MSTM IV Journal 5.17.26

My Son, the Mummy IV

Production Diary — Entry 2

May 17, 2026

TRANSCRIPT

It's May 17th — this is a diary journal entry for myself on the project. Entirely just take one,

so today was — only knows I've got plenty of other things to do, so —

I worked on the presentation, the pitch deck presentation slides, and in writing out the

presentation script, which I want to have finalized — to be able to practice it — maybe in

about eight days. I thought about pushing the beginning of the funding stage from June 1st

to June 15th, but I really got to keep myself on track. Finish up the script and throw it out

there — it's time for that, I think.

I also did some things with some music, which is the Love Theme — some musical number

work, work on the dental ceremony. And although these musical numbers and such, they

don't take precedence over other things which need to happen before we hit the funding

stage. Those two top ones being the script itself and the presentation. The pitch deck is

fine. The executive summary needs some changes, and I've got to do some reading and

research into just how much we can mess with what's considered the normal executive

summary format.

In terms of deal structure: I'm thinking of taking 51% and then offering the other 49% of the

film to investors — an investment group, or individual, or individuals. I don't have $175,000.

I think that with some persistence through the crowdfunding campaign, I could reach out

and possibly get like 20% of the budget — say $35,000 — from friends and family and

others. Just the seed and spark. GoFundMe, Kickstarter — we'll probably run like three

different crowdfunding campaigns.

The thing about crowdfunding of course is that it needs time to develop, to find people,

possible backers. Because if you're going to actually raise, let's say, half of what you need

for a film through crowdfunding, you want to do that. You don't want to take most of the

money from an investment group who's going to want a significant chunk of your film.

Either way — beginning of June or around October, November, December — start

reaching out to individuals and investment groups.

I also confirmed my thinking today about casting. We're not a SAG production, so we're not

going to hire SAG actors. And I don't want to hire SAG actors under any kind of pretense

— get them in underneath the table or some kind of workaround — because it's too much,

you're inviting too many problems. That's especially true if you plan on filming in Los

Angeles, which is currently the plan.

That is the plan right now, and I'm pretty sure that's going to happen. We're going to do ten

shooting days down in Los Angeles in a studio — either a virtual production studio in and of

itself, or one that we come in and make into one. And then one shooting day of exteriors —

remote production — which is going to be up here for various reasons. I'm now thinking:

how much more could we get with that eleventh day if we just do it down in the same

production studio? That was the strategy from day one — shoot in a single studio that has

parking, dressing rooms, green rooms, a spot to sit down and have a meal.

We're looking at a crew of eight to nine people, and I think we'll average like five actors a

day — a mixture of leads, day players, featured extras, kind of thing. And then maybe two

or three others on top of that, so maybe you're talking about sixteen or seventeen people

total. Meals — and meals is not something I'm willing to get cheap about. We're already

getting cheap like everywhere else. We're asking everybody to work for cheap, to work for

— you know — I would prefer to pay everyone well. So good God, if you're going to ask

people to do that for you, you give them hugs and you feed them well. Alright, so there's

that.

That's going to be the end of this entry. Tomorrow morning I'll get up, have my steel-cut

oatmeal with blueberries, a cup of coffee, and first thing is opening up that script — the

track through the Stay Away Island jungle — and knock that thing out. Like two and a half

hours, possibly. Possibly the Entertainment Frenzy or the Layer of Dye Creature scene as

well, perhaps in the first two and a half hours. Do that first, right off the bat, then move on to

other things and come back to it in the early afternoon.