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.