The Outbreak Is Here!

Hey there folks!

I haven't been so good about checking in from the road... a lot has been going on between the traveling around I've been doing for my OHSU/ OR-Node/ NIH gig, negotiating new projects, schedule juggling, and the like. I'll try to spend some time this weekend filling you in on all those details... but that's not what I want to tell you about this morning.

This morning, I have the distinct pleasure of letting you know that The Outbreak, the new internet zombie film I'm in, is live at last and available for free at http://www.survivetheoutbreak.com/!

The thing that sets The Outbreak apart from other recently-produced zombie films is its interactive nature - throughout the film the audience is given "decision points" where they're asked to make choices for the characters. These choices can help the characters survive... or lead to disastrous consequences.

I'm really excited about this project for a number of reasons... some of which will be apparent as you watch the film. As frequent readers of my blog know, the film was shot during a one week period in Damascus and Portland, Oregon (with an additional day added a couple weeks later to help "tweak" the ending). The cast and crew were incredibly talented and dedicated people - I had a blast making this movie!

Early reaction to the film has been very positive - in fact, there are so many people visiting http://www.survivetheoutbreak.com/ today that the servers are having a tough time keeping up with demand. If the film takes a while to load, please be patient. You may notice the film "buffering" in the middle of some of the scenes; if this happens, click the "pause" button and wait for the full clip to load before clicking play (the scene will catch up if you just wait, but allowing the bar at the bottom of the screen to go all the way to the right will give you a smooth, un-interrupted viewing experience).

Even though there's no rating system on the internet, this film should probably be considered a "PG-13" or "R" (depending on your tastes) for language, violence, blood and gore. Take a look at it before you show your kids, then make up your own mind - the make up and blood might not be appropriate for younger children.

If you want more behind-the-scenes info on the film, check some of the blog entries from April of this year... I've also posted some photos at http://www.haroldphillips.net/. Stop on by and check them out!

So... check The Outbreak out, and then please let us know what you think by visiting the film's MySpace site - or send the producers an email at info@survivetheoutbreak.com. We'd love to hear your reactions!

Hope you're all doing well...

-Harold

On The Road Again...

Hey folks

Sorry it's been a bit since I checked in with you all... as you might imagine, I was pretty busy running around putting out fires that had cropped up while I was in Idaho. Now that things have somewhat settled, it's time for me to hit the road again for what I jokingly call "My National Tour."

More-than-infrequent readers of my blog (and some of you infrequent readers, too) know that from time to time I role-play for the Oregon "Node" of the Clinical Trials Network, a sub-division of the National Institutes of Health. Essentially, I portray a client at a treatment center that's a site for a drug trial or study being run by the NIH; my job is to go into the site and improvise. I've got a "character" I play who's going to be taking part in the study being run at the site, and I go through the intake process with the practitioners, then give them feedback on how things went and what they might be able to improve on.

Back in March of this year I was hired by the CTN to play a meth addict going through intake process for a study on the effectiveness of 12-Step programs as a component to drug treatment (you can read all about the study by clicking here). I did a session at a local drug treatment center here in Portland, and the CTN was so impressed by the results that they gave "ORNode" a grant to fly me around the country to other treatment centers.

So, for the next two months, I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling... I've already done one session up in Everett, WA (in fact, I just got back last night). The rest of the schedule looks like this:

• September 8: Pittsburgh, PA
• September 10: Dallas, TX
• September 16: Jacksonville, FL (hopefully they will have cleaned up from this weekend's hurricanes)
• October 1: Oahu, HI (yeah, I know... that's going to be an awfully tough session. I might need an extra day there to prepare for it...)
• October 8: Eugene, OR
• October 13: Charleston, SC

Not so bad, right? Just six days... until you take into account the fact that I'll be traveling one day before and one day after each session... so I'll be spending about 18 days out of town over the next couple months (20 if you count my trip to Everett this week). Essentially, that's one day out of every three... oi! I'm going to miss Trish and the doggies so much...

Anyway, that's what's going to be consuming my time over the next little bit... somewhere in there I'm going to have to squeeze in a trip up to see my family in Washington (should have taken an extra day when I was in Everett! What was I thinking??), and the filming of The Bicyclists. Add to that Wild Bills' Murder For Sale public shows that start up on October 3... and I'm going to have a VERY busy time of it.

Sleep seems like a mythical creature whispered about in tribal tales handed down from father to son...

Anyhoo, I'll try and make some posts (with photos) from the many exotic locations I'm headed to. In the mean time... hope you're all doing well!

-Harold