Cruise Night

Newspaper Article About "Cruise Night"!

Hello, the link was broken to this article. It was originally published 12/16/2008 in The Scranton Times-Tribune. Thanks to my pal, Ed Pikulski for sending it to me!

NEPA natives hope to ‘Cruise’ to big screen

Tim Gavern left Scranton for the West Coast nearly 20 years ago. But he’s only now venturing into the film industry. Tim, an East Mountain native and 1979 Scranton Central High School graduate, is hard at work on his first feature film, “Cruise Night,” which he’s co-producing with his cousin, Clarks Summit resident Philip Gavern.

Described by Tim as a 1970s version of “American Graffiti,” “Cruise Night” revolves around a car-savvy Southern California teen who uses a cruise night as a diversion to take on his rival in an illegal street race. Along the way, he endures a series of challenges and setbacks as he gets his car ready for the big race.

Now three years into the project, Tim, who has worked as an editor, graphic designer and photographer for more than 50 car and truck magazines since moving to Los Angeles in 1989, recently shot a big-budget trailer to drum up interest for the film, which he hopes to begin shooting in early 2010. The trailer, which can be viewed at the project’s Web site, www.cruisenight.com, features a souped-up Camaro Tim built in less than a month from an empty shell.

“The trailer was shot in two days and nights around Los Angeles,” Tim said. “The final cost of producing the trailer was a little over $900 per second, but it has opened many doors for us.”

Throughout the next year, Tim and Philip will be buying and building period-correct vehicles, including street machines, custom vans, choppers and Sting-Ray bicycles. And, for marketing purposes, they’ll be pursuing partnerships with performance automotive companies and showing off the movie’s cars at the 2009 Specialty Equipment Marketing Association show in Las Vegas.

If all goes to plan, they’ll have a finished film by Christmas 2010.

Courtesy The Scranton Times-Tribune Copyright 2008

"Cruise Night": 3-1/2 Years (and $200,000) Later.

by Tim Gavern
Here's my latest, "State of the Cruise Night Address." This address is titled, "Cruise Night: 3-1/2 Years (and $200,000) Later."

Most people are unfamiliar with the inner workings of the film industry. When they watch a film in a theater or in their home, they have no idea that it took a team of dedicated filmmakers several years, hundreds of frustrations and millions of dollars to produce the film they just watched.

Many filmmakers toil in anonymity for years working on the thousands of tasks necessary to get their films made. And if their film is a "period" piece - one that takes place in another time - the filmmaker's job is that much harder as every location and every prop has to be absolutely time-period correct.

A good example of how long it takes to make a feature film is Star Wars. Even after the success of American Graffiti, it still took George Lucas ten years (!) to get Star Wars from concept into theaters.

I like to tell people that "Cruise Night is on the five-year plan." But even that might be unrealistic.

I have already spent 3-1/2 years working on Cruise Night. It took 2-1/2 years just to write the screenplay. I probably rewrote it over 100 times. And yes, I have the old scripts to prove it.

Cruise Night has even spit out several partners who simply couldn't hang with the amount of time and money it took to keep going.

I have never seen anything that eats money as quickly and voraciously as a feature film production. I have invested an estimated $200,000.00 so far. And if I took the time to add up the receipts, it wouldn't surprise me if the number was higher than that.

What do I have to show for my time and money spent?

First, I have a great crew. My crew begins with my writing partner, Marissa Quiroz, whose story editing was spot-on throughout the entire screenwriting process. Marissa kept it real.

I have a producer, Jasper Jan, who believes in my story and actually listens to my needs as the director. Jasper just finished Cruise Night's business plan (or "Package", as it is called in Hollywood) and actually built-in everything I will need to get the job done.

I also have one actor attached: Tui HoChee who will play the role of Jimi Hernandez. Tui will also work double-duty as a co-producer and will draw two salaries (woo hoo!). Tui is very laid back and helps to calm me down. Plus, every girl who watches the trailer asks,"Who is he?"

I have my cousin, Phil Gavern, who tirelessly pounds the pavement looking for cash for me to spend. I could not have gotten this far without him. I love you, man.

Finally, I have my long-time friend, Ashley Sangster, who is one of the best marketing people I know. I am saving most of Ashley's talent for when the film is in the can and we need publicity. I know he'll deliver as, he too, believes in Cruise Night.

Next, I have a pretty-good script. It isn't the next, Gone With The Wind, but it is...one good story among the many millions of stories I could have told.

Finally, I have a business plan that we are about to begin to shop to investors. The plan is over 500 pages long – not including the estimated 300 storyboards (and a DVD of the trailer we shot last summer). It is one hell of a package and one that should help us to find the millions of dollars it is going to take to produce Cruise Night. Without it, as Jasper said, "...you have zero chance of finding an investor."

There is a lot of work ahead, but we're getting closer by the minute. I've got 297 storyboards to draw so I'll catch ya later.

Can Anyone Invest in "Cruise Night"?

by Tim Gavern
Said to be one of the best investments of all time by its creator, George Lucas, American Graffiti was produced for $750,000 (in 1973 dollars) and has grossed $777 million dollars to date!

Although Cruise Night's investor relations efforts were initially geared toward the performance automotive parts industry, anyone with enough capital can invest in the Cruise Night franchise and reap the benefits of the next great car movie.

In fact, I have been thinking about the buy-in since I posted this article and realized it was way too high ($100k) for the average investor trying to figure out how to make his hard-earned dollars grow.

Therefore, I have lowered the buy-in to $50,000, which should give many more investors the ability to get in on the ground floor of this film production and provide an alternative investment option to the roller coaster ride that most stocks are on today.

The new Cruise Night Movie Investment Flyer is available now (download it below). If you want to become a movie mogul, contact us quickly for more details as this offer will expire soon!

Download Investment_flyers
 

Move Over Bumble Bee

Our pal, Nick Licata, Editor of Camaro Performers Magazine, wrote an excellent news release about Cruise Night in its May 2009 issue (on newsstands until 05/19/09). Check your local stand or contact the mag at Camaro Performers.

While you're on the Web site, you may want to consider subscribing because Nick just might be planning to shoot a feature on the Cruise Night Camaro somewhere down-the-road...

"Vantastic"

We have been steadily collecting parts for "Vantastic", our 1971 Chevrolet G-10 (1/2-ton) "Shorty" commercial van that will be used in numerous scenes in Cruise Night.

Prior to it's use in the film, Vantastic will be used for a series of tech articles in Truckin' Magazine. The first article scheduled will show how to properly lower a Chevrolet van. Yep, Vantastic is going down.

Hot Rod Magazine's Dave "Big" Deal Obituary

How bittersweet it is to have written the obituary for my good friend, Dave "Big" Deal, for Hot Rod Magazine's April 2009 Issue (on sale now). Dave's send off features the Cruise Night Camaro and a photo I took of him a few years ago at the drawing board in his Vista, California home. Miss you, man.