Although "Clean Start" is still in the rough-cut stage due to time constraints, we thought we should post it to the ISM web site so visitors could see the project in its current form.

With three summers of ISM workshops now to its credit, ISM decided it was time to try out something new--shooting inside of a high school. When asked why we were shooting this project rather than some other script, Fletch replied, "We like to vary the stories we tell, the locations they take place and the characters we explore because each year's workshop creates the material for the following year's curriculum. We wouldn't want things to go stale for those students and teachers who would be using ISM's curriculum each year."

This project was a very personal one for Fletch, gathering together many moments of his own life and stringing them together in a story that would attempt to be more touching and introspective than any of the ISM workshops prior.

Tristan Whitman, the director of photography and Fletch, who was slated to direct "Clean Start," began by having long discussions about what the film should look and feel like. Fletch wanted a dirty, grunge look for the start of the picture and as it progressed it would get cleaner and cleaner. Several films were looked at for mood and tone including David Fincher's "The Game" and Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report."

"The most amazing thing to me about the ISM workshops is how organic it all is. It starts with Chet and Fletch coming up with some idea, just the two of them. From there a script is written and developed. When it's time, I am brought in and then when the day of principle photography begins I'm always amazed at how it's grown and developed into a real and working film crew. I'm so busy with my work that often times I lose track of who's a teacher/student and who's been hired as a professional. It's hard to tell the difference after a while."

The benefits for teachers of being able to see and participate with a real film crew for nearly a week cannot be overstated. You may be very surprised at what can be learned in a week's worth of production, it's a total emersion into the filmmaking process.