Feedback

Recursive film in Edinburgh
Originally uploaded by Semi-detached

As I’ve written about before, applying to film festivals has been an exciting and disheartening adventure. The market has changed drastically and little films like ours are so hard to get recognized. However, even though another festival didn’t have enough slots to include END they made sure to brighten my day.

Instead of the usual form letter, this festival sent me back an individualized response with positive feedback. The selection committee enjoyed how “philosophical and positive” END is, and “loved the ending”.

It’s funny how even those little words can boost an artist’s spirit.

Lauren

Day One Hundred Twenty-Eight: May 8, 2010
Originally uploaded by mrbosslady

I jsut have to note that most of the actors I cast in END are incredibly active in short films and theatre productions elsewhere - they are all fabulously talented after all.

Lauren, who played Molly in the film, just got to play a character she's been wanting to play for years - Peter Pan.

In Response to Recent Inquiries...

I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about what is happening with END, so rather than address them individually I thought I’d post something here.

Firstly, we are actively submitting END to festivals. If you knew how many we’ve been submitted to you’d be tearing your hair out with us. END isn’t getting into festivals not because of the quality of our film, but because of one simple fact – the market right now is tough and there are more films out there than ever and dealing with that has been really hard on me especially. We are the David and we’re still trying to topple Goliath.

Since film festivals are getting tougher and tougher we’re exploring the possibility of jumping around festivals and finding a distributor. Christopher and I right now are researching and exploring to find out where we can submit END and who might want to take a look at it. We are open to ideas in this area.

As a lot of you on Facebook may have noticed we started a fan page. Find us and fan us. I am working on creating content for the page. Christopher and Bill are going to work on a trailer for END so that we can continue our online presence. But the biggest thing any of you can do right now to help us is ask people to follow us on Twitter, fan us on Facebook and visit our page on IMDB. The most fans, follows and hits we can log the better we look if we can get festivals and distributors interested in the film.

Christopher and I love END. Everyone that sees it loves it. This film is not being given up on. We are working incredibly hard to make sure that somehow, some way our hard work gets seen!

Running the Race

Day Fifty-Eight: February 27, 2010
Originally uploaded by mrbosslady

If you read this blog you know by the frequency of posts that not a lot is happening with END. Christopher and I are giving it our best efforts, what some might call the old "college try" and yet we're still swimming up stream against a tsunami.

The thing is I love my movie. I think this film is fantastic but I am becoming more aware of the reality of the contemporary independent film business every day and END just like any little film that could, is a tough sell. It's a sell I need to get into the hands of the right viewers at the right time and that time has not happened.

All we can keep doing right now is to continue to keep plunging ahead. Keep submitting the film to anything promising, trying to get people to see it and hope for the interest to grow.

This business is tough, but we have to be tougher.

Everyone that's offered me encouragement, compliments and support along the way I thank you. This road is long and hard and it's wonderful to be reminded that other people love my movie too.

Facebook

Howdy folks. Have a facebook account? Please become a fan of the END page.

END Facebook

Thank you all!

Strategy

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about our strategy for END. With the economy and festival circuit right now I want to make sure that END gets seen. We all worked too hard on this little film to just sit idly and wait for something to come to us.

I don’t know what the strategy looks like yet, it’s still forming, but I know that something can happen if I don’t lose momentum. I am fighting not to lost momentum and that part is hard.

In the end, no matter what happens I love making films. I love telling stories as much as I love seeing them on screen and I have to get END seen. I don’t think that’s going to look like what I originally thought, but it’s going to happen. END is going to be the first of many films that I make, hopefully that this team makes, and I want to get started creating a film catalog for us all.

New Year, New Possibilities!

Its 12:52, January 1st of 2010. The new year, the new decade (Not really, but I won't get into that now). 2009 was a good year for END, it got finished, it got screened and it got out there. It hasn't done quite what we thought yet but I know great things are still in store. 2010 is a new year and great things still lie ahead for our film and all that were involved with it. Mark my years this time 2011 we'll all be looking back at 2010 in awe at what's transpired. I guarantee it! Happy New Year and hang on. The ride is only beginning.

The Boss Test

new workstation
Originally uploaded by scappini

My boss kept making inferences that she wanted to see END and I kept delaying letting her see it. Finally, I bit the bullet and let her borrow the DVD. It’s not really that I didn’t want her to see it, it’s just a nerve wracking thing to let your boss see the fruits of the craft you’d rather be doing, especially if they don’t like it, what can you really say? “So you remember when I refused to work overtime for like 6 months? It’s because I was making that movie you didn’t like…” You don’t really want that coming up in a review.

So at some point in late October or early November I lent her the film and when I didn’t hear anything back from her I kind of assumed that she hated END and didn’t know how to tell me. I work with artists, we have opinions and we know creativity so my boss could be a good or harsh critic.

Yesterday, my boss rushed over to my desk and sat down. I have already been laid off by this company once this year, so when a boss desperately wants to talk to me my mind doesn’t always go to positive places. Luckily, I wasn’t getting laid off again. As it turns out my boss finally watched END. I am very happy to say that she loved it.

The feedback my boss gave me was incredible. She went in not knowing anything about the film and the only person she knows associated with it is me. I left the conversation feeling very uplifted. The single best comment she told me was that she forgot she was watching a movie made my someone she knew, after a little while she was just watching a movie. That definitely put a smile on my face.

My bosses feedback reminded me that I knew END was a different movie when we set out to make it, but a movie that I knew there was an audience out there for – we just have to find a way to get it in their hands.

Sundance

Egyptian Theatre
Originally uploaded by Angela Hartwig

The hardest thing about being an artist that is just starting out is that there are no guarantees. When you make a movie for a studio, or if people know who you are then it’s pretty certain that your film no matter how big or how small is going to garner some attention. People are going to see it, festivals will premiere it, theatres will exhibit it.

On the other hand, films like our little film have to fight, push and shove to get any sort of attention. Our actors may be phenomenal, production value beautiful and story exceptional, but without a name or a studio behind it we have no guarantees. In a market where over 9,800 films applied to Sundance, a film shot in eight days on no budget, without famous names and or connections is like a needle in a hay stack. No one has found our needle yet.

I don’t normally talk about the festivals we don’t get into because I don’t really believe in dwelling on the negatives, but if you couldn’t already tell this one hurt. We didn’t get into Sundance. I’m not really shocked, in a way it’s kind of expected.

Out of 9,800+ films only 200 could be selected – that’s only about two percent of the films submitted. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for the programmers to have to chose films out of a selection like that, the pressure has to be enormous; however, I am sure that the films that made it to Sundance this year are phenomenal and more than deserve the honor. It’s still one of my dreams to someday get a film into their brilliant festival, but sadly, END will not be that film.

I wanted to take a moment and congratulate the filmmakers whose work made it into the festival this year and I look forward to seeing what unique visions each of them has. While they prepare for the cold weather and excitement of Park City, I will continue trying to get people to sort through the haystack and see END and all of the passion, talent and heart that everyone involved put on screen.

Carry On Wayward Son

Despite our best efforts, Christopher & I are having a tough time getting END seen. When you combine the economic crisis and the ever-changing face of independent film you’ll understand what we’re going through. Fewer films are being picked up because studios want guaranteed returns, and indy film is expecting more and more of its projects to have recognizable faces or names in them. It’s a hard market right now and I am beginning to understand more and more why you always hear indy filmmakers talk about the years they put into getting their film recognized.

I have always believed that great artists aren’t created by easy circumstances, and this is definitely not an easy situation; in the end however, I think we will all come out more accomplished artists for the difficulties we have to go through now.

Christopher and I are not giving up on END and we want you all to know that. We are going to keep pushing the film until we can’t figure out how to push it any further, and that time is not yet. However, we would greatly welcome your prayers, positive wishes and any other mojo you care to throw our way while we continue this fight.

This too...

Ebertfest Audience
Originally uploaded by rexb

So we didn’t get into FRED, but we knew that was still a possibility and we made it REALLY far so that in itself is a victory. Sure, it would be a much better victory to have actually made it into the festival, but we’re not going to dwell here.

There are thousands of independent films being sent to festivals right now; all of them just like us are hoping that the screeners and judges will see through any flaws or budget issues with their film and just recognize the care, hard work and fantastic essence that their movie actually has and select it for their festival. Every festival wants something different. So far no one has found END to be a great fit for their festival but that doesn’t mean anything about the quality or importance of our film.

I am still confident that festivals and distributors will want END; when we made END we made a very unique film, one that’s never really been done for this genre and that is going to take some people by surprise. However, END will have a great ending – this I know.

Fred

The festival names on this blog have been changed to protect the innocent and should the name be of an actual festival this is simply a coincidence. Eventually, festival names may be revealed, but only if END is accepted, it’s better that way. Christopher and I are submitting END to a slew of great festivals; we know realistically that we can’t get into all of them, and that no matter how great END is it just won’t be a fit for some festivals. We made a very different kind of movie. However, even though I am OK with this knowledge the waiting is killing me.

The Fred film festival is the festival we pushed END through the last throws of post-production in May so that we could meet their June deadline. We made it, applied and have been waiting ever since. According to withoutabox.com we were supposed to have been notified as to our festival acceptance or denial by August 15.

August 15 came and went and we heard nothing. I e-mailed and still nothing. I assumed END was out and the people at Fred were too nice and too busy to tell me we were out. Finally, Christopher called the people at Fred yesterday and got slightly more positive news.

We’re not out. There are some people that are definitely out and have already been told. END has made it through for one of the final stages and we’ll be notified when the last announcement is made in two weeks.

Whether END is selected or not, it’s kinda cool that our little movie has made it this far.

Anniversary

At the exact time this blog is published it will be exactly one year since we began principal photography on END. I am decidedly calmer as I am writing this than I was the night before we shot.

The night before we shot I discovered we were shorted by one light kit, which would severely limit our lighting situation. We also discovered the heat would melt the adhesive for the Velcro right off our barricade so we had to nail the wood into the walls of my friend’s house to barricade the door and window.

On our first day of shooting my make-up hero Daniella had to get ten actors though make-up for the first time. This along with normal first day issues meant that we were supposed to start shooting at ten a.m. but ended up starting after noon. Insanely, on a schedule that required us to shoot ten to fourteen pages a day we only ended up behind by one short scene, and needed to pick-up the reverse of a shot.

On day two we started on time but had perhaps our most shocking moment on set – Ashton & Dave had their game-changing argument in the film and while shooting the scene the boys accidently put Ashton through the dry wall of our key set. As you can imagine, I thought we were done for then and there. I immediately had to make the phone call I thought would kill my movie – I had to call Susan and tell her that we’d killed a wall in her house, and send cell phone pictures to David. Somehow, they decided a broken wall wasn’t a big deal, and they let us continue. Let no one call the Dunacheck’s anything less than amazing. Miraculously, we made it through the first weekend of shooting and somehow got completely back on schedule by the end of the second day – broken wall and all.

There were three more life-changing weekends of shooting after that and somehow I managed to come out the other end without hurting an actor, crew member or any more walls.

END refined my directorial skills in a way that I don’t think any other experience could have and I must say that the relationships, memories and final product that those eight shooting days gave me were worth any stress or eventual gray hair that may come my way. I can’t wait to see where END goes next.

What Happens Now

I was sitting at my day job thinking today that it feels like ages since we screened the movie for the cast & crew, then I realized it was only a little over two weeks ago. That pretty much blew my mind.

I have been really impatient lately to get END seen, to hear back from festivals and to continue moving forward. It feels like I’ve stalled, but this morning made me realize we haven’t. It may feel like END has been done forever for me, but in reality it’s been less than two months since Bill, Telly & I finished post-production together.

I think more than anything what I am feeling right now is what any independent filmmaker feels when they get their movie done – a strange mix of satisfaction, pride and frustration. I’m so glad that I finished the film, but want others to see it so badly, and yet want to move on to another project but know I can’t as I still have to push everything I have into getting the film out there. There is a reason that you always read the interviews and hear the speeches by independent directors and producers who talk about spending two or three years on one movie. Even though they finish it relatively quickly there is a huge and overwhelming process you have to go through after the final celebration because you and not a studio marketing or exhibition branch are the only force pushing the film onto the public. It’s like trying to roll a boulder uphill on your own.

I have no doubt that this will be a rewarding process, and one that will help us all a great deal in our dreams, ambitions and careers, but that still means that there are miles to go before I sleep.

WE SCREENED IT!!!

Last night was one of the most nerve wracking, yet exhilarating experiences of my life. For those of you that aren’t aware last night Megan and I held the first ever, world premiere screening of END for cast and crew, family and friends. Needless to say I was a nervous wreck throughout the whole movie, so much so that I couldn’t sit down in a chair. I had to stand at the back of the theatre and pace back and forth so I didn’t lose my mind. I’m very happy to report that I apparently had nothing to fear.

This was easily the biggest audience that has ever seen anything we’ve done. Several years ago Megan and I made a trio of short films and when we screened those we did it in someone’s living room (Funny enough the same living room where we shot END, now that I think about it, how surreal is that?). This time around we did it in a theatre at Cal State Fullerton with an audience of close to 100. Obviously this made the situation even more stressful because if people didn’t like it there would be a whole bunch of them shifting uncomfortably in their seats and checking their watches.

I’m more than happy to report that people really seemed to like the movie. Now I know what you’re thinking, they’re your friends and family of course they said they like it. That’s what I would have thought too if I hadn’t been there. People gasped and laughed when they were supposed to and they had the EXACT reaction to the end of the movie that we had hoped for. Plus afterwards people kept coming up to me and telling me how this thing affected them or how they understood what it was really all about once it was all over. People’s reactions to things can’t be made up, at least not the kind that were given to us. People were mentioning things that Megan and I have been praying people would understand when they watched the movie and it looks like at least this group of people did. I’d really like to think that people left the theatre thinking last night and that’s the exact point of the movie.

Simply put last night was one of the single greatest nights of my life. After all these years of talking the talk people were able to see that Megan and I can walk the walk. Even 24 hours later I’m still beaming with pride that people not only got to see our little “zombie movie with no zombies” but that they also seemed to like it. It is a memory that I will never forget one that I will cherish forever. I can only hope Megan and I get to relive it in the months ahead as we start getting accepted into film festivals.

Prep for Tomorrow

My sketches always look like cartoons. This is for a donation box for the cast/crew/friends screening tomorrow. We're poor and are hoping people might want to help us get submitted to festivals...

Fast Fact

Originally uploaded by Sameli

"It is worth pointing out that zombies produced through magical or simple chemical means are slow moving, and often smell from decay. Although it should be noted that the apparent slow movement is sufficient speed to keep the zombie no more than a few yards away from even a running Olympic caliber athlete."

Pop Culture Maddness

MC

The cast & crew screening of the film is rapidly approaching and thankfully my younger brother Jonathon has agreed to MC the night. It's also thanks to him that we have such a cool little space. While I have the typical nervous fluster about everyone seeing the movie I am also really excited to have everyone (or at least a lot of us) together again. It's been nearly a year since I've seen some of the cast & crew and I am sure it will be a good time!

Last Year

Project 365 - Day 223
Originally uploaded by mrbosslady

At this time last year it was official that Christopher and I were making END. It was a scary thing for me. I had a still-new job I’d only been at for about four months, a new car payment because my old car had just blown up (literally), and it finally meant that I was going to have to put my passion and education to the test.

Most of June through August of last year is a blur for me. I can’t even remember the shooting days too clearly – they all seem like one long day. What I do remember is a constant state of exhaustion. The one huge saving grace of it all was that the downtime for my job is the summer. This meant not only that my exhaustion did not affect my work days but that while working I could also do pre-production. END would not have happened in 6 weeks if work had been slamming me.

Typically, I would do my day job, get everything done and use any and all downtime at work to do what I could for the movie; things like researching equipment, casting notices, schedules, script breakdowns, and all the other odds and ends would get done at work, and then I would commute home, sit down at my computer and do the exact same thing until it was time to go to bed and do it again. Thank God that He gave me such an opportunity.

Again, I am in the down season for my job. The difference is that this year I do not have a movie in pre-production that requires my constant attention. No, this year I have a finished movie. A movie that as I type this is in consideration for multiple film festivals. The most I do with it is complete submissions, send it out and then pray that God gets my little movie into the right festivals, to be seen by the right people, and hopefully help all of my cast and crew onto that career path we all want so much.

Shockingly this is much more nerve wracking than trying to cram 6 months of pre-production into 6 weeks.

This Week

CD Wall In Our Garden
Originally uploaded by TJC1973

Applying to film festivals is a lot of work (and $$$). I don’t know what I would do without withoutabox.com. If I had to fill out the full entry form for each and every film festival we want to apply to my patience would be completely shot.

This week has been eventful. I designed temporary cover art for the DVD screeners (temporary because I think someone with better graphic design skills than mine should design it) and am having a bunch of DVD’s made. This will help me a lot so I don’t have to personally burn, label, and put together each DVD and packaging I have to send to a festival for submission purposes. I also think I finally found all of the errors in the press kit and corrected them, it only took about four different people proofing it.

Friday Christopher and I also potentially booked somewhere for the screening. Should be exciting to show it to everyone even though my director’s nerves kick in and I get all nervous when I think of everyone finally seeing it. Even though I am incredibly proud of the film it is still so incredibly nerve wracking to think about. I don’t think I will ever get over that as an artist; it’s been a part of my process since I was a kid. I used to be horrifically shy too, maybe that also has something to do with it.

I digress, Christopher and I are coming up with a list of film festivals to apply to, and here’s hoping we have the luck to get into so many that we end up with scheduling conflicts – that would be one scenario where I would be very glad to be busy.

I am slowly starting to catch up on the sleep that I’ve been missing because of the schedule this past year has forced me into, and this seems to be making me goofy again. I kinda missed being goofy.