Ty's List -- A Documentary |
A film about living life to the fullest. In the wake of Tyler Lorenzi's unexpected death, an adventurous list he made of must-dos in his hometown of San Francisco inspires four of his best friends from different walks of his life to take a trip to the Bay Area in his honor. |
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Spring Update!
CHECKING IN:
Greetings from Chicago where we have been working tirelessly on Ty’s List. There is a whole lot to update you on, but first let me apologize for the lack of communication between our team and all of our awesome followers (you guys!). We’ve spent the last 3 months working with our editor making a rough cut. Yep you heard us correctly—we now have a rough draft of the movie! It’s a 90 minute movie with a beginning, middle and end.
AWESOME OPPORTUNITES:
1) We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to show our draft to the talented editors, producers and directors at Kartemquin Films, Chicago’s premier documentary film production company. In the audience was legendary filmmaker Gordon Quinn, who was there just to give us feedback. How cool is that?
The good news…We’re well on our way to finishing this film. We got a lot of interesting and valuable feedback on how we can make this film better and more relevant to people who didn’t know Tyler. Since we want this movie to not only be a memorial of Tyler for the people who knew him, but also an introduction to Tyler and his life philosophy for strangers all over the world.
2) We were invited to go to the Big Apple to present Ty’s List to a group of active Northwestern Alumni. Generous Wildcats sponsored our trip out East, and we gave a speech on Ty’s List—from explaining it’s origins to giving the audience a sneak peak of the Expedia video. It went super well and we are happy to have NU behind our project.
3) We’d like to give a special thanks to RIPS Licorice for keeping our crew’s sweet tooth satisfied. We ate so many RIPS on the trip that they decided to send us a box so we could keep enjoying. Woohoo!
CHALLENGES:
(something we’ve learned to expect during the journey toward a good product!)
1) Angela, our amazing editor, got a really cool opportunity to produce a television show for PBS Chicago. We are very happy for her and wish her the best of luck, but now we need someone to take her place. If you know any good editors in the Chicago area, let us know!
2) We are so lucky to have raised money from our Kickstarter, get a sponsorship with Expedia and have many generous people help pave the way to making this film. As it turns out, post-production is expensive, and with our new direction it looks like we will have to do another round of fundraising to pay for the next draft. Hopefully the Expedia video will help after it’s released, and we’re currently brainstorming other avenues. We don’t plan on doing another Kickstarter though. We want to reach a new market of donors and Ty’s List fans with this push. Stay tuned for updates and let us know if you have any ideas!
3) We’ve been slow to send out the rest of our Kickstarter rewards, but we PROMISE that Kickstarter rewards are going out soon. Keep your eyes on your mailboxes, and send any address updates to tyslist.themovie@gmail.com
CHECKING OUT:
Once we figure out our next steps, you’ll be the first to know about them! The plan for now is to finish the next draft and start to submit the film to festivals by the end of the summer.
We hope that May 13, the anniversary of Ty’s Passing, was a peaceful day of remembrance for all. Also we hope that many of you participated in CommuniTyler on May 18.
Life is good,
Ben, Jesse and the rest of the Ty’s List Crew.
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Winter update!
Hello friends, family, loyal fans, supporters, and champions,
It’s looong time since we last posted and we figured it’s about time for an update! Last we left you, we were beginning post-production. Well, now we’re knee deep in it! Editing a documentary is a huge undertaking; the story lives within the footage and it’s our job to coax it out. With over 70 hours of footage though, it’s like hunting for one rare stone among piles of rubble (very well shot and interesting rubble though!).
*****The Abbey Road of Ty’s List!*******That’s where our editor, Angela comes in! Over the past couple months, we’ve been working with her to really hone the story down and have begun editing scenes. Typically, we meet with her once a week to go over scenes she’s edited as well as give her direction on the next scenes she’ll be tackling. We expect to have a rough cut by the end of March/early April! Here’s a blog post that she wrote after beginning the project, we found it very inspirational! http://bellevivant.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/life-in-the-moments/#more-1087In addition to editing the feature-length film, we’ve been working on a short piece for the travel agency Expedia. Expedia paid for everyone’s flight and also helped sponsor the film’s travel expenses, and in return we’re taking part in their “Find Yours” campaign! It’s very exciting for us because Expedia has a huge social media presence, which will really generate some buzz for the film. Here’s their campaign anthem:Along with a short video that ours will be similar to:Look out for ours soon!Also, Ben and I have been invited to present our project at a Northwestern Alumni Association event in New York City! Each year they select graduates or students who are doing something noteworthy and have them speak. This year, they chose Ty’s List! We’re so grateful for the opportunity and cannot wait to show people a small bit of what we’ve put together!Lastly, the merchandise finally came in! That means Kickstarter rewards are finally set to be sent out! Look for them shortly, they’ll be in the mail soon!Life is good!Jesse and Ben -
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Reflections on the Past Month
The last 31 days have been an incredible adventure. Over the last month, we’ve met some amazing people, had experiences we’ll never forget, learned so much about Tyler’s life, and put in hundreds of hours of work and hundreds of hours of play. Starting with the week-long trip in San Francisco, we saw three people who loved Tyler come together to spend a week going on adventures, learning about Ty, and learning about each other. Steve, Doug, and Becky are truly incredible people and we feel privileged to have gotten to know them, hear their stories and insights, and to see parts of Ty they carry with them shining through in each of their lives.
Behind the scenes, something else happened. As a production crew, we grew into a tight knit family. Somewhere between spending a week living in the same house, going through the highs and lows of production, eating together, and hanging out during downtime, special friendships were formed. We’re very proud of everything everyone contributed and the quality of work that came out of it. Thanks guys!
Since filming, we’ve done some adventuring ourselves! We spent another week exploring San Francisco, then visited Ben’s home in New Jersey, visited New York, drove to Boston, hung out in Vermont, and road-tripped back to the Midwest. It’s been a chaotic whirlwind of traveling (sorry it’s been so long since an update!) but we’re finally back, settled down and ready to take on the next phase of our project: post-production.
We still have a long way to go, but we’re so happy with what we got in San Francisco and so thankful to the many people who helped us and continue to lend their support as we continue in our endeavor. Looking forward to keeping you all updated! Life is Good!
- Jesse and Ben
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I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.
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Hey all,
Sorry we haven’t had more blog posts for you to snack on other than Jesse’s beautiful selfie, but we’ve just been so swamped with filmmaking there just hasn’t been any time. Finally, on this beautiful Saturday afternoon in Mill Valley I’ve finally had a quiet moment to share our adventures with y’all. Now I won’t go through the trouble of explaining what all we’ve been doing these past—I’ll just let the pictures talk for themselves. One thing that’s for sure is that the subjects have really opened themselves up for adventures and meeting new people, and some of the most beautiful moments of the week have occured in the past couple of days. We are all feeling really happy and grateful for how things are going, and we’re sad that it’s almost over! Alas, the photos.
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HI MOM!
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Hola folks,
Yesterday the participants had a fun filled day of exploring the various neighborhoods of San Francisco. Becky, Doug, and Steve started out by getting coffee in the Mission, historically a Latin-American neighborhood with world famous murals everywhere you look. Next they made their way over to Chinatown where they had lunch at the Empress of China restaurant and explored the various Chinese stores and markets along Grant. The cast had a quick interview with the director and producer at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid before heading over to Coit Tower. Next came a quick Pier 39 boat ride around Alcatraz, and lastly we ended our day with dinner at Chilango, a new restaurant in the Castro neighborhood, where Lauren, Ty’s sister, joined us! Afterwards cast and crew alike came back to the house and dozed off after a long day.
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Hey there folks!
The Ty’s List crew has just finished up it’s first full day of shooting, and wow what a great day it has been. We had a bit of a slow start getting out the door this morning, but after figuring out our routine we had a great day documenting Steve, Doug, and Becky as they embarked on their adventure around San Francisco. Even in this first day, the crew has laid witness to many poignant moments, thoughtful reflections, and hearty laughs. And things can only get better from here! Be sure to check back soon— more updates to come!
Love,
The Crew
