Found out yesterday that “The Dead Can’t Dance” will screen at the Southern Winds Film Festival in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to be held Sept. 10 and 11. Yay! It’s nice to be wanted.

I’ll probably drive down to attend, along with some cast and crew peeps, possibly. I have several friends and family in that area, so should be a blast!

Lots more festivals pending, more submissions on the horizon, as well. Movin’ on,
-r.

Film Festival Rejection No. 3: Atlanta Horror Film Festival

I didn’t even get a form letter rejection e-mail or anything, just this listing on my Withoutabox.com festival submission status page: DECISION: NOT ACCEPTED.

That’s a bit harsh! I’ve always thought the form e-mails were a little silly, and I actually look forward to seeing how they will be worded, because they’re all almost laughable the same. {I’d much rather get an acceptance message, though, for sure.) But this just seemed so, well, RUDE. I recently got e-mails from the Sedona Intl. Film Festival and the Coney Island Film Festival, thanking me for submitting, which I thought was really nice. I know it’s all a lot of work to manage, but come on…

So we’re 3 and 1 for festivals. It’s going to be interesting to see how we do at some of these niche festivals I’m submitting to. If they’re wanting gory blood-and-guts and naked girls running around screaming being chased by a maniac in a hockey mask, well, thats not us. Some of the festivals have different categories, such as horror comedy, etc. So maybe we’ll slide into some of those. Or, maybe not. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Lots more notifications to come. Some of them with good news, I hope.

By the way, you can now register to join our mailing list for all news related to “The Dead Can’t Dance” over at the Harmy site. So get on over there! I promise to pithy.

Have a nice weekend,
-r.

At this point, we have 17 film festival submissions pending. We’ll be lucky if we get into even a few of them. We’ll just throw the film out there and see who — if anyone — bites. It’s really like playing a slot machine. Sooner or later, hopefully, you’ll hit a jackpot.

So far, the festivals I’ve submitted to are pretty varied, including big-name ones that we have no chance of getting into whatsoever (the New York Film Festival, for instance), some niche festivals I really hope we do get into (please, please, please Fantastic Fest in Austin) and several Native festivals (American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco again looks very promising).

It hasn’t been cheap. So far this summer, I’ve spent $530 in submission fees (not including the late $100 submission fee to SXSW last December). I’ve get the rest of the summer mostly scheduled, and it looks like we’ll spend at least that much more in submissions before the end of the year.

I’m already submitting to some festivals that don’t even take place until next Spring. And I’m submitting to some ridiculously impossible festivals, too, just because it’s fun to imagine myself going there (the Amsterdam Film Festival, for instance).

All in all, you can’t get in if you don’t try, so might as well try. If you can afford it (speaking of, I’ve started a weekend job as a banquet server for my friend Ann, which helps defray some of these costs, and it forces me to exercise).

So, we’ll see. We won’t start hearing back on these festival submissions until about the beginning of August, then the notifications will come in steady waves after that. I sincerely hope some bite. But I’ve got to prepare myself for an onslaught of rejections, too.

It’s a scary place to be, in a way. But I’m ready to head into battle. My armor is up. Wish me luck.

Waiting in the wings,
-r.

After six months in the making, my dear friend and collaborator Wade Hampton has finished his short film/music video “GOODING: No One Gets Out Alive,” and all of us involved couldn’t be more ecstatic.

I’m just happy to see Wade complete a new film (he’s been wanting to work on a new one, and our friend Gooding had wanted him to do a music video, but nothing really gelled until now). It was a pleasure being on Wade’s set, and the photography by Wade and rock star Lonny Quattlebaum is superb. I’m very happy to be involved with the project.

It’s honestly also the only time you will probably ever see me in a cowboy hat. But, you never know…

Please check out the film, link it on to others and enjoy. It’s 15 minutes of wonderful weirdness, so be prepared. “Experimental” would only begin to describe this work. I’m terrible at this kind of filmmaking. Wade soars. (The film will also be shown before our special Halloween screening of “The Dead Can’t Dance” on Oct. 29 at the Orpheum Theatre.)

Cowboy mosyin’ on,
-r.
Watch “GOODING: No One Gets Out Alive”

As i start work on my next script, I also am looking for funding opportunities.

This time around, I am going to actively hunt for grants. It’s a lot of work just finding them, much less filling out all the applications and getting your sample reel together, etc. But as I find them, I’ll try to post them here.

Just today, I completed an application for a grant from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.

There’s also a website devoted to helping artists raise money for their projects, but in a collaborative way. Indiegogo helps bands, visual artists and filmmakers raise money to fund their work by letting “fans” throw some change their way via PayPal. You can read about anything that raises your interest, and if you feel like it, you can toss a Fiver their way (or whatever). Every little bit helps, and believe me, it’s much appreciated.

Also found a cool new blog that I am going to start checking a lot called DIY Filmmaker Sujewa, which offers links and news of interest to filmmakers doing it all themselves. Which is, you know, me. It’s pretty cool.

Also, in our own film news, our Special Halloween Encore Screening of “The Dead Can’t Dance” will be Friday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m., again at the Orpheum Theatre. And my good friend Wade Hampton’s new short film “GOODING: No One Gets Out Alive” will debut next week. It’s pretty awesome. And I’m not just talking about the scenes I’m in, either. Ha.

TTYL,
-r.

WOW, I have been SWAMPED. Just haven’t had a chance to blog. Made it back from Montreal last week just fine, where I had an awesome time, made new, cool friends and came back with a few personal revelations.

First off at the First Peoples’ Festival, we were all finding that attendance was pretty low for everything. So I wasn’t too disappointed when the turnout for our screening was around 25 people.

It turned out that there were several other festivals going on at the same time in downtown Montreal, and the First Peoples’ Festival itself had several events going on at the same time.

But I didn’t care. I was just in Montreal to have a great time, and I did. It was my reward for all the hard work and stress I had endured over the past year-and-a-half. I really hadn’t had any kind of break since January of 2009.

But in Montreal, I made two new great friends, Erik and Trevor, who I pretty much hung out with the whole time at the festival. They really liked “The Dead Can’t Dance,” too, so that was very cool.

It was particularly rewarding because Trevor is a writer for Canadian TV, and directs an animated children’s show. Cool stuff. We hung out one night having beers swapping stories and talking about everything from writing to our festival journeys to films to our families to what kind of food we like. Great guy, and we had a blast.

It turned out Erik and I were neighbors where we were staying, so we walked (I spent the whole time walking, really) to a cool place to have brunch. Forgot what the name of it was, but I had whole wheat crepes and an amazing sculpture of fresh fruit. Man, it was incredible! And Erik was very nice, in general.

Then, coming home (which took a long time crossing customs, etc.), I had an epiphany. Well, several epiphanies. For one, it was great seeing “The Dead Can’t Dance” again. It was kind of like visiting old friends (even though I am NOT happy with our DigiBeta transfer, which will be addressed). It’s truly a remarkable thing that we pulled off, and I’m immensely proud of it.

I also realized (or rather, remembered, perhaps) that I am an anomaly. I’m also a contradictory one, sometimes, because:

– I am not particularly good looking nor handsome. But I photograph well.

– I am not charismatic, but I usually make new friends wherever I go.

– I don’t care if someone dismisses me, because they have no idea how amazing I am. And its truly their loss.

– I am not only liked and loved, but I am cherished.

– I am talented. And I’ve never thought that. I figured if I could do this, anyone can. But really, that’s not the case. It takes an incredible amount of courage, faith, conviction, and yes, an inkling of talent. Even if nothing comes of this film, if it doesn’t get into any more film festivals, if the whole world ignores it, there are very few people who can hand over a DVD and say, “I wrote, produced, edited, directed and starred in this.” And to see how big it is in scope is truly amazing.

So, my trip resulted in some healthy self-realization. (I, of course, mean none of this in a narcissistic way. Even if I did, I’m worth it. Ha.)

Now, on to much more things. We should have a wave of festival notifications coming soon and I’m braced for yays or nays either way, I’ve got a new script treatment I’m working on, I’m applying for a grant, and our special Halloween screening of “The Dead Can’t Dance” is confirmed: Friday, Oct. 29, at 7:30 p.m., again at the Orpheum Theatre.

So there’s lots going on. And I feel — absolutely, completely, simply — great. I hope it lasts.
-r.