MARCH 2010: The short film competes at the Gasparilla International Film Festival and has its best presentation ever on the big screen at Hyde Park's Cinebistro Theater (which is very close to where the iconic robbery scene was shot). Heart supporters fill up nearly half the theater and LLP members attend all of the ceremonies and most of the seminars and many of the other film showings. Heart's most celebrity-filled festival yet, Melora Hardin, Stephen Baldwin, Arielle Kebbel, Armand Assante, Jerry Springer, Raymond Barry & Gov. Charlie Crist all attend. The short film is also selected for April's Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg and the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival.
FEBRUARY 2010: The short film is nominated for Best Florida Film at the Treasure Coast Film Festival and LLP members attend the award ceremony on 2/20, where a clip is shown during the presentation. The film also competes at the Amelia Island Film Festival a week later and is selected to the Gasparilla International Film Festival, bringing the LLP members back to their home market of Tampa for a showing on the big screen the first time since May.
JANUARY 2010: The short film competes at the Festivus Film Festival in Denver and is selected to the Treasure Coast Film Festival in Port St. Lucie and the Amelia Island Film Festival near Jacksonville.
DECEMBER 2009: The short film is selected to the Festivus Film Festival in Denver, which takes place in mid-January.
NOVEMBER 2009: LLP members attend the Orlando Film Festival, an extremely well-executed event at an outstanding venue. The movie also competes at the Queens International Film Festival a week later.
OCTOBER 2009: The short film is selected to the Queens International Film Festival, its 3rd New York City area selection. The final financial documents are approved and sent to the capital brokers for distribution to potential investors.
SEPTEMBER 2009: LLP members attend the Central Florida Film Festival on Labor Day weekend then spend a week in the Los Angeles area for the SoCal Film Festival, where quite a few important industry contacts are made along with some celebrity meetings. They even meet a Hollywood producer who was born and raised in the Seminole/Largo area! In the meanwhile, the private placement memorandum for the feature project is finalized and the short film is selected for the Orlando Film Festival in early November.
AUGUST 2009: LLP members prepare for the upcoming CenFlo Film Festival in Orlando (9/4-9/6) and SoCal Film Festival in Huntington Beach, CA (9/16-9/23). LLP also signed with a capital broker earlier in the month and have been submitting financial information to them in preparation for the company's first private placement memorandum, which should be on the streets by September.
JULY 2009: R. Presley Stephens attended the Long Island International Film Expo on 7/17 to accept "Heart's" Best Short Film Cinematography Award for Stephen McKendree and Chris Rish. He was interviewed by Chris Collora for Long Island News Tonight and the movie was featured in their cable TV news story. A few days later, the movie was selected to the SoCal Film Festival in Orange County, CA and the Independents' Film Festival in Tampa. SoCal is Heart's most significant festival so far due to both its general importance and its location right next to Hollywood, making industry executives fairly accessible to the festival, so several members of the project decide to atted in hopes of furthering the feature cause. And to meet some really cool celebrities.
JUNE 2009: Heart competes at the New York City Picture Start Festival and is made a selection of the Central Florida Film Festival in Orlando, scheduled to play over Labor Day weekend.
MAY 2009: Best month for Heart so far! On 5/2/09, A Piece of My Heart makes its big screen premiere at the Motion Film Festival at Channelside Theaters in Tampa, where it wins 5 awards including Best Actor (Chris Ingle), Best Director (Stephen McKendree), Best Florida Film and Viewer's Choice. About 40 people connected to the project show up to support it and the movie was mentioned in a local newspaper article about the festival. Two weeks later on 5/15/09, Heart shows again at the Indie Film Jam in Orlando, where it places second in the Viewer's Choice competition. Later in the month, LLP is notified that Heart will compete in the 12th Annual Long Island International Film Expo in July, its most prestigious festival selection yet!
APRIL 2009: Heart is made an official selection of the Motion Film Festival in Tampa and the Indie Film Jam in Orlando, its first two film festival selections.
FEBRUARY 2009: Liberty Lane Productions begins submitting the Heart short to film festivals.
OCTOBER 2008: The economy goes into freefall. So do the fortunes of the first group of investors interested in propelling the feature project. :(
AUGUST 2008: Stephen McKendree and composer/sound designer Stephen Bowman finish primary editing of A Piece of My Heart and reveals rough cut to the producers. Shortly thereafter, a Hollywood executive becomes interested in the project.
JULY 2008: Stephen McKendree and Liberty Lane Productions complete principal photography of the Heart short in Sarasota and their "headquarters" Seminole 8 Theaters.
JUNE 2008: Stephen McKendree and Liberty Lane Productions begin principal photography of the Heart short. First up was the hospital scene, shot on a set built in a garage in Sarasota by production designer Britany Stevenson. Then the highly complicated convenience store robbery scene shoot at La Casa Sierra in Tampa that took up a couple of intense days. Next up was the romantic beach scene shot in a serious hurry to capture the beautiful sunset at Indian Rocks Beach, after which the cast and crew had an impromptu unofficial wrap party (despite the fact that they still had a couple of scenes to shoot!).
MAY 2008: Pre-production begins. Auditions are held for the lead roles and Chris Ingle and Rhea Rossiter are cast. Location scouting kicks into high gear. Chris Rish, Kelly Mikes and Matthew Fish join the producer ranks.
MARCH 2008: Personal crises abate. R. Presley Stephens, Stephen McKendree, Joshua Martin and Joshua's fellow Fullsail alum Dan Lauer get together for the first of several serious development meetings about shooting the A Piece of My Heart short.
MAY 2007: Former Seminole 8 co-workers R. Presley Stephens, Stephen McKendree and Joshua Martin begin seriously kicking around the idea of producing A Piece of My Heart, but are quickly sidetracked by personal crises.
