Premiere Screening

On Saturday, October 15, we had our premiere screening for cast and crew, donors and friends. We rented out the Downtown Independent in Los Angeles, which is a cool little one-screen theater.

At this point I’d been to a couple film festivals where the movie had gotten a very positive reception, but I was nervous about this screening. For the first time we’d be showing the movie to the people who had given their money, time and creative energies to make it. I really hoped they’d respond to it and feel that it had all been worth it.

My girlfriend Emily and I got there about 6pm and met up with Nathan, his wife Laura, and her mother Margaret. Together we set up the 50 or so gift bags Emily and I had put together the previous night. The bags were stuffed with DVDs, baseball hats and posters as gifts for donors, cast and crew. Meanwhile, I set up a slideshow of behind-the-scenes production stills to loop on the monitors in the lobby.

Around 6:30 the lobby started to fill up. It was great seeing so many supporters, including a lot of folks I hadn’t seen since we were on set back in 2009. We all mingled and caught up in the lobby until 7pm, at which point it was time for the movie.

Once everyone was seated, Nathan and I stepped to the front and each said a few words, just to thank everyone for being there and for everything they’d given to make the movie a reality. And then it was showtime. The lights went down, and the movie started…

Without sound. Yup, the technical glitch for the evening had made its appearance. I ran up to the projection booth, but of course the projectionist was already aware of the problem and said he’d restart the movie in a minute. I returned to the theater and told the rest of the audience to hold tight, then sat back down to wait in the dark, hoping the projectionist would in fact be able to fix the problem.

As I sat there, nervous, I heard a my cousin Katherine’s voice (during production, she’d been our location assistant and all-around problem-solver). She called out, “Hey Dave, what do you call someone who loves hot chocolate?” I said, “What?” and she said, “A cocoa-nut.” Everyone laughed—tension broken. Thank you Katherine! My friend Lowell (who had also helped out on set as well as donating to the production) shouted out another riddle, further lightening the mood.

After one more false start, which prompted me to promise everyone that this was not, in fact, a silent film, they got the problem fixed and the movie started, this time with full surround sound. Judging from the crowd reaction, I think the screening went really well. Afterward, I asked the cast and crew in attendance to stand for some well-earned applause. Then we adjourned to the afterparty at The Escondite, where we took over the outdoor seating area and ate and drank and talked into the evening.

I just want to say one more huge thank you to everyone who came out to the screening, and for anyone who couldn’t be there, keep watching this space—we’ve got the movie out to several local festivals, so hopefully there will be more screenings in Southern California in coming months.