"Short Pay! All Out!" The Bread & Roses Strike began 100 years ago today!

Hard to believe this day is here, but today kicks off a yearlong celebration marking the centennial of the Strike that inspired MILLIES.

If you're not following us on Facebook or Twitter by now, here's your chance.

MILLIES has a fab display at the impressive exhibit housed in the Everett Mill in Lawrence, MA, where it all started. The Lawrence History Center was generous enough to invite MILLIES to participate in this 2012 celebration, which we hope will result in many more people knowing about this film project and eventually helping us in our dogged pursuit of major funding.

If we learned anything from those women who shut their machines and walked out for two months to fight for equality, it's that old cliche that good things are worth the wait and the fight. And so we persist...

"Short Pay! All out!" - The Bread & Roses Centennial begins...

Olympia Dukakis is a MILLIE!!!!!

Yes, kids, you read that right. Olympia Dukakis has submitted a Letter of Interest to play a MILLIE in the film! It is a huge moment for MILLIES to get this generous gesture from a phenomenal talent like Olympia Dukakis. We are excited, we are inspired, we are motivated more than ever to get this film funded.

We Need Your Help!

Read the full Olympia story on our Headlines page.

Meanwhile, put on your Millies t-shirts: Yes, I'm A Millie. And so is Olympia!!!

Fires kill more mills (and more fantastic locations)

This awesome little mill with its own cool smokestack and unique buildings on the Merrimack River, has gone up in flames so many times, it's a wonder it's still standing. But someone keeps plaguing these mills with their gasoline and matchbooks, and the Merrimack Paper Company is not long for this world. It is sure to be razed soon, and it would be yet another skyline-affecting loss along the river. A hit to the city, and a hit to our film. It helps to storyboard shots in easily-erasable pencil, because more mill buildings have disappeared in the past few years than I can bear. What better way to get rid of an abandoned mill building than to light it up, blame the homeless, and make way for more generic stucco office space? Or more likely another fast food, pharmacy, or gasoline chain. It's unbelievable to watch, and all this amidst serious controversy over the lack of proper fire protection in town. If the people aren't safe because there aren't enough firefighters, you can bet the mills must be shaking in their bricks.

Hopefully there will still be a mill in Lawrence by the time we're ready to roll cameras. Capturing a former industrial city powerhouse is a bit hard to do when no stack is left standing. People do not realize the treasures we are losing, and more often than not it's due to shortsighted human intention and not an act of nature. We are our own worst enemy.

City Says Merrimack Paper Co Buildings Need to be Torn Down

Lawrence pushing for quick demo of fire-ravaged mill

It's the same old trick: Let the mill rot, act surprised when it catches fire, proclaim the only way to move forward is to demolish it entirely, secretly rejoice, Repeat.

Mo' Money - from Cultural Council

Believe me, it's a good thing when an indie filmmaker gets a call that says, "Yes, We Believe in Your Project. Here's More Money." Those calls are not just rare, they're pretty much nonexistent. So it was a happy day to get news from the Lawrence Cultural Council, a branch of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, that MILLIES was selected to receive additional funding on top of its original grant award from a couple months ago!

Every bit helps. Buy a t-shirt, buy a photo print, or just make a donation at http://www.milliesmovie.com/millie.html.

A big thanks to the Cultural Council for putting their money where their Millies are.

$10 Tees holiday sale

50% off official MILLIES t-shirts for online orders only, through December 17th! http://www.milliesmovie.com/movie_tee.html

Added YouTube Assassination of Lincoln video clip

Oh to have a full-time Web/Net/Digital staff! In any case, the Assassination of Lincoln video clip has been added to the Millies Headlines page at:

http://www.milliesmovie.com/headlines.html

if you haven't had the chance to see the video yet on my YouTube site.

There are more mills and smokestacks coming down here very soon, unfortunately. but we haven't the time or the budget to capture the sad sight. Just as well, it's hard enough to watch once, and we got what we needed from that. Including a handful of bricks from the original building, courtesy of the awesome contractors doing the dismantling, who were happy to oblige my strange request. Won't it be a lovely little layer to have our actors holding the original, century-old bricks as props? Of course it will! "Thinking ahead" is an understatement in my brain...

Millies group now on Facebook

The title of this post is pretty cut and dried: we now have a MILLIES group on Facebook. Please join the group and invite your friends to Be A Millie!

Join the MILLIES page on Facebook!

Lorre @ Hillview Montessori School

The exceptional students at Hillview Montessori in Haverhill MA provided a terrific reception to Lorre's speaking engagement there on Jan. 13, 2009. The student reviewers summed it up like this:

Lights, Camera, Action!

Independent filmmaker Lorre Fritchy recently visited Hillview Montessori Charter Public School in Haverhill. The students there recently performed a play based on the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912. She talked about a movie that is in production called “Millies” which is about a group of mill worker ghosts that come back from the Bread and Roses Strike to help a bankrupt mill owner in modern times when her future threatens their past.

“I thought that the plotline was cool because it has ghosts in it,” said Grady Maguire. Lorre also talked about the importance of preserving history and how she didn’t like how people demolished mill buildings.

“She was a very good role model,” said Abby K. To show us some of her other work she showed us a clip from the first movie she completed called “Sandy ‘Spin’ Slade Beyond Basketball”. ”Millies” is her third movie. We can’t wait to see it!

By:
CJ Axford and Kevin Greene
HVM Upper Elementary Students


To have Lorre speak at your school, company, or organization, visit the Filmmaker Speaking Series page at MasterPeace Productions.

Lincoln Foods prints for sale on MILLIES web site

A newsletter will be coming soon, but I wanted to let you know that a selection of prints from our successful "Assassination of Lincoln" photo exhibit are now on sale in our Mill Store:

http://www.milliesmovie.com/lincoln_photos.html

Thanks to those of you who came out to join us in the raw and nasty ice storm for our fantastic reception. And to those of you who visited the exhibit on your own. It was our last big and creative event of 2008, giving us renewed energy for MILLIES as 2009 begins.

New Video on YouTube

Didn't think we'd do an event without a video to accompany it,did you? "The Assassination of Lincoln: Teardown of a Century-Old Mill" is now available for viewing on YouTube. Most of the images captured are of a place that no longer exists except on film. Very interested to hear your comments on that one.

Photo Exhibit - prints coming soon

Thanks to all of you who attended our opening reception for the Lincoln Foods photo exhibit last week. People were unbelievably generous with their comments, time, and participation. We raffled off some 5x7 and 8x10 copies of the more than 50 prints that appear in the exhibit. "The Assassination of Lincoln: Teardown of a Century-Old Mill" show runs through Dec. 19 at essex art center, 56 island street, lawrence ma from M-F 10-6. Sign the guest book if you get to check it out! For more info., visit our Events page.

Many people have expressed interest in ordering prints, and I am working on getting that available to you online in our Mill Store. One ginormous thing at a time ;-)

Happy Holidays!
~Lorre

Lawrence History Center geneaology talk

A fantastic discussion at the Lawrence History Center last night, a big thanks to LHC for inviting me to speak to their Geneaology Group. Since more people ask about the "glamorous" part of the actual film shoot, I hardly ever get to talk about the intense (and fun for geeks like me) research I had to do to write this film. Bringing history to life while still telling an entertaining, fictional story is nearly impossible without gobs of research. Plus, the staff at the History Center will tell you, I love the smell of history. Old books, old maps, objects from the past -- stories abound. So it was terrific to have the opportunity to address fellow researchers who understand the buzz you get from making discoveries, connections, and insights into the past.

MILLIES T-shirts are here!

At long last, you can be a MILLIE, too! Our hip and comfy tees are just waiting to vogue on your body. We have three colors to choose from: white, sandstone, and dijon - all with the same front and back design. The back features the MILLIES logo and web site while the front proudly affirms, "Yes, I'm A Millie" ;-)

This shirt will actually factor into the film, so you will have the same tee as some characters in the movie! It's definitely a conversation-starter, and at $20 it's a very economical way to contribute to the financing of this film.

Visit our mill store at http://www.milliesmovie.com/movie_tee.html to have a look before buying.

PS - A special something if your name is actually "Millie"! Email us before ordering.