diff --git a/src/client/distren.c b/src/client/distren.c
--- a/src/client/distren.c
+++ b/src/client/distren.c
@@ -17,11 +17,36 @@
   along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdio.h> /* sprintf, printf */
+#include <stdlib.h> /* malloc, free */
+#include <string.h> /* strlen */
+
+/* this function should probably not exist. asprintf should be used instead of sprintf */
+size_t intstrlen(size_t theint)
+{
+  size_t len = 0; /* if the number is single digit, this will be incremented */
+  do
+    {
+      theint /= 10;
+      len ++;
+    }
+  while(theint > 0);
+  
+  return len;
+}
+
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 
+  char *blendercmd;
+  char *filename = "file.blend";  /* declares a variable to hold the file name */
+  char *format = "blender.exe -b \"%s\" -o //tmp/frame -f %d -F JPEG -x 1"; /* the format string to pass to sprintf */
+  unsigned int frame_to_render;
+  size_t blenderstrlen;
+
+  int toreturn;
+
   //just prove that linking to the shared lib werkz
   genericfunc();
   execlisten();
@@ -34,16 +59,19 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
    * url to dl .blend file
    */
 
-  int frame_to_render;
+
   frame_to_render = 10; // temporary, the number 10 will be replaced with a function call
 
-  char file_name[25]; // declares a variable to hold the file name
-  // file_name = job.file_name // retrieves file name from the blender structure
+  // file_name = job.file_name // retrieves file name from the blender structure ?
 
-  char string[100];
-  sprintf(string, "blender.exe -b (filename).blend -o //tmp/frame -f %d -F JPEG -x 1", frame_to_render);
+  blenderstrlen = strlen(format) - 2 * 2 /* format string minus placeholders */ + strlen(filename) + intstrlen(frame_to_render) + 1 /* NULL terminator */;
+  blendercmd = malloc(blenderstrlen);
+  snprintf(blendercmd, blenderstrlen, format, filename, frame_to_render);
+  
+  fprintf(stderr, "will run ``%s''\n", blendercmd);
 
-  system(string);
+  toreturn = system(blendercmd);
+  free(blendercmd);
 
-  return 0;
+  return toreturn;
 }