James Anthony Cotton: News

The Lionfish Group under Director/Producer James Anthony Cotton and his team completes 4 totally different style corporate videos all in one month! We'll need a few days off till we start back up with 3 new soon to be announced exciting projects along with the final readying for delivery of our film 'The Confessional" which is now slated for limited theatrical release later this year.

I recently completed a week booking as the "hero" talent on a new interactive television commercial. Directed by Ivan Zaccharis an amazingly talented director for Smuggler films and Chiat/Day. The finished three minute mini-movie interactive commercial is scheduled to air sometime around Sept. 2008.
It will push the boundaries of what we think of as commercials.

Panasonic has interviewed myself and my DP , Morgan Schmidt for a PR article on the film and the use of Panasonic cameras, which were crucial in the shoot, the PR article has been released to over 100 media outlets for release. Thanks Panasonic for your support on our film and your wonderful cameras!! Look for variations in various trade publications such Videography and more throughout the month.

Our film The Confessional has been submitted to some festivals and now we wait, awaiting our "World Premiere" in the marketplace first to decide on what comes next. We should know in the next few months. Although we have not committed yet we are starting talks with several distributors for both foreign and domestic rights to the film. Overwhelmingly the private test audience screening was a success and we feel justifiably hopeful of securing a strong distribution deal.
As always my hopes are to keep creating and working with others that love what they do!! The rest, as they say is okay by me.

Indie Slate Magazine (a national for over 10 years) will include a featured article on our film The Confessional entitled "It's all about the Story" in their latest issue upcoming late December 2007 (issue 51). Look for it on news stands across the country.
We are thrilled that they have included us in their magazine and their continued support for independent filmmakers!

Well the last few months have been extremely inspiring! I was thrilled to work on a new Pixar Project (no details...hush,hush). I love those guys!!! The project was so inspiring I wrote a new song inspired by it. Also I am working with new musical clients in prep for their upcoming recording projects...too cool.

This years AFM was the most evident example of the changing face of distribution yet I 've seen. The writing is on the walls as to what will be the "new models" of business. While some things seem to never change a new wave is coming and the scrambling to understand and prepare for the changing face of bringing to market was in the air.
Lionfish is positioning itself to meet those challenges and take advantage of them as they unfold.

Our feature film "The Confessional" was screened in a full theater house for cast,crew and select screeners Sept 9th. While I was nervous as the lights went down and the screen lit up, the journey of being entertained for two hours started. I am happy to announce it went very well and everyone seemed to really enjoy it! It is a long haul to get to this point. My thanks goes out to all the wonderful people that helped make this film a reality. The next few months will be exciting as we now prepare to bring to market this delightfully demented "Hitchcockian" thriller.

Recently James Spent a day session at Prairie Sun Recording to complete the final live tracks on the film The Confessional on the Baldwin 9' concert grand along with solo soprano vocalist Martha Holder for the score intro and end credit roll. The completed tracks were then added to the existing score and mixed in. The final film has been registered and a premiere date is expected to be announced in August 2007.

With the completion of our new film and the adding of 2 new corporate clients to our ever growing list The Lionfish Group has completed more upgrades to our studio.We will now offer full 1080p projection review along with our Black Magic 8 terrabyte full FCP HD system.Other recent upgrades include protools 7, with mackie hui interfaces and DP 5 interlock to picture.

Well this year 2007 should be an exciting one! My 1st Feature film " The Confessional" will be out this year along with my new CD "Dangerous World". It has been too long since my last release of new music and i am excited about the message and music for the project.
The Film has taken the last year of my time from start to finish and I delighted with it and hope it is well recieved and brings good things for all who worked so hard on it. To 2007, it's gonna be a rockin year!

Lionfish will be the production company for a series of 6 seminars to be shot over the course of the nex few months for in house training. The series will be shot in HD and the corporate client will use them for in-house education and distribution.

The first rough edit of our film has been completed. We are now in the 2nd edit phase that includes HD dialog and foley. Even in rough the film plays great so far and we hope to have a completed edit ready for music and final mix in late November early December. More updates next month.

The little short that could- "Deadville, USA" has been picked up for national and international distribution. Starting September it will be available through Super D (the world's larget distributor of DVD's & CD's ) and in catalogs of over 2400 major US stores alone. Not bad for a 34 minute film shot on a budget of 1k in 11 days. Now can you imagine what "The Confessional" is going do? We are deep in post and let me tell you-it rocks!! more info on it will come soon!!

The Lionfish Group has been selected as the production company for a new business series to shoot somtime after Sept. 2006.
Further information will be announced in September.

After 24 days the feature film "The Confessional" has offically wrapped! What an amazing experience for us all. We finished on time and on budget to boot. I would like to personally thank my great cast and crew for the truly outstanding job they did. A special thanks to the hamlet of Sunol and Victoria Christian and all of it's wonderful residents for thier incredible generousity in helping to make this film possible. It is those that know how to work together as a team to do what needs to be done that make the spirit of independent film work. I am proud to say all of you that made up our team worked hard and did what was needed and together we made a truly great film. My heart filled thanks to each and everyone that contributed in that positive spirit, the spirit of cooperation that truly is the spirit of indie film making! Now starts the post production process and if all goes as planned we will have a screening in December 2006 if not sooner! Once again good work to all , my heart felt thanks and I look forward to seeing you all at the premiere!

We are in week two of filming "The Confessional". What an amazing experience it has been so far. It has been so incredible to see the dailies, what an amazingly gifted group of actors. The cast has had a blast with each other and given rivoting scene after scene performances. This is going to be one hell of a movie. More to come...thank you Peter, Jane, Victor, Jay, Noah, Blaed and all so far..it is an honor to work with talent like you. The crew has been giving thier best and we are blessed with the finest in the business..Damon Charles on makeup and hair--could you ask for more???
More to come!

Our ensemble cast is presented. Peter Quartaroli, Jane Longenecker,Noah Maschan, Victor Browne, Patrick KilPatrick, Blaed Spence, Bettina Devin, Kurt Paul, Joe Carrig, Jay Jacobus, Carl Irwin, Quinn Redecker,Bob Wood,Karen Kahn,Judith Sims, Daniel Hart Donoghue, Don DeMico,Stephen Pawley, David Westley Skillman, Adam Del Rio, Jaquelyn Herrera, Alexis Boosley, Jennifer Dean and Andre' Mathieu.
More to be announced..
These are the residents and players of 'The ConfessionaL". Let the the sins begin....

Pre-production is in full tilt. We will be shooting in full HD with 35mm prime lensing, giving us unbelievable clarity and focus mark options. A stellar cast of gifted actors is being assembled. A final list of the full cast will be announced just prior to shooting. Keep looking for our updates!

Deadville, USA is now out in the online stores for distribution. you can find it directly in our buy section link. Thanks to all the folks that thought it was an interesting little film.