Mar. 30, 2006 - Bob
The screening at Phoenix Film Festival (cont'd)
Back at the hotel, it's still early afternoon and we have some time to kick back. I read a bit, but can't really sleep. I'm feeling dead in the water an hour or so before I want to get going so I hit the gym. That was the ticket. Got the blood pumping, now I'm rolling.
We head off to the screening. Dad drives and misses our turn. Whoops! No big deal as we're leaving (intentionally) quite early, but I'm a bit nervous about the reported awful traffic in Phoenix -- which we've hit a bit of here and there this week. Turns out to not really be a factor and we get to the theater around 6 PM -- T-Minus 90 minutes to show time.
A Phoenix Film Festival tells us where the line is to get in for the screening of tonight's movie -- unless we're the filmmakers, of course. We smile -- we got dibbs. No line for us!
I go to grab a copy of the film on DVD for them as they don't have it yet -- odd? I don't know. Whatever. I have a few copies. I also owe them a music CD I've asked to be played in the leadup to the film. Suddenly it doesn't seem so important -- all my grand ideas about the pre-show just don't seem so important. But I go to Circuit City anyway and conduct a frantic search of the CD department before settling on Jock Itch Jams (or something) with a few good songs and a few not so good ones. It's $5.99. It'll do. So it goes.
Back to theater. We go in for the picture/sound check. It looks and sounds great. I notice a few people filtering in. I hustle outside and see the line. It's good -- not great but good. Okay. Maybe we're talking about 150 people or so. It's not what I'd been told, but that's still a pretty good number. I look around after the last person goes in and notice...what's that? Another line!
"Is that for us?" I ask.
The festival staff member smiles and nods.
"Cool," I say and head outside to film this mob -- easily another 150, probably more! Wow -- this is getting pretty good. I'm told we're actually at over 400 tickets sold. Oh baby.
I get a call from Annamaria and she tells me that we have a line around the corner waiting to see the film at the Parkway. We’re killing them in two cities at once! This is too much.
Dad and I go inside and things are settling in. I'm trying to reconcile the crowd in my mind - it's tough. I never imagined a screening this large in a venue like this for our little film. For all the dreams I've had, this is a bit overwhelming.
The festival staff introduces our film. I shoot from various angles, running around the theater to work the nervous energy as much as anything. Then the lights go down. We're on. I sit on one of the steps and watch as the Bro n 'Stine logo comes up. I start to cry. This really is too much.
The movie works from the get-go. The crowd is into it. There's laughter, palpable recognition and sweetness in the air. We've got them. I'm so excited, I can--
film glitch
What do I mean by that? Ever had a DVD freeze up on you? It's start to pixelate and act..."funny?" It's not so funny at a film festival premiere with several hundred people. I run to find someone to get a voice up to the projection team to try another DVD -- try anything. Stop this one, at least! It goes on for about five minutes before we get to the position where we at least have the pixelated version shut down. I grab a mic and go into showman mode. I don't know what I was talking about -- I just know I was talking and getting laughs. We sung "Take me out to the ball game". After a few minutes the projectionists were ready to try it again.
It came up...for about a minute. Same place, same problems. Damn.
I grab the mic again. Now it's part two of my variety show. A poor-taste Sonny & Cher joke I pull out of my arse grabs a healthy laugh/"ooooh" from the audience. They're still with me. Whew!
Another five minutes roll by. We're ready to go again. Let's do it. Let's roll. So we do...and it works...and it works...oh, boy...it actually works!
And so it goes.
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