Irish Whiskey is
not a film about expensive Hollywood actors and agents.
It is not a film about typical Hollywood stunts and explosions.
It is not about a 30 million dollar box office smash in
the opening week.
Irish Whiskey is a film about tolerance, love, and understanding,
regarding all members of our society and the dysfunction’s
that occur within. It is a film about YOU and I, and all
those little absurdities that sneak into our lives every
day. Irish Whiskey is a film about low budgets, and superior
craftsmanship. It’s about challenging your dreams
and usher people together for NO reason other than the
love of filmmaking. In the words of our Writer - Director
Jon Stevens, “We accomplished a miracle.”
I met Jon just a couple of months before he wanted to
begin shooting. Without any staff or crew in sight, Jon,
Jo Christensen and me, began to put the pieces of the
film together from the script to strong contacts. We surrounded
ourselves with people we knew would get the job done.
I brought Lara Hammond on board, someone I worked with
at dick clark productions, inc., to co-produce and help
organize Jon and his ideas. Within several weeks we secured
most of our crew, staff, location and equipment.
Sound easy?
Not so, we worked through all hours of the night and day
to prepare for a shooting schedule to commence on March
20, 1996. We secured by donation, and delayed payments,
nearly everything we needed. Food, 35mm re-canned, short
end and new film stock (on a daily basis), extras, set
dressing, office supplies and furniture, editing facilities
(while shooting), and fortunately at the last moment--procuring
capital.
I wish we could mention here everyone who participated
on the project. They are the most dedicated group of people
I have ever worked beside since the beginning of my career,
nearly fifteen years ago. For 22 days we endured the grueling
act of early calls and late wraps, bad food and poor parking
conditions and above all, lack of cash. Out of the 60
or so people that worked on the film, twenty of us including
myself, resided on location in the flea infested mansion
in Long Beach CA, and not a single “employee”
(Friend), bailed.
After we finished shooting Irish Whiskey, we immediately
moved into post production. With the help of many strong
organizations in Hollywood, we derived at our final answer
print the first week of November; just in time for the
Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival in January 1997.
Jon Stevens has created a masterpiece that is inclusive
yet takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. When
seeing Irish Whiskey you will laugh, cry and possibly
become angry from the toil within the family; all along
reflecting on your own personality and the struggles with
duality.
PS: Thanks Dayna for keeping us sane with your energy,
good food for the crew each morning, afternoon, and evening,
and for your smile amongst the turmoil!
Warm regards
Tom BlessingIV
Producer, www.alchemyhouse.com
Lara has established herself
in the entertainment industry in the fields of publishing,
producing, coordinating, researching and supervising.
Moving to San Francisco in 1988 she worked as the receptionist
for a boutique advertising agency when she jumped at the
chance to work at the SF WEEKLY. After a year of being
in the newspaper business she decided with a partner to
buy her own.
Her first memorable venture
was purchasing the ANTHEM MONTHLY, a monthly magazine
based in Eureka, California. An entertainment magazine
covering all the diversified arts, music and humanities
of Southern and Northern Humboldt County. ANTHEM was a
successful venture wherein Lara was co-publisher, co-editor,
and the head of advertising.
With this experience under
her, she segued from print to motion picture and television.
She landed her first big break as a production assistant
for Warner Bros., OUTBREAK starring Dustin Hoffman. Lara
moved on to working for Miramax, HBO, Showtime, Dick Clark,
Saban, AFI, the Academy Awards and many others. Among
her credits in varied production positions are ERASER,
Warner Bros.; RESTORATION, Miramax; BODY LANGUAGE, HBO;
AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS, GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS, CHRISTMAS
AT HOME WITH THE STARS, Dick Clark Productions; AFI TRIBUTE
TO STEVEN SPIELBERG, TBS; WOMEN, Showtime and the ACADEMY
AWARDS.
Lara has combined her marketing
knowledge with her production experience to fully break
out as an independent producer. She worked on location
in Hawaii as an associate producer for the documentary
DOLPHIN JOURNEY before landing a key producing position
for the independent film IRISH WHISKEY that is presently
on the festival circuit and seeking distribution. As producer
she secured crew, film stock, equipment, editing facilities,
post sound, moneys for the production, among many other
elements and acting as production supervisor. This position
utilized her diverse experience and is one of her finest
achievements.
While trying to get IRISH WHISKEY distributed
with integrity, she has also produced informational videos
for her company OneLove Productions. At present,
among working a "day job" she is writing "HEMP
REVOLUTION," a film she hopes to see filming by fall
of 1999. Whatever Lara does, she brings dedication,
passion and a wealth of experience to each project.
Lara studied psychology at the University
of Alabama and has traveled extensively through Europe,
West Andes, South America, Central America and Mexico.
Lara Hammond
irishwhisk@aol.com
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