Hey guys, 

I Got Next is out, right now, on Hulu!

http://www.hulu.com/i-got-next

It's been a long and arduous process, thank you so much for sticking with me for so long. I know that everyone was hoping it would be out much sooner (myself include), but I really underestimated the hoops that needed jumping through in order to properly get my film out there.

So to give everyone a quick recap on things:

Late December 2008 to the end of 2009 I was filming IGN. Most of 2010 consisted of editing and post work (while juggling other freelance work). I then hooked up with Mattoid Entertainment, who are the current distributors of the film and we took I Got Next to South by Southwest in the hopes of getting greater exposure for the film. Unfortunately that six month process of submission and approval didn't yield the results we had hoped for, IGN was rejected amongst very strong competition. Which brings us to early 2011, where we shopped the completed cut of IGN around to a bunch of possible distribution avenues before it found it's temporary home on Hulu.

A lot of this has been a very frustrating waiting game. It's been a constant questioning of: should I wait for more exposure for the film and the community it portrays, or should we release it on a smaller scale and risk limiting the viewing audience.

From the beginning of the project my goals have always been to be as clear as possible (full transparency), to keep the best interests in mind for the community that the film portrays, and to also work towards the best interests of the film, which I believe the latter two align themselves.

I'm hoping that in telling you all this, you guys will have a look into my thought process throughout the project and it will help elucidate as to why this has been such a long road.

I'll also be sending out surveys asking for your info shortly (once the t-shirts and dvds are printed) so I can begin sending out the backer rewards as quickly as possible.

Thanks again, cause without your help the film would not have got this far. I'm still working on the equipment that you guys helped me purchase. Thank you!

- Ian

Hey everyone,

Sorry it's been a while I'm currently deep into editing the film now, working with my composer Miles Mosley. I just put an update about the project on shoryuken.com (http://bit.ly/cZvUkC). Over the weekend I'll be putting up some videos and new "bonus features" for everyone:

"Hey Guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates. So right now I'm in the process of editing the film so I can get it in shape for my composer Miles Mosley (www.milesmosley.com) to take a crack at it. I'm nearing the end of the film. After that I'm going to go back through and do some initial mastering before I hand it to a friend to do the final mastering, so that you're not having to constantly adjust the volume as you watch the film (like last time). I'll also be going back through adding animation and doing color correction. So I have some work ahead of me, but I'll be hitting the release window (sort of...), which brings me to the next announcement.

You guys can get a sneak peek of the film in May at East Coast Throwdown in NJ, run by my friends John and Joe (http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php...), I'll be showing a few things from the feature-length cut.

Beyond that I have to apologize, because everything else is up in the air. Originally I had set the date for Spring 2010, because by that point the film will have been finished, but unfortunately the film festivals that are interested in I Got Next and that I'd like to apply to are opening submissions this fall, which means they will not be shown until Spring next year. Almost all festivals have a submission rule that if a film has a commercial release (e.g. on DVD, television, theaters etc.) it will not be accepted into the competition. So unfortunately I will not be able to release I Got Next on DVD this year, although you will have a few chances to catch showings of it. I'll also try to do a few exclusive test screenings of the film online, that way I can get some feedback from you guys and you won't have to wait a full year to see the final product. Again I'm sorry for the second? third? 40th? delay of the project, but I'm hoping bringing it to festivals first will bring more exposure to the film and ultimately to the community.

Also coming up in the future, a store, I know you guys expressed interest in t-shirts and stuff. So I'm working on getting that together.

Here are a few shots of things in progress:
http://www.igotnextmovie.com/ign_joenoelect.jpg
http://www.igotnextmovie.com/ign_believesboquals.jpg
http://www.igotnextmovie.com/ign_evovallegootecks.jpg
http://www.igotnextmovie.com/ign_joevsjuicebox.jpg
http://www.igotnextmovie.com/ign_evojustindaigo.jpg

- Ian"

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the long period between updates, I've wrapped shooting for I Got Next and have focused fully on editing the film. I've also purchased/set up the Mac Pro and the difference from my old PC so far is amazing. I want to thank everyone again for their contributions, I wouldn't be able to finish the film without your help!

So first update, I wanted you guys to take a look at the exclusive t-shirt design that I'm proposing for backers, donors and friends of the film. There will be a few changes to the design, it's not finalized (such as Joe's picture and the copy). If you have any suggestions for the design or the copy above the players let me know.

Here is another look at the proposed shirt design:

http://www.igotnextmovie.com/ignexcshirt2.jpg

- Ian

Incredible, thanks to the amazing people out there in the SRK, VGEvo and Kickstarter communities (among many others), we've made it to 3,506 with 16 days still to go! This means a great deal to me, the film has been a real labor of love of these last 10 months and without the necessary funding to complete the film I'd be in a very tough spot.

So again, I want to thank everyone for the support and I encourage anyone who would like to further support the project in the next 16 days to please do so. Anything beyond the 3,500 will help greatly as well, because it will go towards deferring final travel expenses (I still have a couple more shoots left) and looking into licensing some of the music everyone thought fit so well with the project, among other things.

I'll continue to post updates and content, look for a match video in the next couple of days. Thanks again everyone!

I recently did some interviews with two great gaming podcasts. The first interview I did was with Brett "Axtuse" Wooley of Meteor Radio, who you may know from his interview with Andy Baio, creator of Kind of Bloop ( http://bit.ly/11ZkIX). The interview went great, we discussed the project and the gaming community as a whole:

http://www.meteorradio.com/index.php...

The second interview is with the guys over at GamerDork.net, Leon Cox and Neil Brooks. Lots of insightful questions and discussion on learning how to play fighting games. Check out the interview here:

http://gamerdork.net/...

So some great news. There will be a screening of the short cut of the film and a Q&A panel after the film at both GameUniCon this weekend and at PAX in September.

I'm psyched and to be honest, a bit nervous, GameUniCon will be my first panel. The panel will consist of myself, Justin Wong and Joe "iloveu" Ciaramelli. Here's the info for GameUniCon:

http://www.gameunicon.com/
August 21-23
The Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Convention Center
181 Boston Post Road West
Marlborough, MA 02148

The panel will be on Sunday at 10am.

I'm really excited for PAX, I've only been once (by chance) when a vacation overlapped with the convention. This year's PAX looks to like it will be huge, it's being held right in the heart of Seattle. The panel members are still up in the air, but possible candidates are Justin, Mike Ross and Joe. Ryan unfortunately can't make it, PAX is the same weekend as West Coast Warzone, which also looks awesome, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch.... PAX info:

http://www.paxsite.com/
September 4-6
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
800 Convention Place
Seattle, WA 98101-2350

The screening and panel for PAX is on Saturday night from 10:30pm to 12am, you can check out the full schedule here: http://www.paxsite.com/schedule.php

I hope to see some of you guys at either of these panels, I'm really looking forward to it. Also, look for some video content this week!

- Ian