TO SKIP OR NOT TO SKIP?

I went to Sundance this year. It was awesome. The movie was almost done, I was hanging out with two of my best friends, the place was fantastic, just great,  I have the option to go again this year.

Not sure if I want to.

Oh, I mean, I WANT to, but I'm in an equal-to-worse financial position as last year, I need to get a job or at LEAST not spend any more money, I now LIVE with one of those two best friends...

And HOMESCHOOL REUNION just got denied by Sundance for 2016.

So....

FIRST TIME I WAS IN TEXAS....

BY POSTING THIS, I AM MAKING IT
THE LAST ONE THAT I RECEIVE

 

Dear Matt, Thank you for submitting Homeschool Reunion to the 2015 Austin Film Festival. More than ever before, selecting the films for this year’s program has been an extremely difficult task. We enjoyed and admired more films this year than we were able to include.  Regretfully, we must inform you that your film was not chosen to screen at the Festival this year. We know how much work goes into making a film, taking it from the kernel of an idea to a fully realized visual story.  We understand the sacrifices every filmmaker endures, and we sincerely thank you for sharing your art with us. Programming a film festival not only involves discovering the best films but also considering and selecting which films will be the best fit for our particular audience. Every year, the Film Department loves more films than we could ever possibly fit into our schedule.   Our screening team watched and evaluated each film at least twice, so please know your film received fair and careful consideration.  Of course, judging art is inherently subjective.  Your film did not fit our program this year, but that does not mean it won’t find a home at another festival. This industry demands persistence.  Each film is a stepping stone to the next film; each rejection is just another challenge.   We still hope you can attend this year’s Festival, which will take place October 29-November 5. If you’re interested in participating, we’d love to have you. The Film Department and the staff at Austin Film Festival wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and we hope you will send us your next film. This is what a form letter looks like, kids. Obviously, I have to take this at face value and assume all the information is true.  Which, hey, I don't have any specific reason not to, but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't disheartening.  We haven't been accepted into any flesh-and-blood festivals yet, and that, mixed with the money spent (and really, the fact that my current job and paycheck are coming to an end in a week), have me nervous. But Jonny said something very apropos and true: You don't land the first audition. Or the second, or often third, fourth or fifth. Or tenth. But you eventually book a job. Now, I immediately jump to "but you might be right for certain roles and wrong for others or there might be somebody a different body type or brown eyes and that's the reason you wouldn't book an acting gig.  A film is exactly the same thing every place you send it, so it can't try out for multiple roles to be right for them." But that's not true. Every festival is going to have different specifications, different themes, different levels of bureaucracy, different mandates, et cetera, so your movie is actually a blonde-haired, blue-eyed thirty-something guy trying out for places that might only want or need a green-eyed 18-year-old Indian girl. (It's worth noting here that even if I'm the only one who reads this blog, just writing it really helps me come to grips with the fears, frustrations, and other alliterations that come over me either alone at night or mid-day when I get one of these letters that "confirm" that all my friends are simply being "nice" about  the movie.) The first time I was in Texas, it was in Austin. That's one of the things about applying to these festivals that was exciting: in the same way that I wanted to attend Carnegie Mellon because I had spent a "Sleeping Bag Weekend" there to audition and see what the college experience was like, I want to get into the Austin Film Festival and Sundance because I've been to Austin for South By Southwest and I went to Sundance last year because... I.. wanted... to.  Since I have the great memories of those places, I can easily imagine myself in those places again and the emotional memory that comes with it, as opposed to, say, BendFilm in Oregon which could, for all I know, be a tick-infested woodsy affair that I might dislike.  Austin was great. It was a really funky, artsy scene, there were live bands playing everywhere (I went for the music, not the film fest), I saw Stone Temple Pilots, a sadly-as-yet-undiscovered-by-me Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as well as Street Sweeper Social Club and a bunch of small bands whose albums I picked up whilst there.  The town was small and cozy, and it was a blast! (It didn't hurt that I was there with a girl I was crazy about.) I would LOVE to go back and experience the film festival there, especially with my film in it! The SECOND time I was in Texas, incidentally, was last January, when I went to the small town of Tyler to see a theatre company (APEX 20) perform my stage mystery "Nevermore." It was a thrill I'll never forget - having people I'd never met performing words I had written years before in multitudinous Starbucks around Los Angeles. Another fantastic trip. So it would have been nice to have the reason to go back a THIRD time be that I had directed a film that was playing there. Kinda like stepping stones: Enjoy the place, have my writing performed there, have a film I directed play there. Then, of course, I would have to buy a house, I guess is the next step.... (Never gonna happen, by the way.) But, hey: as much as the "Sleeping Bag Weekend" made Carnegie Mellon my number one school choice, and when I wasn't accepted there, I was crushed, I WAS accepted into NYU. And that place was perfect for me. Better than Carnegie Mellon? I actually think so. I don't have much to compare the two, but going to New York for theatre training was hugely important for me as an artist and person in a way that going to school in Pittsburgh could never be. And while film festivals are different than schools, in that you can be accepted to more than one of them, perhaps the festivals we DO get accepted into are far more "right" for us and we're saving money and time by skipping what wouldn't have been the right venue. (That's what you'd call a "glass half full" post.") All that being said,..... "To tell you the truth, I haven't even thought about it, not for a second have I dwelled on the fact that the show's over! I don't, uh, I don't, uh, think about it, I try NOT to think about it and therefore I, you know, DON'T, because that's a very healthy way to deal with something that is very -- ultimately, not that important in the long run. Its not, not, uh, not important at all, you know, for me."   -Allan Pearl, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN

FIRST IRISH "NO"

OK, NOW I'M GETTING DISCOURAGED

     I suppose it's a little ridiculous, since I have fourteen Festivals I haven't heard from and of the seven I HAVE heard from, I was accepted into two, but again, I consider online Festivals to be a different animal.  BUT I just got a rejection letter from the Kerry Film Festival in Ireland.

    Now, could I have ATTENDED it had I gotten in?  Probably not, but that's not the point. With every "no thank you" letter I get, I start to wonder if any of the people I know who've seen the movie would have said anything as positive about it if somebody else had made it. I don't think anyone is lying to me, but I feel like I'm kinda cradled in the safe warmth of a small circle of people who all have the same feature of "Know and Like Matt" so they may all have the same criteria, which may be totally different from the criteria of the people watching the movie at these Festivals have I gone on a long enough run-on sentence and do I sound crazy and paranoid yet?

    Incidentally, I AM working on other things. I feel like this blog can be read as the slow ramblings of a man who has created one short project and has attached all his hopes and dreams to it and if it doesn't make him successful, he'll get bitter and give up.

   AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS!!!!

   No, no, no.  I've actually been directing THIS IS OUR YOUTH by Kenneth Lonergan for the North Hollywood Fringe Festival.... well, I'm not sure the North Hollywood Fringe Festival exists, actually.... but they have a website and supposedly it starts join October, just before we open.  So: yay?  But it's been a great experience. Most of the shows I've been doing have been comedies - mostly broad comedies (y'know: comedies with ladies in them. Badumbum.). But TIOY is very different - very real, done in near realtime. I was actually scared I would screw it up, which is why I pushed so hard to get the job directing it. (Oh, and I'm not producing this one, either! It's the second major directing gig I get paid for that I'm not fiscally responsible for!! ... "For which I am not fiscally responsible."... whichever.)

   And I'm starting an acting class in October! It's been discussed many MANY times in the past, but now's the time. Almost chickened out early, as I researched other acting classes online, found one that looked very similar to what I would do, and offered to work FOR them. I was invited to a free audit of a class and realized: "Oh, Jesus, I can so do this." The teacher and the students were talented and able, but already I was sure I could do at LEAST as good a job.  Great feeling, actually! Except that now I really have no more excuses. So, here comes HIGH STAKES ACTING WORKSHOP with Matt Ritchey and Rebecca Lane!

   Beki has been one of my best friends for YEARS and we used to moderate a Shakespeare Workshop together at Theatre West for a couple of years as well. We work quite well together and had considered starting up a class "for fun and profit" before the Summer, and now that I was hell-bent on doing it, I figured I should definitely keep that promise. The hope (and expectation) is that things go well, we get extra people interested, and we start a few new classes next year. That will be amazing!!!

   Especially when I have to hand her the reigns to go solo one weekend because HOMESCHOOL REUNION was accepted into Sundance!!!!!!!




...full circle... craziness showing again... finishes post... The end.

FIRST TRAILER

HOMESCHOOL REUNION
TRAILER

 

FIRST... um... MORE REFUSALS.

(This "First" thing is going to be increasingly hard to keep up...)

IT GETS REAL...

     I've been very lucky. HOMESCHOOL REUNION got accepted twice before I got my first refusal. That's a great feeling. Also, I've been lucky enough to have had a great response from people I respect. But because I am who I am (and I'm sure many of you know what I mean by this), once I started getting the "no, thank yous," a bit of negative judgement starts creeping in. No matter how much you respect the people who have said nice things, "perhaps," you think, "the people who are refusing the movie in festivals 'know more' or are 'seeing through' this charade called 'I am a director.'"

    Which is balgona, of course, but you know what they say about us artistic types.  ... No, not that.  I mean about the insecurity. I've gotten a lot of great feedback about the movie, but in just a few days I got rejected by the LOS ANGELES LEFT OFF FESTIVAL and QUEEN CITY FESTIVAL in Baltimore - which is a shame, since I wanted it to play in the town where much of my family is.  Because, really, I want to use festivals as an excuse to travel. Especially to Ireland. Where I shall meet my wife. (DO YOU HEAR ME, KERRY FILM FESTIVAL!? MAKE THIS HAPPEN!)

     Where was I?  Right:

     I started out as an actor, and the very first thing people will tell you (hopefully after "you're really good!" or "hurrah!") is "it's a hard life," "you'll need to have two jobs," "you won't make money." This is similar to the responses for all artistic endeavors, I imagine.  Which sucks, because I don't believe that anymore.  Well, no, I DO, and that's what I'm trying to change. I highly doubt that anyone has ever consistently told a person "Ooo, have you thought about NOT being a fireman? I mean, that's a hard job and you can't make a living." But what if they did? What if tons of people habitually told people year after year that getting a job as a fireman would be really hard? I'll bet that fewer people would get jobs as firemen.  Seriously.   I know, I know, there's the LOGIC of "firemen are necessary and needed everywhere" and that's "not true" for artists. But that's not the point. The point is that if you tell someone for ten plus years that something is going to be hard, they believe you, and make things hard for themselves.  We live in a society that doesn't value art. Oh, it values SOME art, but only the kind that is marketed correctly.

     My point is that yes, rejection is a big part of being an actor and of being an artist, but if we weren't REMINDED of it so damn often, would we maybe start out at least a little more optimistic and steeled against rejection? If HOMESCHOOL doesn't get into a single film festival, am I going to stop directing?  Hell no. So it shouldn't actually matter to me whether we get into any festivals or not. I'll just move on and do the next thing anyway.

     But, yeah, that's not the case. I do care. I WANT to have the festival experience of having a project out there. I WANT it to lead to new contacts and more work. I WANT people to laugh or say "Awww" and have a positive reaction. Hell, I want people to be offended, as long as they have a reaction to it that isn't a rash or contagious.

     We're supposed to find out about five festivals in the next month: KERRY FILM FESTIVAL in Ireland, NEW YORK NO LIMITS in NYC, CARMEL INTERNATIONAL in Carmel, CA (for which I need to make a BluRay and how so I do that?), BEND FILM in Oregon, and AUSTIN FILM FEST in Texas.  (I didn't submit to SXSW - see earlier posts.) Any one of those would be fantastic. Austin is an amazing city, Carmel is supposed to be beautiful (and it's a road trip instead of a flight), New York is a no-brainer, Oregon would be fun and don't even get me started on Ireland.....  that would cost like way more and it's in late October, but wow that would be amazing.

     Three out of thirty is nothing. If we make it into five I'll be happy.

FIRST REFUSAL

DON'T CALL THEM "REJECTIONS"

     If you've done the research and really understood how political Film Festivals can be and the number of variables there are, it's easier to deal with not getting accepted. Big places like to deal with people who they've worked with before or big names, some festivals wind up with a "theme," some just have too many submissions and your movie got in after they'd programmed all of the slots... In fact, the reasons are so varied, that not getting into a Festival isn't necessarily a Rejection of the work so much as your film not "fitting" that year or in that particular Fest.

     I bring this up, of course, because we just got our first refusal - from LIFT-OFF LOS ANGELES FESTIVAL - one of a series of "LIFT-OFF" Festivals around the world. If this was the very first place to get back to us, I'd maybe be taking it hard, but I'm pretty okay with the movie, so I'm chalking this up to "Millions of movies, specific criteria, fifty slots" kind of thing. They sent a well-worded form email being generally supportive, and you could always pay for specific feedback if you wanted it, but no.

     And call it schadenfreude or even thinking too much, but I watched AMERICAN MOVIE again today and wow..... wow. There's a lot to be impressed by in that movie and a lot to pity. Most of all, keeping that passionate energy and drive and determination will get anything completed - as long as you're working with supportive people and, honestly, know what you're doing in terms of telling  story. Mark Borchardt is a guy who really knew how to shoot film and frame some shots, but in terms of storytelling, he's a mess. But who cares? The fact is, he talked a great game, and was ultimately really supportive of people (unless that was part of the great game, but I doubt it).

     I've been thinking about what to do next, in terms of shooting a film. Between some small ideas and some big ideas, I found that I'm not passionate enough about anything yet. I have more than enough on my plate right now with two short plays and directing "This Is Our Youth" for the NoHo Fringe in October, but I always want to have the answer to "what are you working on?"

     "Getting sleep" is the current answer.

FIRST DISCOURAGING FESTIVAL RULE!!

SXSW AND "I AM NOT A TECH GUY"

     Well, this is frustrating...

     Just upgraded my vimeo account ($60 a year) to have a streaming password-protected copy of the movie online - this was mainly because Jonny had "Streaming and Downloadable Copy of The Movie" as a Kickstarter award, but I discovered that South By Southwest only accepts films that are streaming on vimeo. So, cool! No more Film Freeway or Withoutabox for this one, I can go directly to the source!

     So I looked at all of the info for submissions (the usual $40 for short films, have the vimeo streamer available, they'll set aside hotel rooms for you if you get it - not pay for them, mind you, that kind of thing) and then I took a look at how SXSW accepts films to be shown at the festival.

     It's called DCP or Digital Cinema Package. This is a very specific package which gives your film the best resolution possible in 2K or 4K by upgrading everything, even if it wasn't necessarily shot in 2 or 4K. It requires downloading a free program (so that's alright), and then basically being a technical wizard going through forty thousand steps transforming the movie into TIFF images, then to JPEG 2000s before getting original audio source files into a Surround format--

     That's when I stopped watching the "How To" video. I even found a way to do this on FCPX, but considering how much technical work this requires (and files that I may not even have), I may just have to skip the whole festival. Part of me thinks this is ridiculous and I should never give up  chance to get into a festival, and the other part of me thinks that in the middle of doing all this work, I'll find out I don't even have enough space on my external hard drive and I'll wind up getting screwed anyway.

     A quick chat with my buddy Chris Hill (professional awesome editor guy) sent me to easydcp.com while he told me, "Yeah, it'll probably cost around $3000-$6000 for a DCP."  After telling him about this workaround I found online, his immediate reaction was "chances are it won't work well and will be unusable." And knowing my technical expertise, that sounds about right. The other option is buying a DaVinci Resolve plug-in (also for a few grand) that apparently has an "Easy DCP" button.  BUTTON.  Like, press a button, get a coffee, DCP ready.  Worth buying with a group of filmmakers is my thought....

     So, this is annoying. Obviously, I can't complain too much - if this is the way movies are headed and some festivals have certain technical aspects, so be it, but I know my limits. I've taught myself a lot of technical things over the last few years, but I'm a storyteller, not a tech guy. That's why my initial toe-dip into the world of becoming an AE (which I did because I thought I was going to get married.... long story...), was simply a toe-dip: I can shuffle footage around to tell an interesting story, but I'm not into the gear, file formats, etc. Which also means that I shouldn't kick myself when I don't know or understand technical stuff and can't just "do it all myself."  I'm just not that guy. Which is okay.

     But if anybody wants to buy me a full-on DaVinci Resolve and ten years of access to AfterEffects and Photoshop, I won't be sad.

FIRST.... um... ok SECOND ACCEPTANCE!

TWO DOWN!

    DEPTH OF FIELD is another monthly online film festival!  That's two in two days! Good start! A quick look at the website actually makes it seem pretty low-budget and a little, shall we say, "Scammy." It's a REALLY poorly designed 90's-style website with scrolling graphics and some poorly produced Vimeo videos of a woman on a green screen "news-type" background with "newsy" music explaining the rules and regs and how the festival is linked to World Wide Motion Pictures Corp in Huntington Beach, CA who may offer to distribute the movie.

     Obviously, this is a lower tier festival, touting that "unlike other film festivals that play your movie in a theatre where only the cast and crew might see it, we put it on the web and market it to our large email list of interested viewers!"   ......yeah, well, honestly, I'd rather see my movie alone in a theatre. That guarantees that it has, y'know, played in a theatre. Nice that you promise that no, really, you've got people watching on the internet, but I have no way of knowing.

     BUT! I'm not trying to be negative, just wary. Online monthly Festivals could very well simply take anything that came with a poster so they can fill up on content. And of course, while the two festivals have their own judges, they, too, have Audience Awards.

     In theory, Audience Awards are great. It's like People's Choice Awards: the idea that the consumer likes your work is most important. But ONLINE Audience Awards?  Not so much. Because most of the movies aren't streaming so that they can be in contention for other festivals, so if they win an Audience Award, it's simply because they've arranged for tons of friends, family, or multiple email addresses to vote sight-unseen. Which is a ludicrous reason to win an award, unless it's for "Organizing A Blind Committee."

     But whatever. We're in two festivals, we have two laurels, and now we sit back and wait to see which PHYSICAL Festivals we get into!!

     Do I have a Wish List?  Of course.

     "Anything" is a good start, but I'm actually pretty sure we'll get into at least two or three of the 26 or 28 to which we've applied. (I mean, two MORE!) So as far as Dream Scenario?

     Sundance, obviously. Not just because of name recognition, but because I had SUCH a great time going last year! (Slam dance for same reason.)
   
     Kerry or UK Film Fests, as I want a reason to go to London or Ireland.

     Victoria Film Festival, as I want a reason to go to Canada.

     SXSW or Austin Film Festival because I had a blast in Austin a few years back for the music festival.

     North Hollywood Cineast, as it's close to a lot of my friends and would be a great way to get a large group to see the movie in a theatre.

     Something in Baltimore, New York, or Pittsburgh. Just so I can head back home and see family and friends - and the movie!

     And Carmel Valley, as I want to go up and hang out in wine country.

     But really, I'll be very happy with any place: New Hampshire, Colorado, Oregon, North Carolina, any of the places we applied.  Traveling and seeing the movie in Festivals wasn't at all the reason we made it, but it's a nice icing.


ADDENDUM 8/10/15!

     We just went from "Official Selection" to "Official Nomination"!  Which, I guess, means we weren't nominated for anything before? Just selected? Selected for what? To be nominated? Is this like a teaser trailer for a teaser to a trailer?  Confused.

     Regardless! Always nice to have a little something extra.

FIRST SPREADSHEETS

PREP YOUR INFO!

   I am not a detail perslon.

     I don't notice the little things often, as I'm too concerned with the Big Picture. And when I DO notice the details, it's usually because I've convinced myself (or it's true) that if I don't, there will be serious repercussions (like failing Algebra and not going to college....).

     I've gotten better at this and certainly for work related things or the movie, I get more specific. One of the ways this has manifested has been the FILM FESTIVAL SPREADSHEET.  Everybody's got a spreadsheet program these days (that sounds like an obscure Beatles song), and once you've gone through the hassle of setting it up from scratch, it becomes fun and (dare I say it?) exciting to fill out.

     As I pressed the "Submit" button over and over on both Withoutabox and FilmFreeway, I realized I should maybe keep track of where I had submitted, especially if they would need a DVD or digital copy sent.  So the Spreadsheet began.

     I highly recommend this for a number of reasons, many of which are probably self-explanatory based on the graphic, but if you'd like detail:

     This originally began because I could spend more time online than my producer, and I wanted to get a nice list of festivals that we could then discuss and decide where to submit. I separated between WITHOUTABOX and FILMFREEWAY - who knows if there would be submission problems or I'd have things to fill out later based on how I submitted? I then started a list of all the festivals I wanted to submit to. It was just a laundry list in the first column, appropriately titled "FESTIVAL." It was just a wish list of options to discuss.

     DUE DATE was actually next. That's how to keep the spreadsheet in order: BY ORDER OF DUE DATE - you'll always know what's coming up next. You can put festivals on "Watch Lists" on the sites which will then email you, but it's good to have your own stuff together as well.

     PRICE is important for records, especially if you're splitting costs. Make note of who paid, and you can then settle up afterward. Or if you'll be doing a fundraiser afterward, you'll know how much to ask for!

     Note when you SUBMITTED and what the RESPONSE DATE is. The first is so if anything goes awry, you have a specific date of when your film was submitted, the next is so you don't go crazy wondering "why haven't they contacted me? Have they got my movie? Do they not like it?" If the response date is December and it's now August, don't even think about contacting the festival unless you personally know someone. (Just my opinion, but I always err on the side of "Don't bug people, especially if there's nothing really to be done.")

     Keep your TRACKING NUMBER - it's even more important than the date you submitted. With a  tracking number, if anything goes wrong, you have solid proof that you submitted and you can either get refunded or your movie resubmitted for free. (On that note, once again, submit EARLY so that any issues can be addressed before the festival judges and viewers are tired and want to kill people for submitting more films.)

     I also made a column for media type. Do they want a DVD, a Blu-Ray? A Digital copy? Often this information wasn't available, but when it was, I made sure I notated - a lot of festivals tend to ask for two copies of your movie on DVD. This may change in the future to video drives and encrypted USBs.

     Finally, the FESTIVAL DATE and ADDRESS. Knowing in advance if you can or cannot attend a festival based on date and location is important. Not attending a festival where your movie is playing isn't the kiss of death (for short films, at least), but it certainly seems wise (and fun!) to attend as many as possible, or connect friends or family local to a Festival to go in your stead.

     I'm a fan of highlighting completed transactions so they don't get confused on the page, also of continuing to list upcoming Festivals that may or may not even have a due date yet. This is why so many people say that going to Festivals is a year-long or sometimes two-year affair. Two years seems way too long to me.  Hell, eight months seems too long, but let's assume you're working on your next film at some point in there. ;)

 

FIRST ACCEPTANCE!

WE'RE IN!

    LOS ANGELES CINEFEST is a monthly online film festival which gives prizes for Shorts, Short Docs, Trailers, Features, and Feature Docs. Of course, because there are many other Festivals that don't want you to have your film on the web, most people choose to keep their film offline and just let the judges award the films. However, there's also an Audience Award - these are voted on by home viewers. So really, this means that whoever has the biggest social media presence, they win an award, even if they don't stream their film online. Plus, hey, it's a MONTHLY Festival, so they always need material. In fact, thinking about it, this is a genius business model: use Weebly to create a site, allow advertisements, spend a few bucks for access to Film Freeway and one or two other sites as well as paying a few "film professionals" for your voting panel and rake in cash - the filmmakers provide you with links to posters and the films so you don't use up bandwidth, and you get a few hundred bucks a month or more in submissions.

     While my initial reaction may seem a bit cynical, I'm actually super excited! Getting a laurel is super validating and this is the first response we've gotten from a Festival - and it was YES! So really, this is a good thing all around. My mother, of course, is certain that we are going to win, but I actually don't care about that. As far as I'm concerned, we did it and now we just wait for the next response dates which are August 15 (LOS ANGELES LIFT-OFF FESTIVAL) and August 18 (OUT ON FILM in Atlanta)!

     Speaking of knowing when the response dates are:

     

FIRST VIEWING!

FINANCIERS DESERVE
THEIR OWN SCREENING

    Like many independent projects these days, we used Kickstarter to fund our movie. Rewards ranged from Thank You videos and online copies of the film, to T-shirts and signed blow-up dolls (from the movie.... or the most random reward ever) and we even offered to throw you your own Reunion!  (That was for $7000.  In hindsight, knowing that our movie ultimately cost about $8000 including Post and reshoots, unless we had sold that one AND $3000 in other rewards, perhaps not the best idea. But if you'd like to give $7000 now, I will still gladly throw you a reunion and show you my next movie that I make with it!)

     Because many of the backers lived in or near Los Angeles, we were able to throw a party at Jonny's house to thank them, show them the movie, and drink. (But hey, who needs an excuse for THAT?) We'd saved almost all of the decorations from the movie, so we decorated the place appropriately to recreate the atmosphere.

Jonny prepping the screen.

Costume and set pieces chillin'.

     This was one of the more rewarding experiences of the whole process. It's been a few weeks since we officially finished and I'm far enough away now that i can enjoy the movie again. But still, it hasn't been in front of an audience - we've had individuals view it and one viewing party for five or six people to discuss what was and was not working in the edit, but not a whole audience watching finished product. 

     I knew most of the people there, many very well, so it was a relaxed party atmosphere, and the vodka punch was helping whatever stress I may have been feeling. My cinematographer was unable to make it, but we had Charlie, our lead actor; Harry, my A.D. (and fill-in director for one scene); our Associate Producers; and some P.A./background people, plus backers and some very close friends. 

     After about forty-five minutes of catching up with people, I ushered everyone into the living room and gave a quick "Oh my God, Thank You, guys, we LITERALLY could not have done this without you" speech (all very true) and handed it off to Jonny, who did some of the same.

Our first audience.

Jonny toasting our backers. 

     Then, we watched the movie.

     Charlie hadn't seen it since we had a very rough cut late last year and we'd done some significant work on it since. He was standing with his wife (one of our casting directors) and me in the back. So when HE laughed along with the crowd, I knew we had done something right. We got all the appropriate laughter and "awww"s in all the right places, and the requisite applause afterward. Then, back to drinking.

     I had three important interactions after that: the first was Jonny's uncle David who was one of the Associate Producers. He was very happy and impressed, so it was great to please one of the financial backers and family members - nothing worse than someone financially and emotionally connected watching something they helped fund say "Well, I didn't get it, but glad you guys had fun..."

     Next was Alyson, my good friend Geoffrey's girlfriend who also happens to work in the Festival world and watches tons of these things. She was impressed and remarked about not only how the story was complete, but that there was a lot of heart. These were the two most important things for me, as Jonny's goal was to make a movie that had a true story (beginning, middle, end, and JOURNEY) and that it, even at twelve minutes, made you care about the character and what happened to him.

     Then was my color correctionist who, in my opinion, took this movie and made it something truly great. Never underestimate how sound and color can tell a story on their own. The subtle tweaks and major shifts in color changed the way I saw the story, in a way that I had planned and hoped when in pre-production, but had faded into the background since. There was ONE shot where I noticed a problem a while back and I mentioned this to her after the screening - and she hadn't noticed it. And since everyone involved in a movie tends to pay the most attention to what they were involved in (ask a costumer how the movie was and you get "splendid! Those dresses looked spectacular," etc.), I was happy that she was involved enough in the story that she even missed the one scene that needed her help.

     Possibly most importantly, Charlie was really happy. I asked if he would be interested in attending a Festival if we got in and he responded quickly with "Absolutely. Wherever and whenever you need me." I've gone on a terrific night-long drinking binge with Charlie, so a Festival will be amazing...

Moi, Charlie, and Jonny

FIRST TIME WEB BROWSING: Some links

I spent a lot of time looking for web sites that could give me an honest idea of how Festivals ran, chose films, etc. I was a bit surprised to find that many links spent quite a bit of time talking about being gracious and not expecting your film to get sold out and have your hotel and flight accommodations paid for by the Festival. Do most people think this happens?

Regardless, here are a few links to some good articles with information I may not discuss but you may need or like to know about!

Film Festival Secrets: A Beginner's Guide

Videomaker: Get Accepted Into Film Festivals

Script: Film Festivals 101

ifp: Making the Most of Your Festival Experience

FIRST SUBMISSION: Swimming In An Ocean of Festivals

DON'T SUBMIT WITHOUT A "BOX"

    We had a Kickstarter fund of about $6,000. That covered Production, some licensing, and some Post. It covered no Festival submissions or travel. (We will soon have a new Kickstarter fund up...) Also, though Jonny and I worked together to decide what Festivals we should submit to, I had no idea just how many Festivals even EXISTED out there!

    Our film had a few specific things we thought we could use to narrow our field: the main character was gay, so though it wasn't a LGBT-centric movie, we thought we could enter it into some LGBT-centric festivals. We made a movie about a character who HAPPENED to be gay, but his sexuality wasn't vital to the story. That alone we hoped was important, so we submitted to a number of LGBT Fests.

    Use Withoutabox. Or don't. Use FilmFreeway. Or don't. I used both. (For those who don't know, Withoutabox and Film Freeway are sites where you upload your film as an online screener, create a Press Kit with pictures, bios, etc., and you browse through thousands of worldwide Festivals which you can then submit to with the push of a button. Wildly useful, sometimes derided, and a lot like playing slot machines....)

    What I DO suggest is create your own "Box" as far as confining your spending. We hadn't raised any money for this, but i wanted to get into as many Festivals as possible - a mixture of some Big Names, some Medium Festivals, and some niche or smaller places. This would also be a fabulous excuse to travel, so I submitted to some British and Irish Festivals as well. I did not, however, have a budget. Very quickly, I had amassed over $800 in submission fees to 20-some festivals.

    It becomes addictive. Checking the sites every day, finding new festivals that you convince yourself your movie is perfect for, impulse-submitting for last-day entries. 

    Don't do this.

    Start early and get a list of all the places you REALLY want to submit. Scifi/Fantasy movie? Find the niche Festivals first. Figure out where you want to spend your money ahead of time. SUBMIT to Festivals as EARLY as possible - they get overrun with submissions by the end and who knows if they'll even get around to your movie if it squeaked in at the last minute. Only time will tell if my $800 was well-spent or if we even get INTO any Festivals, so plan your spending ahead of time. Don't be me.

    Jonny and I went to Sundance this year. 

    Jonny had been a few times, I wanted to go, and my writing partner Mike was going for work, so we made it a working vacation. The first cut of "HOMESCHOOL REUNION" was done, and we watched it for the first time on the "big screen" - the widescreen TV at the hotel instead of my laptop.* But we went armed with a bunch of "HOMESCHOOL REUNION" business cards - we'd cut a trailer and had it up on Vimeo password-protected. We hobnobbed and exchanged cards with people, while watching a bunch of films. 

    I mention this for two reasons: first, because of the ten plus short films I saw, I liked three. Some, I have no idea how they were accepted... except, of course, that they had name recognition backing them, in the movie, or that the filmmakers knew the programmers. And THAT is a reason to go to Festivals ahead of time to meet people you can CONTACT and say "Hey, my movie is headed your way, be on the lookout." Knowing someone at a Festival is HUGE. Seeing some of the unadulterated crap that was shown at Sundance also made me feel okay ahead of time for the Festivals that don't accept my film: it's not about quality - it, like everything else, is about who you know. I'm not saying you won't be accepted based on quality, I'm just saying you have a 100% better chance if you know someone. 

    This is where things stand as of July 26, 2015: Entered into 26 Festivals, we have our "Premiere Party" (a showing of the film for local backers and friends at Jonny's house - decorated with the props from our "Reunion" in the movie!), we've got most if not all of the Rewards for our Kickstarter supporters ready (DVDs, Soundtrack, shirts...), and once we get into a festival, it's time to start a new fundraising campaign.

*Crazy story we plan to use at some Q&As:

"HOMESCHOOL REUNION" is about a very shy guy named Dan who can't find the courage to talk to a cute guy at a coffee shop. He's convinced this is because he was homeschooled and that he missed out on how to connect with new people. He sees a bunch of his friend's Facebook pictures of their High School Reunions and gets jealous.  So, he decides to throw himself a reunion. He meets the guy of his dreams, they sleep together, and wakes up from what turns out to be a dream, disappointed.

We watched our cut in the Sundance hotel and had fun. "Our movie officially screened at Sundance!" we yelled! Then, we went to go see our first movie.

It was called "The D Train" and it was about Jack Black who plays a guy planning his high school reunion and feels he needs to get the hottest guy from their class to attend. He flies to Hollywood and has a wild night of hero worship with this guy who he winds up sleeping with, then is disappointed. Oh, and Jack Black's character is named "Dan."

I can't wait to talk about this in front of an audience.

    

     

FIRST CUT: Fixing It In Post

"I AGREE, THAT'S HOW THE STORY SHOULD GO,

BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT WE SHOT."

    The assembly was about 23 minutes. Technically, that still counts as a "short film," but it felt way too long. I edited the movie myself, which was a great idea because I had complete control, didn't have to pay anyone, and had limitless time. It was also a bad idea because I had complete control and limitless time. I'm extremely happy with the final cut, but there's a saying about this aspect of filmmaking: "You don't finish editing, you stop." True. We locked about two months ago and I could still be trimming and tweaking now if we hadn't said "Done - we need to finish this at some point!" 

    We shot a mostly silent film and a lot of information came in close-ups of things on computer screens and iPhones. Some of these things we didn't get, so we wound up doing three or four pickups. I have no idea whether this is common or insane, but we did most of them for free in slightly different locations which I hope doubled well.  (No one has complained so far.)

    Jonny and I had some screaming arguments about the cut and storytelling, all of which made for a better movie. We had two in-jokes from this experience that were huge lessons: Jonny would patiently explain to me how this story had to go and why and what it meant, then I would agree with him, but then explain that "we didn't shoot that." We have to go with what we have (insert pick-ups aside). And MY immediate reaction to many editing suggestions was "Nope - can't do it. Impossible." Then I'd try it and many times it would work.

    We got a number of people to watch it. I was lucky to work at a job where I was surrounded by editors who gave me their advice, plus we showed a select number of professional friends a "near-final" cut to see if the story was understandable. These conversations were wildly helpful and I highly suggest them. Remember: editing is the last step in storytelling and it helps to know that it's being told well.

    Final cut clocked in at 12 minutes. All the while, we were working with a composer to bring our mostly-silent film to life. But then, close to when the film was locked, we thought about having the whole film include sound effects and foley. So we tried it. That's after tracking down somebody who could do a sound mix in Logic, which was harder than you'd think. But when you're putting your best foot forward on your first project and time isn't technically a factor, you do as much as you can to get the best product possible. After all that, we reverted back to the original plan for a silent film, only we went even more extreme and cut some previously-used dialogue. It was a very striking specific choice and brought the movie up a few notches - and it wouldn't have happened if we hadn't tried to add foley.

    We found a great color correctionist who was able to take some of my original ideas of telling the story through extreme and desaturated color and it completely changed the way the film felt. It really is incredible what can happen in Post.

    That being said, every time we thought "We'll be done in two weeks," it was two months. It was around March when I stopped calling it "the movie" and I started adding the adjective "Goddamn" to it.

    One year from principal photography, we were done and I submitted to our first festival.

FIRST PRODUCTION: Prep Is King

FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL. CLICHE, BUT TRUE.

    I am very lucky: I have a lot of friends and they are not only all talented, but they are good PEOPLE. Our movie had one lead character, three supporting roles, and a bunch of extras, which isn't so bad, except that the film took place in five locations and we had to shoot it over one specific weekend. My good friend and Casting Director Chanelle essentially handed me a fantastic cast of some friends and some very talented people I hadn't met before and every one of them was amazing. With the exception of Charlie, our lead, there were no rehearsals or conversations with other actors before getting on set. This was weird for me, as I'm used to rehearsing theater, but worked out perfectly because everyone was professional.

    The actors and DP are part of your storytelling team, by the way: I believe that film and theater are a collaborative process - even if you're Robert Rodriguez and do everything on your own, you can get some great insight by listening to the other professionals around you. Respect and listen to everyone and they will respect and listen to you. The same rule applies to work and life: treat people well and they will want to help you succeed, especially if doing so helps THEM to succeed!

    I did not go to film school. This was my first time running a full production and without a great Director of Photography and Assistant Director who hooked us up with crew, it would never have gone as well as it did. I had a specific shot list and planned to make my days, but I hadn't planned or named extra coverage shots, nor had I ever worked with a sound person before as I had planned for this to be a mostly silent film (as a storytelling device). This caused the sound person to get understandably frustrated. But hey, it was a learning experience and we were paying the crew.

    Most importantly, I learned that respectful control does wonders for morale. Day two was a big reunion scene (the only scene with mandatory dialogue) which was essentially half of the movie. I wanted to shoot it as one continuous shot at the beginning to hopefully cut down on set-ups and do something interesting with the camera. (In editing, this wound up changing to speed up pacing, but it helped on the day.) Talking through scenes with the actors while the crew was setting up (and choreographing a dance number off the top of my head for a central moment in the movie) helped speed things up and cut down on takes as well (see: Cast Talented People).

    Production was three days long but I think I slept ten hours total. (I worked nights so I would leave set by nine, be at work from ten pm until six am, then have to be awake at noon to get to set by two. Lather, rinse, repeat.) But we got everything we planned and it was a success.

....

    Except when you get home after shooting everything you'd planned, you realize that you should have shot two more things that you now consider vital to the movie. Yeah.

FIRST STEP: A Story.

    One of the first things Jonny said that he was adamant about was that the movie have a story.

    Let me explain:

    It should be OBVIOUS that the movie should tell a story, but after viewing a number of short films at a number of festivals and online, we discovered that a shockingly high number of films DON'T! At the very least, a story should have a Main Character, a Journey, a Change, and an earned Ending. Do I sound pandering? Well, good, because that means you hopefully don't have this problem and can move on to other sections.

    This is reinforced by almost every Film Festival blog, vlog, and website "Q&A" that I found, which surprised me, but was a welcome reminder. The most important things most festivals looked for when choosing films:

- Good Sound
- Good Acting
- Good Story

    Even if the movie was shot on a flip phone, if the sound and story were good and the acting wasn't unbearable, the film was at least considered. Which is why I am not only shocked to find out that tons of movies don't meet this criteria, but why I am very glad to not be working as a programmer forced to watch hundreds of these things.

   So we worked for a while crafting the story and finding a way to tell it in the most interesting but simplest way.

    The story always gets told at least three different ways. First, there's the screenplay. That can change a dozen plus times on it's own, but it's where you want to nail down everything vitally important. Next is in production - you may not have enough money, enough contacts, or enough time to shoot the story the way it is written or the way you imagined it would look. So you find new ways of telling the story based on the realities of your situation. Finally, editing: chances are, once you've shot everything in the script with the perfect storyboards and cut everything together for the first time, it doesn't work the way you thought it would. Beats are missing, angles don't work correctly, acting moments aren't cutting together well, a million other things that you thought you nailed on set but, alas, no.

    Don't skimp on the Story. It's the cheapest and sometimes hardest part of a movie. If your film is supposed to simply be a special effects spectacular like the PIXELS short film, okay, but even that had a beginning, middle, and end. Again, I feel ridiculous mentioning this, but it's the most important part of your movie.

FIRST TIME FILM FESTIVAL

     It's in. Officially. Well, by "in," I mean "submitted." Which isn't actually "in." I'm currently "In Consideration" and waiting. Which is... tough.

    I'm Matt, by the way. I'm a writer, director, editor, and actor living in Hollywood, which sounds way more glamorous than it is. I recently finished my first short film and sent it off to festivals. While I wasn't very interested in the festival circuit, the purpose of having a film there, or the mechanics behind everything when I started this project, I became very interested when the Post process was over. I Googled as much as possible to find out about the process and experience of having (and getting) your first movie into festivals and the experience of going, but found surprisingly little.

    Oh, there's a TON of information out there! Most of it is very helpful and I certainly hope it's correct! But I didn't find a diary-style step by step personal experience blog from short film makers. (I'm 5'7" by the way, so technically I'm an "average" film maker.) 

    So here it is. My hope is to make this a continuously-updated guide to my experiences throughout the next year-plus of pushing my film in festivals. I hope it's helpful or at least entertaining.

    Keep in mind: this is a blog about my experiences getting a SHORT FILM into Festivals. This is a very different thing than getting a Feature in. For starters, shorts rarely have to worry about choosing a place to "World Premiere" - it doesn't seem to be an issue the way it is with features. There are also many shorts-specific festivals that may be chronicled here. 

    Incidentally, the first few posts will be about making the movie. Hopefully you've done this already and are just looking for information on submissions or what a Festival Tour is like, et cetera. But a common theme of Festival Programmer comments and suggestions always begin with the movie itself - "How do I get into your film festival?" is often answered by "Make a good film." Doesn't sound like the answer you want, I know. But it's important. (The next Post explains why.) 

HOW THIS WHOLE THING GOT STARTED

(Where I talk about myself a lot)

    I wrote a play in 2008 or 2009 called "NEVERMORE" - a murder mystery based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe. I directed and produced it in 2011 (that's a story unto itself) and it was successful enough to sell out almost the whole run, while putting me $15,000 in debt. GREAT learning experience, though! (Find my "Pay Off Matt's Credit Cards" GoFundMe page here!: ...just kidding.)

    In 2013 I decided to really push things and start directing in earnest. I'd been writing, directing, acting, and editing a web series called "Matt & Mike's Movie Mangle" (movie mangle.tv), but it wasn't nearly as successful as I'd hoped. I met a bunch of people at a birthday party who were all in the same theatre company, the Unknown Artists, and they were looking for someone to direct a new sci-fi comedy called "GEARHEAD AND THE REALBOT." 

    Around the same time, I was hanging out with my friends Jonny and Bobby. Bobby was explaining to us that he was homeschooled and one of us (probably me) said, "Wow, those reunions must be really depressing." We all thought that would be a great short comedic film. 

    Jonny has been a writer for a long time and had been trying to get into the Sundance Writer's Lab while also trying to get a new job as a producer, as he was having issues with his current job. On one of our hikes in Griffith Park, he told me about this article he'd read by someone who had also submitted a few projects to Sundance Writer's Lab and was rejected every time. Then he made a short film which got accepted into the festival and -whaddaya know!?- when he submitted the following year to the Lab, he was admitted! I don't remember if I suggested or if Jonny had the idea to make a full-on short film (and not just a goofy iPhone video), but it was an obvious next step: Jonny needed producing experience, I needed film directing experience, and maybe the film would get us both closer to our goals: Jonny's of getting into the Sundance Lab, and mine of meeting Ellie Kemper at a movie party and eloping.

    At the start of 2015, Jonny and I worked on a script for a short and did some research, seeking advice from some friends who had already had some short film successes. After "GEARHEAD" had closed and I had seen a production of "NEVERMORE" staged in Texas, I decided I wanted to direct the movie. I'd had a few years of experience directing my web shorts and had been teaching acting off and on for a while and wanted to jump to an actual film.

    That's how "HOMESCHOOL REUNION" started.