Circle B Productions

10/01/2025

Last spring, we got the news that Reallusion was about to upgrade some software we use, Character Creator, to Version 5. This software is at the core of our production efforts. In the process of making our 3D-animated feature films, we've been through software several major upgrades before. We knew we should expect a few bugs and a bit of down time. This time it was DIFFERENT.

When we first got the news about the upgrade, we were excited. The release would be a couple of months away - sometime in July - and we felt it would be best to wait for it. The new features were super enticing, and we loved the results the promos teased. We looked forward to greater detail and better animation options for our characters. That would ultimately translate to more provocative performances by the avatars in our films. Yay upgrade!

Upon getting the news, we shifted our production efforts to focusing solely on non-character related work - tweaking scenery, modifying lighting, working on continuity - drumming our fingers all the while.

Then in mid-July we got more news. Character Creator 5 wouldn't be released until August 27. This was just days before Olivia was scheduled to go on an 800-mile road trip, shooting B-roll for multiple film projects we currently have in production. It also meant the upgrade was interfering with our timeline for "Singlewide Pride", our 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Film, deep in production.

August 27 came around, and as promised, Character Creator 5 was released. With bugs. Okay, there are always bugs. But these were cockroach-sized bugs, like water bugs from the Desert Southwest. We were aghast. Dealing with them would have to wait until Olivia returned from her trip in mid-September.

There was one bug in particular that was a show-stopper. CC5 ate our content library's database. Just gone. Sure, the software got cues from the mother ship as to which content packs we had purchased (all 1200 of them). But the packs needed to be installed again - not just updated, which would be a quick fix, but actually downloaded and installed. We went to work, and 4 days later, after downloading content day and night, the library was intact. Olivia restarted the software, and the content manager crashed again. One more time, all of the packs had disappeared, and they needed to be installed again.

Tech Support from Reallusion was sympathetic and gave advice, but ultimately all they could do was refer our issues to their software development team. The software was not supposed to work this way. In the meantime, the company issued several updates to both CC5 as well as the animation engine we rely on, iClone. You have to give them credit for the incremental fixes they've issued thus far. But our Support ticket still remains open after a full month.

We don't know what really happened, but we've seen multiple comments in RL's forums musing about whether the company was relying on their end users to QA test the software. The world may never know.

Over time, the bug count has fallen and the system crashes are much less. We were able to re-install the content library in both CC5 and iC8. We finished exactly 30 days after we started. We're very pleased to say that we've been able to re-save our cast of characters for Singlewide Pride as CC5 avatars and animate them. So far, so good.

We love the results, and overall the upgrade has been worth it. Olivia has gone a little more gray, and Todd's missing some hair, but our projects are back on track and rolling along at a good clip. One thing we've decided, though: we're never buying a software upgrade again on the day it's released.

Here is a sample before and after of the character Colleen, Art's mom in Singlewide Pride. We feel that her grit and sassy defiance make a good metaphor for the state our production is currently in. As with all the other SWP characters, we've been able to add more detail to the textures of her face and hair, as well as give her a more nuanced expression. We hope you agree.

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09/26/2025

On Tuesday September 23rd Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) held their latest Screenwriting Lab Meeting at Imported Studios in Sacramento. Two table readings of member screenplays comprised a large portion of the night's activities. The first reading was a short script from long time CFAA member Mark Valentine called "Everyone Has Shoes." It's a dystopian look at life under authoritarian rule. The second work was Episode 2 called "Sonny Liston" taken from a seven part series on Muhammad Ali coauthored by new CFAA member and Sacramento State Film Graduate Richard Batres. Member comments and notes follow the reading of each script.

The Screenwriting Lab continues to draw new members each month with many indicating they heard exciting reviews about the program and wanted to check it out. Tuesday was no exception as six first time participants took part and several even paid for a one or two year memberships on the spot. Scripts submitted for possible future table readings must be from CFAA members, but the general public can attend the lab with a $10.00 drop in fee.

The CFAA Screenwriting Lab Meeting takes place every fourth Tuesday of the month from 7-9 PM at Imported Studios - 1767 Tribute Road Suite J in Sacramento Ca. Members wishing to participate as a reader for monthly selections are advised its best to arrive at 6:30 PM when authors begin casting. The Lab Leadership is comprised of Steve Orcino - Operations Director. Dawn Spinella - Education Director and Todd Bull - Lab Director.

We are scheduled to screen the three films created this past year from our CFAA Screenwriting Lab Micro Film Initiative during our October 28th meeting. A Question and Answer discussion with the filmmakers and Education Director Dawn Spinella will follow the screenings. A short Table Reading will open the event, which will have refreshments and networking for all persons with active CFAA memberships.

09/23/2025

Olivia and I were lucky enough to be invited to a special screening of the new Leonardo DiCaprio / Sean Penn / Benicio Del Toro film called "One Battle After Another." It played at the IMAX in downtown Sacramento. It's nearly 3 hours long, but it will be well worth the ride, especially if you are troubled by the current immigration debacle taking place in our country. AMAZING ACTING PERFORMANCES with compelling character arcs. I'll be shocked if there are not some Oscar nominations.

A great deal of the movie was digitally captured in Sacramento and the Sacramento Film Commissioner Jen West provided tickets to folks involved in its production and other local film VIPs. Our tickets filtered to us via Capital Film Arts Alliance.

09/22/2025

On Saturday I represented Circle B Productions at the fifth annual Sac Film Challenge Film Festival. Our friends Bex Francis and Samantha K Henderson are the organizers so we try to support their event each year. Our only short live action film "Flight of the Heron" screened online during their first festival.

I enjoyed spending time with filmmaker friends like Rob Gore, John Demakas, and Larry Wattson, I've seen their short film "Love Wins" four times now and once again it touched me enough to produce moist eyes and a lump in my throat. Our good friend Dawn Spinella added some filmmaking wisdom during her presentation on story telling.

Finally, I made new connections with other filmmakers and a Sacramento based actor who impressed me with the film he headlined. Spending a few minutes chatting with him impressed me with his positive outlook and sunny demeanor.

09/03/2025

Olivia is on the road this week shooting some B Roll and doing research on a couple of our films. This was her lodging last night near Dunsmiur CA.

08/29/2025

On Tuesday August 26th from 7-9 pm the latest Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) Screenwriting Lab meeting was held at Imported Studios in Sacramento. Veteran SAG actor John Demakas provided a brand new pilot for a series he's developing called "Golden State" for our monthly Table Reading event. Over 40 CFAA members attended the Lab most of which lent John their voices to this fine political themed work. It definitely had a "West Wing" vibe running through the initial 43 pages.

A wide variety of CFAA members were on hand as the group was composed of Actors, Screenwriters, Producers and various other filmmakers. Some of the folks in attendance were CFAA Board President Laurie Lytle Pederson, as well as Board Members Steve Orcino, Donna-Lisa Otto and Todd Bull. Actors Workshop Director Jason Bortz spent a few minutes inspiring members to take advantage of the actors program, which meets every second Tuesday of the month.

John was pleased with the insights forwarded to him from members after the table reading. Two of his creative team members listened intently to the feedback. Local Director, Producer and SAG actor Rob Gore and long time friend and filmmaker Larry Wattson nodded several times to particular "notes."

CFAA Screenwriting Leadership Team is composed of Lab Director Todd Bull. The Education Director is Dawn Spinella and Operations Director is Steve Orcino. The CFAA Screenwriting Lab Meeting is held on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 7-9 PM at Imported Studios - 1767 Tribute Road Suite J in Sacramento.

08/20/2025

We've been working on the volumetric lighting, lens flares, and color grading for our 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Film Singlewide Pride. Here are 2 stills of one of the master files for downtown Eureka. This set is used in multiple scenes.

These are the types of projects we've been focusing on waiting for the new version of Character Creator 5 to be released from Reallusion. Once CC 5 is installed and the training is finished we'll be running our present Singlewide Pride characters through the upgraded software. We're optimistic the results will be as good as advertised.

08/01/2025

Please accept our apology for the lack of Circle B Productions posts during the past month. I was on location in Crescent City for a week earlier in July working on another of our films in production. "Terror at the Dragon's Teeth: Sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan." This is a documentary / docudrama feature film about a sidewheel paddle steamer that hit an unknown reef ten miles off the shore of Crescent City on July 30th 1865. Only 19 out of 244 passengers and crew survived. I was capturing necessary B Roll video footage and reviewing reference documents in the Del Norte County Historical Society Museum.

As a Crescent City resident from the time I was four years old until I went off to college at eighteen I was always fascinated by the story of the sinking of the SS Brother Jonathan. The search for the missing gold shipment was an exciting component of my interest, but really it was the cast of characters that I tended to focus on. A well known Madam from San Francisco - Roseanna Keenan. The private doctor and good friend of Abraham Lincoln - Anson Henry. One of the top newspaper journalists from San Francisco - James Nisbit. The Brigadier General of union troops on the west coast - George Wright. The skilled ship's captain - Samuel DeWolf. Even folks traveling in steerage have stories that deserve to be explored.

So we are using 3D Photorealistic Avatars and animation, AI generated period correct photographs, skilled voice over actors, current B Roll video and surviving images from the era. We will do our best to put viewers on the ship as events unfold both the hopelessness some felt as they faced their doom and the elation and guilt that plagued survivors.

07/02/2025

We did it! Yesterday we submitted a Grant Proposal to the Robert Craig Films Foundation. The deadline was today, but Olivia Bull was determined to be at least one day ahead of the deadline.

We worked our rear ends off putting together an inspiring proposal package for the $20,000 short film production grant. Olivia's magical mastery of the English language is on full display. The Background and Bio document is ten pages of sheer brilliance.

The script we submitted with the grant is a seasoned "The Lifelong Gift." If we are lucky enough to earn the grant we'll be in production in the fall.
Here is how Olivia introduced the film in the proposal:

"The Lifelong Gift" is the tumultuous tale of a Black Family torn apart by co- dependence. It's the story of a wheelchair bound alcoholic and her brilliant teenage son, destined for greatness - if only she can release her smothering grip on his future. Throughout the plot, they grapple for dominance as Ashlyn's clinging - combined with her dependence on booze and drugs - threatens Jalen's scholastic career.

As part of this process we redesigned our website to match the information in the proposal. The new website went live a few minutes ago. Please check it out and let us know what you think. Todd will manage the website so it lines up with all of our social media accounts. We'll continue to work out issues on the website that need tweaking. It's best on your phone to use an external browser.

Circle B Productions LLC was officially formed in 2019 to produce our award winning film scripts into captivating motion pictures predominantly utilizing 3D Photorealistic Animation. We currently have five feature film projects and one short in various stages of development.

06/26/2025

On Tuesday June 24th the Capital Film Arts Alliance (CFAA) Screenwriting Lab had its monthly meeting at Imported Studios 1767 Tribute Road Sacramento. The gathering was dedicated to table reading scripts planned to be submitted to the Robert Craig Films Foundation Grant Program due on July 1st. At stake is a $20,000 grant to make a 20 page script into a short film.

Three scripts were submitted for readings. Jacob Morales offered up "Do Something", David Perez presented "Riding Home" and the team of Todd Bull and Olivia Montgomery Bull provided "The Lifelong Gift." Following each reading members provided feedback for the authors to consider in a final rewriting before the deadline.

06/22/2025

There's a change in the wind! Reallusion - the company that makes our 3D animation software - is about to release a new version of Character Creator, called CC5.

At first we were excited about the new capabilities this would give us. Then we got a little nervous. What will this mean for the massive amount of work we've already done to create and animate the quirky characters of our feature-length films? After all, depending on how you count them, we've got 5 or 6 in production right now.

Trying to figure this out by combing through Reallusion's lengthy, jargon-filled forums was a little daunting. For the answer, we took to Chat GPT, which summarized things in a tight little package for us. Here's what AI told us.

Import Process: We’ll be able to replace previously animated CC4 characters with their CC5-upgraded versions. This means retaining animation, rigs, physics, and props.

Here are the Implications for Our Feature-Length Films:

Quality Leap: Upgrading our characters to CC5 will deliver sharply improved visuals (mesh detail, skin/shader realism, facial nuance). This is especially important for close-up shots.

Smooth Re‑Import: Since CC5 integrates with iClone 8, we can upgrade existing characters, use “Edit in CC” on our animated segments, and swap in CC5 versions with minimal rework.

Hardware Check: We're currently running CC4/iClone 8 on a decent system (dual Intel Xeon Gold 6148 processors, 256 GB RAM, NVIDIA Quadro P5000 graphics card). We should be fine with the upgrade. However CC5's HD subdivision and displacement may require a bit more oomph for optimal performance. That means yet another computer upgrade might be called for in the coming year or so. 'Cause... you can never have too much computer.

You can read more about CC5 here (not an affiliate link):

Join the CC5 prelaunch! Spend $399 now and get Character Creator 5 free at launch — your gateway to the most powerful HD character tool yet.

06/22/2025

We are extremely proud of the work we did on this wonderful short film "Songs and Secrets" written and directed by our dear friend Sherri Z. Heller. Circle B Productions was heavily involved in the production and more significantly in the post production. Olivia handled sound design, provided music, created a complete period kitchen in 3D, performed CGI for the kitchen scene shot in front of a green screen panel and she took on color grading. According to Olivia "When we are helping a friend with their filmmaking journey and we have our name attached to a film we give the very best we have."

Sherri is in the inner most of the Circle B Productions LLC inner circle. She has contributed artistically to both of our 3D Photorealistic Animated Feature Films deep in production "Fawn's Justice" and "Singlewide Pride." In fact, Sherri has been known to refer to herself as the Boss Bitch of "Singlewide Pride" as she voiced Shelia Gunner a small time female mob boss who serves as the main antagonist in our story. Sherri is currently working on the Film Freeway platform to select the right mix of film festivals for this tender story of a father in the 1970's coming out to his daughter and his mother. You're going to want to see this film when it's available for the public viewing. When we know more about screenings, you'll know too. Well done Sherri!