Platter Pushers

We held our cast and crew meeting this afternoon. It seems like we have all of our crew positions and our entire cast, except one challenger.

I've registered our project on the Kickstarter website to raise money for the expenses for our project. With the cost of food, prizes, and various shooting accessories (SD cards, gaff tape, etc;), the four of us felt it would be a big help to try and raise money from those interested in our project. Once we add a video and a picture, we will be accepting donations.

I met with Lisa, the chef at Crespella Cafe, on Friday and she seemed to be welcoming to our project. Although they have not been in Ithaca for very long, it seems like we will still have an interesting story because their business is located in the "cursed location." She was very willing to advertise our KickStarter account at the cafe and also at a car dealership where the co-owner works. One person has attempted the challenge and "failed miserably," so it should be interesting to see how our contestants do.

Today, we decided on the name "Platter Pushers" for our program. Woot!

Getting Closer

I'm really getting excited for our project after our last group meeting on Monday. Although we are still waiting to hear back from 3 of our 4 locations, Rogan's has agreed to be a part of the project and we are setting up a meeting with them (hopefully Thursday at 3pm). We have also received quite a big response of people who are interested in either being crew for the project or being a contestant.

We have finalized our host, as well as our contestant for the ice cream challenge portion. We are trying to type cast our show by either choosing a competitor who looks like he could eat anything you put in front of him OR doing the exact opposite. Our host, Sean, isn't really either one of those types. In my opinion, he looks like the average guy, but truth be told he can eat a LOT of food. I think this will work for the show, since our audience won't necessarily expect him to win eating contests (and sometimes, he probably won't) and will also be a good contrast between having huge-football player guys and skinny girls challenge him.

We're holding a meeting on Saturday, Sept. 24th in the pub to make our cast and crew lists official. As of right now, our schedule is to try and begin shooting October 6th at Rogan's as well as October 8th (opening sequences or another location if it works out).

Meeting with Pete tomorrow... I hope you're as excited as I am.

Teamo Supremo

After our second group meeting that took place yesterday, I feel like our group has a much better sense of the direction of our show. Instead of a News Magazine type show featuring food, we've decided to take a more game-show like approach. Along the line of Man vs. Food, our host will visit different restaurants in Ithaca which feature some type of food challenge (Purity, Glen Pines, etc;). The host will go head to head with a special guest (differing per location) to see who can complete the challenge first (if at all). Before we get to the challenge, the host will interview a chef of the restaurant, talk about the dishes they make, ingredients they use (local produce), and the contest.

So the main idea is food challenges (college edition... featuring wings, pizza, "collegey foods"), but specifically feature local, Ithaca restaurants.

We have started to divide the jobs among the team members, with Chris in charge of the production book and lighting, and myself in charge of editing. Dave from "Eating Ithaca" has also replied to us and we're working on setting up a meeting with him very soon. Finally, we're looking to audition students for the role of the host. We need someone charismatic and comfortable in front of the camera, who is also a contender in the food challenges.