Screening for Family and Friends!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but...

I FINALLY SCREENED MY FILM!

Man, what a feeling it was.  To have spent so long on this thing, and then finally to be able to watch it in its entirety at such a cool space...  It was quite surreal!

It was a great night!  Had a little reception space with snacks, everybody posing around the poster for photos.  And then finally to the actual theater space where the film looked and sounded better than it ever has!  Seriously, the theater was amazing (and the people who worked it)!  It was like magic, converting my simple little DVD into this amazing audio/visual experience!  So grateful they allow micro-budget filmmakers like me to use it!

It was sort of the first time I'd even seen the film in its entirety for myself, and it was a blast to finally just sit back, relax, and get caught up in the story.  And it was amazing having so many friends and family (from all different sectors of my life) gather into one space to share it with me.  Complete with an impromptu Q&A session at the end, where I answered people's questions.  It was truly a moment I'll never forget!

There's still a little bit more I'd like to fix in it (call me crazy), some audio and video elements that draw too much attention to themselves and still need some work.  But once I do, I can I officially call the film done and start submitting to festivals.  But seeing it at the screening was an amazing experience, and I can finally cross something off my list that I've wanted to do ever since I was in middle school: create a feature film!

My next steps?  First, finish up those last minute corrections.  Second, create an official trailer (very excited to share that).  And finally, start submitting to festivals!

As always, looking forward to posting more as I continue in this journey!

- Erik (Director)

New Year, Updates

Back again with a new post for the new year.  New decade even!

A lot of text (well... a decent amount of text), brace yourself...

One of my earliest posts to this blog (almost 10 years ago), was a simple post labeled "Film Progress".  I wish I'd stuck to that general update style, rather than only posting specific accomplishments every now and then.  It might have freed my mind a bit more, and I might have found more to post.  Alas, I have been very sporadic in my posting through the years.  But... in honor of that original post, here's another one as I near the conclusion of my film.

So... how's the film going?

ALMOST COMPLETE: In my last post I pretty much just glossed over a huge detail: the film is nearly complete!  It's actually been in that state for a while now, and in recent months I've mostly just been fine-tuning things as I looked for a place to screen it.  Which leads me to the next update...

PREMIERE SCREENING: After nearly a year of trying to secure a location for screening, I finally have one!  Man, what a process that was...  So many calls and e-mails back and forth with various places, but I'm very happy with what I finally settled on (I just wish I'd found it sooner!).  I've reserved the space near the end of the month (which will officially mark the film's completion) where I'll have a private screening for family and friends.  After practically a decade of working on this, it's gonna be great to finally be able to share it with everyone!

FINE-TUNING: And in preparation for the screening, I'm currently scrambling to make as many last minute touch-ups as I can.  Of course, this isn't some big Hollywood-budget thing, so there's only so much I can polish without hiring a huge team of people with greater expertise.  Nonetheless, I'm having fun trying to make it as good as I can.

TRAILER: After that I intend to make a trailer.  I actually already made one well before the film was finished, but it never quite satisfied me so I never posted it.  But I have a new concept in mind and I'm looking forward to creating and posting that after the screening.  Would love to have shared that before the screening, but at this point I'd rather put all my efforts into fine-tuning the actual film.

And that's basically it.  Soon I'll be looking into festivals to submit the film to, but it's sort of in a "no man's land" (not quite a professional indie film, but not quite a student film either) so I'm not sure where I'll really be able to put it, but we'll see. Otherwise, this year I'm gonna really start trying to build my company (Rickair Productions) as a brand, and look for projects that could lead to actual sources of revenue.  I have several new story/project ideas I'd like to pursue, but from this point forward I'll be focusing more on how to use them to actually create a sustainable business.

Anyway, that's it for this post.  Happy New Year!  Happy New Decade!  2020!  As always, looking forward to posting more as I finally finish this film!

- Erik (Director)