December 24, 2008- "So Long 2008"
I think I can sum up 2008 with one short word.
"Wow."
I moved to a new town, new state for that matter, and actually had a better year than all the years passed.
I'd love to sum up everything that happened, but c'mon! I have to save something for the new year!
Thank you to everyone who supported and joined in the efforts of this film. I hope you felt it was worth it.
And guess what? No matter what they say, we won best feature film at The Cedar Rapids Film Festival.
Nuff Said.
September
17 , 2008- "Walking in Memphis"
We've got festival #2!!
For those of you in the Tennessee area, you'll be excited to know that "The Human Trace has been accepted into the Memphis Film Festival! www.indiememphis.com I know that many of you haven't been able to view the film, and this will be your chance to see it on the big screen.
We have an excellent time slot. Friday, October 10 at the 9pm show. They haven't officially announced the schedule, but that's our basic slot. Sadly, I won't be able to attend, but I hope that all of you who continue to support the film will make an appearance.
There is also some other big news about "The Human Trace," but I am electing to hold the news back for a few more weeks. Let's just say that ALL of you will be able to view the film very soon. . .
Stay tuned.
April
11, 2008- "The Feather in our Cap"
In short, the weekend was a whirlwind.
I flew out of Spokane, WA on Thursday
night, and landed in Portland, Oregon. At 6 A.M. my flight left Portland and
flew to Des Moines, IA, arriving at 3:30. Geoff Koch, the film's composer,
picked me up and we made the two our trek to Cedar Rapids. I had just enough
time to eat, shower, and rush over to the festival before the show began.
I first met this kind lady,
I couldn't tell you her name, but she handed me my name tag.
And miracle of miracles, my name was spelled correctly. That was a good sign.
They also gave me a free t-shirt:
Unfortunately, they didn't give one to Geoff or his girlfriend Ann.
But they were in good spirits none the less.
I talked quite a bit with Scott Chrisman, the festival director.
He's a nice guy with a winning Mid-West smile.
I appreciated his goal of creating a great small town festival that was in
his words, "By film-makers, for film-makers."
Since I didn't have time to promote
the screening around town, and since my posters got lost in the mail, we didn't
have much of a turn out. However, those who did show up were very enthusiastic.
Okay, stop laughing. Yes, I know, it's what we in the business call "a
small turn out."
I am serious, though, they were very enthusiastic about the film and when the film played again at the ungodly hour of 9am the next morning, three or four of the ten that arrived were repeats from the night before.
It was great to sit with an unbiased audience and judge their reactions. I didn't get the feeling that they were laughing AT the movie. They all laughed and jumped in the right spots.
There were even a few that came up after
the show and felt inspired to go out and make their own movie.
That made the whole weekend worthwhile!
But wait, there's more. . .
In the end, we won for best
feature film.
That's right, I'll type it again because if feels so good.
We won the Golden Eddie Award for best professional feature!!
This was such great news after so many rejections from other festivals. I feel justified to have won the first festival we got accepted into. Also, I'd like to thank all of you who suggested I send that award to Brian Gordon, the genius behind the Nashville Film Festival, and show him how wise a choice he made in rejecting us.
Well, I probably won't do that, but it was a great idea, and I greatly appreciate all of your support.
April
4 , 2008- "April Fools"
As I sat down to write this blog entry I was surprised to see that
it has been a month and a half since the last post. Things have gotten really
busy since the move to Washington, but I was feeling pretty beat up after
we received the news that we were rejected from the Nashville Film Festival.
That was a significant blow especially since I heard from several inside sources
that we had been accepted.
Film festivals are such a fickle business.
I went around and around trying to figure out what happened with NaFF and I think I have figured it out. When I first moved to Nashville, the local festival was called, "The Sinking Creek Film Festival." Eventually it became the Nashville Independent Film Festival or NIFF, and at that point the fest was very focused on local features and talent. Recently they dropped the word "Independent" from their title and it has taken an obvious turn away from supporting the local film community. The festival is now focused more on the mainstream indie world (If there is such a phrase). That said, I think that at one point we were accepted, but they were able to land a bigger film with bigger stars, and we were bumped to make room. The sad part is that there is a large number of people in Nashville who helped out on the film and now will never get to see it.
Yeah, it hurts. Yeah it sucks. But the
world isn't fair and life moves on.
All I can say is, "Thank God or Iowa!"
Right now I am sitting in an airport waiting on my flight to Des Moines to attend the world premier of "The Human Trace" at the Cedar Rapids Film Festival! We have a great spot on opening night, and we have a second showing Saturday morning at 9am. I think it's funny that they scheduled it for that time of day because I heard dozens of complaints when we scheduled our advanced screening on a Sunday morning at 10am.
I'll be posting soon with pics of the festival. I'm sure it will be a great time. Believe it or not, Iowa has a great reputation for responsive audiences and well attended shows.
Also, I should be hearing word soon on several other festivals I have entered including the "Dead by Dawn" festival in the U.K!
February
14 , 2008- "I Heart You"
Well, it's Valentine’s Day and everyone's in love, spring is
about to spring, Cupid is on the loose, and it looks as though "The Human
Trace" is finding itself.
First the bad news: I have two more rejections to add to the rejection file. The first was the Ashland Film Festival.
Dear
Filmmaker,
Thank
you for your interest in the Ashland independent film festival. We had some
very difficult decisions to make and we're sorry to say that your film has
not been selected as one of our finalists.
Keep in mind, films that have not been selected to screen in Ashland have played at Sundance, been nominated for Academy Awards, won Independent Spirit Awards, and signed distribution deals!
Thank you
very much for sending your film for our consideration. Thank you for creating
art, for making independent film, and for sharing your story. We wish you
success with this and future projects. We hope you will consider submitting
future films to the AIFF.
Sincerely,
The Ashland independent film festival
At least the rejection letter was more
creative than the others I have received, but I have to admit I was a little
surprised with this one. I was starting to feel a little beaten up because
I have waded through rejections from every top ten fest I have entered, and
now I'm being rejected from the smaller ones. I was wrestling with this thought
when this letter arrived in the mail.
Yep, that's right. We were also rejected from the Cleveland Film Festival.
Two in one day! Geez!
The upside is they actually offered that if I wanted to get the notes as to
why my film was rejected, I just needed to send in a self addressed envelope
with a note saying what I wanted. So I did! Along with a note that said,
"I'd really like to know why my film was rejected. After all, my mom
thinks its the best film since 'Citizen Kane.'"
Let's
hope they give me some constructive criticism and not notes that simply say,
"Your film wasn't accepted because it sucked."
In
the last blog I mentioned the cryptic email from the Ozark film festival that
congratulated me on playing the Nashville Film Festival. I went ahead and
entered their festival since they more or less invited me.
That's a first for "The Human Trace!" An invitation to a festival!
I still had to pay the fee, but hey, I'll take the invitation however I can
get it. The festival director actually emailed and said he was looking forward
to watching the film.
I am starting a tradition that whenever
I am rejected from a festival I am entering one to two different other festivals.
This month I can only afford to enter two, so the second fest was a real beauty!
I was poking around the interweb looking for film festivals in Portland, Oregon
when I stumbled across the Bicycle
Film Festival. This is a festival that looks for bicycles in film. I couldn't
believe it! Right in my home town!
Now,
for those of you who haven't seen the film (yeah I know, there are tons of
you) a big theme of the film is bicycles. I wanted to make a story that was
a little different and decided to put the lead detective on a bike.
Just take a look!
Are there bikes in this film or what?
So, here's my Bicycle Film Festival entry
Then, I realized that they are a touring festival! What that means is they
have their first fest in New York, and then go from city to city, playing
the great films from the first event. That means if I get in, "The Human
Trace" will play all over the country, and I only had to enter one festival!!!
Now for the good news:
I received an email from an ad-agency in Nashville that represents the Nashville
Film Festival. They were looking for quotes from film makers who have played
the Nashville festival, and since I am one of those, would I be interested
in giving a quote. So, I sent off my quote with a question. I asked, were
they asking because my film won best music video last year, or because "The
Human Trace" has been accepted. (Nashville hasn't announced their lineup
yet.)
I am crapping you negative. This was the response I got.
BOTH :)
So, it's unofficially official, folks.
We are in the Nashville Film Festival.
(I'm sure I'll blog again when it's really official.)
Then I received a surprising email from the Dead by Dawn festival in the United Kingdom. I only sent them a film a few weeks ago, and normally I don't hear back for months. Today I got this email from them.
Thank
you for submitting your film to Dead by Dawn. We have shortlisted it. We will
make a final decision about it after the festival's late deadline of April
5. If you are happy for the film to remain under consideration, please let
me know.
I didn't want to get too excited until I was sure what "shortlisting" meant. I had to call my wife since she's the intelligent life form of this duo. She said that shortlisting is what they call it when you've made the cut. You are in the final running for the position.
I guess that's almost cause to celebrate!!
I love the last line. "If you are happy for the film to remain under
consideration, please let me know."
Hm, let me think. Do I want them to continue considering my film for a big
festival in Europe?
I'll sleep on it.
So, there it is. And just to tempt you stay in touch with Michaele and I, that is just what's happening with the movie! We have so many cool things happening to us, we are completly overwhelmed by it all!
And no, she's not pregnant.
January
30, 2008- "And so it Begins"
Just last night my wife and I were marveling at the fact that this
is still January. So much has happened in the last few weeks, we can barely
believe a month has passed.
First off, I received this strange email from the Ozark Film Festival.
"Congratulations on your film playing the Nashville Film Festival!
We
would like for you to submit your film to the 2008 Ozark Film Festival.
Located deep in the heart of the Bible Belt, the Ozark Film Festival is the
only true underground, uncensored independent film in the Ozarks!
We
have no boundaries. No limits. This is true independent film.
To find out more about our festival, rules, and to submit your short, visit
our website at: ozarkfilmfestival.tripod.com
We
look forward to your submission!
Sincerely,
The Ozark Film Festival Team"
The odd thing about this email is I haven't received word from the Nashville Film Festival regarding my submission. Could it be that they have the inside word about the film? Are they friends with Brian Gordon, NIFF's Artistic Director? Are they just trying to make me feel good and have no idea what they are talking about? After all, NIFF doesn't announce who is in the festival until the first week of March. I considered the possibility that they were talking about You Don't Know Me, the music video I directed last year that won NIFF for best music video from a local director. However, the Ozark festival has no music video category, so that didn't seem to fit.
Winston Churchill once described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma." Personally, I think he was talking about the world of independent film.
In the last blog I mentioned that I
was rejected from the SXSW film festival. No surprise really, but in retaliation
I entered two more festivals. The first was the infamous, world class, career
making Cedar Rapids Film Festival! www.crifm.org
This festival is located in the bussling metropolis of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"Why enter that festival," you might ask? Well, because it was there.
And, because one of the requirements of the festival was some sort of Iowa
connection. It just so happens that this film has TWO Iowa connections. The
first is my wife who was raised in Terrill, IA.
(Her house is a corn field now.)
She has a few appearances in the film, and multiple speaking parts.
The second connection is the amazing
Geoff Koch, the film's composer.
Doesn't he just look like a corn-fed Iowa boy?
Geoff grew up in Cedar Rapids and attended Washington High with a 1.2 GPA.
(I'm not sure about the GPA part. That could just be a rumor.)
I guess if I get accepted into this
festival I'll have to stop telling people that Iowa stands for
Idiots Out Wandering Around.
The second festival is quite a departure
from the first.
It's the Dead by Dawn festival in the UK. www.deadbydawn.co.uk/
I honestly don't know much about this festival but it was recommended to me
as a "discovery festival" and was also in the top ten list of sci/fi/horror
festivals in the "Complete Film Festival Survival Guide."
Whatever the case, it'd be fun to make a trip to the U.K. to watch the film.
And who knows? Maybe the Europeans won't have a problem with the slow first
act. Maybe it'll be exactly the pacing they like.
Finally, there is one last festival I am entering. I kid you not, as I was typing this blog, I received an email from the Winter Shorts Festival in Portland, OR. Of all things, they want me to enter, "The Academy!"
For those of you who have never heard
of "The Academy," it was a short film I directed a couple of years
before "The Human Trace." It was rejected from something like twenty
festivals before I gave up on it.
You can watch the trailer here: www.bigpuddlefilms.com/films/Academy
It's one of those films I am very proud of, one that I learned a lot from,
but didn't connect with many people. The biggest reason was because the bulk
of the film features three parking lot attendants who look like morons, but
speak like philosophers. They pass the time in a heated debate about the existence
of God.
Their dialogue goes something like, "I simply no longer wish to practice
the Sisyphean task of exorcising pseudo-rationality from buffoonery."
However, I will say this. The Sidewalk
Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama loved it and wrote this glowing review:
Many of you familiar with "The Human Trace" will instantly recognize
two familiar faces.
Josh Sumner and Jeff Hime both play in "The Academy."
There is a chance that they'll also want "You Don't Know Me," but I won't know until I ask.
It would take all day to describe all
the other amazing things that have happened this month, including shooting
for Bon Jovi and the potential to shoot for The Eagles, but the one last thing
I would like to share is this latest commercial I directed. The client was
Diana's Home Sitting Service, and we wanted to show how sad your house is
when you leave for an extended period of time.
Technically, it's my first project in Spokane.
You can see it here: www.bigpuddlefilms.com/films/projects/homesitting.htm
And finally, right after my rejection
from SXSW, I won photo of the month at the Brentwood Camera Club with this
picture.
You can also see it online at http://gallery.brentwoodcameraclub.org
And just think: This is still only January. Imagine what's going to happen in the next eleven months!
January
4 , 2008- "Happy Birthday to Me"
The 2007 Year in Review
This time last year I had a big smile on my face because I thought that 2007 was the year that everything was going to happen. Well, I would say that ALMOST everything happened last year, but it wasn't anything close to what I was expecting. I think at the time I figured I'd be finishing the film within days and a massive festival run was sure to follow.
A guy can dream, can't he?
To start, this time last year I hadn't
quite locked picture yet, I was still waiting on the completed score, and
I hadn't even STARTED the sound mix.
This picture was taken at that time. Can't you just see the stress lines?
In the beginning I thought the score
was going to be completed by the summer of 2006. As it turns out it wasn't
finished until April 8, 2007. After that, I was told that the mix for the
film would only take a week or two. I dropped it off the first week of February
and didn't get a final mix until May 16.
Yes, you are reading that right.
The advanced screening was scheduled for May 20th and I was sweating bullets
thinking I wasn't going to have a film to show. Lets just say that there were
several "strong conversations" in regards to promises made, deadlines,
and the like.
I recently attended a meeting with a
guy who is gearing up to shoot his own film. He expects to shoot April-end
of May, edit in June, and have it ready to enter Sundance by August.
I quietly smiled to myself.
The private screening for cast, crew,
family and friends went off without a hitch to a sold out crowd.
(I assure you that all of those empty seats eventually filled up.)
What followed after the screening was a montage of festival submissions and
articles in the local papers. Unfortunately, every festival I entered during
the summer of 2007 has resulted in a big fat rejection letter.
I have recently been accused that this "Human Trace" blog is very
depressing because of the constant rejections and closed doors. I truly am
sorry about that, but the truth is that anyone who has pursued a lofty goal
has met their share of rejections.
(Except, of course for Robert Rodriguez and Matthew McConaughey.)
Janet Evanovich, "New York Times" best selling author of the wildly
popular Stephanie Plum series, wrote and submitted novels to publishers for
twelve years before she gave up, burned all of her rejection letters, and
took a temp job.
Several months later a publisher signed her to a contract writing romance
novels.
And who can forget that The Beatles were rejected from multiple record labels
including Decca Records who famously said, "Guitar groups are on the
way out."
Yeah, right.
So, in keeping with tradition, here
is my own list of "Human Trace" rejections:
Telluride
Film Festival
American Film Institute
Festival
The Sundance Film Festival
Slamdance Film Festival
The SXSW Film Festival
The best part about this rejection was
that because of a technical glitch, they sent this to me twice!
Not only that, but I recently got a
call from an excited distributor from Fabrication
Films who was enthralled by the "Human Trace" website and movie
trailer. She requested a copy of the screener to see if it was good enough
to take to the Berlin Film festival for a potential sale. I sent a screener,
only to be met with a mysterious silence.
When I finally talked with her she thought that the beginning of the film
was just too slow for any of the distributors in Europe. She found herself
reaching for the "fast forward" button and figured that all other
buyers would just shut the thing off.
Okay, thanks for the critique, and therein
lies the rub.
Because of this pacing issue, this film is difficult to categorize into a
genre. Probably the best description would be to say that it is a character
driven thriller. The film starts slow and steadily builds to its climax.
(It has the same pacing as the trailer, but stretched to 109 minutes.)
In hindsight I see that this is a problem and because of the way the story
is told, no amount of editing can fix it.
Next time I'm sure I'll do better. Lesson learned.
She helped as much as she was willing and suggested a few other festivals I could enter. The most amusing part about this whole affair is that she said to get in touch with her after I've made another film. It's flattering that I have this quasi-open door, but I'm realizing that the list of people who want me to contact them after I've "made it" is growing long.
So, here we are at the start of 2008 and I have no idea what is ahead. If I were to gauge the future on my history, things would look fairly dismal. However, I don't think that this will be the case. There have been too many encouraging signs along the way to suggest things will be different. As it stands, I have just landed a great job shooting footage for Bon Jovi and have also been asked to direct five commercials!
My wife and I have also relocated to
the great Northwest and are thoroughly enjoying our new lives here. I'm sure
there are more rejections on their way and I am doing my best to meet them
head on.
In the meantime, at least I can ski and kayak.
Right now the snow is powder
and the rivers are full.
Happy New Year!
To read up on all the happenings of
2007, click below.
