The Next Phase

With the new DVD "Thong Girl 4: The Body Electric" finally released and the new video game ready for purchase it's time to start looking to the future. I'll be selling the DVD at Cons and online from the TG website and soon you'll be able to rent it online from Netflix. I'll also be looking for distribution from independent companies that are looking for product, but it may be a hard sell. The movie has a little bit of T&A but not enough to qualify for an R rating or a "bonerfied" soft-core. It's a superhero film but it doesn't have a lot of flying or fight scenes. It's more of a comedy with a lot of ass lasers and gay references, courtesy of TG's gay sidekick BoxerBrief Boy. And at 110 minutes it's quite epic for an indie film. It's really more of a Troma Film without the puking and shitting; it's sort of my homage to one of my film heroes, Lloyd Kaufman, who makes a cameo appearance. It's got two musical numbers and lots of hot chicks.
I'm also really excited about my new venture. I've teamed up with comic book artist Gaylord Tause, who's created a new comic book series called Thong Girl vs. Xolta From Outer Space (I added the Outer Space part). He's written and illustrated a new series based on a story he's created about a really hot alien chick who comes to Earth and battles Thong Girl. At first they're adversaries but then they team up to defeat another weird alien dude with a pointy blue head. I've been talking with b-movie legend Jim O'Rear about playing this part. I'm going to turn these into webisodes that you'll be able to stream or download for purchase on YouTube. There will be a fifteen minute pilot episode followed by weekly three-minute vignettes. This will broaden our fan base and hopefully extend worldwide to include the Asian market that I've always wanted to target.
In the next few months I'll be casting and building sets for this new project and I hope to have it out by Spring of next year. I've included a cover from one of the new comic books so you can get an idea of what the real life characters will look like. My hope is that I can finally start to see some return for all of the money that I've invested in this franchise. The last movie pretty much broke me so, of course, I'll also be vigorously seeking distribution.
I'm also writing songs for my pet project "Thong Girl: The Musical" and I hope to get with Martin Brady (Dweeble) soon and start fleshing them out and composing a score.
You can keep up with all the new merchandise and the DVD and video game on the website and I'll try and post more blogs this winter.

Thong Girl Is Back!

It seems like it's been forever since I've updated my blog. There is so much to tell you, but I'll just touch on a few of the great things that have happened since my last update.
I guess the biggest thing is the film premiere of Thong Girl 4: The Body Electric. The new feature film will be screening at the fabulous Belcourt Theater on Thursday, April 7th at 7pm. I have been working on this movie for almost three years and I haven't had time for anything else. It's been a truly rewarding experience and I've learned SO much, especially in the post-production phase. I've learned a lot of editing techniques that will help me in my future endeavors - specifically my move to Los Angeles! I will be moving in a little over a year; as soon as I can sell my house and line up a job out there. Obviously, with the economy sucking and the housing market at an all-time low, I'll be waiting until things improve a bit. But I feel like I can't really do the things I love while living in Nashville. I moved here for music but that's just not where my interests lie anymore. I feel a really strong desire to work in the film industry, in just about any capacity that is available.
The new movie will be premiering about the same time as the release of the new Thong Girl video game. A trailer is online now and the game will be ready to play the night of the premiere. It's turned out super-cool and fun and it was a big hit at the Con Nooga Comic Convention that we attended on Feb. 18-20th.
We also introduced our new Thong Girl, Maxxine Ransdell at Con Nooga (see photo) and we will be enbarking on a new film and comic book adventure called Thong Girl Vs. Xolta. I've become involved with a new comic book artist from Atlanta named Gaylord Tause and there will be a lot of his artwork in the new movie. He has created an alien female space vixen named Xolta and we will be turning the comic book into a live-action webisode adventure series starring Maxxine and an as yet-to-be announced actress who will play Xolta. The webisodes will be available for purchase and download sometime in the Fall of 2011. This is very exciting stuff and it's our way of taking TG into the realm of the internet where everything seems to be heading. It has gotten so costly to make feature films without investors that I just don't think I'll be able to continue making bigger and better movies on my own dime. This will be a way to cut back on the budget without sacrificing quality.
Please try and make it to the premiere of Thong Girl 4: The Body Electricon April 7th at the Belcourt Theater and watch for our new webisodes coming this Fall.

April Update

     Spring is finally here and we're well into our second month of shooting TG4.  We've shot five or six scenes so far and we've got a very busy April and May.  Here is a picture of our laboratory set that we started building back in November of last year.  We'll be on the set for the entire month of May and then we'll do all of our outdoor location shooting in June and July, followed by a month of "green screen" shooting and then we should wrap by the end of the summer.  Then it's on to post-production which will include bigger and better special effects, music and a very special "secret" that I'm not at liberty to discuss... aw, hell, everybody knows I can't keep a secret. We're going to try and shoot the grand finale dance/throw-down fight scene in 3D!!!  James Houk, our Director of Photography is working out the details and, as far as we know, this will be the first local feature film to utilize 3D and 3D glasses.  Very exciting!

     I'm also looking forward to filming a flashback dream sequence at the end of the month with one of my personal heroes, Lloyd Kaufman.  Lloyd will be making a cameo appearance as Doctor Thomas Edison from the 1920s.  Lloyd is the founder of New York based film company Troma Films, home of the well-known Toxic Avenger series.

     Since we're shooting mostly weekends it's taking a lot longer than most indie films to shoot, but we're getting some really great footage and I think you'll see the end result will be well worth the wait.

     Keep checking back with me and also check out our revamped website for some behind-the-scenes photos.  And remember:  If You Do Wrong, You'll Answer To The Thong!

     

Thong Girl where have you gone?

It seems like forever since I've posted a Thong Girl blog and I apologize profusely.  The fact of the matter is, not much has been happening.  Things are starting to pick up again and I'll start with the good news/bad news portion of the blog.

The good news:  We'll be doing the Nashville Comic and Horror Convention on Oct. 18th & 19th.

The bad news:  Audra Lynn will not be there.  Unfortunately, Audra has opted out of the Thong Girl project due to health issues and personal reasons which I can't go into.  The last I heard she had moved from Los Angeles back to Minnesota and is living with her parents during this period of transition.  I wish her well and I totally enjoyed the few months that we worked together.  But the good news is we've teamed up with actress/model Alex del Monaco for the Nashville Con and Alex will be wearing The Thong and appearing as Thong Girl for the two-day convention.  While she's here she'll also be doing a screen test for the movie and we'll discuss the possibility of her assuming the role for the next film "Thong Girl 4: The Body Electric". Alex brings a ton of modeling experience and also some film experience along with a really solid fan base and we're all excited about the possibility of her becoming the next Thong Girl. I'll be posting more info in the next few weeks concerning the Nashville Comic and Horror Festival.

We've also been working diligently on the set for the new movie.  The story is based on historical events concerning Thomas Edison and the electricity patent wars between he and George Westinghouse in the 1920's.  The set will resemble the funky old Frankenstein laboratory where the monster was created.  Thanks to the artistic talents of my buddy Pablo Scruggs we've been able to replicate a lot of the old laboratory ambiance and what better location for the set than a haunted house?  The folks at the Devil's Dungeon (www.devilsdungeon.net) have graciously donated a room for us to film the laboratory scenes.  They will be using our set during the Halloween season and as soon as they close we'll move in and start filming.  I wanted a place where we wouldn't have to move everything around everytime we wanted to shoot.  The laboratory scenes will take the longest amount of time to film, so I wanted a place where we could stay set up for a month or two.  Filming will begin in late November.  Look for a mystery celebrity in a cameo appearance as Thomas Edison!  

Also, the Thong Girl video game is coming along right on schedule and my guys from DeVry University are hard at work putting that together for a 2009 release.  

That's about it for now.  I'll be busy casting the new film and tightening up the script for the next few weeks.  Thanks to those of you who have inquired about the new movie and I hope to see you all in October at the Con.