Two Texas-based production companies, Ralph Smyth Entertainment of Austin and Red Productions of Fort Worth, have teamed together to develop a feature-length film called Intramural. The film, written by Bradley Jackson and directed by Andrew Disney, “is slated to finish shooting by the end of August,” said Producer Andrew Lee. The plot follows a group of friends who are in their fifth year of undergraduate school and realize graduation looms on the horizon. Naturally, they want to get the old intramural football team back together for one final hurrah. Lee said the film capitalizes on some of the “top comedians of tomorrow,” but the developers are maintaining the look and feel of an “epic sports movie.” That can be difficult without big Hollywood backers. “It’s a challenge juggling the resources we have,” he stated. “I mean, this is a lower-budget film.”
For that reason, these two production companies have developed a Kickstarter page to thicken the film’s budget. Kickstarter is a company that facilitates crowd funding of creative products. Their website has been the birthplace of several innovative technologies and recently funded the Veronica Mars Movie Project. The Kickstarter funding process for Intramural will close on August 20. “Ideally, we will release Intramural to film festivals in the spring of 2014,” said Lee. “Then, it is up to the distributors. We’ll have to see what happens.”
‘Glory Denied’ on disc The Fort Worth Opera’s General Director Darren Woods announced the August 1 release of Glory Denied, the live recording. Based on Tom Philpott’s bestselling novel, Tom Cipullo composed the opera, which was highly acclaimed and well-received by fans. The Fort Worth Opera recorded the album in collaboration with Albany Records; this marks their third project together. In a press release Woods commented, “It is a privilege for Fort Worth Opera to bring this amazing work to the world. Glory Denied was a story that resonated deeply with the many people who experienced the work first-hand during the Fort Worth Opera Festival, and the entire Fort Worth Opera family believes it to be one of the most important projects we have ever undertaken. We were honored to bring it to our community this past spring and are now equally honored that everyone will be able to hear Tom Cipullo’s astounding opera.” The true story follows Colonel Jim Thompson, Vietnam War veteran who spent nine years in captivity. After returning home in 1973, he struggles to assimilate – both because of his own experiences and the changes that have occurred in his country. The emotional score parallels Jim’s flashbacks to joyful times before the war and his experiences of sorrow in the present. The album will be available at albanyrecords.com, amazon.com, archivemusik.com and on iTunes in September.