Grease Lighting!
Our premiere was triumphant! We played to a soldout audience of over 600 people in the glamorous Theatre One of the Directors’ Guild of America on Saturday night. I spoke before, which was a bit nerve wracking, but went over well. Here is what I said:
"Every filmmaker has exactly one opportunity to premiere her first film. I am thrilled to do so this evening with all of you.
I would like to thank Kim Yutani and the members of Outfest for so aptly pairing “Contemplating Emily” with “Loving Annabelle” and not just because of the present participle/name title which puts us in company with “Educating Rita”, “Chasing Amy” and, of course, “Kissing Jessica Stein”, but more importantly because these two films address a similar theme albeit in different light.
“Contemplating Emily” is a poetic treatment of a feature film project. My success at this juncture lies in leaving you, the audience, wanting more, for indeed, it is more that I hope to one day create with this story. Thank you."
She looked gorgeous fully projected and the sound was magnificent. Marilys’ music and film score was a hit. We will have our second screening on Sunday the 16th at noon. That evening will be the awards ceremony and then we will return to New York on Monday the 17th.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at a pool party on Mulholland Drive. The really wonderful thing about Outfest is that the festival is championed by the gay heavy hitters of Hollywood’s film industry. This means that we benefit from private invitations to their lovely homes. This one was spectacular and the experience unlike any I have ever had. The garden was beautiful, the views magnificent and the home very charming. I played in the pool which was complete with a waterfall and we made our rounds and talked with as many people as we could.
This morning Marilys and I attended an HBO sponsored breakfast panel about documentary filmmaking and this afternoon I attended a directors’ lunch sponsored by the DGA. I sat next to Randal Kleiser, who is mostly known for having directed “Grease”. I wish I could say I asked him intelligent questions and got him to impart critical industry wisdom on my behalf, but mostly we talked about the weather and the food. I gabbed much more comfortably with some of the other filmmakers in my league, however, and feel that I am starting to cultivate some camaraderie among them.
Marilys and I will try to get tickets for a dinner and a movie series for this evening. Tomorrow we have a VIP tour at Paramount in the afternoon.
Slowly the buzz is building about who we are and what we are on track to do. That is what I hope to continue to cultivate over the course of this next week.
I wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who have visited the website and made contributions to our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, over the course of the past few days. Your patronage sincerely helps us at this point in our process.
"Every filmmaker has exactly one opportunity to premiere her first film. I am thrilled to do so this evening with all of you.
I would like to thank Kim Yutani and the members of Outfest for so aptly pairing “Contemplating Emily” with “Loving Annabelle” and not just because of the present participle/name title which puts us in company with “Educating Rita”, “Chasing Amy” and, of course, “Kissing Jessica Stein”, but more importantly because these two films address a similar theme albeit in different light.
“Contemplating Emily” is a poetic treatment of a feature film project. My success at this juncture lies in leaving you, the audience, wanting more, for indeed, it is more that I hope to one day create with this story. Thank you."
She looked gorgeous fully projected and the sound was magnificent. Marilys’ music and film score was a hit. We will have our second screening on Sunday the 16th at noon. That evening will be the awards ceremony and then we will return to New York on Monday the 17th.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at a pool party on Mulholland Drive. The really wonderful thing about Outfest is that the festival is championed by the gay heavy hitters of Hollywood’s film industry. This means that we benefit from private invitations to their lovely homes. This one was spectacular and the experience unlike any I have ever had. The garden was beautiful, the views magnificent and the home very charming. I played in the pool which was complete with a waterfall and we made our rounds and talked with as many people as we could.
This morning Marilys and I attended an HBO sponsored breakfast panel about documentary filmmaking and this afternoon I attended a directors’ lunch sponsored by the DGA. I sat next to Randal Kleiser, who is mostly known for having directed “Grease”. I wish I could say I asked him intelligent questions and got him to impart critical industry wisdom on my behalf, but mostly we talked about the weather and the food. I gabbed much more comfortably with some of the other filmmakers in my league, however, and feel that I am starting to cultivate some camaraderie among them.
Marilys and I will try to get tickets for a dinner and a movie series for this evening. Tomorrow we have a VIP tour at Paramount in the afternoon.
Slowly the buzz is building about who we are and what we are on track to do. That is what I hope to continue to cultivate over the course of this next week.
I wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who have visited the website and made contributions to our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, over the course of the past few days. Your patronage sincerely helps us at this point in our process.
posted by Sesame at 5:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home