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THE LONG ISLAND PROJECT is a feature length, no budget independent film that Eric produced with Francisco "Frank" Pina and Ana Gutierrez in the summer of 2005. Co-directed by both Eric and Frank, the film was shot according to an original screenplay by Eric.
Pre-production and planning took place in the latter half of spring 2005, with principle photography taking place every week, for two days a week, for the entire summer.
Eric, Frank, and Ana were all working at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square when they produced THE LONG ISLAND PROJECT. Because the film was shot on an out of pocket budget, the production days that required more resources were scheduled immediately after a pay period.
THE LONG ISLAND PROJECT was shot primarily in New York City, areas of Long Island and Washington, DC.
Because the story is a political and media satire, Eric aggressively pursued locations that represented power and influence. Although this was only occasionally achieved, the eclectic mix of locations made for a visually diverse set of backdrops.
The production was able to shoot inside the Rayburn Office Building in Washington, DC, inside the offices of Congressman Henry Hyde, and the chamber of the Senate Armed Services Committee. However, there were moments when the production had to resort to utilizing offices at the Virgin Megastore because so many different locations in and around New York kept falling through.
In this scene from the film, Senator Deakins (John Tully), along with actor Greg Vorob, and Frank Pina, are inside the administrative offices of the Times Square Virgin Megastore.
THE LONG ISLAND PROJECT was originally shot on PAL miniDV video tape, utilizing a Sony VX2000E, which had been loaned to Eric and Frank to achieve the project.
Editing was completed on Avid Express DV and mastered to five separate Quicktime files.
In 2009, Eric imported the master segments into Final Cut Pro 6 and created a new "final master" of the film. In addition to improving some of the coloring, Eric also reorganized some of the sound efffects, transitions and titling. Ultimately, cleaning up some straggler elements.
This version of the film was briefly made available on DVD, but is no longer available, and the original version is what is available on YouTube.