Playing Through is finally up on YouTube!

The film tells the story of Brandon & Nathan. Two friends playing a round of golf terribly. While Brandon does his best to distract his friend, every thought Nathan has rests on a looming phone call. A call that will reveal whether or not he has been diagnosed with cancer.

The film stars John Steptoe, Michael Clarke & Alyssa LaPlume.  It was written and directed by Jason McKinnon and produced by Eric Gamache.

I had an absolute blast making Playing Through.  It was the first film I directed with a professional crew and it was also the first film I edited using Final Cut Pro.  Software I purchased along with a sweet new iMac in order to complete the film.  I’m extremely proud of the work our cast in crew poured into the short.  I also have to thank Clear Springs Golf course in North Bay, Ontario for allowing us to make this film on their course.  It was a gorgeous week I’ll never forget.  I’m extremely happy it didn’t rain!

Hope you enjoy the film!  Pass it along.

There is still one more giant announcement to come regarding this movie in 2012 so stay tuned.

It’s Playing Through overload today at The Athletic Nerd.

What good is a movie blog if you can’t promote your own movies right?

Right now, for the first time in the history of the world, you can watch Playing Through online!

Click here to view the trailer

Playing Through is the story of Brandon & Nathan. Two friends playing a round of golf – Terribly.  While Brandon does his best to distract his friend, every thought Nathan has rests on a looming phone call.  A call that will reveal whether or not he has been diagnosed with cancer.

From 17 West Productions, the low budget short film stars John Steptoe, Michael Clarke and Alyssa LaPlume.  It was written and directed by Jason McKinnon (Me) and produced by Eric Gamache.

The film is a part of the NSI Online Short Film Festival and we are proud to be among so many fantastic Canadian shorts.

Click here to watch the film!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been posting a series of WRAP UP posts to give 2010 a proper farewell.

Now that 2010 is gone and all the promise of 2011 is upon us I wanted to take one final look back at the current record holder for BEST YEAR EVER.

A record that will be broken in 2011.

The Year End Posts

2010 Web Design Recap: Promoting Your Films Online

The Athletic Nerd 2010 Year In Review

UPDATE Indie Short Film: The Climb

A Filmmaker’s Letter To Santa Claus

All Time Best Movie Moment of 2010

17 West Productions 2010 Year In Review

The Bottom 3: 2010′s Worst Movies

2010′s All Time Top 5 Movies

The Athletic Nerd: The Highlight Of 2010

2010′s Top 10 Most Popular Posts

10 – Review: Celtx for iPhone & iPad

9 – Why Transformers 3 Won’t Suck

8 – Gareth Edwards’ Monsters Is Inspiring

7 – All Time Best: Cocky Movie Character

6 – Dexter & Screenwriting

5 – 10 Flicks: Horror Movies With Great Stories

4 – 10 Flicks: Pre Drinking Comedies

3 – Why E.T The Extra Terrestrial Scared Me

2 – 10 Flicks: Bad Ass Movies 2

1 – All Time Worst: Bad Movie I Wouldn’t Mind Seeing Again

Director’s Cut: Top 10 Featured Posts

10 – The Final Rainy Sunday: The Beauty Of Lazy Day Movies

9 – Photoshop: A Cure For Writer’s Block?

8 - What ‘The Matrix’ Screenplay Taught Me

7 – Scriptchat: A Screenwriting Community

6 – Crosstown: Writing A Short Screenplay

5 – Cab Drivers, Inspiration & The Sound Of Music

4 – A Conversation With Tim Burton

3 – Movies That Changed Everything: The Complete Series

2 – 100 Screenwriting Websites

1 – A Year In The Life Of An Aspiring Screenwriter

Bring on 2011

Finishing My Feature Length Screenplay

It was a long time coming but I finally completed a feature script after nearly 4 years of putting it off.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain why it took so long.  Every time I worked on it, I fell in love with the characters and the story all over again.  Yet it always seemed to take a back seat to other projects I was working on.

Finishing the screenplay brought with it an amazing sense of accomplishment.

I feel like a new era has begun.  I feel rejuvenated.  I’m happy.

2011 is going to be the year of the screenplay.  A year spent challenging myself to be better.

Click here for more.

I dove into a new script a week later and I don’t plan on taking 4 years to complete this one.  I suppose I should put it in writing…

Look for updates this summer!

XTRA: A Year In The Life Of An Aspiring Screenwriter

2010 was a productive year for 17 West Productions.

Playing Through was accepted into 3 festivals and also won 3 awards.  Most recently, it was accepted into the 2010 NSI Online Short Film Festival and will be playing online early in 2011.

The end of 2010 will probably signify the end of our promotional campaign for the film.  With it’s festival run over, we now turn our attention to distribution, television and hopefully launch the entire film online over at 17west.ca by the end of the next year.

If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, check it out below.

We also produced a low budget short film that is currently in post production called The Climb.

I wrote and directed the film and I’m currently handling most of the post-production so progress is slow but I’m getting there.

Click here for a complete update on the film.

Those who follow 17 West Productions have no doubt heard of another project called Strings.  The film was written a while back and even reached casting but was stalled due to the always challenging search for funding.

We are co-producing the film which is due to be filmed in Sudbury, Ontario in 2011 assuming Operation: Funding is successful.  Expect a full update in the next few weeks.

The rest of 2010 was spent developing new stories and short film concepts that we hope to produce.  The process of lining up projects is a long one but the results have been encouraging thus far.  Currently, we have 6 or 7 projects in development and several more with completed screenplays waiting to be greenlit.

All in all, I’m happy about our company’s progress in 2010.  Eric and I both work full time jobs in the industry and considering how difficult it is to run our company on a part time basis, we still managed to get a film into festivals while producing another.

What’s important to me is how much time we have spent developing projects for the future.

The goal for 2011 is to ramp up development and hopefully move forward on a new short film project late in the year.

Check out the newly redesigned www.17west.ca for more on 17W and keep checking back here for updates.