The whole week, I’ve been saying, “No, I don’t need anything from the store; I’ll just use garbage.” But today, I was finally convinced it would be a good idea to get a couple things. Arthur and I went to an art store and picked up these items:

1. Blue and white screenprinting ink
2. 3 little cheap paintbrushes
3. Heavyweight inkjet paper
4. PVA glue
5. Matte Finish (for candyboxes)
6. Colored pencils for Honyo
7. Razor blades for sharpening pencils
8. Vincent Van Gogh action figure

Oh yeah, we didn’t get the action figure; we just made fun of it.

I spent part of yesterday trying to sell books, De Chirugerie which we got from the investor, and a few of my own which are art monographs worth $100 or so each it seems.

Also, made a new budget. It’s not online yet. I’ll tackle the ephemera section of the site very soon, promise.

The new budget is the first to include in kind items. It is rather revealing. Even without pre-production labor, we are looking at over $50,000 in loaned equipment and services. It boggles the mind. The actual budget for Disembody could be near $100,000 once we figure in labor and cash expenditures. Cash expenditures looking like they’ll be somewhere around $22,000. Which I guess is good news for investors, because those costs (plus labor incurred during the two weeks the show is up - approximately $10,000) are the official budget against which profits are measured.

Thinking about the budget in these terms, we’re actually very close to achieving our goals. We’re only about $7,000 away from what I want in our cash reserves for materials. Of course, we’re more like $20,000 away from what I really want available in investments. There are still a fair number of items I’d like to have in the concession stand, and a few build issues I think we have left unresolved. But still, to think that we are only $7,000 away from pulling off a project with a budget approaching $100,000 is pretty awesome.

In less dry news, last night Kathryn measured Keturah and Carol-Anne for their hot pants. Kathryn has already cut out all of the pieces of C-A’s hot pants. This is certainly going to be one of the stranger elements of the shoot.

Afterwards, I met with Alex to talk hardware needs for the editing, capturing, logging, dialogue recording, etc. We ran into Skye at the bar where we were meeting. I got a list of specs from Alex as to some of our more specific equipment needs. And Skye and I talked over some of the editing and conceptual aspects. We’re going to be certain to have AfterEffects on the editing machine for him.

This morning I received the investment pamphlet from Erin. As always with her work, it is fabulous. I’ll post it online when I find time to post everything else. That should be soon. I only have two more weeks of thesis ahead, and I finish moving my stuff down to LA in just over a week. Once in LA I should be focussed exclusively on Disembody (okay, except for that little thing called making a living) through de-install in August.

Tonight I am meeting with Hanif to discuss my thesis and Disembody.

Finally, Han and Marcella both sent me links to Frieze articles recently:

Reality In The Age of Aesthetics

Public Relations

Another insight Skye had, was that by leaving the in kind items we are getting, and there are lots of them, out of the budget, we are doing the production a great disservice. If we include all the in kind items the budget may go up considerably, but a much greater percentage of the overall budget can then be seen to have been reached. If the full cost of the production is $70,000, and we’ve reached $45,000, well, that paints a very different picture of the incredible support and generosity that have poured into Disembody.

Jonny has posted a budget page on the website. I have a few tweaks to make to it, and then it should be live for all the world to see how this project is coming together.

Oh, and they’ll get to see why I should have brought an accountant onboard first thing.

And while we’re on the subject, over at our time clock you will be able to follow the hours put in to the project. We don’t know how accurate these will be, as no one is obligated to punch this clock. But, with luck most folks will offer up this insight into the project.

Today is turning out to be a money issues day. I’m working on selling the 1624 Dutch edition of Ambrose Pare’s book De Chirurgie, ende Opera: van alle de Wercken / van M. Ambrosius Pare. This is not as easy as one might think. Old books are valuable, and this one is in very good condition for a book that is almost 400 years old, but there is a very limited market for them. And a much more limited market for surgical manuals in Old Dutch. So, even though it’s worth a few grand apparently, I may not be able to sell it.

As well, there is the distant possibility that a distributor, the dream distributor of basically most any artist working in the realm of moving images, that they might point us out to people they know in the world of investing. Yeah, I know tortured language. I’m as scared of saying something online that fucks up a possible deal as I am of getting a deal. LOL.

However, even the distant possibility of investors from outside my cloistered realm getting involved, required a call to my lawyer. And I think it means we are going to alter the financing of the project to bring it more in line with the realities of L.A. It will have less of the egalitarian, “Gee shucks fellas, why don’t we use the old barn to put on a show. We can share the profits to help save Father Todd’s barber’s school!” and more of the “the party of the first part will receive 10% of profits, after hum and ahem and haw, for each 20% of said budget (see section 09.65.c.2 of said contract) invested.” My lawyer is actually really happy about this change. She thinks it’ll be a lot easier to sell and distribute the film with conventional contracts attached, as opposed to contracts being artworks in themselves.

This is not a bad thing. The project was always intended to be an actual film in practice, as opposed to just mimicking one. So, bringing our financing in line with tradition makes perfect conceptual sense.

It sounds like - and I’m not supposed to put these things on line because then they can be construed as contractual on some level, apparently but I’m only willing to limit the transparency of this project for the sake of financing so much - anyway, it sounds like, the initial investments will be “bridge loans” and, of course, we will honor the initial contract we wrote about here and on the website. But, as of today, all future investments will hew to the typical industry format. My next stop after this blog post is the invest page on the site to expunge details which might lead to lawsuits or breach of contract claims.

Then a few emaisl to book dealers.

And this folks is the real work of art.

P.S. Can I just say that, to the best of my knowledge, everyone involved in this project adores David Lynch? I personally consider Twin Peaks a paradigm shift in my televisual life. And Inland Empire? One of the best movies ever made. Honestly, I loved it. When Han, upon first reading about Disembody, said it sounded like Inland Empire in a gallery, I just about wept I was so flattered.