Friday, January 21, 2011

Kathryn Coombs. 1953 ~ 2011




19th + Wilson has some very sad news to share—Kathryn Coombs, the wonderful Unit Production Manager of Ghosts Don't Exist, passed away on Sunday, January 16th. It was just three months ago that we learned Kathryn was bravely battling uterine cancer, and she seemed to be doing well with her treatment. So to lose such a talented, vibrant colleague unexpectedly makes the loss that much harder to bear. If you visit Kathryn's Facebook page, you'll get a sense of just how loved and respected she was. The messages being left on her wall are touching, heartfelt, and legion.

Sadly, we at 19W only knew Kathryn for a short time, and Ghosts Don't Exist was the only fi
lm we had the pleasure of working on together. Her tireless efforts contributed heavily to the success of GDE—our first feature film—and suffice it to say, we had planned to work with Kathryn for a very long time to come.

Because Kathryn leaves behind so many friends who knew her longer and more closely, this is by no means a formal eulogy. we did, however, want to take the opportunity to highlight some of the fond memories we have of this very special and unique woman. I asked some of the gang here to share their thoughts.

AARON GOODMILLER, CEO / executive producer
"We met Kathryn in 2009 when she was applying for production designer for GDE. She wowed us so much that we hired her as UPM. She had a Rolodex full of crew members from the area; if she hadn't been on the film, we wouldn't have had as great a crew as we did."

ERIC ESPEJO, writer / director / executive producer
"I would say that my fondest memory of Kathryn was when I first started working with her and we (me, Kuni, and Kathryn) went location scouting. We had to drive all over Loudoun County to house after house and eve
ntually to the last stop to meet with Don Aros. Kathryn was so patient and so enthusiastic about finding a place to shoot GDE, you could tell right then that when she worked on a project she gave it her all. The funniest thing about that day was that we were all in separate cars following one another. Kathryn had all the directions so she was the lead car. She drove too fast and Kuni drove too slow—I was in the middle trying to make sure I could see both her and Kuni!"

EARL ESPEJO, CFO
"I was always impressed with how Kathryn could find a solution for almost anything. We were on a tight budget with GDE but it seemed like Kathryn could always pull a rabbit out of a hat somehow. She was very kind and wonderful to work with. We will miss her dearly."

RICHARD FRIEND, producer / 2nd assistant director
"One of my favorite moments was during a night shoot; Kathryn, Aaron and I were upstairs in the Travis Garner House while a crucial scene was being shot downstairs just below us. We had to be especially quiet in that old house, as the floors would creak loudly with even the slightest shifting of your weight. Several moment
s into a take, Kathryn—who was an AVID smoker and prone to extreme coughing fits—HAD one of those legendary coughing fits. She tried her best to stifle it, but the sounds coming from her hand over her mouth were at least as bad as the coughing itself! Aaron, meanwhile, was threatening to make even more noise, as he was literally in tears from laughing. Sure enough, 1st AD Gavin Peretti yelled "CUTTTT!!!" and promptly reprimanded "whoever was trying not to cough and laugh at the same time." I couldn't resist snapping a photo—and just as I did, Kathryn looked right at the camera and smiled. Even after nearly coughing out a lung, ruining a take, and working at 4AM on zero sleep, she still had that smile. :)

The photo in the memorial banner was taken by Sarah Baker, during an impromptu moment on set; and I used that image because that's exactly how I'll always remember Kathryn—sitting at her computer, completely approachable, and ready to help in any way she could."




Memorial Services Announcement for Kathryn Coombs:
Visit Kathryn's Facebook page for more information on a Cleydael celebration of life ceremony coming from her friends at Cleydael Farm. Funeral mass with communion for family and close friends will be held at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 1132 North Ivanhoe Street, Arlington, VA 22205 on Friday Ja
nuary 28th at 1:30 pm. Private interment to follow at Columbia Gardens. A memorial service at Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own Restaurant & Pub of Old Town, 111 N. Pitt St. Alexandria, VA will be held Friday January 28 from 5 to 7 pm. Memorial contributions can be made in Kathryn’s name (please so note on any donation) to the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) 1156 15th Street NW Suite 900, Washington, DC 20005 or the Fredericksburg Christian Health Center (FCHC)1129 Heatherstone Drive, Fredericksburg, VA 22407-4828 or the YR Alumni Network, 1101 30th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20007 to fund a scholarship in Kathryn’s name.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Ghost Capture...creeping into the news again!

Someone in Louisiana seems to have come up with their own unique spin on the Ghost Capture phenomenon... That, or there's a very creepy animal wandering the Baton Rouge woods these days!



NBC33 ran this story on what was purported to be a freaky image that showed up on a hunter's deer stand camera. Now that one is definitely not a Ghost Capture creation. But funny enough, one such Ghost Capture denizen did make it into the broadcast. Check out the photo submitted by a viewer at the 0:55 mark:



As our resident "ghosts" continue to gain exposure, we'll continue to populate the app with fresh new faces, metaphorically speaking. Have you downloaded the latest version yet? We're up to 30 ghosts, with many more to come in future updates in the new year!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Psychic Ghost Capture!



We recognized two faces in this photo. One is Mr. Chip Coffey, the psychic/medium from the A&E hit series Paranormal State and Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal. The other is one of our custom apparitions from Ghost Capture!

Chip posted a couple of great Ghost Captures of his own to his Twitter page, and we're psyched to see that he's enjoying the app! Hopefully it hasn't caused him any grief, like it has a few others in the paranormal community!


Thanks for the support, Chip!! :)

Monday, September 6, 2010

Eerie HorrorFest

Horror fans have probably heard of a popular fest called the "Eerie Horror Film Festival", and back in February we submitted GDE to them -- that seems like so long ago. Last night, the team received an email from Greg Ropp, President of the festival. Some highlights from his email were:

"After months of accepting film submissions from all around the globe, our call for entries has ended and our judges have turned in their final scores."

Then he went on to say, "The simple act of entering your film into a competition proves to me that you are serious about your vision and that you are passionate about your art. Whatever the result may be - keep making movies! There are NO losers or rejects here. Period. To those who are selected - congratulations are in order! Your films were stand outs within the hundreds of films we received this season. No small feat."

The result...

GDE is an official selection of the 2010 Eerie Horror Film Festival!

Road trip anyone? We're excited and hope to see some of you in Erie. Oh, and some of you we'll see this weekend at the Shadowroom.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

DVD Release Party!



We're just a week away from the Sept. 7th release of Ghosts Don't Exist on DVD —and to celebrate, we're inviting fans, cast, and crew to a special DVD Release Party!

Join us on Saturday, September 11th at the Shadow Room
(2131 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20037) starting at 8PM. The fun will go until the wee hours, but take advantage of Shadow Room's $5 beer + wine from 8–10 PM!

Thanks to one of our great sponsors, Jason Cole, the Shadow Room will be opening up two hours early just for GDE friends and fans to party. Let's reunite, spread the word, and toast to a movie that everyone put their blood, sweat, and tears into!

Hope to see you there! Please RSVP to Nancy Yee (Nancy@19w.com) to get on the list for an early Shadow Room entry.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Smoking = Rated R?




Ghosts Don't Exist
Writer and Director Eric Espejo was interviewed this morning on Washington DC's FOX 5 News about a controversial new proposal by the Centers for Disease Control—a policy that could force the MPAA to assign an "R" rating to any films that include scenes with cigarettes.

What do you think? Is an "R" rating too harsh? What if a scene depicts the negative aspects of smoking, rather than the cool factor—would it still warrant the stricter rating that can have such a profound effect on box office revenue?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Redskins TV at the GDE premiere!

Were you at the world premiere of Ghosts Don't Exist at the DC Independent Film Festival? Chris Cooley was, and because of that, Redskins TV was there covering the big event! Here's an exclusive peek at their segment, even before it airs on Redskins.com!

Check it out—you might even see yourself in the crowd!



And as you've heard by now, you can pre-order the DVD at Amazon.com—the release is September 7th!