A Brief History
In January 2012 author and producer Kai Staats approached Arizona based DP and script writer Joel Kaye with the concept of a short, high quality proof-of-concept for a feature length film or made-for-TV / webisode series based upon Staats’ three short stories. In March of the same year, Staats opened an office in the arts district of downtown Phoenix in order to facilitate the development and production of this film. By early April Kaye had authored an engaging, original script while Staats worked in pre-production, organizing locations, cast, and crew.
Principal shooting (using primarily the RED Epic) was conducted from mid-April through the end of May in five locations across the Valley. A successful Kickstarter campaign was completed with the close of August, raising funds to assist with editing and the visual FX. The draft edit was completed with the close of September 2012. The visual FX team was selected and engaged in April of 2013. Joe Chilcott was selected as the composer of an original theme in September 2013. Staats, Kaye, and the VFX team worked through November to complete over 40 VFX shots. In January 2014 Staats completed the final edit and all awards were shipped to Kickstarter contributors, as committed.
The film was entered into a dozen short film and sci-fi festivals throughout 2014 and into early 2015, with limited engagement. This was anticipated as Monitor Gray is neither a proper short film nor a trailer, rather, the first eleven minutes of what would be a feature length film. It is a proof of concept for a Hollywood quality production, and as such, a total success.
