David Spies and Phil Seneker are working together to produce a short film “A Musing”. They are using Kickstarter to fund their project. We explore how that is going, and what they have learned about this means of financing.

David Spies is self-taught in the area of writing and storytelling. He has completed several screenplays that are each quite different in genre.  He has learned a lot since his introduction to the art of screenwriting and enjoys his work. David is always looking to improve and build upon his writing skills with his own continued education in the art.

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Rex Sikes’ Movie Beat talks with filmmakers Phil Seneker and David Spies about Kickstarter.

David is currently working on a feature-length comedy and expects to complete the first draft by December of this year. His aspirations are to become an accomplished writer in the film industry. David’s goals consist of completing one screenplay or short every six months while continuing to push himself and learn from others who inspire him.

He wrote the first draft of his most recent short “A Musing” while in-flight from Seattle to Phoenix the first week of June and registered with the WGA nine days later. David felt he had a screenplay that was definitely worthy of being produced and that it was time to take that next step. He began to seek out a cinematographer to partner with.

After a local search for cinematographers in the Seattle area, David was fortunate to connect with Phil Seneker. They had their first meeting at a Starbucks just outside of Seattle. Phil and David reviewed the script for “A Musing” and from that day on there was no turning back. This will be his first professional short film production as a writer and director and he couldn’t be happier than to be in a partnership with Phil.

A Musing film project can be located here: www.amusingfilm.com

In addition to writing screenplays David also maintain a blog at: www.davidspies.com

There you will find posts related to screenwriting, filmmaking and a multitude of industry information that is quite helpful to any screenwriter.

David is a 42-year-old husband to Melanie, a stepfather of two boys 9 and 12. Sometimes when life seems to get away… his family is what keeps him in focus and that’s what really matters.

A Favorite Quote – Don’t listen to people discouraging you, because when you put so much energy in something and you have this feeling, you attract good energy and sometimes things happen. – Sophie Barthes

PHIL SENEKER

 

Filmmaker / Producer / Screenwriter / Director of Photography

 

Phil Seneker is a filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and director of photography in the Seattle area.  Phil began his career in the film and video industry after studying acting. He and his friends decided to do their own productions instead of using their own money on classes.  The only problem was that everyone wanted to act, not do the actual production.  Phil took on the challenge to shoot, direct and edit their first three productions.  After schooling himself, Phil started his production company in 1993 to create videos for corporate clients and follow his new found dream to make films.  He pitched his first corporate video job to Costco Wholesale and won the bid.  Two days after quitting his job as an award winning salesperson, he was flying to the East Coast to shoot his first video.

 

Phil spent most of the ‘90’s and ‘00’s creating corporate videos, building his company, working on features, shorts and commercials and starting a family.  He bought his first AVID editing system in 1994 and has been editing ever since. (He switched to Final Cut Pro a few years ago.)

 

He shot his first short film in 1998 entitled RATS! which went on to screen at 7 festivals around the world and won 3 awards including Best Dark Comedy.  The next year Phil began building his own home and had his second son.  What Phil loved the most about owning his own production company was that he could do what he loved, work at home and raise his kids.  He was able to witness every milestone in his children’s lives.

 

In 2003, Phil was accepted to the UCLA Online Professional Screenwriting Program and he completed two feature length screenplays while attending. His recent short screenplay was selected as a finalist in the Seattle Film School's Great American Short Screenplay Competition.

 

In August of 2010 Phil teamed up with Screenwriter and Director, David Spies, to produce and shoot David’s short script “A Musing”.  The production begins at the end of September.  They are excited to collaborate.  

 

Also, Phil is currently producing a feature length documentary, “Sisters Choice”, which is about two sisters and their choices when it comes to battling cancer.  One sister has cancer and tests positive for the BRCA breast cancer gene. Her sister also tests positive for the gene but doesn’t have cancer.  She chooses to get a mastectomy and breast reconstruction to eliminate her chance of going through what her sister went through.  Phil says production will be complete in October and the film completed in early 2011.  

 

Phil continues to pursue his love of film, work at home and raise his four kids.  He plans to produce another short or two in the next year and then produce a feature film.