What Are The Chances? (Or “My Hometown”) – Part 2 of 3

November 12^th 2011 will be a day that we’ll never ever forget.  For the best of reasons.  Our New Jersey and Hometown Premiere in Trenton NJ with Michael Steele was everything we hoped for and 10X better.But, before I get to the “Day-of,” I’d like to briefly touch on the wonderful week we had BEFORE the screening.  We were very blessed to have some great coverage in our city’s two daily newspapers, the Trentonian and The Times, and the Princeton Packet and in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County Courier Times.  Given the state of newspapers in the U.S. and their lack of staffing, getting such coverage for a “hometown” story isn’t easy or likely.  We will always hold these publications in high esteem for helping us get the word out locally.  Especially for an event in Trenton, when crime is on the rise and it gets tougher and tougher to draw people from the suburbs.

Finally, the Day of Judgment arrived and we had a lot of running around to do to get ready.  This special night would include a Kick-Off Reception at the New Jersey State Museum itself.  We’d never done something like this before.  When we helped found and run the Trenton Film Festival, we had a great Events Producer and she ran the Show. 

Well this time, we were very fortunate to have our good friend Murph manage this for us.  We had to make some runs to Party City, Sam’s Club and a few other places to get all the party wares.  Also, we had a number of good friends, neighbors, family and crew members give us a hand with the Reception and the Screening.  One of our Aunts even made over 150 cookies for us and “Aunt Fern” made a good bunch as well.  Our focus was on the setting up the Museum reception first as the Screening Auditorium still had a Native American Indians performance going on when we arrived.  (In case you are near Trenton, there is a very moving 9/11 exhibit there).  Our Producer, Tammy, Murph and Company got to work decorating and setting-up.  Balloons, bunting, table favors, Martinelli’s and food.  They also set up all the cool political campaign signs we collected over the years at the Museum Walkway.

The Reception was a great sight to see.  The space was decorated in Red, White and Blue and the place was packed.  We had some of our local politicians there, some of the Filipina Sisters from Villa Victoria Academy were there (and they got to meet Michael Steele) and there was a nice turnout by our fellow Trentonians, some Black Republicans from around the state and many people we had never met before. 

Just walking around the room, it felt like that Wedding Scene in GOOD FELLAS.  It was dizzyingly wonderful and at the speed of light.  We tried to say “hello” to as many people as possible.  Fortunately, two good friends made their way around the room and took a lot of pictures to capture the night.

Well, I now know what it is like at a “Movie Premiere” with a Star.  When Michael Steele entered the room, it was as if George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington and Frank Sinatra showed up at the same time.  All eyes turned his way.  It was gratifying to see so many people wanting to meet him.  (Especially the folks we knew from the “other side of the aisle.”)  Michael was gracious and warm with everyone, taking pictures and chatting with as many people as possible.  I wish we could have taken pictures of all the people taking pictures with Michael Steele.  Plenty of smiles all around.

Finally, it was time to walk the hundred feet or so to the Auditorium and finally screening our film.

Entering the “Big Room” even after Jamaal and I had set it up hours earlier, felt a lot different ten minutes before the PLAY button would be hit on the DVD player.  As nervous as I was up until this point, I was even more nervous now.  Fortunately, Michael pleasantly rejected my several offers to let him speak before the film.  We were better off just getting the movie started.   After Tammy’s Welcome and Introduction, I was happy to welcome and pay tribute to John Harmon (our Moderator for the Q&A) who is President & CEO of the New Jersey African American Chamber of Commerce and Zachary Chester (now Councilman for Trenton’s West Ward).  Both of these gentlemen were key in helping us get our film off the ground in ways they did not know until they saw the film this night.  BTW, both men are Democrats whom we have known for years.  Yes, we can all get along and help each other to succeed.

I finally got to also thank before our “hometown” crowd, our three integral Crew Members:  Jeff Metzner, Cinematographer; Jamaal Green, Camera and Assistant Editor; and Rob Fowler, Final Cut Pro Consultant and Assistant Editor.  Without all three of them and their contributions, our film would not be as it is today.   I still feel bad about dragging Jeff and Jamaal to New Orleans in August, but I know they had a good time.

As the Credits came up and Michael Steele’s RNC Chairman Election Speech played, I had a moment behind the stage to think about this entire journey and what would happen during the Q&A.  It has been special and thankfully, the rest of the night would be too.  After we pulled the table and chairs out for the Q&A, Tammy, Michael Steele and I spent at least an hour answering questions and hearing reactions to our film.  I’ll just say that we are very happy with how the audience took to the film and that Michael Steele rocked the house.  About halfway through, he took over the Q&A as some many of the questions were directed towards him (we were VERY happy about this).  The questions were thorough, challenging and well thought-out.  I learned a lot from the Q&A myself.  It was a great give-and-take with the audience and he had so much fun that he stayed well past his departure time.  Well past.  Michael is, as one Facebook friend (and hard-core Dem) said… “a Class Act.”

Eventually, the final end of the night would come and all would safely get home.  We wouldn’t be able to celebrate for too long as I had to leave for Portland, Oregon in a few days, but we did make sure to enjoy ourselves.  A night like this doesn’t come for every Filmmaker and this one is very happy it did in a little City by the Delaware River called Trenton.

Oh and the Trentonian had one last write-up on our night with Michael Steele.

Next up:  What Are The Chances (Part 3 of 3) or Apocalypse... Now?

Kansas City, Here We Come!

Today, we are just over two weeks out from our first screening at a film festival.  We are fortunate to have been invited to screen our film at the Kansas City Urban Film Festival (KCUFF) in Kansas City, MO.  This growing festival (in its 3rd year) takes pride in showing films made “by any means necessary.”  Given our history in making our film on our own dime and time, its sounds like the perfect place for us.  KCUFF… here we come!  

After our series of small screenings in the last month or so, it feels good to be able to get our film to another part of the country and to get more feedback.  We are incredibly happy with the response to our little documentary epic so far.

Not too many have people seen our film yet, but those that have seen FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN have been moved by what they have seen and experienced.  When about 90% or better of the audience stays after your film for your Q&A (and all the audiences have been made up of various demographics and political persuasions), you know you probably have something special.  And we do.  The questions and discussions have been tough and have ranged from the film itself to current events to personal testimonies backing up much of what we show on-screen.  And those are just the things that are said in public.  Privately, the conversations we have had with some members of the audience have been quite moving and inspirational.

For example, after one of our Wilmington screenings, we met a White Republican City Council candidate who busted his @## campaigning in the Black community (on his own, without Party support – he was  first-timer).  He lost by only 300 votes in a City of 70,000 people.  Just imagine what he could have done if he had some real Party support!  In Greensboro NC, we met a large man who otherwise could be the twin brother of NFL All-Pro Wide Receiver & “Dancing With The Stars” Winner, Hines Ward.  After the movie, I asked him if he liked it.  He promptly told me that he didn’t, primarily because we didn’t interview… RON PAUL???  Where’d that come from?  Wow.  Well, I explained that we never even got in physical proximity to Ron Paul (let alone, I’m not sure Congressman Paul would have much to say on the subject of our film anyway).  We did have an interesting discussion about the two-party system and the media with this man.  Not sure if he ended up a fan of the movie or of us, but we gave him a copy of our movie poster anyway.

In Charlotte, a great moment occurred when a middle-aged lady (who “came out” as a Black Republican a few years earlier) asked the White members of the audience if they had ever been called a “racist.”  Most sheepishly nodded their head, “yes.”  This same women then looked over to four White audience members who were sitting together (she didn’t know that they were members of our family) and promptly told them that they needed to “get over being called a racist” and to “stop being afraid and start coming into the community.”  That was moving, cool and awesome (and a little funny, too).

In Atlanta, we had several people trade in their GREEN LANTERN tickets to come see our film instead after they saw our movie poster in the lobby.  That was… you name the positive adjective.  Unfortunately, these nice folks hadn’t heard about FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN because their big, local newspaper – the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – refused to cover or review our film.  And this was after their Film Critic (who was VERY interested in seeing our film) asked me to get him a copy of our film RIGHT AWAY.  So, we Fed-Exed-Overnight a DVD Review Copy to him at a cost of $52.00).  Now before you call us naive, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the “New York Times of the South” and well, you do have to hope for the best.  Getting our film reviewed or having our World Premiere covered in that paper would be HUGE for a small film like ours.

Unfortunately, the film critic’s Assignments Editor who received our package - sat on the film and ignored our press release, our phone calls and our e-mails after Fed-Ex kindly delivered our DVD to her.  After I e-mailed the Critic to find out if he got the DVD, I received an e-mail telling me to contact his Assignments Editor.  Which I did by telephone and as she didn’t pick up, I left a message.  I didn’t get a call back, but I did get an e-mail from the Assignments Editor that she would try to watch our movie that very night and if it went well – she would meet with a few reporters in the next morning.  Oh, and I should feel free to call her and check in again.  So I did. Then, I did again. And again.  I wasn’t being a pest about it as I spread my phone calls out over the next week.  I even e-mailed the Critic again but heard nothing.  I’m sure he is a nice guy who was just stuck in as a bad a situation with this as we were.   My final phone calls to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution came from a busy truck stop in Northern Georgia as we drove down from New Jersey a few days before our Premiere.  

Long-story short… the Film Critic, who is a well-known and distinguished writer, probably never even got our film.   If the Assignments Editor wanted to hurt our film (and we don’t know if this was her intention or not), she did a good job -  as did others.  Because also we sent the press release, sent e-mails, sent postcards and made phone calls to several other Atlanta Journal-Constitution employees.  No where, no where did a mention of our film make it into their paper.  Even though about 25% of our film takes place in Atlanta and the surrounding area. 

Even without their coverage, we still got the small weekly papers to cover us and they did some nice pieces on us and our film.  We still had a great “World Premiere” Screening/Q&A for those who came, including some of the Atlanta folks who appear in our film.  The crowd would have been a lot larger if the local “newspaper of record” at least mentioned our Screening as a community event listing.  I’m just sayin’.  

Well, the next day (after our World Premiere) and after all our ignored requests – we left Atlanta for our next screening in Charlotte NC, but had to make a little detour first.  Our Co-Producer Tamara, wanted to stop by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution headquarters to get our DVD back from the Assignments Editor.  Now, that our Premiere was over – they surely wouldn’t need our DVD, right?  The nice security guard that Tamara spoke with kept trying to contact said Assignments Editor, but to no avail.  For whatever reason, she fortunately decided to get a Coke or something and happened by the Security Guard booth.  The guard called out to her, then introduced her to Tamara.  After pretending she barely heard of our film before, she promised to send our DVD back.  That was eight weeks ago and we are still waiting.  Go figure.

Even though our media coverage wasn’t the best, we did get to meet a lot of great people, exchange political views with Republicans and many, many Democrats.  And we did start building “word of mouth” on our film.  Having done all this on our own, our Southern Tour was worth it in spades.  There is no feeling like showing your film in a movie theater when the lights go down.  A wide-screen TV or computer screen can’t compete.  It is simply an amazing feeling you can’t duplicate anywhere else and we recommend to any other indie filmmakers out there to do it at least once.  Just for yourself as an artist.  However, don’t count on getting coverage from the bigger media outlets even if you work super-hard to get it.  Make sure you hit the smaller outlets, just do it at least 3-4 weeks out and have plenty of production stills (that gets you extra page space and “visually” helps sell your film).  Trust me, we can’t thank these smaller publications enough.

How will we get to more movie theaters around the country?  We are working hard on that.  All we can say is that word is getting around.  Which is great because we’ve had to prove that there is a market for a film like ours.  The Kansas City Urban Film Festival will hopefully be a capstone for proving that there IS a market for our film like ours and also serve as a great kick-start for the future.  We are working hard sending postcards (200+), e-mails, press releases and this week, making phone calls in order to pack the 150-seat theatre (at the Screenland Crossroads) that we will be screening in.  Tickets will be available soon at http://www.screenland.com/crossroads#Coming

We are expecting a great Screening and Q&A in Kansas City.  If you can make it there, please join us.  If you can’t make it, hopefully you’ll get a chance to see our film in the future in a theater or on DVD.

Take care, be well and please go see an independent film as often as possible.

Slainte.