Day 2 Sundance

DAY 2

Here’s how it works. To get tickets to the films, you need to get in line at the Sundance headquarters, first thing in the morning, before they sell out.  Even with a badge, you can only purchase tickets for that day and the next. You can only buy 4 tickets for a screening, and no more than a total of 20 tickets at a time. Each ticket is $15.00, and you can’t get tickets for the film you represent.  I got a late start and by the time I got in line to get tickets, the line was out the door and everything was sold out. Yikes!

Note to self: Tomorrow - get up at 6:30am and get your ass to the ticket counter ASAP.

Then back on the bus. For anyone who’s going to Sundance, The buses are usually crowded and seem to go every which way, but it is also one of the best places to meet people.  Rarely did I get on a bus when I didn’t hand out a card for Black Metal or tell people about my own short film Static. A couple of times I even handed out my own card.

In the afternoon, I walked to main street, to check out a few places/parties. I hand out Black Metal cards. Lauren is shooting endless video. I mean she never stops shooting!  Because I’m writing this after I’ve gotten back to Austin, I think it’s Friday that Lauren shoots video of Jonny interviewing Kat and then Visa Versa. It’s super cute and people stop to watch what’s going on. I do my duty as Publicist and hand out post cards and tell people to check it out the film on Youtube, etc. etc. etc.

I do remember that nights’ Vimeo Party.  It was definitely the best party of the whole festival! The DJ was awesome and played a lot of old school remixed. Everyone was dancing.  Maybe it was the music, or because I had met some really nice filmmakers, or saw Alfred who is always so nice, or maybe I was just determined to have fun and didn’t give a damn anymore, but it felt like I had every right to be there, as much as anyone else.  I think I’ve figured this out. 

Barbra Streisand! (No I didn't see her.)

It’s the evening of our first day and after settling in, we take off for dinner. We end up in a packed bar and manage to find a table upstairs, that’s outside.  It’s incredibly cold, but the waitress assures us that it will be warm enough. Truthfully, I’m not too convinced the patio heater is going to keep me from getting frostbite.

Farrah joins us and says she just saw Barbra Streisand downstairs!  This seems really close, like I almost saw her myself. Like, if I had just been downstairs, across the street, walking in the opposite direction, I might have almost seen Barbra Streisand too!   I suddenly have that stupid daydream where I meet someone famous, and they ask me to hang out with them. You could practically see it play out in a little thought bubble above my head. Barbra likes my coat and asks me where I got it. I comment that her nails are stunning and perfect.  I lament that my boots are not that good at keeping out of the cold. She thinks they’re cute, but I should go with them to the Ugg gifting suite and pick out a few new pair. “Come on, Leslie (she calls me by my name!) we’re heading over there now! ... “ You get the idea.

But then the waitress comes with my beer, and I’m brought back to the reality that I’m sitting in the cold, squished around a table, eating greasy bar food. I still have no idea what is going on. Folks are talking about which films they’re going to see, how to get tickets, where the opening party is held, etc.  There’s a lot of film talk, but I still feel too overwhelmed to take it all in.

Time to hit the opening party. It’s at the ski base lodge.  As I mentioned earlier, I was just in Park City for a family vacation and the little coffee shop where the boys and hubby and I would go for hot coco, has been turned into a coat check room.  I’m suddenly overwhelmed with missing my boys. Then insecurity settles on me like a mantle. Everyone seems to know everyone else, and I don’t know anyone.   So I do what I always do when my comfort zone has left the building.  I become determined. I put on a smile, march into the room, pretend I belong, and no one is the wiser.

P.S. I love you Barbra Streisand, and if you want to hang out, I’m totally down with that!

DAY 1 - SUNDANCE

Amazingly, we got to Salt Lake City and then to our condo in Park City. I have to tell you that this is incredibly weird for me, because it was only two weeks earlier, that I was out here with my family for a holiday ski trip. We had wonderful family time, skied our brains out, big family dinners, hot coco, crazy jumps into the hot tub, pajama movie nights, and everything wonderful.  So now, as we come into town, I’m thinking to myself , “Look there’s the grocery store that we shopped in. There’s ski base where we got candy apples and chocolate dipped marshmallow. We parked there and there and…”  now really miss my family!!

I try not to look homesick, as we drag our suitcases down the stairs, through the complex to our little condo.  Jonny and Robin are already there, and so is Corey. We met on the set of Black Metal, but I don’t think he remembers me.  That’s cool though. When I’m on set, I’m super focused and not the most social person.  Anyway, Kat and I dump our stuff in our room and all of us get ready to hike over to Sundance Headquarters for our badges. 

As we make our way there, it starts to sink in that I’m here at Sundance. The real Sundance Film Festival. OMG! We walk into the Sundance Headquarters in the Marriot, and I’m trying to be all business, because if I walk around like a dork, I’m sure I’ll be pegged for an imposter and sent home. So I try to walk the walk. We get our badges.  I try to look busy with the festival schedule. Again, nobody points me out. I think I can do this. I’m here on official business after all. But I still feel conspicuous. Maybe everybody else does too. I look over at Kat. She seems to know the routine and sees lots of people she knows. Lauren, who is documenting all of this for Arts and Labor is preoccupied shooting video. Jonny’s been here before and it totally cool with everything too. I look at my new Sundance badge and can’t believe I’m actually here.

Back at the condo, I’m trying to make sense of the film schedule, the party schedule and how the hell do I get to different places.

It’s like I’ve been shot out of a cannon. 

No love from Delta

Update: Our flight was cancelled. The plane that was to leave tomorrow morning with all of the filmmakers in Austin heading to Sundance, has been cancelled. We are scrambling. Thanks Delta for not being very helpful.

Update Update: Some of us are on an earlier flight and going to places like Detriot. Some of us drove down to San Antonio, some of us can’t even leave and have to fly our tomorrow or even the next day. Way to go Delta grrr….

Getting it together and Not Quitting

-      Got the interviews put together for Victor Diaz of YNN, and the filmmakers/actors, heading to Sundance and Slamdance.

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-       Picked up materials to hand out at Sundance for Black Metal (posters, buttons, cards).

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-       Have the condo information, the shuttle information, the party calendar and film listings.

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-       Just need to do is go home pack up the bag and spend time with my kiddo and spouse.

-       Most folks don’t know it, but I really hate to be away from my family. I love the time in the car when I get my 14 yr old from school and he tells me about his day.  A lot of parents don’t get that and I certainly don’t take it for granted. I’ll be gone for a week and already know I’m going to really miss him. I’m also worried about more stupid insecure things, like ending up a wallflower, or looking and/or  sounding stupid. Oh and lets not forget, everyone there is going to be young and have the world at their feet, while I’m old as earth crust and laboring on one short film after another.

-      Thinking about all of this has given me a huge panic attack and it occurs to me that I’ve lost my marbles to be going to this thing.  I’m feeling really insignificant.  But like everything else in life, I won’t quit. I’ll go because that’s what I do. I don’t quit. Ever. 

Sundance busy!

Suddenly everything is really busy. I don’t think I’ll get my actors reel done in time before I leave for Sundance, but I’m o.k. with it, (which should really tell me something).  I’m behind in post on my short film Static, and all of those hundreds of emails I sent out to press people, are coming back to me. My inbox is bursting!

It’s also occurred to me that I don’t have any snow boots and I’m concerned my 20year old winter coat, may not last the trip.

But I’m going to Sundance which means I’m going to ignore the things I really should be getting for my trip (long underwear and warm socks) and doing stuff that is completely unnecessary, like dying my hair purple and getting a black manicure.

For work though, I’m completely on it.  The reporters that came to the press junket (and those that couldn’t) are asking me for information about Black Metal and even films that I’m not a publicist for, but that’s totally cool. I’m very happy to connect the actors/filmmakers with the news folks.  There’s also one interview I’ve been trying to set up between Victor Diaz from YNN and the filmmakers/actors from the press junket and at certain times I feel like I’m trying to herd cats.  It’s going to work out but it’s going to take a lot more emails.

Fortunately, my producer, DJ Becker, has been working overtime to get our publicity material together for our short film Static.  I wish with all my heart she was coming. This is going to be an experience to be sure, but sometimes a little part of me imagines, very quietly, what this would all be like if it was our film Static, that was going too.

HEADING TO SUNDANCE

Jonny Mars in Black Metal

For me, a real homebody, to go to Sundance is a major step out of my comfort zone. I had worked on Black Metal, which is a Sundance competition short film, and the director Kat Candler (my friend and office mate) was telling me I totally had to go.  We’ll share a condo, see films, etc.  I had worked on her Sundance short film Hellion last year, and hadn’t gone. Kat said something about it being a lot of fun and I’ll meet lots of great people from all areas of film.  Plus, I’ll never find a greater concentration of film festival programmers anywhere!

She had me at the programmers.  I’m currently in post production on own short film Static,  that I shot last August, and I suddenly realized what Kat was telling me. Sundance could be an incredible opportunity to promote Static.  So I agreed to go. My official title would be Publicist for Black Metal . That’s what I did for Jumping Off Bridges years ago and since I seemed to be good at that sort of stuff, and I was happy to take on the role.

I started with doing a press junket at Austin Film Society for Black Metal and  several other local films that were making their way to Sundance and Slamdance (Hearts of Napalm, by Andrew Irvine,  Spark by Anne Silverstein and Pit Stop by Yen Tan). Then after the screenings,  I ushered (or bossed, depends on who you ask) filmmakers, actors, and journalists around, so that everyone could get time with each other for questions, photo’s etc., . I met some amazing journalists and from all accounts it went really well.

Then I started on the press releases. Lots of press releases, that went out to hundred of press outlets and people, about Black Metal.  I really love this film and its story. While working on set, I was riveted by Jonny Mars performance,  loved studying Heather Kafka’s work, the look of each shot, the direction, lighting, everything and more.  To talk up something I believe in is really fun, so I’ve loved championing it to the press and I’m excited to chat it up at Sundance. 

More Sundance coming soon.....

"SUBMERGED" is done!

It took a really long time, but my short film “Submerged,” is finally done and done! It had it’s premier at the Fort Lauderdale International Film fest in Octorber 2012, and it’s getting wonderful reviews.   It’s a short film about Jenny, a young teen, who sneaks out in hopes of a chance encounter with her life long crush, but he doesn’t recognize her from when they were children, or connect their shared tragedy.  “Submerged” is not the cute, bittersweet film that Eulogy Maker was and I think that has surprised a lot of folks. It’s grittier, has a harder, more disturbing story line, and I think the F bomb is dropped about three times.  I love it and maybe it will comes to a film festival near you!

Above is the official poster (or one sheet) for the film. It was painted by the incredibly talented artist and graphic designer, Lavanna Martin.  

submerged

I love this shot of Angela Powers as Jenny in my most recent short film, "submerged." She was wonderful to work with and I love how beautifully she portrayed the innocence and apprehension, that was required of the role.

More pictures to come! :)

Off the Grid Film Club: After months of hesitation, I am finally launchin...

Doing a live radio interview tomorrow from 12:30 to 1:pm MST!! If you're in Colorado, tune in to KAFM 88.1 or you can stream the station live athttp://kafmradio.org/ (so excited!)

Doing a live radio interview Tuesday Oct 11th from 12:30 to 1pm MST. If your in Colorado tune into KAFM 88.1 or you can stream it live at http://kafmradio.org/

Gretchen who is interviewing me, also will be reviewing the Eulogy Maker on Off the Grid Film Club. You can check out her blog at http://offthegridfilms.blogspot.com/

I'm so excited!