Seriously, Minneapolis. You’re Too Kind…
Hiya Tappers,
Well, it took every ounce of my strength not to rush home last night after the screening of “High School Drifter” and tell you how well I thought it went. We watched 11 short films last night. Some were really pretty good. Some were downright awful.
My little film (HSD) for short, played 3rd from the end. Not a bad spot in terms of staying in people’s minds.
From left: Riki Robinson(actor), Me, Jennifer Prettyman (actress), Big J
I don’t know. There’s something about being surrounded by a group of friends and filmmakers in a real honest-to-garsh theatre that makes a fella feel…alive? Is that the word? Sure. That’s the word I’m going to use for this.
ALIVE.
When our twisted little film (with heart) started, I got the jitters. I immediately thought:
Man, what if this totally bombs?
And…
Did I really have any business writing and directing a movie? About ninjas? Violent ones?
My fears were quickly put to rest when people started laughing at some of the ridiculous crap I wrote and had filmed. Dang. If I could pat myself and my crews backs for a moment, I just gotta say: WE ROCKED THAT THING.
Okay, let me wipe the ego out of the corners of my mouth.
Oh…in other news:
Anyway…that was a nice phone call from Big J this morning and I got all kinds of cool e-mails from friends and other people who heard the news.
Life is good! I guess I’m still a filmmaker after all. Holler!
Now to get myself ready to write up a query letter for the zombie book that just won’t go away: GOODHALO.
Let’s hope the streak continues…
CONGRATULATIONS!
Congrats!
Good luck w the query letter.
CJG – Thanks! When we started the thing we had no idea how well it would play. We’re all really excited!
Hey Thomas,
HUGE CONGRATS on the AUDIENCE AWARD! I was there, in the stadium seating, and you got my fam’s four votes. I knew your kick-butt film would win! It was hilarious, including all the over-the-top gore–was that hamburger or some kind of sausage for the guts? Yummy. How you managed to tell a sweeping epic in seven minutes, I dunno. A cowboy/princess/ninja epic. My only suggestion would’ve been to cast a much older guidance counselor–a gray hair. Then it’d make sense that the wannabe cowboy/custodian had gone to this school as a kid and his dream to become a cowboy had been broken by the evil guidance counselor years ago. But hey, FOUR STARS in spite of that nitpicking! You’re a rockin’ filmmaker, TKT! Can’t wait to see more of your fine work on the big screen (or any sized screen)in the future.
Triple S
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Audience approval? Is where it’s at, I think we all know that. That’s fantastic. I am so annoyed that I cannot see this movie. It sounds like it is made of awesome. Hope the judges love it as much as everyone else did!
And good luck with the GH query letter!!
Cheryl – Thanks! And I’ll definitely need some luck with the letter. Ugh. The thought of doing it makes my stomach all gurgly.
Triple S – Well thank YOU and yours for coming out to see it! It was a thrill to see so many of my ‘peeps’ out in force supporting my goofy little flick. And yeah…I wish we had an older dude to play the GC. But then again, if you can believe Jenny was 10 in that clip, you might believe the GC aged gracefully. Maybe? Ha ha…realism was definitely not the order of the day!
Courts – Thanks!!! You will be able to see this movie, much soon than you think…I think. There’s a website called http://www.48.tv that is slowly but surely showing all the ‘good’ flicks from the festival. HIGH SCHOOL DRIFTER will be there soon, methinks!
T,
I went there so worried thinking “oh man, what if his film is that film that everyone talkss about as being the worst after it’s over?” and wondering if I could make my way out of the theater before you turned around for my opinion?
Thankfully like everyone else, I really liked the film. And while your training videos have always been great, I was shocked at the level this film was at giving you only had 48 hours.
For those who were not there, the theater let out a large cheer and the clapping was louder for HSD than for any other flim.
Kudos TKT and to all of your crew and actors.
And shame on me for even doubting you.
~Gerry
Congrats! I can well believe it!