Q&A with Preger Entertainment

First, if you're not already a member of the Official Facebook page for the Vampire Academy Movie, then you should be. :-) The producers from Preger Entertainment are still working hard to find the right studio to make the movies, and the Facebook page is a great instrument for them to show potential studios that we are a large and passionate fan base.

Most days, the producers ask us questions most days, but a few days ago they decided that it was our turn to ask them questions, so they opened the floor for all kinds of concerns and queries we might have regarding the making of the movies.

It's hard to find their answers, because they get easily drowned in all the wall posts. It would be a really good idea to post those kinds of things as notes, along with the press releases. But thanks to Vampire-Academy.com, who linked directly to the Q&A, here they are:

1.When is the movie coming out?
Once we have a finalized deal with a studio we would ideally like to have the film in the theatres 18 months later.

2. Have any studios showed interest?
We have met with our first round of studios and are continuing to have active talks. Many things go into a studio taking on a project: budgets, schedules, etc. It’s not only finding a studio that wants to do the film, it’s about finding the RIGHT studio. Once we have some official news, you will be the first to know!

3. Who is in the cast?
Casting won’t begin until a script is written, which won’t happen until we make a deal.

4. Will you hold open auditions?
This will have to be something we discuss with whatever studio we partner with. But we hear everyone’s plea and will see what we can do.

5. Have you considered making a TV series instead?
Yes, initially we had thrown around the idea of a TV show, but came to the conclusion that it would make a better film. Don't you agree?!

6. Will each book be it’s own film?
YES! We are planning for a franchise in order to give each book the time and attention it deserves.

7. Will Richelle be involved in the movie?
This entire world was created by Mead and it would be remiss of us to cut her out of the loop. We met with her in San Diego a few weeks ago and hope to continue a dialogue with her as the film progresses.

8. Who will write the script?
We will work with the studio to match the series with a great screenwriter.

9. Who will direct?
While we have some ideas of who we would like, again, this will be worked out with the studio down the road. It's a two way road, whoever we want - has to want to do the film in return.

10. What will it be rated?
Until we have a finalized film, we won’t be able to answer this question. However, it’s safe to say that we want to make a film that will make the entire fan base happy.

11. Have you started location scouting?
No, but we are very excited about the potential of finding destinations around the world that bring Mead’s words to life.

12. Are you going to be staying true to the story & characters?
This is a tough one to answer. Whenever you translate a book into a film, you loose some elements that sometimes leave fans upset. You have to remember that the film needs to make sense to every viewer, not just the literary fans, and we only have about 90 minutes to 2 hours to do that. Many times that means streamlining the story and leaving out a few details. BUT we are committed to staying true to the essence of the series.

13. Have the Producers read the entire series?
YES! Before obtaining the rights, Preger read the series and had his team read them as well. Before Murphy joined forces with Preger, he read the series too!

14. What made you interested in VA?
The strong female lead made this “vampire” story unique because most of the female leads we are seeing are weak and needing to be saved by a man. In VA, Rose is the one saving others – even guys! Also, the friendship between Rose and Lissa was written to be just as strong as the love story between Rose and Dimitri - which we felt was a great spin. Mead took the century old story of “the vampire” to the next level!

I really love how you get the feeling that the producers want the same thing that we want. When there is an existing fan base, it's nice when it's like we're working towards a common goal and the producers include us in the process. Hopefully that will continue throughout the development of the movie. :-)