Theatre Operations

I might say "strangely enough" but it is not all that strange that my mind is leaning toward finding and acquiring a functional dark theatre to build "The Gnomes" (and other shows)

I'm facing some difficult, if not insurmountable challenges with the current studio location. Although the studio is well on it's way to being a very functional work space for production, manufacturing, and sales (and many other aspects of the operation) there are severely undesirable elements which are imposing themselves upon my sphere of creativity and functionality.

These factors existed before and I, generally, have been able to circumvent them to stay on my mission, but now the situation has become exacerbated to degree that is beyond unacceptable. I see little choice but to remove myself from the scenario. Doing this will take an extreme amount of cost and effort on my part.

So, if that is the case, the only practical choice is to set up shop in a theatre.

Of course, shop facilities are a priority, in addition to a backlot. Viewing such a change as a "final move" means to me; replacing my existing facility with nothing less than what I already have, but adding a functional stage with the capability to open the house for an audience.

This would essentially become "The Theatrical Development Centre". The cost of doing this is in the millions, so it is even more critical that "The Gnomes of New Hope" be funded or sold.

All that being said; I am in search of a theatre and the right deal that will make that happen.

Let me know if this is up your alley.

AG

Studio Operations

The Lion's-Share of the work on the Core Creative Materials is finished. I will need to shift back to Scoring the music, but the focus of attention needs to be, and has been, on refining the Studio Space to accommodate production personnel.

Thus far, I have considered the studio as a private working space, even though it is 10k sq ft, a pretty big private space. I like it that way, but considering that we are rapidly approaching the time when production activity will increase "on the floor" then my work area will need further refinement. I have to do it, but I will need a tool room, where the tools can be locked up. My habit is to keep the tools I am using at the work station, but if there is going to be more traffic on the floor, the I have to consider that.

The other very important objective is to Garner sufficient resources to pay back our current Front Money Investors, which is a substantial amount. A primary goal is to close out all the storage areas and bring those supplies back into the operation. As it stands now I have three semi-trailers and one shipping container in storage, which needs to be paid off and put back into active storage.

(In that regard; I'm looking for another International CO1600, 1700, or 1800 tractor to pull the semi-trailers)

I'm looking to pack the show into a single 35' semi, of which I have two. Of course, that size show will be for smaller venues.

Anyway, for those of you who have been patiently waiting to see enough action to believe there will be a return on your investment, I invite you to stop in the studio in Southampton to talk about things and look over our progress. Send me an email if you like, or just come in 9-5 m-f.

More later.  AG

Facebook postings

I have two pages on Facebook where I also post. One for "Image of the Mind Studios" and one for "The Gnomes of New Hope". So I suggest checking those pages also, because sometimes those posts are more recent. I think I put links to those pages on The Gnomes of New Hope blog or just do a search in Facebook. AG

New Concepts

   Revised 8/21/17

Well, interestingly enough, there have been some discussions lately about theme oriented theatre.

As you may know, there is an element in "The Gnomes of New Hope" called "Gnome Fest" and we are looking to produce an environmental theatre/festival project based on that part of the show.

So I am actively looking for producers who may like to be involved in this or any aspect of The Gnomes. We will need to have a team of producers working together on the numerous aspects of this show, because it is simply too big for any one producer to effectively handle.

NOTE; I am building "The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture" as the funding mechanism for this and this JV requires a Board of Governing Executive Producers. There is a buy-in to that board, which consists of twelve board positions. I am the Chairman of the Board. Discussion will take place on IMS Producing Partners.

Years ago, I was developing the concept of Gnomeville, as a theme environment that people could visit, but I put that aside for various reasons. I still have some property in mind for that concept, but it is very expensive land and I'm not sure that can actually happen, because of zoning.

    But way back when... I wanted to have "Gnomeville" be a stop along the New Hope/Ivyland Railroad. There is some remote possiblity of that happening, but the land to do that (along the railroad) may not be available.

I only make mention of it in case there are interested parties who may like to work toward that goal.

That concept remains a potential, but is not a priority right now, as we still have to finish illustrating the story, distribute the e-Storybook, finalize the puppetry presentation, film that show, start working on the animated film, deal with merchandizing, mount the stage musical and plan a tour.

   So as you can see, we're pretty busy. And there's the business factors related to all that and facilities development as well.

   But another amazing circumstance with incredible potential has arisen. I am working on devising an outline for that concept and trying to align the forces to look seriously at this.

   Unfortunately I cannot reveal much of that concept here, only to say it is relative to a theme park and, not only it is huge, but it would benefit literally thousands of people and hundreds of businesses.

That is not, however, directly connected to the Gnomes, other than the possibility that "The Gnomes" may be presented within that environment.

   It is beyond the capabilities of Image of the Mind Studios as it now exists, but if we build the organization in accordance with the business plan laid out for The Gnomes, then implementing that concept might not be out of reach.

  That project would require some serious land development and management resources and abilities. So clearly, I would only provide the conceptual development, as that is my specialty.

   In that regard, I will begin discussing some of the business plan for IMS, in the most general terms, on IMS Producing Partners, just in case we can move that concept forward. It will be contingent upon investment in IMS.

   Just one point here regarding financing; I am still functioning under the Front Money Agreement and my minimum is $10k. I expect that minimum to go up as a result of increasing costs of numerous items, including the Legal fees for finalizing our contract structure, implementing the Joint Venture, and making a Closely Held Stock release. These subjects will be addressed in more detail on IMS Producing Partners or at the Studio.

Another focus for financing is Licensing & Options, if this applies contact me.

More later,

AG

Preparing the e-Storybook

    I thought I'd post this here instead of the Gnomes of New Hope or IMS Producing Partners pages.

 That's not as easy as it sounds! (preparing the e-Storybook) I thought the layout I had was sufficient, until I started adding links and dealing with file size & hiearchy.  I rather found out the hard way, that your file structure needs to accommodate a rational order which is discover-able both by the computer, the main file links and yourself as the craftsman assembling the document. Being PDF files, they are fixed and not easily changes if you find errors or make changes. Basically, you have to rebuild the files if that occurs. That means going through 3 or 4 programs and integrating numerous files to come out with one document. Gad Zooks!  But then there is the issue of Digital Rights Management, which affects not only the hiearchy, but also the capability to integrate music and video, all-the-while securing the files. Interestingly enough, this complicated structure, tends to add to the difficulty of copying the files, because they don't work if the file locations change. So that's a good thing.

So work is advancing nicely on finishing the e-Storybook from a technical standpoint. After that is all functioning properly, then we will address the remaining artwork for the books.

In that regard, I am thinking that I will license certain aspects of the project, maybe the television series and/or film/theme parks presentation(s). I expect that doing this will raise the funds required for the finishing artwork. I know all of this sounds obscure to people who have no idea what this story really is, but preservation of the product lines is critical to the success of this project, and revelation of the details of the stories is reserved for Industry Professionals and investors in the project. I have a huge amount of time and money invested in this project and knowing the extent of the markets for the items in the product line, I simply cannot reveal the essence of this project to the public or any individuals who are not vested or legally bound & committed to the classified nature of the project by providing the Restrictive Covenant Agreement. I can, however provide progress reports and other items related to production activity, which, as you see, I am doing.

It has become clear to me that attempting to advance with production, or even pre-production activities is inadvisable without, at the very least, finalizing the functionality of the e-Storybook to the point where it can absolutely be distributed at the retail level. We are set up for manufacturing the product line "Gnomes in a Gnutshell" and I am working on refining some of the tooling required for packaging. Unless I have orders for fifty or a hundred thousand units, with a short delivery time, I expect to produce the product lines in house. But even then, assembly and shipping will take place from Image of the Mind Studios in Southampton. The one thing I am firm on is that this product line is to be produced and manufactured in America. There are a couple of reasons for that, not the least of which is inventory control, but I won't go into that now.\

I have to say I am very impressed with the e-Storybook. That is not only because I have written and produced it, but, truth be told, it looks really great! I hope it has the desired effect on the audience. There are samples posted her and on other pages, so you can look see what it looks like by searching around these pages.

You can get to me by email, or stop by the studio.

Well, that's all for now. AG

Posting from a smartphone

I have attempted numerous times to post updates from my smartphone. It is strange that the post from a workstation vs a mobile devise seem to be different. I am posting this more as a test to myself than anything else, so there is any substantial content to this post. If I can figure this thing out, I may post more.

I have to say that posts to Facebook via this smartphone do seem to work, so keep an eye on that page. I did post the Preface from Book One of The Gnomes of New Hope there. It gives a good overview, although it's nothing that hasn't been said before in other posts. It's just consolidated and the fact that it is published in the hard copy of the Gnome-sized Edition rather confirms the objective plans to be more solid.

Hopefully this mobile post will work. AG

p.s it does appear to work. Now I need to check it from a work station make sure it's the same.

AG Bio

If the link in the header does not work for you, persons wishing to see the Biography posted on IMS Producing Partners will need to contact me via email at image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail so I can add you to the list or send it to you directly. The IMS Producing Partners blog was set up to be a secure blog, set up for our investors and producing partners so that the information is not available to the general public and we can use that blog to manage the business of The Gnomes of New Hope on a secure classified basis. I'm still working on that. AG

Puppetry

I thought I'd post some images of the puppetry which is being worked on now.

These three Dragon heads are part of a forty foot dragon which is part of
 The June 19th Pageant at Bryn Athyn Cathedral.
It is the Seven Headed Dragon referred to in the Book of Revelations.
It takes ten puppeteers to operate.

These three heads are in my shop, in order that I can modify them
to accommodate the requirement for them to spew water out of their mouths.
We achieve this using silk to represent water.

Here, the covers, which end up looking like a tongue, create a stowage space for the silk.
These are in process, and the paper mache, formed over an aluminum foil & wire frame, is drying in the sun.

Here is the spring tube mechanism that has replaced the original rubber band design.
With this modification, the jaw is controlled by a spring attached to cables on each side,
thus leaving the mouth open to accommodate the silk.
The cable area is reinforced.

Then the roof of the mouth is closed up, new paper mache applied and then repainted.

            

Here the end of the  tongue is being shaped to create an opening for the forked tongue and silk.
the water is pulled out by children who are attired to represent angels

This shows the tongue shaped before painting

There are many more images of both the dragon and the performances, but I will leave that for another time. I just wanted to post something other than a droning on about the Gnomes of New Hope.

AG

                 

June 4th update

A quick report -  Work on the Gnomes has stopped for the next two weeks, although I came up with another product line and have produced a flyer for that item. I'll post it here or on the Gnomes Blog in the future.

For now I am busy building puppets for the June 19th Pageant at The Bryn Athyn Cathedral. We have a 40 ft Seven-headed Dragon which is described in Revelations 20. This Pageant is in celebration of the New Church and I am involved as a performer as well as having become the Dragon Master. This means this I am in charge of making sure the Dragon is in good shape and operable for the pageant. I am making modifications to the design of the heads to accommodate the river of water that pours out of the dragon's mouth. You can read Revelations 20 to get the drift of the pageant... or vist Bryn Athyn Cathedral on June 19th at around 7pm (when the pageant begins). From around 4pm on there is a community picnic on the grounds.

That's all for now. AG

Shift of Attention

Well, the music scoring has worked out pretty well. I was dealing with time signatures and dynamics, even though I thought I would leave that until later, but really it's best to do that before printing out a hard copy draft. I can print a draft to PDF because that doesn't burn up paper and ink though.

So now the shift for the next week or two is on puppetry. I picked up a job modifying a dragon puppet that I seem to be in charge of. A few years back we built a 40 foot, seven headed dragon for a pageant at church. It's very cool and it take ten people to operate. On June 19th The New Church celebrates it's founding with a pageant depicting Revelations 20. So we have a seven headed dragon for that. I am modifying two more heads to accommodate having water spew out of the mouths of three of the heads. One was done two years ago and another two are now being done. So I'm busy with that for the time being.

In regard to the Gnomes, I am beginning to produce more books and I anticipate that I will release the first book (of seven), certainly to the industry, but possibly to the public. I will likely use that book to raise the funds to continue with the remaining artwork for the rest of the books.  I did not want to release any of the books until the full collection was completed, but I may have no choice. If luck turns in our direction, then maybe I can acquire the funding for the artwork without having to release any of the series. I certainly think it would be far better to release the full collection at the same time, right up. But we'll see what happens. For now I am looking into putting a printing press into the shop so we can publish on demand and bind the books as we need them. Besides the application to publishing the books, this would help for other materials as well. I have printing capabilities, but we need to bring the cost of printing down to a marketable level. So far that is not the case. Even though I was hot on the trail of publishing the books, when it became clear that I needed to publish the sheet music before we could advance, I shifted over to that. Now I need to look at all that again.

I am also considering developing a marketing strategy for internal activities pertinent to the industry and I believe that implementing that before releasing the product is most likely the best approach, but in addition to that I am building a Raid Array for Final Cut Studio and with that considering working with Poser to create some basic CG animations.  I have been rearranging the shop space with the intention of getting the green screen up and running, so these are all considerations. Truthfully however, I'd rather cut a good deal that would buy me some time to work on shop issues, while seeing the production activities advance. But that another issue.

That's all for now. AG

OK, here's an old model I made years ago. I was trying to conceptualize the basic idea so I made little Gnomes out of clay and the set for The Squirrel's Nest scene. The model sets are made out of paper mache and what you see here represents the upper branches of Constable Warren's Tree, where the Gnomes hold their town meetings. This was made before the shape of the show was really formed and before we created the personalities of the characters.  You can see from the artwork provided elsewhere herein, that the characters have become very distinct. These Gnomes were rather generic and we even crated a doll of this style of Gnome. But this design was rejected because everything was too androgynous. I thought it would be nice to include a photo and this is the only one I have available at the moment.

Scoring the Music

I just posted on The Gnomes of New Hope blog thinking I was posting on this blog. Check that post out. Basically I have been busy publishing the score for The Gnomes of New Hope.

The Industry Review Package, the Libretto, and the Storybook DVDs are finished being set up and only await the Music Score being completed before they can be distributed. Anyone wanting to review these materials can do so by paying a visit to the studio and having a sit down conversation with me. I will not be indiscriminately distributing these materials, but I am still looking for an agent to represent this show. As I mentioned before, everything needs to take place out of my Studio in Southampton. I am just so busy that I simply cannot get away. The shop facility is large enough to meet the production needs, so unless someone comes up with a better plan, production will take place centered out of IMS Studio 1325. But I am open to any proposals, so long they are legit, square & fair. and put the money on my table, to be rather blunt.

I do try to keep posting on all the sites that relate to these matters, so if you find one is not current, check one of the others. That's all for now. AG

New Postings

I find that I have some folks looking at the Image of the Mind Studios page on Facebook. So I have tried to post there to keep it going. What this means is that each blog/page that I post on ends up having somewhat different conversations on equally different subjects. Of course most all of what I am posting relates to The Gnomes of New Hope or Image of the Mind Studios. So I suggest you look for that if you care to. I will have to rely on the search engines to get you there because I have yet to have set up a link to that page. It may be n the header here, but I'm not sure. I will try to get a link there when I can. It's easy to loose track of all this stuff. (Actually there is a link in the header!)

For the most part I am busy Scoring the music for the Gnomes, which basically involves literally thousands of pages. I am also working to improve the IMS Producing Partners page and post most often on The Gnomes of New Hope page.

That's all for now. AG

Stuff For Sale

Can't seem to get links working, so here is the page for 

Stuff For Sale

this is not for IMS product sales, its for horse trading.

Divergence

Rafe and I are starting to work on this film again, after many years of no activity. Since I am setting up the film/video editing bench again, I thought it might be a good idea to finish the eight films I have laying around which never got finished. Here's a .mov file of the "Divergence" PowerPoint Exhibition... if it posts, it is a rather large file which I am working to compress.

Continuing Production efforts for "Nunc Licet" : link to script

"Nunc Licet" was presented with some success at

The 2011 World Assembly of The New Church

For the advancement of the play, I offer the most recent edition of 

entire script of Nunc Licet for your review.

An assessment of the presentation at the Assembly; 

During the Assembly, we drastically edited the script reducing the size and eliminating much of the subplot elements in order to fit it into the one hour time frame. We felt that since we were addressing a New Church audience, that certain points in the play did not need to be dealt with, since most of our audience already had a foundational knowledge of who Swedenborg was.  In addition we were limited in our rehearsal time and production values,  so a significant number of subplot elements were removed.  I was not too please about needing to do this, but it had to be done.  You will note that the script provided here for your review has all of the staging instructions included. When I removed the assorted descriptions, instructions and the directions to the actors, leaving only the lines to be spoken, the script is reduced to 126 pages (with some of that material removed simply by crossing it out bringing it down close to 100 pages double spaced).  So here is the unedited script for your review.

Please use the search function above to locate other posting on the subject.

I do expect that we will present another reading in the beginning of 2012.

If you are a producing organization and would like to consider mounting this production as a reading or a full production, please do feel free to contact me in that regard. 

I am removing the postings which refer to the production efforts for the readings that have taken place. If you need that information let me know. I expect to move it to the "Nunc Licet" Archive.

 Nunc Licet... a stage play

 Download a READ ONLY copy of the full script

On-line Synopsis of Nunc Licet
Slightly different than that provided in the script

Purchase a Printed Hard Copy or CD of the Script

This is a limited production custom order item.

Most Recent Thoughts on the Blogs

I've decided to print out all the blogs and revert them to draft. Basically that means that I will be eliminating all the older posts and bringing everything up to date. Since most of the materials for "The Gnomes of New Hope: Zach & Zebby's Adventure " have advanced enough to move out of Development, it seems counter productive to keep the Development Notes posted. This Site represents, what I call - "The IMS Virtual Studio" which essentially is focused more on Image of the Mind Studios than on any particular project. So I think it is time to purge it of any dialogue that pertains to projects that either have fallen into stasis (for one reason or another) or have been discontinued.  The primary focus of attention for IMS is building the organization structure, on the premise that an expansion of operations is imminent. Clearly, the advancement of The Gnomes involves an infusion of resources to IMS, so I expect some kind of expansion or advancement of the goals which have been discussed in the past.

The most significant goal, that has been lingering for years, is the establishment of a Retreat Environment. In terms of theatre, that is part of The Theatrical Development Centre. But that retreat environment also has the objective of being a Spiritual Retreat for The Alpha & Omega Society. What progress may occur on that front is not clear, but the business structure for the Gnomes of New Hope has accommodation for supporting that project.

You may like to watch the blog for The Gnomes of New Hope, as I often post thoughts there more frequently.

In regard to the progress on that front - the Industry Review Package is almost ready for distribution to Industry Professionals and Investors. This package will require submission of a signed Restrictive Covenant Agreement, which is self explanatory. I will try to post that agreement here but you can send me an email requesting that agreement if you are part of an organization whose activity is relative to the project as it is presented on the web page. I will also need confirmation of your position and authority in that regard. I may post some of the proposal package on the web as a secured site requiring a password if it seems appropriate for me to do so.

In terms of producing The Gnomes of New Hope, my primary goal is to raise $50K to be used for that additional artwork needed to complete the Illustrated Storybook. We still need 342 illustrations to complete all seven books. Even though the Libretto and the Music composition is finished, nothing can happen until we finish the illustrations for the Storybook. I will not go into the reasons for that, but if you are a publishing, theatre, or film professional who wants to talk about involvement, investment, licensing, or optioning the project, you ar welcome to leave a message on my phone at 215-292-9787. I don't answer unknown numbers, so you will need to leave a message.

Things are ready to pop on this. I am constructing the puppets for the stop action animated film and moving forward with that aspect of the project. IMS has a 10K sq ft shop space with two stage areas which are being prepared to construct a number of scenic components, including the parade float. I am progressing in-house as much as possible, but still have the desire to involve larger Studios with more resources than IMS as partners in this project. But anyway you look at it, progression will need to conform to the objectives and guidelines that have been developed for this project. basically that means that all work to complete the development and designs will take place in IMS as the Developmental Facility. Details and variations on that will taken place in direct communications contingent upon the level of investment and/or whether or not a party Board of Directors. In that regard, the Board of Directors means the Board of "The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture". Sitting on the nine-member board requires a buy-in at the rate of $1 per share. Each Board Position holds 1M shares, which belong to the Joint Venture, with recoupment and stock-split terms. There is also a Front Money Agreement which has a return of 300%,for those Industry Professional who understand the other intricacies of a project of this nature.  That is just a taste of the elements included in the Production Management and Business Plan for this project. I am hesitant to post too much of the details oin the web, but I know there a lot of folks watching the progress of this project. I intend and plan on posting the details on The Producing Partners site, which is a membership only site. That site is not fully developed at this point, but it will be the method by That's we communicate with out Vested Producing Partners. If you are serious about getting involved, do leave me a message at the number given above.

That's all for now. AG