Homeschool Reunion

It's been a year, so I feel justified in allowing it to be available online.

If you're interested in seeing HOMESCHOOL REUNION, here you go!

HOMESCHOOL REUNION

First Finale

FIRST FINALE.

In November of 2016, Jonny and I went to the Laughlin International Film Festival in Nevada. It was great. The festival was in the Tropicana hotel/casino with a great filmmaker's area, the films were shown at the local mall cinema, we go to hang out with our buddy Brandon who's "GOOD GRIEF" was showing here as well, and it was a fun drive up and back.

We met a ton of filmmakers, as you do, and I loved the fact that the shorts blocks were THEMATIC!  So we weren't preceded by a ten minute action advenure and followed by a half-hour drama about homeless Chinese kids (I speak from experience...) We were in the STRANGE AND CURIOUS block (which makes sense) and where we met Mindy and Rob, two great filmmakers who had a super short film, HARD BROADS. Hers, IMO, was the best of the block. Though, I'm happy to say that HOMESCHOOL got the most questions and compliments in the discussion afterward - we did have some issues, though - our film cut off halfway through. After Jonny ran to see what was going on, it was discovered that there was a projector issue and we would be shown as the last film of the block. Crisis averted.

We hung out with Brandon and walked around a bit in the heat, got to chill by the pool, and at the Awards ceremony, discovered just exactly how political things are at festivals. HOMESCHOOL in no way deserved an award, but let's just say that the winner....  was a political award. 

It was a great way to spend a weekend, Jonny and I had a great time, and I think that may be the end of the HOMESCHOOL REUNION Festival run. We got accepted into 12 Festivals, attended three, my family got to join in on one, cast and Jonny's family go to attend one, we traveled by car, plane, and ... car again. We sadly missed out on the Hamilton, Canada and Florida Inspired Minds fests, but we're also broke.

It was a great run and it's time to move onto the next round with a new project: POKER NIGHT, a film written by Tom Cavanaugh, dircted by yours truly, and this time FEATURING Jonny, so it all stays in the family in a way.

Can't wait to hit Sundance next time! 

                                      

First Live Online, First Cast/Crew Festival.

FIRST LIVE ONLINE, FIRST CAST/CREW FESTIVAL.

Online festivals: not my idea of being worth it, personally. Look, getting into anything is certainly nice, and as Jonny would say, it's about getting the laurels, but at a certain point, I find that to be a bit ridiculous. I'm sure that, yes, the number of laurels on a poster or DVD box looks impressive and might get you into some places, but I if I know that a lot of these festivals are weak and bogus, I know the pros certainly will. I don't think I'm fooling anybody. And really, I'm interested in the live feeling. I mean, I'm a theater director, for crying out loud - I think there's something to being in a crowd, experiencing that energy, and, especially since neither non-Equity theater nor short film festivals make you ANY money, it's nice to ENGAGE with people afterward and talk about things.

That being said, I am still very appreciative of any time our film is deemed worthy to get into any festival. It means that at least ONE person liked it enough to program.  And thus far, two years after principal photography and one year after the very first Festival submission, we've been accepted into seven festivals - online and "in-person." So that's cool.

Oh yeah - and we have a new poster!

So last month we got into the MINI MOVIE FEST. Its one of the online festivals BUT this was was streaming live - so we got to sit back and watch the festival as it streamed... from the apartment of a guy in Russia.

Again, hey, we got into a festival. I WILL say that my ideas of what festivals are and consist of has changed, um, DRAMATICALLY since first starting this blog. There were one or two cute films we saw in this fest, btw.

Then we got into the California International Shorts Fest. Which was about to be SUPER cool because it was slated to be on a Saturday at the Complex Theater. Now, I have two shows that I directed (one that I wrote) in the Hollywood Fringe Festival this summer and the way things were going to work out, they'd screen HOMESCHOOL at 1pm at the Complex on Santa Monica Blvd, at 5:30, I'd go watch my play ANGEL'S FLIGHT (a film noir comedy cabaret burlesque play done at a bar on Vine), and then see SLIGHTLY DRAMATIC, the one woman show I directed, at the Complex at 8 before going to work.

But the venue changed to Santa Monica. Fine. I'd drive to Santa Monica at 1, then back to Hollywood for ANGEL'S FLIGHT, and then--

Then they cancelled the Festival because the Santa Monica venue double booked.

So I should have seen this coming.

They rescheduled for a few weekends ago at the ACME in NoHo. This was cool, as it was close, I could FINALLY attend a festival with Charlie, our lead, plus Jonny's dad, our composer, was in town, so we all went together, had coffee early, and had fun photos taken:

What you CAN'T see in these pictures at the five other people in the room. Including three filmmakers and the host of the festival. And I think the last guy was associated somehow.  So it was a large room with, like, US in it. We did a talkback which I found hysterical. The host was trying so hard to make this seem like it was all legit and professional, but seriously - CHARLIE should have asked us a question.  It was all a bit ludicrous.  So yeah, I'd like to go to another REAL festival. I'm so glad we didn't miss the Maryland one.

FIRST. FILM. FESTIVAL. part two.

FIRST UNKNOWN AUDIENCE.

We got up and headed downtown to see the first block of movies at the Academy Theater, where our movie would be playing in a  block of shorts at noon. The Academy, like many of the places that would be hosting the films, was a church. It was very nice, pretty open, and had a medium sized screen set up in front of the stage.

Tom Riford, who I think is somehow actually everywhere in Hagerstown at the same time, opened the series with a quick shout out to the filmmakers. We watched a few movies, one from a few guys we'd met from Philly the other night at the pre-party and one absolutely gorgeous movie from Brazil called IN THE CLOUDS about a man proposing to his girlfriend.  It was basically perfect - my favorite film of the weekend.

We slipped out early for some breakfast and to wait for my mom and aunt Holly who came up from Baltimore (which was awesome). As we were sitting having coffee at the local shop, Brandon Green, the director who we had wanted to meet last night, randomly showed up and introduced himself! He recognized Jonny from the pictures I was posting on Facebook! So we all had drinks, met my fan, and headed over to the theatre.

One of my best friends from high school, Ethan, lives in DC with his wife Kathryn and they made the drive up to watch the movie for the first time with us!  I was super thrilled and pretty humbled, actually. We did the requisite lots of photos and mugging.  (We didn't mug anybody. Relax.)

So we settled into the fourth row (or thereabouts), watched a bunch of movies - some great, others.... not.

I did discover some things while watching these - a few movies looked AMAZING - I mean there was a futuristic chase movie that looked like it cost a million bucks. I had NO idea what the plot, characters, or story was. Consequently, I was bored to tears.  Also, and maybe this is a preference, but most of the "important, dramatic" shorts were long in the tooth and hard to watch. Sometimes, it was simply because the filmmaking was jarring and experimental, but shorts I think work best when a specific narrative of beginning, middle, end is simply made. This works best in comedy, one could argue, but no, if enough care and quality storytelling and writing are involved, it could be anything. This festival was a true mix.

But then, HOMESCHOOL REUNION came onscreen.

Now, I'd watched this for the first time in MONTHS about a week before this festival and I was still picking out issues - I should've changed that, tweaked that, cut that, "God I wish I'd been able to do that rather than have second unit," kinda thing.  But watching it with this crowd was different.

The crowd laughed immediately at the opening credits. And they KEPT LAUGHING! (The movie is a comedy so this is good...) And the vibe was so terrific that I was able to get out of my head completely and just truly enjoy this movie for the first time maybe ever. I was laughing at scenes that I have watched over 200 times. I was incredibly happy.  We were definitely a success.

After the series, Tom invited each of the filmmakers up to talk about the movie and answer some questions. We were referred to as the "blow up doll movie."

After the screening, we talked to the other filmmakers and made the usual Facebook connections - there were some great shorts in the group and I honestly hope we get to work with some of these people in the future! We hugged our visitors goodbye, high five the other filmmakers and said we'd see them at some screenings, then headed off to have some crab and lobster for lunch!

We headed over to see Brandon's movie "GOOD GRIEF!" afterward - a movie about what happened to the Peanuts characters when they grew up which you MUST see!- and then headed out to the parties.

And whaddaya know? The mermaid girl was there! Jonny and I met up with a bunch of the filmmakers we'd met over the last day or so, and as soon as we walked into the bar, Tom Riford (who is everywhere) greeted us with "Matt Ritchey! The Blow-up Doll movie! What are you guys drinking? I got your first round!"  I love this guy.

And after all of that partying, we left at one am and headed to the last open bar in town... and it was snowing. 

Of course it was snowing, it's April in Maryland.

FIRST. FILM. FESTIVAL. part one.

MADE IT.

The Maryland International Film Festival in Hagerstown was held the weekend of April first.  No, this was not a Fool's Day joke. To say this was a fabulous experience is not doing it justice, so bear with me here...

I arrived in Baltimore a day ahead of Jonny, as I have family in the area and we hung out for a day before I drove north. Once in Hagerstown, Jonny and I hopped in the car and wandered around the downtown area, parking in a metered lot and getting five dollars worth of quarters for the weekend before realizing the lot was free on weekends. Yeah.

We checked out the main party location at 28 SOUTH, got our badges and swag, and had a coffee in a nice outdoor park area. Seeing our movie's name on the bag, on the mobile app, and on our "Filmmaker" badges was really, really cool.  (As a writer I recognize that using "really" twice is pointless and also that the whole sentence poorly conveys emotion and that I'm coming across as a hack.... but it was really really cool!)

We walked around a bit (downtown is pretty small and the main street is only about a block or two), and passed the Maryland Theatre, which is where the "red carpet" and the major Opening Night movies (some shorts and Michael Bay's "13 Hours") would be playing.

It just so happened that Tom Riford, VP of the Festival, was being interviewed live on WHAG (my favorite call letters ever now... it's like a local station run by witches...). We talked to them a bit about our movie, how we were here from L.A., and that I was born in Baltimore.  Next thing you know, they're doing a live segment where Mark Kraham pulls out my HOMESCHOOL REUNION card, namechecks me and the movie and BOOM - we're on local TV.

We found out (via posting on Facebook and having people know people etc) that our DP's wife was in one of the movies they were showing and that the director, Brandon Green, was here for the screening! He wasn't arriving until later, so maybe we'd meet him tomorrow...

We attended the festival mixer upstairs at 28 South where we finally met Nicole Houser, who we'd been emailing back and forth for a month! We chatted with some filmmakers, had some whiskey, and headed over to the red carpet premiere of "13 Hours" by Michael Bay. Photos happened, and, crazily, I got a text from Leah Stansberry Richie, my high school pal, who just HAPPENED to be in Hagerstown filling up the gas tank mid-way to dropping off her kids with her mom!  She detoured to the theatre and we took some pics outside before rushing off.

"13 Hours," by the way, a pretty good movie. And I'm not a Michael Bay fan.

There was a SUPER cute girl in an amazing mermaid dress who walked in behind us (and sat behind us!) who I sadly didn't talk to, and after the screening which went way longer than expected, Jonny and I headed back to the room to catch some shut-eye, not realizing that the AFTER PARTY WAS ACROSS THE STREET!!!!!

But we had someplace to be at 10am (a new pal's screening), so we knocked out...

FIRST TRIP! FIRST LISTING! FIRST THEATER!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

Super happy!  A lot has been going on these days - everything from writing and directing a brand new noir thriller for Hollywood Fringe Festival, helping write a new screenplay being considered by Tony Kaye, and HOMESCHOOL REUNION is now officially going to be showing THIS SATURDAY in Hagerstown, Maryland, an hour from where my family lives!

Apparently there will be a Q and A, which I've been looking forward to for a long time, and we get passes to everything, so I hope to see some good films!  Pictures later, obviously.

                      

FIRST. TIME. FILM. FESTIVAL. ACCEPTANCE.

BOOM.

Here we go! The 2016 MIFFH is the first weekend in April and we got the email just the other day that we've been accepted! HUZZAH! This is technically the THIRD Festival, but really, I look at this as the first. This is the one that will show the movie in a theater. To a crowd of physical people.

I watched LOCKE last night and one of the big themes and phrases was "the difference between once and never is the whole world." First film, officially accepted into a Film Festival - and the Creative Director is Joe Carnahan! 

This is particularly cool for me for a few reasons - first, it's in Maryland, where I was born, where half  my family is, and close to the other half of my family in Pittsburgh! (Well, we're in thirds, really, but I digress...)  But also, I've moved on. I had entrenched myself in months of pushing and tweaking and submitting and this was a kind of obsession for a short time. I connected getting into festivals with worth of some kind, be it my own, the film's, my creativity, etc etc, which is balogna. It's numbers, pure and simple. 

This is gonna be fun. Specifics and things are supposed to be coming next week or so, but I gotta make this one.  Only one time you can attend your "World, U.S., and Maryland premiere"!

As Jonny says, "Boom."