Next Saturday, October 18th at 7:00 PM in the Inside Out Gallery Theater is the first screening of A Finger Slip the Web Series. My name is Naomi Javor and here’s some project history.
A Finger Slip is one of the first ever film adaptations based on Fan Work. A friend of mine sent the original story to me and I fell in love instantly. It is about teenage Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in which John sends a text to the wrong number – which happens to be Sherlock Holmes – and the two build and unlikely relationship solely through texts in a way I and many people my age relate to with internet and long distance friendships. The story follows the teens as they go through their lives and struggles, becoming the people Holmes fans know them to be – Sherlock studying criminology and getting some of his first cases, John going to uni, (university) to study medicine and joining the military to be an army doctor.
Fan Art by Mallory Heiges
In April of 2013, I got the idea to transform it into a series. I’ve always wanted to make adaptations of books and had been looking for inspiration to get my career started – only a month earlier making a goal for myself to get to London England within the year for film.
The author, Pawtal, and I had been messaging for a while and had become friends, so when I asked her if I could use her story she was happy to give me permission. Though at the time, neither of us had any idea what kind of quality we’d be able to produce. I initially was just going to do it for fun with some friends and a camera. However, the idea caught fire.
With the help of my teacher and mentor, Scott Tompkins, I was able to put together a very talented team of film students, all eager to work and learn together on the project. We made a Kickstarter video and ended up being funded at $17,000 USD from backers and supporters all over the world. We opened a PO box and began receiving fan mail from Canada, Germany, France… The entire world seemed to want to help, and so they are.
We have musicians sending music from the Netherlands and the UK, fans still making Paypal donations to help pay for wardrobe and craft services, fan artists doing logos and mugs and shirts for our Kickstarter, some people even send props like British Crisps or whatever I asked for on my blog. From simple beginnings A Finger Slip has snowballed into a giant group project, something truly amazing to watch.
Over the next year we began the pre-production. I’ve written out all the screenplays and had Pawtal preview them to approve any additions or changes. I began collecting props, location scouting and casting – which is still a process, (the show will be two seasons total so there are still several characters who have yet to be cast).
By the following April, my assistant director, director of photography and editor Jake Burgess and I found ourselves in London, thanks to Pawtal’s parents and Scott Tompkins. We spent two weeks there, meeting with producers, discussing location permits for when we return this coming fall with the A Finger Slip cast, and filmed a lot of beautiful B-roll footage to use in the series in the meantime.
Jake Burgess, filming in London
Naomi (me) and Pawtal, author of A Finger Slip
Jake and I filming at Parliament
And all of this was made possible by fan-power. Thanks to social media, the Sherlock Holmes fandom caught wind of this project and took it by the reigns, getting funded on Kickstarter and all of our success we’ve experienced so far. A Finger Slip is unique because not only is it for the fans, but it is entirely created, funded and fueled by fans. Every one has a say in the project and every frame of it is for it’s viewership. It is a project that will hopefully inspire many others like it, and it has been such an honor to be a part of it.
The release event is next Saturday, (1 week from this posting), October 18 at 7:00 pm in the Inside Out Gallery Theater, 229 Garland Street Traverse City, Michigan 49684. Please arrive by 6:30.
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