Naturally Optimistic

Got the official kiss-off today from (yet another) film festival. I was expecting this as I hadn't heard past the "you're in the 2nd round - congrats" email I got a couple weeks ago. The festival is only a month away so my expectations had dwindled. I don't know why this rejection hits me harder. Maybe because their selection process is more transparent; maybe because I would've loved to show my film in LA and see my old friends & stomping grounds; maybe because I'm just getting tired of rejections. Ah well...on to the next, I guess.

I'm up & ready to go this morning to take the Civil Servant test for Duluth. It's for a library job that I applied for back in December (they're timely, eh?). The libraries here in Duluth are open a lot more hours this year which is AWESOME which also means they are hiring a bunch of people. I guess the deluge of applicants for both librarians and library techs was overwhelming. So, now it's April. Anyway - I haven't taken a test in about a million years. I hope I remember what to do & act accordingly. In other news, no more news from the festival which makes me think that we are not getting in. I know they notify the ones that get in before they notify the ones that don't....so the longer the worse off, I guess. Ugh. In other other news - it's August's 2nd birthday today! I hope to have time later to post some cute pics of him recently. He's such a cutie-pie. I could eat him up daily...and I usually do! Okay- better not be late for the...

I am waiting to find out if THE LIFE OF RILEY has gotten into a film festival. I have played this game before. Many times. But this time...it just feels right. Maybe it feels right every time. Maybe that's why I am considered an optimist. This time I got an email saying that we made it to the "2nd Round" and that they will be deciding soon. Maybe the reason it didn't work out for me to go to Austin to do a show is because we'll get into this festival & then I'll go to LA for a week. Wouldn't that be fun...? Yes. So waiting. Obsessively checking email as they are past the "notify" date (but they said they would be). Waiting although I know they probably won't have things settled til May 1st. Waiting. Ugh! Waiting!! ( 2 years ago at this time I was waiting for something entirely different!)

I was hoping to end the NaBloPoMo with an entry exclaiming that we were going to Sundance in January with THE LIFE OF RILEY. Well, we're not. :-( Stupid dream. I hate getting sucked into hope every time I submit...but  considering the notify date is next Monday, that little glimmer of hope kept popping up. Until their automated email-bot sent me my rejection at 4:11am this morning.

GOD ROCKED just got into another festival. The Flyway Film Festival in Pepin, Wisconsin. October 22 through October 25. You should totally come! More details soon...

Why must artists be so tempermental? I mean really. Festival A sent back a very long and almost nasty email back to Jason after we ditched it. For the first time EXPLAINING things that probably would've made us feel a lot better about the festival to begin with! WTF? Now they are PISSY and demanding a RETRACTION (um, to whom?) and saying that this was "defamation" (um, I've never had a legit festival ask me for $$ - other than a submission fee before). Yeah, Fishy. Whatever. I refuse to let it get me riled up. My choice would be to not respond at all. But of course Jason's response is "we're at war now." Does it have to be so dramatic? Maybe this is why I'm not a "real" artist. *sigh*

Well, we pulled out of Festival A. Officially. After MUCH MUCH MUCH hemming & hawing, seeking advice from mentor-types, polling everyone we knew and ultimately relying on our own guts. Not sure if this will help or hurt us, but I figure if BOTH of us have yucky feelings about it, then it's probably not worth it. Now we're looking into scheduling a trip to LA in May or early June to do some casting for the film I'm directing THE LIFE OF RILEY. We're hoping to get a "name" of some sort as that's the only way these days to get decent festival play and/or distribution. Sad but true. Hopefully Festival B will come calling, if not, c'est la vie. I've learned to not get my hopes up (or crushed) by and for these festivals. My heart was already broken once this year, so I think I'm good for that. Meanwhile - anyone know any "celebs" who have time off late summer/early fall and would like to shoot a ultra-low budget film with me? We're ...

The festival is done, for us. We had a great turnout last night- we didn't sell out the house, but we were close. It was full of friends, family & complete strangers! It was very interesting to hear people's reactions through the film - where they laughed, where the gasped and where a few walked out. The Q&A was awesome. Jim Northrup really just nailed it and the audience, of course, loved him (he also introduced the film). The party afterward was also a great success. Lots of mingling and chatting. I got to see a lot of friends that I haven't seen in ages which was really great. I didn't have long enough to chat with EVERYONE which was frustrating and I felt a bit flighty as I jumped from convo to convo (sort of felt like I did at my wedding). THANK YOU to everyone who came out! The support was amazing and it really made it a great night. On to the next!

Just wanted to let you all know about our screening this weekend....a reminder, if you will.... WHITE MAN'S WORLD "World Premiere" Friday, April 24th 9:15pm St. Anthony Main Theater 115 Main Street - Minneapolis Party afterward at Pracna (right next door!) Here's what the press are saying: ‘Hilarious and irreverent, with a boon of quotable lines and scenes.’ -Christa Lawler, DNT ‘Page plays the perfect and effective, arrogant ignoramus.’ -Lana Leeper, The Reader ✭✭✭½ out of ✭✭✭✭ ‘A funny, vulgar and smart film about filmmaking.’ -Erik McClanahan, Vita.mn ‘Delightfully Offensive.’ -John Ervin, City Pages ‘Fearless.’ -Max Sparber, MNArtists.org It's not a film for everyone (ie: my mother) but we're getting great reviews and it would be awesome to pack the house! Hope to see you there!

Here's the latest quandry... GOD ROCKED is in Festival A in Hollywood next month. It is kind of small, lame festival - okay, there I said it. I'm happy to have a *free* screening in Hollywood but other than that I'm LESS than impressed with how this festival is being run (another story), where it's held, etc. Festival B just contacted me last night saying that they're VERY interested in showing GOD ROCKED. They are also in LA. They are a well established festival (medium sized?), playing in a MUCH better location, potential for the "right" people to see it higher...but they want LA PREMIERES which excludes us from Festival A. I don't know if I should withdraw from Festival A on the hopes of getting in Festival B (in June) or what. Any advice?

WHITE MAN'S WORLD (the film my mother calls "upsetting" - to say the least) has been chosen as an official selection of the 2009 Minneapolis-St. Paul Int'l Film Festival! Whohoo! I'll keep you posted on the screening details. The festival runs the last two weeks in April. Hope to see you there!

Hey y'all. I'm here in Texas. I'm tired. It's been a long day. Got up, got myself & Miss Dahlia packed up. Drove to Minneapolis...hung out with the triplets, my sister, my Dad and Dahlia all day. Dad drove me to the airport and he & Dahlia headed to Austin. Then I headed to the other Austin. The flight was fine, we are in a nice hotel. It is "cold" here (40 degrees when we arrived, but still 40 degrees warmer than when I left Duluth). It is raining. I like the rain but hope it doesn't rain all day tomorrow. And Saturday. The hotel is very nice. I have to PAY for Wifi which is totally lame, but I am an addict so there ya go. I'm looking forward to sleeping...all night, then eating a made-to-order free breakfast, then hitting the SXSW scene. That's it! G'night!

Perhaps if I just keep bitching enough I'll get what I want.... GOD ROCKED just took 2nd place (honorable mention) in the narrative feature category for the 2009 Fargo Film Festival! YEEEE-HAW! The email that they sent was incredibly kind & complimentary and I think we get hooked up with accommodations & travel.....now to find a(nother) babysitter for a week in March! egads!!

So we were just rejected from Vail which is pretty harsh since WE KNOW THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE FESTIVAL. If you can't get in that way, I'm not sure HOW you get in. It's getting old. I'm losing my umph.

Well, we finally got our SXSW rejection yesterday. One week out from the final notification date. One week! They've been sending rolling rejections out since Nov 16 so being 7 days shy of the final date made us a little optimistic. Probably too optimistic. I'm usually not affected by rejections because I'm so used to them and because I don't actually believe we'll ever get INTO a f'ing festival, but this was different and now I'm paying the price. In reality our little film cannot compete with films that have a budget 10x or 100x what ours was. It might be an "okay" film but it just doesn't have enough production value, sheen, gloss whatever to make it to the next level. That being said, we're still planning on GOING to SXSW to do the networking, schmoozing, guerilla campaigning but I was really hoping that this time we'd be the belle of the ball. Or at least a wallflower. I'm still hoping that at LEAST we get into Fargo for crying ...

Okay - I'm just about peeing in my pants because.... NEWTON'S DISEASE is an official selection at the 2007 Fargo Film Festival ! I was just checking my excel spreadsheet (I'm a dork I tell you!) that has my list of festivals submitted to and rejected from and I hadn't heard from a few of them. This post was originally going to be about me NOT getting into the DC festival (which we didn't - but I browse the films anyway) and went over to the Fargo website and lo and behold! THERE WE WERE!!!!!!!! Of course I immediately called Jason because I'm so excited! And I also practically simaultaneously called Steve and was excited all over again! The festival is March 7-10 so they're not too timely about letting their filmmakers know, but that means I CAN GO because I will be at my new job! Eeeeeeeeeek! I'm just beaming all over the place. Finally a chance for people who don't know us to see the film IN a theater (which very much helps with this film). Oh god,...