Two Weeks to Go!

Can you believe there are only two weeks left of voting for Round 1 of this competition?  Yikes!  So how are we doing?  Well, in one week we went from 40 people voting and 95 votes to 111 people voting and 341 votes!  We more than doubled the number of voters we have and we more than tripled the number of votes!  Way to go!

But the big question is, how are we stacking up against the competition?  Last week I found 33 entries with more votes than we have.  We plowed right past about a dozen or so entries that seemed to have started out pretty strong, but then fizzled out.  And we are getting very close to passing by four more.  But then I found a few more entries that were in front of us.  So as of today, there are 25 entries that I know of with more votes than us.  While it is very encouraging that we appear to be moving up, please keep in mind that I haven’t seen all the entries and have no idea how many that I haven’t seen have more votes than us.  Also, I’ve found at least three entries that started after us and have passed us by.  So we need to keep voting every single day and we need to keep finding more voters! 

To see how we stack up against the top players, here’s how the top ten entries (that I know of) are doing:

  • 3,235 votes, 706 voters
  • 1,334 votes, 299 voters
  • 1,283 votes, 156 voters
  • 1,025 votes, 269 voters
  • 958 votes, 145 voters
  • 898 votes, 111 voters
  • 895 votes, 196 voters
  • 863 votes, 181 voters
  • 722 votes, 96 voters
  • 721 votes, 151 voters

So please don’t get complacent!  We’ve got a ways to go yet!  We need every vote!

Joyce, our I-Maniac fan club president, is currently moving the fan club mailing list to a more reliable program.  So if you get an email from her, be sure you opt in.  She’ll be sending out an announcement about this contest as folks opt in.  Some of the email addresses no longer work, so if you have contact with an I-Maniac that may not be aware of this contest, please lend a hand and let them know about it.

I attended a United Filmmakers Association mixer over a week ago and was able to get a free copy of the Reel Directory, which is the Northern California version of the Hollywood Creative Directory.  Basically, it’s a directory of services and everyone in the business from audio post facilities to production equipment to stunt equipment rentals to traffic and crowd control services…virtually everything you could possibly think of and would need to make a movie.  I’ve used it to start calling around to studios and getting rental rates for the video we’re shooting.  My director is prepping for another shoot right now, but we’ll be meeting again on Friday.  I’m happy to say that my financing came through, so this video is officially green lit!

I’m also starting to get quotes from artists and will be commissioning some custom artwork as part of my submission.  Exciting stuff!

The contest requires that if I use any third party’s name, I must have a signed release from them.  This weekend, I got emails from Paul Ben-Victor, Eddie Jones, and Mike McCafferty and I talked on the phone to Vincent Ventresca on Sunday.  All these wonderful guys are very willing to sign a release so that I can use their names when entering my submissions into the contest!  Vince is contacting Shannon for me and I’m still waiting to hear from her.  Do you realize how lucky we are to have such a supportive cast?  I can’t think of another cast that would do what these guys do.    

There is still so much to do and it’s going to get crazy.  Please don’t mind me if you see me wearing a straight jacket in the near future!

Character #2 (Final Results)

Last week we were left hanging as to the winning name for Shannon’s character.  It was a tie between Tara and Madeleine.  This meant that the judges had to break the tie and make the final decision.  The judges voted and it was unanimous.  The winning name is the name the character already had…Tara!

This means that we will not be naming a winning contestant for this round.  But the contest isn’t over!  We still have two more characters that do not yet have names!

Character #2 (Results)

The voting has now come to a close for Character #2 and we have a two-way tie!  The two names with the most votes were Tara and Madeleine

This means that the judges will have to break the tie.  We’ll take the next week to discuss and vote on which one we like best.  Then, on Monday, December 27, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. PT, I’ll post the winning name here on the blog. 

 There are only two more names left, so join in on the fun!

Character #2 (Voting Period)

Now starts the Voting Period for Character #2! The Judges discussed the pros and cons of each name and then voted on them. Names were chosen by majority rule, which meant that a minimum of three votes were needed to move the names to the Voting Round.  In this round only one name received four votes.  The rest received three votes.  Congratulations to the four finalists who made it to this round!

Now the naming of this character rests with all of you. It’s out of the Judges’ hands. It’s your decision.  Please take a minute to vote and show your support.

Some reminders:

  • Be sure you are logged on to this Blog.
  • Each person gets only one vote, including the contestants who entered the contest and the finalists.
  • Enter your vote in the comments section (below) of this Blog post.
  • You have one week to enter your vote. The comments will be closed Monday, December 20, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. PT.
  • This is a popularity contest. The most popular name wins! So finalists are free to campaign if they wish.

This round is a bit different from the last voting round in that we are also including the current name of the character, Tara, for you to vote on.  Do you like the character’s current name or do you prefer one of the finalists’ character names?   You can only vote for one of them!

Tara
Samantha
Jenny
Madeleine
Jessica

Character #2 (Judging Period)

The Submission Period for Character #2 has now come to a close.  I’ve closed the comments on the thread so no further names will be accepted.  We beat the number of submissions we had for our first character by 10 with a total of 23 submissions for this round! Way to go!

For the next week the judges will deliberate and choose our favorites.  The finalists will be notified by email that one or more of their entries made it into the final round.  If you don’t receive an email from me, your entry was not chosen.  But there are three more characters to be named, so please keep trying!  I will post the names on the Blog next Monday where everyone will get a chance to vote for their favorite!

Character #2 (Submission Period)

The NAME THE MOVIE CHARACTERS CONTEST continues!  This post starts the Second Round, which is where you get to submit names for another character in the movie.

A few reminders:

  • Be sure you are logged on to this Blog.
  • You will enter your submissions for this character only in the comments section of this Blog post below. 
  • Remember, only one name per comment.  But you can submit as many names as you wish. 
  • Don’t forget to fill out the Entry Form.
  • You will have one week to enter your submissions.  The comments will be closed Monday, December 6, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. PT.
  • Please keep in mind that you need to follow all the rules to avoid the risk of being disqualified, so be sure you read and understand the Rules and the Terms & Conditions before entering this contest.

Character #2

The next name we need is for a character anticipated to be played by the beautiful Shannon Kenny.  For this character we are looking for only a first name.  We do already have a name picked out that I’m going to submit for voters to decide upon.  I’ve posted it as the first comment below.  Can you come up with a better name? 

Here’s a short character description:

She’s a beautiful toy designer who is not what she appears to be.  Even those closest to her don’t know what her true motives are.