This week, an indie film success story was completed when Patrick Pierre's new feature "The City Is Mine" was released nationwide by Maverick Entertainment. To those that know and understand the incredibly difficult process of making a truly independent feature, this is a moment for celebration, a rewarding culmination of alot of hard work and effort. It is always wonderful to see an indie filmmaker achieve a major success, which raises the credibility of indie filmmaking and opens up new possibilities for indie filmmakers everywhere. Writer/Director Patrick Pierre's career has certainly taken a big step forward, and he is already ramping up for his next project. In this interview, we will be going into the story behind the making of "The City Is Mine", including the path that it took from being a locally made indie film in Mercer County, New Jersey to becoming an acquisition by industry heavyweight Maverick Entertainment. There are lessons to be learned, and inspiration to be had. Indie Filmmakers and those involved in the world of indie film are definitely advised to pick up a copy of "The City is Mine", and share in a great indie success story. -Stephen Zimmer for Indie Movie Masters, August 21, 2009 SZ: Tell us a little about your personal background prior to the making of “The City Is Mine” PP: I'm a native of Haiti; I immigrated to the U.S. when I was 8 years old. I lived in Brooklyn NY for many years where I attended school and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1995. Shortly after, I moved to Trenton, NJ where I currently live. I attended community college at Mercer County in 1998, 2001 & 2003 where I took some courses in Theater, Acting and Stage Production. I was a volunteer in a lot of small independent productions where I gain some crew experience working on set. In 2005 I decided to form my own production company, Pierre Films, LLC. After writing and directing several short films, I decided to take the plunge into feature film. In 2007 I started production on "The City Is Mine" SZ: Describe the time line involved in “The City Is Mine”, from pre-production to final cut. PP: From pre-production to final cut was one year. The script development process started in February of 2007 where my co-writer, Adriana Gittens, worked on the first draft of the script. After several draft, the screenplay was ready in about 2 months. From then, we started planning the actual production, from holding auditions to rehearsals. Finally we were ready to begin production May 2007. Production lasted for 4 months. We filmed on weekends only. Production was wrapped in September 2007. Not wasting time, we went right into the post-production phase, which lasted 4 months. The Film Premiered on February 16, 2008 to a sold out audience in Trenton, NJ. SZ: Where did you shoot “The City is Mine? How many locations did you end up using in the movie? PP: The City Is Mine was filmed throughout Mercer County NJ, mostly in the city of Trenton and some surrounding towns including, Ewing, Hamilton and Lawrence. We did end up going to New York to do one scene in upper Manhattan. A little over 15 locations were used shooting the film. Most of our locations were outdoors so it made things a little easier because working on an independent film is a little tough securing locations. Filming outdoors only required us getting permission from the City, which wasn't difficult. Due to limited budget and time we had to be creative and use certain interior locations multiple times in different shots giving the illusion it was several locations. For example we used one house in the film to be the home of several different characters in the movie. As you watch the film you can’t tell it's the same location. SZ: What were the biggest challenges in balancing a shooting schedule using weekends and nights? PP: The biggest challenges in balancing the shooting schedule was working around all the actors' schedules and making sure everyone was available at the same t