The Reason I Make Movies: 2012 Phoenix Film Festival (Day 3 & 4)

Click here to read about Day 1 & 2

Note: Click images to enlarge

Day 3 (Fri – March 30) – First screening

We woke up early…realllly early (5:45am).  Chris LaMont (Festival President @thechrislamont) had told us the day before that he would be appearing on the NBC morning news (click here to view the clip) to promote the festival — and that SCHERMANN SONG would be one he’d mention on the air.  We were excited to see our film on live TV!

After seeing the show, we grabbed a bite – a free complimentary breakfast courtesy of the hotel and headed over to the theaters to participate in the Educational Outreach Program (run by the passionate filmmaker Bob Marquis @bizmarquis) that had us speaking with middle/high school kids who were interested in film.   Christina Rose (@Christinarose12) and I showed clips and talked to the kids along with filmmakers Scott Storm (@stormwatcher6), his lead in the film WE RUN SH*T James Di Fiore and filmmaker Bivas Biswas (“PARANOIA”).  It was fun to talk about the different paths that everyone had taken to get where they are. 

After the talk ended, it was around 11:30am.  Everyone was anxious as we had our very first screening at 3:30pm. We took a quick lunch break, then met up with Joe Schermann (@JoeSchermann), composer Ken Lampl and actor/producer Daryl Ray Carliles (@DarylRay) to situate ourselves before the screening.  We had Playbill type programs to hand out to our ticket-holders.  I wanted to make it feel as if they were attending a Broadway show.  People seemed to like them.

Here’s a peek at what happened before the screening (with a surprise special guest making an appearance):

Our screening came and went so fast.  The projection and sound in the state of the art theater blew my mind.  I couldn’t believe how great it looked on the big screen (yes kids, the 5D can look great with a nice projector) and the 2.0 sound was pretty amazing, in that it sounded much more than just a simple stereo mix when you have literally 10+ speakers going on all around the auditorium.

The Q&A went very well.  People seemed to like the film, but we couldn’t tell just yet as it wasn’t a very vocal audience.  Then I was off to sit in on a seminar with other filmmakers (Annie Howell “small, beautifully MOVING PARTS“; Kurt Kuenne “SHUFFLE“; Zachary Rothman “ALCHEMY AND OTHER IMPERFECTIONS“) talking about the challenges and learning lessons about bringing your script to the screen.

Afterwards, the cast/crew and I did an interview with Nerd Repository.   When it finished, we went to support a friend’s screening and then it was off to the party to close out the night.

Day 4 (Sat – March 31) – Second screening

Buzz was growing.  Our screening was fuller than the day before.  The best part was at the end, during our Q&A, we mentioned we had soundtracks available and Roy (a man at least in his 70s) leaped out of his seat and rushed the stage to get one.  It was a sight to see. 

We also had Kasim, a volunteer at the fest, come up to us after and tell us that he was there at first to make fun of the film with his friend for a few minutes, but soon after found himself sucked in and staying the whole way through.  Here’s his amazing and thoughtful review via IMDB (user “kaslam311″).

When we exited the theater into the hallway, there was much excitement as people wanted autographs from our actors and had so much praise for all the various elements in the film.  We were on cloud 9.  People — young and old, men and women — loved our movie.  Then this happened (this is Roy from our screening):

I also saw this tweet from filmmaker Scooter Downey (@inthebloodmovie) which was very humbling:

loved @SchermannSong from the Phoenix Film Festival.fav film of the fest!congrats guys!@grking @Christinarose12

— It’s In The Blood (@inthebloodmovie) March 31, 2012

Next, Christina Rose sat in on an acting panel with Blayne Weaver (@blayneweaver) and Sean Elliot (IT’S IN THE BLOOD). I helped filmed their discussion (video coming soon) which was entertaining and informative. Man, actors are so damn charming. Once they finished up, Christina, Joe and I jumped into a TRAIN WRECK IN PROGRESS podcast interview with Elizabeth Kennedy Baker. We had a lot of fun answering her questions.

We then caught a screening and afterwards headed out to a big dinner with friends old and new: Paul Osborne (@Paulmakesmovies), Leslie Wimmer Osborne (@lwimmer2u), Scott Storm, Chad McClarnon (@chadmcclarnon), Rick Vaicius (@FlywayFilmFest), Nathan Cole (@Clumsy_Monster – yes he drove in from LA!), Justin Hedges (@JustinWHedges), Laura Hedges (@hedgeslaura) as well as some new local friends we met at the fest.

Our group then headed to that night’s party and closed it down around 1:30am.  While there, people were coming up to the cast and me and sharing stories about how they loved our film and how much they were hearing around the fest that it was the “one to see”, a “sleeper hit” and people’s favorite at the fest.  Having put two long, hard years into making it, I was so humbled and thankful on how it was being received.  We were definitely on a high from the screening that day.

NEXT UP: The Last Screening and Awards Night