Producers hope to create movie buzz with a reality show

PORTSMOUTH

Locations have been chosen.

Sets are being built.

The 55-member cast and crew are almost in place.

Shooting starts Dec. 7 and ends Dec. 21.

And still, executive producer Ethan Marten of Virginia Beach wants to emphasize this about his low budget, sci-fi thriller "Atlantis Down": "It's a real motion picture."

We believe you, if only because of the spaceship you're building on a soundstage here.

Still, this isn't Hollywood and Marten knows it. This is filmmaking on a shoestring, and he loves it.

There are no stars. No caterers. No five-star hotels. No first-class tickets. Not even a casting couch.

When you're an independent filmmaker like Marten and Italian director Max Bartoli, even the sky has limits.

"For us, every day is two," Bartoli

explains. "We all would love to be in Hollywood, but the reality is we are here with a limited budget."

But money isn't the only thing that fuels an indie film. There's also passion. Idealism. Vision.

And most important: a unique idea to promote it.

 

The reel world

For 1999's "The Blair Witch Project," it was an Internet campaign that suggested the movie was real.

For the recently released "Paranomal Activity," it was a word-of-mouth campaign that turned the film into a sensation.

For "Atlantis Down," it will be - brace yourself - a reality TV show about the making of the movie. That's right. They'll be filming themselves, well, filming.

Ever wonder how a movie gets made? You can see it up close and personal, Marten and Bartoli promise.

But here's what they promise you won't see:

- Faux drama.

- Confessional rooms.

- Immunity challenges.

- Hot tub scenes.

Hey, what kind of reality show is this?

"We're trying to put together a movie," explains Bartoli, who seems a little perturbed at the question. "We think that the reality will be more interesting."

Eight half-hour episodes of "Atlantis Rising: The Making of Atlantis Down" will be shot. They will run on the local Cox cable channel. If the reality show is good enough, Cox could air it in other markets giving the film invaluable exposure.

"What we are doing," Marten believes, "is capturing the attention of Hollywood."

 

Be very afraid

Think of "Atlantis Down" as "Lost in Space" meets "Gladiator."

The year is 2025.

The Atlantis encounters an anomaly in space that transports most of her crew to a planet that looks like Earth - but isn't.

There, the crew is forced to play, as Bartoli puts it, "a galactic game of chess with a superior intelligence."

And he's not talking Alf here. Losing means death.

First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach will double for some of the planet scenes. A soundstage in Portsmouth will be a substitute for space. Digital effects will create what hammer and nails can't.

"The first reaction from everybody was that this was impossible to do for the amount you have to spend," says Bartoli, who co-wrote the screenplay. "We're not complete idiots. You can't do 'Star Wars' or 'Star Trek' with a million bucks, but you can think of a way to write a screenplay for this amount of money."

Raising it, though, is another matter.

 

Selling the drama

If the reality crew had already started filming for "Atlantis Rising," moments like this would either make the cut - or be a deleted scene on the DVD.

The place: The lobby of the Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront hotel. The time: Tuesday, 11:07 a.m. The scene: yet another pitch meeting.

The take: the first - and only.

Enter Marten, 46. The suit. The hair. The delivery. He plays his part as producer according to script.

Next to him is Bartoli, 40. The loose sweater. The worn sneakers. The keys jangling from his waist. This director digs improvisation.

Bartoli takes a seat on the couch while Marten paces, checking his cell phone.

For them, this makes Big Pitch No. 151 - or something close to that.

They admit this gets old, but it is the process. You want the suits to buy into your idea, you need to know how to sell them.

"There are several ways you can approach investors," says Bartoli, the words fused with his native Italian. "What I've learned is they have very little fantasy and their attention span is two minutes. What you need to do is nail them to their seats."

The pair then head to a conference room hoping their trailer will do exactly that.

 

The end?

Marten and Bartoli first met in 2006 at a film festival in New York. Marten's name had been synonymous with movie production in Hampton Roads. Bartoli was a director trying to make his mark in Italy.

In each other, they found the same passion for filmmaking on the cheap.

"We both came from experiences where we could make one dime look like $100," Marten explains.

Eventually, they started work on "Atlantis Down."

Both say they won't need a major studio to get their movie seen. There's pay-per-view. The Internet. Cable. Direct-to-video.

The possibilities for indie filmmakers these days are almost limitless and within reach. Except one.

"A theatrical release in our minds," Marten says, "is a bonus."

Of course, there's the chance that "Atlantis Down" might never rise if no one is willing to buy it.

"There are no guarantees," Marten says. "Our job is to deliver a first-class movie and that's what we intend to do."

To be continued.

Mike Kernels, (757) 446-2732, mike.kernels@pilotonline.com