A lot going on...

It's been some time since I have updated the blog. When we last left Chuck, he had finished a informal screening of the film in New York. Since then we have had a few more press inquiries, and to our surprise, a request from two festivals in France to send the film for consideration.

As for festivals submissions we are 0 for 3 right not (Sundance, Slamdance and Palm Springs International festivals all said "thanks but no thanks"). I knew Sundance was a no go just because of our subject matter, as for the other two I really had no clue if we were a good fit.

We got our first mention on a actual film industry blog (Cinematical.com) and they had some nice comments on the trailer, with a comment saying that the film seems like a good fit for SXSW, which made me happy as that is the fest I hope we can get accecpted to. We hear about SXSW sometime the end of January so stayed tuned.

Interview with Poptub!

Before the screening in New York, I was asked to do a quick interview with Maria Sansone of Poptub about the documentary. They did a great job of cutting together the interview with excerpts from the trailer (which is a good thing because the less time I am on camera the better, and I suspect most people would be watching Maria anyway!)

It's nice to get some initial press going for the film and I am still getting use to this whole interview thing. I never really thought that I'd be doing interviews about the film..I figured that I would just make this film, put it out there and that would be it. Now, it things like putting together press kits, publicity photos, bios, etc. Phew!

Here is the the interview. Thanks again to everyone at Poptub!

Interview with BBC Radio's Pods and Blogs show

Who would have guessed that my first piece of media to promote the film would come from the UK?

I did a phone interview with Jamillah Knowles of the show "Pods and Blogs" on BBC radio's 5 Live show. I was the second guest on the podcast and I had a great time talking with Jamilla about the film. You can listen to the interview here.

Interview with Tilzy.tv at NYC Screening

I had a chance to do a quick interview with Josh Cohen of Tilzy.tv right after the screening in New York.

It's strange doing interviews after being on the other side of the camera asking the questions and I have to admit I'm not very good at it yet. Perhaps some media training is in order (Nalts, are you available?)

Anyway Josh had some great questions for me including the one I had not prepared for and that was "Why are you not posting the film in YouTube?"

Here is a link to the interview

Screening in New York at FYI

On Wednesday October 22nd we had a small screening at For Your Imagination studios in New York, with Paul Kontonis of FYI as the host. It was a fun evening with a small group (about25-30 folks) and the film seemed very well received.

Before the screening, I did an interview with Maria Sansone of PopTub, and afterwords another interview with Josh Cohen of Tilzy.tv. I will post links to both in separate posts later.

Our good friend (and one of the stars of the film) Kevin Nalty ("Nalts") helped pull this screening together. (Thats Nalts above doing an interview of me for Daisy Whitney's New Media Minute)

New Trailer up...

I posted a new trailer for the film. I think this one better represents more of what the documentary is about. Pulled the first one down from YouTube last night as it did not really tell too much about the film and this new one is a much better representation of the content.

Burn them, bundle them, fedEx them out!

Past few days spent preparing DVD screener copies to send out to festivals. Today sent out the submissions to SXSW, San Francisco International, Palm Springs International and Slamdance.

Next up is Tribeca.

Festival Submissions

Beginning the process of submitting to festivals now. The Sundance submission is already in and today I registered for both the San Francisco International Festival and the Palm Springs International Festival.

We are already registered for submission to South By Southwest (SXSW) but the final submission date is not until December so there is plenty of time to get the DVD out to Austin.

Just when you think you are finished with the post production a few little things crop up and need changing. Adam McChane (the sound editor on the film) heard a few little fixes in the audio during the screening this weekend and he wants to make a few tweaks. Those will happen this week so the SF and Palm Springs submissions will be ready to go by Friday.

The other task this week is to get out a press release to media outlets (CNET, Wired, etc.).

Screening

We hosted a screening for the film last night at the Saul Zanetz Media Center in Berkeley, California last night. It was the first public showing of the film since post production completed about two weeks ago.

Besides family and friends, Cory Williams, Nick James and Travis and Jonathan (red state update) were in attendance. (That's my niece Kayla who apparently is a big Mr. Safety fan!)

The evening went well and the film seemed to be well received. I spent most of the screening sitting in the back of the theater with sweaty palms and to be honest with you most of the evening now seems like a blur.

It's a very strange feeling sitting in the dark watching your film come to life in front of a room full of people (even if they are your friends and family, it's still nerve racking!) Next showing will be at YouTube sometime in October for the staff in San Bruno.