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Well our all new 3-foot long "The Shark" has been a smashing success! We are so proud of this shark. We are very proud of all of them. What a cool family business! But that’s not the whole point of the update. I have several points to make with this one, so here’s the first point:
Point one, the new 3-foot Bruce Sharks are flying out the door. Our production rate has never been better. And our all new "Build a Shark" pages are a smashing hit. Just like we dreamed about and hoped for. We always wanted such a thing for ourselves but nobody ever did it. So we did. What fun! Build your own shark, you decide the additions and customizations. Such a no-brainer I don’t know why we didn’t do this back in 2008? The second part of point one is that we have also improved many other facets of the shark business as well. While we still could not find a better pure resin to update with we have made upgrades to much of our shop space and equipment in order to make the sharks even better. The most major improvement so far has been to speed up the production process. That and we now have even improved how we double box and ship each shark. The key to this has been to study how big business does things and adapt these tricks to our needs. So not only are these newest sharks our greatest works yet, they are also higher quality than before and ship to you safer. A lot of goals have been met and exceeded this year here. It is a pure joy to see things work out so very well. Now onto the next points. What about new sharks? What about completing the 1/25 scale Ultimate Bruce Shark Collector’s set by releasing the Bruce 3D and the Revenge Bruce; when, Mike, when? Good question. That depends on the entertainment industry bouncing back from the obamacare crisis. Currently most entertainment projects are up in the air and many investors are just playing the waiting game. So in turn, many like this family that earn a living providing material to these projects must wait and see as well. That’s simply the reality of the State of the Nation’s economy today. Wait and see, play it by ear, hope for the best, wonder what is next... But it was like this last year, and the year before too and still we were able to work 3 separate film projects providing FX. So it can be done. It can still be done... Now where this is good news for collectors is this; should our first contracted project be pushed later into 2014 than Q1 then we’ll simply switch gears and go back into releasing the rest of the Ultimate Collector sharks. That simple. Because only then will we have the time to keep up with all the added orders. But should America suddenly find some stable financial legs for the first time in 5 years and the producer call us into pre-production on time or early, then we may be looking at releasing both the Bruce 3D and the Revenge sharks simultaneously near end of Q1 to Q2 2014. This is as far as we can forecast things ourselves based on all that we know and can see. Plus, we have other things to release as well. Some sharks and some not sharks. Oh yes, there are so many things, so many...... But for now we are focused on getting these new 3-foot sharks out to their new homes. We are only one wave of shipments away from being one final run from being caught up to all paid in full orders just in time for the holidays! Now, how’s that for upgraded service, we’ve slashed our wait times by over half! Must run, more to say but no time today. Everyone, have a Happy Thanksgiving and please be safe out there. And please pray for our great nation. Mike & Cathy Schultz SCO 11-21-2013
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Hi All!
We just posted a teaser trailer on SCO's Home page for a sneak peek at our latest movie on the SyFy Channel! This beast was a challenge, but we thrive on a good challenge around here! We are not sure how much of our Beast will end up on the cutting room floor but it was an incredible experience all the way through! For this blog update I thought it would be fun to post some forgotten photos that I just found on my cell phone photo archive. * First we have a "selfi" of me in my shop working on the Ghost Shark Hero Animatronic that we built and operated for Active Entertainment’s film "Ghost Shark" for the SyFy channel. Being located in Missouri is no hindrance for providing FX for Hollywood in today’s high-tech world. For all these films that we work on everyone is kept in the loop electronically as if their offices were just down the hall from our workshops. Via Smartphone, Skype, Facetime etc. directors, producers, investors and other contracted FX artists have current and instant access to us. This makes the constant changes always being made possible.  * The Eyes of Ghost Shark. Yes, they rolled back white. One was removable for the arrow wound and the socket modeled for such and blood tubing piped in. Most of the gore for the shark himself never made it into the final cut or was printed so transparent that it was invisible. Kind of frustrating. Now I know how actors must feel to have their work cut or out of frame etc... sigh.  * Another thing having to do with an eye, or lack thereof. Ben Gardner’s Head. This was one of Greg Nicotero’s contributions to Jawsfest 2012. One of several life-sized displays that he provided out of his own pocket just because he is such a fun Jaws fan himself - and a great guy to boot! He made this event truly memorable for all of us. There should be an award for someone like him that goes out of his way for fans like he does. It is one of many things that makes him so beloved in many a fan community.  * The Chest Burster sculpt for SyFy’s upcoming Bering Sea Beast film. We were contracted to make several small chest-bursters and one 9-foot long adult Sea Beast. Timing was horrid on this feature. We were contacted to build these beasts 11 days before shooting started with no design settled on. We spent 3 of those days, night and day, submitting creature designs to some very busy execs for approval to build. This process is best summed up and most politely described as trying to balance wet noodles vertically on end while juggling a Thesaurus's while tap dancing and smiling as if you are not out of breath or patience at all, because it is all so fun and so exciting to be a part of.  After 42 sketches one of our very first designs from 3 days earlier was finally approved and we spent the remaining 8 days, once again night and day, sculpting-molding-casting-articulating-painting and finishing the adult and baby beasts. We are still unsure at this point how much of the Beasts will remain our work and how much will be supplanted with CGI. Viva-La` Practical FX!
How’s this for a fun little blog update? Mike & Cathy SCO |
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