Film Festivals and Movie Premiers

Last Sunday the film I co-wrote, Thanksgiving, was shown at the Image Out Film Festival. I honestly wasn't looking forward to going. I've only seen the finished film on my laptop (about fifteen times). But nothing compares to seeing something you wrote up on a big screen. It was shown at the Dryden Theater at the Eastman House. My dad and his wife and Mike were there, plus my girlfriend that I wrote the film with. It brought tears to my eyes to see my name on the screen as a writer. To have a gay audience laugh at gay jokes that I wrote was unforgettable.

Unfortunately after ours was a documentary over an hour long about gays, trans genders, etc. It took everything in me to sit through the entire thing. It was all over the place and didn't focus on anything in particular. I hated it, and I feel bad saying that because I realize how much other people loved it. If it had been about twenty minutes it would have been OK. But over an hour...yikes.

After we left, Mike realized he didn't have his iPhone with him. He blamed me saying I rushed him out of there after the documentary. Which is true. After two trips back to the Dryden, someone had found it and gave it back.

Tuesday night about eight films from the Summer Shorts Challenge through Rochester Movie Makers was shown at Water Street Music Hall. I was really excited to have The Drug Dealer play in front of an audience. Thanksgiving played again also. It meant so much to me that our friends, Zach and Lisa, came that night. I invited a lot of people and they're the only ones who came. Next time I have a film play, I'm not inviting anyone. I'm not trying to sound over dramatic like anyone would really care that I made a film, but it meant a lot to me. A year ago at this time I was ready to give up writing (not really, just threatening to) because I wasn't getting anywhere. Since January when I decided to take every writing opportunity that came my way, I co-wrote a film that played at a festival and wrote and directed another. That's a huge deal to me. But I do understand that it isn't a huge deal to anyone else. But, honestly, if someone I loved did something they were proud of, I'd be right there with them to celebrate. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Tuesday night was a sell-out at WSMH. We didn't think we'd make enough to pay for the bartender, bouncer, etc. but we made more than enough so the filmmakers didn't have to put in. I was a little disappointed by the Drug Dealer. The sound was horrible and a lot of the jokes didn't get laughs even though they did during script reads. There was a loud humming from the restaurant's air conditioner and the score (music) was way too loud. I was actually prouder of Thanksgiving. That got a lot of laughs, though as my gay friend/director pointed out, the gays laughed harder.

All in all it was an unforgettable week in my writing career.