“Well, at least it’ll look like a hostile desert planet!”

The cast and some of the crew of Polaris (standing, from left to right): Romel Punsal, Frank Hernandez, Carl Leonard, Maurice Molyneaux, Rick Pike, Eric Ebersole, Gina Hernandez, Barry Dunaway, Paul R. Sieber, Susan Cirrincione, Dean Roges, Doug Caprette, Tonya Broughton, John Broughton. Kneeling: Dennis Bailey

At approximately 4:30 PM on July 24th, 2011 - 594 days after we began - we wrapped principal photography on Polaris.

The final stage of production was in many ways our most challenging. Our first choice for an outdoor location to represent the mysterious alien world at the heart of our story turned out to be impractical for our production. The process of finding an alternative site pushed planned 2010 production dates so late into the year that we decided to regroup and shoot in the spring of 2011. We were rained out after arriving at the site in mid-May with full gear, equipment, actors in costume, etc. and a rescheduled date in mid-June was also suspended under threat of bad weather…

…which brings us to late July, 2011. You can find out all you need to know about weather conditions this last weekend, almost anywhere in North America, by Googling the phrase “record heat.”

The esprit de corps and commitment of the Polaris cast and crew continues to astonish and humble me.   We started shooting early in the morning on Saturday and even earlier on Sunday, but by midday were fighting heat indexes in the 110-115 degree Fahrenheit range. Everyone gave their all, but the hero of the weekend had to be our craft services manager, Rick Pike. He was everywhere, setting up tents and umbrellas for shade, keeping us hydrated and fed and generally mother henning the whole troupe while keeping an eye out for anyone who seemed to be especially suffering from the brutal conditions. In between set-ups those who could were encouraged to retreat to air-conditioned vehicles for a little respite, but such opportunities were rare ones for much of the crew.

These guys came through like champions to the end. We’re wrapped!

On Saturday evening, courtesy of our film editor Maurice Molyneaux, everyone got to see about ten minutes of the show edited together for the first time. I think we were all proud of what we saw.

Now we continue with post-production, reaching out to still more artists to create the musical score and visual effects that will bring the movie to completion. I’ll post more about that in the coming months. For now I can only say “Thank You” one more time to everyone who’s worked on this project - you guys are the best! Along with your skill and long hours, days and months of hard work you’ve given me respect, support and most importantly your friendship - far more than I could possibly have earned. I’ll do all that I can to live up to the standard of dedication and excellence you’ve set.