SEATTLE — Genevieve Buechner, who plays Tamara Adama on the Syfy hit series, “Caprica,” leads the list of actors filling out the cast of the campus time-travel drama, “Judas Kiss,” set to shoot here this month.

Buechner, a Canadian actress, is also a veteran of various network TV dramas, such as “Supernatural” and “The 4400,” and has also appeared in the features “Elopement” and “Jennifer’s Body.”

She appears in “Judas Kiss” as a student at Keystone Summit University, a school that lies at the crossroads of parallel timelines, the film’s producers announced today.

“We’re thrilled our little independent feature caught Genevieve’s notice, and that she wants to be a part of it,” said director J.T. Tepnapa. “Judas Kiss” is the first feature from the award-winning director of several short films.

The film tells the story of a failed Hollywood filmmaker who gets the chance to return to his film school to confront his tortured past and avoid a troubling future.

The production stars Buechner’s “Caprica” co-star, Richard Harmon (“Percy Jackson & the Olympians,” “Fringe”), in the lead role of Danny Reyes, as well as fellow Canadian Charlie David (“Dante’s Cove,” “Mulligans”) as the lead, Zachary Wells.

Producers also announced casting several prominent Seattle-area actors in other major roles in the film. You can learn more about them on the Judas Kiss Cast page.

First row, left to right:

• Laura Kenny as Mrs. Blossom, dean of the Keystone Summit Film School.
• Vince Valenzuela as Daniel Reyes, Sr., Danny’s father.
• Samantha Rund as Rebecca Lynn, judge at the Keystone Film Festival.
• Troy Fischnaller as Zachary’s best friend, Hollywood director Topher Shadoe.
• Dale Bowers as Old Man Welds, a mysterious campus tour guide.
• Paul Stetler as “the Father,” a role in a film within the film.
• 10-year-old Matt Smith as “Jude,” a role in a film within the film.

Second row, left to right:

• Ronee Collins as Danny’s mother, Kimberly Reyes.
• 12-year-old Iain Dunn as Young Danny Reyes.
• Eric Helland as Mr. Lyons, a prominent Keystone donor.
• Stephanie Hillbert as Mrs. Lyons, a prominent Keystone donor.
• Tessa Archer as an assistant director in a film within the film.
• Demetrius Sager and Joe Royal as Keystone students.

“Judas Kiss” is produced by Blue Seraph Productions, a Los Angeles company headed by Tepnapa and Seattle-based writer-producer Carlos Pedraza. Their previous work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, Variety, Frontiers, Fab magazine, the Today Show, MSNBC, and other international news outlets.

Tepnapa’s short films include the multiple award-winning parody of 1950s teen health films, “Masturbation: Putting the Fun Into Self-Loving,” the comedy “Drag Queen Heist” and the homeless youth drama, “Begging for Change.”

“Judas Kiss” is scheduled to shoot this month in Seattle.

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Links

• Genevieve Buechner’s IMDb profile
• Official Judas Kiss movie site
• Blue Seraph Productions Web site
• Director J.T. Tepnapa’s IMDb profile
• Writer Carlos Pedraza’s IMDb profile

I quote the post below, but you should subscribe to his blog, Skin of a Living Thought, and follow him on Twitter (@erikschmidt), for his always keen insights into technology and culture.

— /carlos

By Erik Schmidt

Most folks know at least one or two people who inspire them through their example. My friend Carlos is one of those inspirations for me.

I met Carlos Pedraza in 1997, the year Great Britain handed control of Hong Kong to China and Microsoft gave Apple Computer a $150M lease on life. Carlos worked at the Corporation for National Service, ably slashing his way through the bureaucracy.

A few years later he started writing scripts for fan-produced Star Trek shows, including “Blood and Fire”, an episode he co-wrote with famed original Star Trek writer David Gerrold. He also co-produced “World Enough and Time”, the Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II episode that starred George Takei and was nominated for a Hugo Award.

In 2007, seeking to explore opportunities beyond fan film, he teamed up with his friend J.T. Tepnapa to create movies under the banner of Blue Seraph Productions. Last year I conducted a lengthy interview with Carlos and posted a transcript in three parts. He pointed out that fan productions are truly independent in a way that no studio can match:

Independent studios today aren’t really that independent. They know that they have avenues through the traditional studios and their distribution capacity to have a venue for their work. We’re not in that position. We have to create our own venue.

Fast forward fifteen months. Carlos and J.T. are now filming Judas Kiss, a feature film they co-wrote. They obtained seed funding, raised over $10,000 for equipment through Kickstarter.com, signed on actors who have appeared in TV and big screen projects, and created serious online buzz with everything from magazine interviews to a webcomic and a podcast. Their product placement manager (yes, they have a product placement manager) even pulled in Voss artesian water and Aqua VI clothing.

In that interview last year, Carlos said:

Once someone figures out a system that works, it helps all of us to expand that system. We may never make the kind of money that people in Hollywood make. But do you need to? There are plenty of people who are willing to earn the same amount of money they work for now, but doing something that’s a lot more fun.

If you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk. Carlos is certainly doing that. It’s inspiring to witness.

Carlos and I would like to thank each and every one of our kickstarter backers for raising more than $10,000! With your help, we are now able to get the camera we want and so much more!

We would like to a moment to thank each one of you.

Isya, Xabier, Travis Richey, Patrick J. Walsh Jr., Kirsten Schierman, Hyacinth, Clay Poupart, Maurice Kessler, Norman G. Cross, Stacy B Gao, Davy Gee, David Cutting, Chris Hensley, Modern Gay Male ™, Kim Kinney, Viktor, Jodi Raybuck, Leslie Silverman, Jd Redline, Rob Williams , per Jacob, Keith Divver, Sean O’Neill, Matthew Sholar, Soul Surfer, Bart Leirs, Mickey McCommons, Dewayne Helms, Josh, William Odman, Jonathan, Christopher Holladay, Juztin DeMeuse, Keith Hafner, Daniel L. Merritt-LeSatz, Amy O’Brien, Howard Stump, Bernard Cocchiola, Al Davis, Jeffrey Tork, Michael Hinman, Suzanne E. Ritzko, CL Lassiter, David W. Hill, Bas van Wilgen, Andrew Monroe, Dirk Vreys, Jennifer Crawford, Ernie Ruble, Rick Pike, Peggy Flynn, D. Mac, Matt Jamieson, Joseph Baneth Allen, Peter P.Y. Mao, Brian Osbourn/Osbourn Draw, James Wood, Claudia Pedraza, Jason Dean, Lane Roth, Woody Embry, Richard Ulmer, Fritz Smail, Albert n Texas, Alan Batie, John Nunn, Genise O. Ghee, Stewart Anderson, John LaRegina, and Paul Lei.

And to our 15 Kickstarter backers who chose to remain anonymous, thank you.

Also, extra thanks goes to our cast members, Lane, Cindy, Doriane, Chris and everyone who spent 30 days tweeting all your friends about us at kickstarter! We did it!

Sincerely,

J.T. Tepnapa and Carlos Pedraza

The notice on the Judas Kiss page on Kickstarter.com says it all.

Except for this: THANK YOU to the 85 backers who pledged more than $10,000 to our film, and thank you to the many others who spread the word through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, blogs and countless other means of non-monetary but still important support.

Our film will make you proud.

—/carlos

Up to then, as little as $5 makes you a Judas Kiss backer, entitling you to exclusive updates as we gear up for and go into our 20-day shoot next month. Contribute more and you get a bunch of other cool prizes.

» Learn more at Kickstarter.com!

We really need your help to make this film a reality. We’re finishing up our casting (lots of news on that front coming up soon!), hiring crew and locking down locations. August is beautiful in Seattle, and it’s going to show in this film. Help us make this real.

To all those who’ve contributed so far, THANK YOU. To those considering it, I promise it will be money well spent. Every penny (and more!) will show on screen.

Invest!

If you want to do more than contribute, you can also make your money back by investing in Judas Kiss. Learn how.

—/carlos

Just. Wow.

As I neared home while on my daily walk this evening, I checked the Kickstarter page on my iPhone and exclaimed when I saw that we’d not only met our new $7,500 goal but had exceeded it by more than $500.

Honestly, while J.T. and I were confident we’d be able to meet our initial $5,000 goal using Kickstarter, we were thrilled that we met it with a week to go, and encouraged that our backers encouraged us to go for another $2,500 in those remaining several days.

Films, even low-budget ones, soak up money like my pal Charlie drinks at an open bar. But Charlie’s a happy drunk, and the Judas Kiss cast and crew are going to be similarly pleased (well, with their sobriety intact) by what your support has bought us.

We start shooting in just a few weeks. Stay tuned as we keep you posted on our progress. It’s shaping up to be a fantastic summer!

—/carlos

P.S. We still have three days left…!

With a little less than a week left in the Kickstarter campaign, we want to aim higher — ‘cuz that’s what we do. We don’t settle when we know we can do better. I believe that’s why so many people out there want to give this film a chance to be more than ambitious; they want it to become reality.

Help us raise another $2,500 in this remaining week (the deadline is 11 p.m. PDT, Friday, July 9). Click here to donate. The initial $5,000 from our Kickstarter backers will pay for an upgraded high-definition camera that will allow us to release Judas Kiss as a 1080p Blu-Ray disc, the better to showcase the talent of stars Charlie David, Richard Harmon and Brent Corrigan; the filmmaking finesse of director J.T. Tepnapa and cinematographer David Berry, and the cutting-edge soundtrack of world artists contributing to the film’s soundtrack.

The additional $2,500 we hope to raise by our July 9 deadline will enable the production to improve its production values by paying for:

• Rental of an expensive crane, which will give key shots the look of a bigger-budget film;
• Improved visual effects to sustain the scifi elements of the story;
• Part of the film’s post-production expenses; and
• Helping with the basic (and essential) craft services that make sure the cast and crew get fed really good food. Film sets run on their stomachs!

And, of course, additional donations entitle backers to the cool gifts we’re offering for supporting the film.

I’ve been amazed at the people who have appeared unexpectedly and out of nowhere to sign aboard this project — production companies, record labels, independent artists, fellow filmmakers — just in the past several weeks. We’ll be making announcements about all of these in the coming days and weeks. Judas Kiss is already becoming a bigger project than I ever thought it was meant to be, and so much of it is due to the support and word-of-mouth by longtime and new friends and fans. Twitter and Facebook alone contributed so much to us meeting our Kickstarter goal a week earlier than we hoped.

Subscribe to our RSS feed or “like” us on Facebook to stay abreast of all this great news as we release it. I promise you’ll be impressed by the artists who will be joining this project.

And if you want to go a step further and make an investment in this project (earn your money back!), check out our prospectus and contact us. We’d be happy to talk to you.

Stay tuned!

—/carlos

Even better news is we can still accept new Judas Kiss backers! We have big dreams for our film — like cool special effects and I have this awesome crane shot idea to give Judas Kiss the feel of a big studio picture. Please donate today and take advantage of all the special gift premiums. We have only seven days left!

— Jaytee

If you haven’t seen the video yet over at Kickstarter, we’d be pleased to have you watch it here. But then you must truck on over to Kickstarter to do your part in helping our feisty little independent film take wing. Every bit helps — donations start at $5.

And if you’re interested in making an actual investment (earn your money back!), well, check out our prospectus and drop us a line. We’d love to talk to you!

—/carlos

Longtime “Judas Kiss” fans know from the infamous “Topsy Turvy” podcast that Norwegian plays a small role in the movie, and that Carlos and J.T. had hoped to make Voss the official water of Judas Kiss.

Thanks to the efforts of our product placement coordinator, the inimitable Richard Hagerty, our wish has come true!

Voss is a brand of artesian water from Norway, bottled at its source in the pristine wilderness of Southern Norway. The water is available in amazingly designed cylindrical glass bottles created by Neil Kraft, former creative director for Calvin Klein.

The company was established in 2001 by two young Norwegian entrepreneurs committed to respecting the environment. In 2008, the company established the Voss Foundation, which is dedicated to providing access to pure, clean drinking water to sub-Saharan African communities — particularly seeking to serve women and adolescent girls, an often overlooked and under-served demographic at particular risk.

The company also makes some fine-tasting water. Welcome to “Judas Kiss,” Voss!

Michael Hinman welcomes J.T. Tepnapa and Carlos Pedraza to Alpha Waves Radio to talk about their new independent genre film “Judas Kiss,” which begins filming in Seattle this summer! The two have been involved in online fan productions of Star Trek in the past, and are on the verge of making their big break with this independent film. And stay tuned, as always, for the live call-in show Alpha Waves Rewind with your amazing host, Tony Tellado!

Tune in on June 10! In the meantime, you can learn more about how Alpha Waves Radio is produced.

BRIAN LAM You may have seen and heard Brian Lam (photo) when he was featured in American Idol’s seventh season Hollywood Week. A Georgia native, Brian moved to Los Angeles in 2005 and has worked in a number of TV shows and commercials. His album, “Your Embrace,” is available on iTunes, and you can listen to his songs on his Web site, brianlammusic.com.

MAYDA Hailing from St. Paul, Minn., Mayda Miller (photo). She has written and played with the Sugar Divas, Jellybean Johnson and Chance Howard of The Time, Prince, Phil Hansen, Word For Word, the Boy Sopranos (Doomtree Crew), Soul Asylum, and many more. Minnesota Public Radio had this to say about her:

If you’re a songwriter, being a Korean adoptee, a woman and only four-feet-ten inches tall gives you a lot to talk about. St. Paul musician Mayda’s big sound belies her diminutive size. In a crowd, it’s easy to overlook Mayda. But on stage, it is hard not to notice her.

You can listen to her music on her MySpace page and buy it on iTunes.

Believe me, you’re going to love these artists’ work in our movie.

— /carlos

You can also learn how to become an official investor in the project. Download our prospectus excerpt from the Invest page and contact us for more information.

Thanks to the work of our product placement coordinator, Richard Hagerty, we can announce the first of our clothing sponsors: Aqua VI.

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Aqua VI offers a fashionable, innovative and contemporary clothing line we’re proud to feature in our film. Here’s what BlackBook Magazine says about the line:

Art is truly not just for the walls anymore. Here to prove just that is Aqua VI, a clothing line making a name for itself very quickly. Not only is it offered at Nordstroms, Scoops in NYC, and the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, but stars all over Hollywood such as Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Cameron Diaz, Mya, and even Emmitt Smith have been spotted sporting these new threads. The company logo is Uncharted Waters. In the fashion industry, this line is just that.

Thank you, Aqua VI, for helping our stars look like superstars.

Link

• Aqua VI Premium Clothing – Official Online Store

Shout outs go to Jody Wheeler of DoorQ.com and Steve Parker for finding them luxurious lodgings for their all-too-short stay. We also managed to fit in a little cocktail party for some of our cast and crew along with a couple of potential investors. Always thinkin’.

Next Stop: San Francisco. Another little city filled with potential investors and crew members.

– Jaytee

Richard appeared alongside Peter Weller (Buckaroo Banzai, Star Trek: Enterprise) in the April 15 episode, “White Tulip” (view on Fox.com).

Richard has appeared in a growing list of genre television shows and features, including the Syfy hit, Caprica, the CW’s Smallville, the Web series Riese, the feature Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, SciFi Channel’s Flash Gordon and others.

We signed him last month to star in Judas Kiss in the lead role of Danny Reyes. Richard is currently filming the first season of Cartoon Network’s new live-action series, Tower Prep.

— /carlos

Julia Morizawa (Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, Star Trek: Odyssey) has been signed to play snarky college student Abbey Park, best friend of Danny Reyes (played by Caprica’s Richard Harmon). Ron Boyd (Star Trek: Phase II) will portray Ralph Garlington, a curmudgeonly cinematographer judging the Keystone University Film Festival alongside lead Zachary Wells (Charlie David of Dante’s Cove and Mulligans). Tim Foutch (of the Hidden Frontier spinoff, Star Trek: Odyssey) will appear as Tommy, another Keystone film student competing against Danny in the festival.

“I’ve had the pleasure of directing and acting alongside these actors for some time,” said Judas Kiss director J.T. Tepnapa. “They’re talented and hard-working performers who are a joy to have on a set.”

Tepnapa and Morizawa met on the Hidden Frontier set, where she played the popular Vulcan character, Lt. S’Tal. She was later cast as a telepathic ship’s security officer in the Hidden Frontier spinoff series Star Trek: Odyssey. She has worked on 15 features and television series as an actor, writer and producer. She recently completed a Los Angeles theater run of a play she wrote, produced and starred in, Twenty-Two, and also stars in the scifi Web series Frontier Guard.

Tepnapa and Judas Kiss writer-producer Carlos Pedraza also worked with Boyd in Star Trek: Phase II, the Hugo-nominated Web series that also won TV Guide’s Award for Best Online SciFi Series and was named among Rolling Stone’s five Web series you shouldn’t miss. Boyd plays the acerbic Lt. Vincent DeSalle. He has also appeared in the Canadian TV series, Corner Gas. Boyd is also well known as an artist for DC Comics.

Foutch is already well known among Judas Kiss fans for his portrayal of Tim the Intern in the Judas Kiss podcasts. He also plays the chief engineer in Star Trek: Odyssey and Cadet Fetch Zisser in the Web series Frontier Guard.

Judas Kiss is being produced by Blue Seraph Productions, a Los Angeles company headed by Tepnapa and Pedraza. Their previous work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, Variety, Frontiers, Fab magazine, the Today Show, MSNBC, and other international news outlets. The film is scheduled to shoot this summer in Seattle.

Links

• Julia Morizawa’s IMDb profile
• Ron Boyd’s IMDb profile
• Tim Foutch’s IMDb profile
• Blue Seraph Productions Web site

I’m looking forward to seeing them together and talking about their characters and their relationship to one another.  Frankly,  I’m really curious to see how they look together. It’s all very exciting.

Stay tuned for pictures.

–Jaytee

A new Cast page is among the latest additions to the Web site.

SEATTLE — With more news about Judas Kiss preproduction on the way, I’ve created some new pages and navigation for the Web site. You’ll notice there’s now a:

• Cast & Crew menu in top navigation, with new dropdowns to guide you.
• A new Cast page with photos of all the actors we’ve cast in Judas Kiss so far.
• Updated promotional photo links to Richard Harmon’s and Timo Descamps‘ Web galleries.

Keep checking back every few days; with J.T.’s visit to Seattle and Vancouver, there’s lots more news coming as Judas Kiss preproduction kicks into high gear.

— /carlos

You can check out these news sites on your own:

– /carlos

18-year-old Canadian actor Richard Harmon lands lead role in time-bending drama

SEATTLE — Fresh from his pivotal three-episode guest-starring role in the Syfy network hit, “Caprica,” hot young actor Richard Harmon has been cast in the time-bending campus drama, “Judas Kiss,” the film’s producers announced today.

The 18-year-old actor from Vancouver, B.C., has landed roles in a broad swath of hit television series and feature films, including “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” “Smallville,” “Fringe” and the Cartoon Network’s new live-action series, “Tower Prep.”

In “Judas Kiss,” Harmon (photo) will play Danny Reyes, a gay film student at a university at the crossroads of parallel timelines, where he is caught in a tug of war between a tortured past and a troubling future.

Harmon won the role with a videotaped audition over more than 1,000 Los Angeles actors, wowing “Judas Kiss” director J.T. Tepnapa and writer-producer Carlos Pedraza.

“Richard nailed every beat in his audition,” Tepnapa said. “Carlos and I watched the tape and instantly agreed we’d found our Danny.”

For Harmon, “Judas Kiss” represents a leap from a strong résumé of supporting parts in Web series, TV roles and features to a lead in a feature that suits his edgy take on youthful roles, Pedraza said.

“Danny struck me right away as a very relatable character,” Harmon said. “Once I read the whole script, I knew this movie was something that I would be so blessed to be a part of. I know people will be able to really connect to what he feels throughout the movie, and I’m going to have lots of fun with it.”

CARLOS AND J.T.’S SECRET MISSION TO CANADA Tepnapa and Pedraza were so impressed by Harmon’s audition they immediately flew from Los Angeles to Vancouver to sign him for the role.

“Richard really is perfect for Danny,” Tepnapa said. “His talent ups the ante for this film, and his performance is going to catch a lot of people’s attention.”

“Judas Kiss” is Tepnapa’s first feature film. He has won many international awards for his short films, including the multiple award-winning parody of 1950s teen health films, “Masturbation: Putting the Fun Into Self-Loving,” the comedy “Drag Queen Heist” and the homeless youth drama, “Begging for Change.”

Harmon has been a working actor since age 10, appearing in such series and films as “School of Life” with Ryan Reynolds, “Jeremiah” with Luke Perry, “Aliens in America,” the 2007 “Flash Gordon” TV series and the hit Web series “Riese.”

He recently appeared in three pivotal episodes of Syfy’s hit series, “Caprica” — the prequel spin-off of the network’s seminal “Battlestar Galactica” — as a virtual game hacker who befriends Joseph Adama (Esai Morales).

Harmon’s father is director Allan Harmon (“Afghan Knights,” “Passion’s Web”) and his older sister is actress Jessica Harmon (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Black Christmas”). Harmon is represented by Melanie Turner of Pacific Artists Management of Vancouver, B.C.

“Judas Kiss” is being produced by Blue Seraph Productions, a Los Angeles company headed by Tepnapa and Pedraza. Their previous work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, Variety, Frontiers, Fab magazine, the Today Show, MSNBC, and other international news outlets.

The film, scheduled to shoot this summer in Seattle, has already attracted attention for casting “Dante’s Cove” star Charlie David (host of Logo’s travel show, “Bump,” and writer-star of last year’s feature film, “Mulligans”). Also cast is controversial adult film star Brent Corrigan, who appeared in last year’s Oscar-winning “Milk” and the comedy, “Another Gay Sequel,” and rising European TV and pop star Timo Descamps.

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Links

• Caprica Times interview with Richard Harmon
• Additional photos of Richard Harmon
• Star Richard Harmon’s IMDb profile
• Blue Seraph Productions Web site
• Director J.T. Tepnapa’s IMDb profile
• Writer Carlos Pedraza’s IMDb profile

If you have been keeping up with our tweets and blog posts, you probably already know we just had a super-secret Judas Kiss mission go off without a hitch. In the next few days, we are going to be able to tell you all about it.

The not-so-secret part of our Judas Kiss mission is that we’ll be finishing up our Seattle-Tacoma location scouting, make a Canadian visit up to our co-production partners, Border2Border Entertainment, and start coordinating local auditions to fill out the remaining roles in Judas Kiss. And all the while taking care of our early investors and enticing new investors onboard to what is now looking like a very successful film. And if we have our way, not only critically successful, but also financially successful.

Somebody pinch me. Just to make sure it isn’t all a dream. ::ouch:: It’s real, yo.

– Jaytee