Long time no see . . . [news]

Hi Beth (what would I do without you Beth?).... and anyone else that stumbles here.

So, it has been some time since my last entry into cyber space. Let's see, what has been going on...?

Ok, first, The McPassion concluded its 40 day and 40 night Internet run. Rather than copy and paste, I'll point anyone that cares to my wrap-up and final thoughts (as well as Rik's) at The McPassion web site: http://TheMcPassion.com -- you'll have to click on the button along the bottom that says "Discussion," and from there it's pretty clear . . .

The McPassion screened twice at The Newport Beach International Film Festival in April. I had a short film in their festival last year too (Movies Are Better), but I wasn't able to get down there. This year I really wanted to go. Heck, it's only about an hour or so from L.A. So, Rik and I decided to head down there to see the film for the first time with an actual audience. I invited my friend Eric whom I'd met on Rik's film The Least of These some years ago, and whom I have later worked with on several projects in varying capacities, including Eric helping me out when I was doing casting on The McPassion. The guy has produced a feature film, but he's not above helping out when and where he can. He's a good guy.

We got a later start than I had hoped, due to me finishing an editing job a little later than I had expected that morning and I had to drop it off at the boutique post facility in Hollywood I have been working with for some time now. Consequently, we got down to Newport Beach too late to see one of the documentary films we had hoped to catch. That was OK too because we were all very hungry at that point. So, the festival staff pointed us to a few different restaurants. We decided on a burger place called Red Robin. We stuffed our faces and planned our attack for the rest of the day (our film screened at 9pm).

Nothing was really grabbing out attention, so we decided to watch a mainstream film, Thank You For Smoking. I joked, "nothing like driving all this was to see a film we could have seen in Burbank!" But it was a good film, and a far side better than any of the festival films we could have seen. If the festival films were free, we'd have probably gone to see one, but they only gave us one festival pass, being that we were just a short film. I enjoyed the film, as did Eric. Rik on the other hand fell asleep! It was a bit slowly paced, but it was good. That killed some time and we went and had a beer while we waited for the next festival film we thought we'd like to see. We then caught a feature film shot on DV that had some good acting but no story. It was a road-trip film that really went nowhere (on many levels). But we survived.

Then it was back to The Red Robin for some beers and appetizers while we waited for the 9:00pm screening. While we hung-out, I saw that there was a McDonald's in the complex. So, I got Eric to grab his cell phone and head over with me to grab some snaps with The McPassion DVD box. When Eric sends me the pics, I'll post them here.

The McPassion had screened two nights previous as part of a shorts program titled "Sofa King Funny Shorts" -- all comedies. It would have been nice to see how it faired amongst other comedies, especially since we closed that program. This night we were in a program called "The Mix Tape." As it turned out, we were the only comedy! We were the 3rd film to screen in the line-up and we followed a very slowly paced, but really well shot and emotionally engaging short film called Now You See Me. Now You Don't with a very Sixth Sense feel and twist at the end (the film went on to win the award at the festival for Best Short Film Director). So, Rik and I are shaking our heads, jabbing each other in the sides with our elbows, trying not to laugh too hard at our misfortune, lamenting that our irreverent comedy was going to follow this amazingly emotional film . . . . yikes!

So, The McPassion starts . . . there's a couple laughs right off the bat at the intro quote, some people are getting that it's a comedy right away -- good . . . then Bill's great voice-over boomed throughout the large theater. I held my breath . . . the meal box is revealed and there's a good amount of laughter. . . . thank goodness. I wish I had brought a tape recorder to capture where the laughs (and gasps) came throughout the film. Overall, the reaction was pretty good and Eric was really pumped by the audience response (he told us afterward).

Rik and I breathed a sigh of relief and enjoyed the remaining short films. All of the films were really well done and had budgets much, much larger than ours. One film that I thought was really well done (in addition to Now You See Me. Now You Don't) was Rose. It was incredibly well shot and art-directed, and the leads were engaging. It had a very Jean-Pierre Jeunet feel to it -- like he did with Amelie -- but even moreso. It also incorporated some CGI. I want to get in touch with the filmmaker and see if I can get a copy of it, as well as see his previous films.

After the screening we joined the other filmmakers up front for a Q & A session. I was waiting to get slammed by someone in the audience, but luckily that never came. The best was when I was asked, "Why did you make this film?" And I just pointed and said, "'Cause Rik asked if I'd direct it." But Rik answered, touching on the incarnation of the film. Many thought the fim was funny and the moderator said he really wanted to know when the hammers would be on the market, because he really wanted one. Afterward we talked with one of the other fimmakers and a couple of the film festival staff, including our program moderator. Rik had thought to bring some DVD copies of the film along, so I gave them each a copy before we headed back to L.A.

Ok . . . that's a pretty good update for now. I'm sure you're bored to tears if you actually made it this far; and I have an episode of The Sopranos to watch in a few minutes. So, I'll add more later!

~~~