thing you’ve ever seen. And because you’re so awesome, we’re planning on releasing a very special video in the next couple of days to show our thanks to you. It’s going to be siiiiiiiick, so you better get ready!

In the beginning, we thought that $75,000 was a huge undertaking, but we always knew we could make it happen because our fans are some of the best out there. Now that we’ve reached our goal, in fact surpassed it with your generosity, we start to wonder what if we had another $15K? What if we had another $25K? We’re here to tell you that if you can help get us to $85K (and we’re almost there already!), we’ll be able to get our hands on an amazing camera like the Canon C300, Sony fs700, or maybe even a RED! Even more epicness! And we will also be able to hire Kit Stolen, an incredible Production Designer who will bring his unique vision to our sets.

Now if we go beyond that and hit $100K, we would be able to commission an original music score. This is something we thought we’d only be able to dream of, and it will take Clandestine to an even higher level.

We’ve got about two and a half days left and WE BELIEVE that we can hit these extra goals! You guys have given us an opportunity that we promise to deliver on and we truly can’t wait to share the world of Clandestine with you!

We shall declare July 31st, 2012 THOUSAND POUNDS DAY! Let’s do this!

The Thousand Pounds Crew

New writer and more cast members announced

We are proud to announce the rest of the cast members in Clandestine that will be bringing this story to life.


Lex Randelman – writer on Clandestine


Lex writes, “I hail from a speck of dirt in the middle of Ohio. I’d name it, but you wouldn’t know it. Needless to say, things weren’t exciting there. I had a lot of free time and an over-active imagination. At that age, I wasn’t even sure what to do with it, but I kept it busy with comic books, cartoons and X-men action figures.



Things changed soon after I got to college and it was decision time. I decided to be a writer, and I guess I was too stubborn to change my mind. It wasn’t long after that I met Chris Cowan. An aspiring writer + an ambitious filmmaker = instant collaborators and friends. I studied the craft, I practiced and experimented on academic and personal projects, Years later, here we are.



Coming into Thousand Pounds was a reunion with Chris and an introduction to the rest of this great team. The most amazing part? All of these crazy ideas I was coming up with finally had people who could bring them to life. Being a hardcore geek at heart, nothing makes me more excited than action and drama and super powers. Don’t let any of the muscles or martial arts fool you; these folks are pretty much all geeks too. The only thing better than creating is having people to share that excitement, passion and drive to move the creation into new territory. 

To date, I’ve been happy to be one of many creative voice on Thousand Pounds. I was a creative collaborator on Street Fighter x Tekken: The Devil Within, and, of course, I’m a co-creator and writer on Clandestine. There’s some other great stuff begging to be mentioned, but I’ll have to keep them secret for now. :P You know how that is.”



Reuben Langdon joins the cast as the Lion Clan’s second in command, a key warrior behind Adelene (Amy Johnston)


Although you may not recognize him, Reuben Langdon is currently in the most talked about Film of the decade, James Cameron’s Avatar. In addition to stunt doubling the main character, “Jake Sully.” Reuben performed many random stunts for various CG and live action characters in the film. Most of his performances used motion capture technology, an art form based on CGI-assisted acting. Reuben Langdon is a Los Angeles based Actor/Producer/Director/Stuntman/and Stunt Coordinator who began his career in Japan as a series regular on the Japanese superhero TV series B-Fighter Kabuto. Later, he relocated to Hong Kong to work amongst the most famous names in the Hong Kong film industry, most specifically with Jackie Chan in Jackie Chan: My Stunts, Gen-Y Cops, and the internationally renowned fantasy adventure The Medallion. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Reuben continues to share his talent onscreen. He has appeared alongside Sammo Hung in the Martial Law series and has worked regularly on the hit TV show, The Power Ranger’s. Langdon’s highly technical training in multiple martial arts has assisted him both in his acting and his motion capture carrier.

Complimenting his success in the worlds of film and television, Langdon has performed in and coordinated a number of motion capture shoots for interactive video games including; Lost Planet 2, Resident Evil: 5, The Bourne Conspiracy, Tao Fang, Star Wars: Jedi Knight II, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, and Dead Rising. In Devil May Cry 3 and 4 he was both the motion capture actor and the English voice of Dante, the Gun/Sword toting hero of the franchise. Reuben has also worked as a performance capture actor with such respected directors as Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. In 2001, Reuben Created Just Cause Productions, an international multimedia live action and CG production house that combines talents from East and West. By utilizing the latest in technology and incorporating cutting edge digital effects Reuben is able to create a unique blend of visually stylistic Action Cinema that knows no boundaries. Today Reuben and Just Cause are the forerunner of Action Packed 3D live action and animation productions.


Vonzell Carter joins as leader of the Wolf Clan


A founding member of Thousand Pounds, Vonzell Carter has lived a life largely designed by achievement. Vonzell has the education, accolades and body of work to validate his strength and versatility in the performance arena, including a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from CalArts. This same confidence and dedication is evident in his martial arts training: Yang style Taijiquan, Shotokan Karate, Gun Fu, and Kali, combined with the intense physical training in his acting program. Vonzell was most recently seen in the play Eternal Thou (Backstage West Critic’s Pick) at Atwater Village Theater. An excerpt from the Backstage review: “Carter is mesmerizing. His every movement is riveting”.


Gui DaSilva joins as a body guard in the Lion Clan assigned to protect Adelene (Amy Johnston)


Gui DaSilva was born in 1990, raised in New York City by his mother, a former professional dancer. At the age of two he was found, by his father, imitating the figure on top of an old Martial arts trophy, which decided his future of becoming a martial artist and started training him. Gui obtained his black belt in Tae kwon do at the age of 14 and continued on to his goal of being in the Olympics. In 2007 he got injured during a sparring practice while training for the 2008 Olympics. He then discovered martial arts tricking and followed his mother’s career as a professional dancer. He moved to Los Angeles in hopes of being a successful actor and stuntman who inspires all people.


Mickey Facchinello joins as a mystery warrior who will be revealed as Clandestine’s story unfolds


In the eyes of many of the crew at Thousand Pounds, Mickey Facchinello is still very, very young… which make her accomplishments, thus far, even more impressive. Mickey is a world champion, holding black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Shorei-ryu Karate – well complimented by her additional skills in martial arts style tricking and extreme martial arts. She also has extensive training in screen fighting, contemporary and hip-hop dance, wushu, parkour/freerunning and aerial silks. All of these amazing talents have been tried and proven when Mickey performed in Tropicana Hotel Las Vegas’ headlining martial arts live show Sideswip LIVE! alongside an otherwise all-male cast. Thousand Pounds has been lucky enough to recreuit this powder keg of talent and energy just in time to watch her explode onto the scenes of Hollywood action stunts and performance.

Clandestine : Follow The Path | Kickstarter ending soon


Watch live video from thousand_pounds_action on TwitchTV

Our web cast where we answered the questions from our Kickstarter backers.



Dear fans!

We have received such an enthusiastic responds from you our community and we are eternally grateful for all of you coming out and supporting us.

In less than 10 days our Kickstarter campaign is going to end and that will set the fate of this our most ambitious project to date.

We love you all regardless and thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Let us continue this epic battle together!

Sincerely,
Thousand Pounds Action Company

Clandestine: The Stars and Welcome Veteran Performer Mark Musashi

Actor and veteran stuntman Mark Musashi joins Amy Johnston and Brendon Huor on the cast of Clandestine. We sat each of them down for a video chat.

Mark is one talented man. He’s a tri-lingual (English, Japanese and Chinese) up-and-coming actor. He had a recent co-starring role in CSI:NY as well as numerous featured roles on major Japanese TV shows.

Mark is also a featured stunt performer on several Hollywood hits. Lately he’s been tossing around a lot of Martians, working on Avatar, Thor, John Carter and Mars Needs Moms. We imagine he’s looking forward to tossing around “normal” people for a change in Clandestine. (We’re gently breaking the news to him about animal clan powers.)