Sunday night / 10:45 pm
All I can do at the moment is detail a few high points...but I promise to go into more detail soon about the whole film festival experience. I'm just exhausted. My Team and I gave it everything we had these last coupla weeks...and we walked away with an all-time box office record for most screenings sold out in the history of the Sarasota Film Festival. The last Sold Out screening today at 2:00 pm had an additional 45 people in the Rush line desperately trying to get in to see Beautiful Noise...which is another record the SFF folks told me about. What an unbelievable response...
The audience was amazing today. I have never sat through a movie where people break into applause after a song - in this case Jay & Danielle's ballad - "Lonely Hearts"...penned by their castmate Doug Frasure. It did happen at the first screening last weekend 'cause the theatre was filled with cast & crew and our families and friends. But today it was a packed house filled with 'civilians'...people who are not connected to the production in any way. It was off the hook amazing. They even applauded the credits!
Then the Q&A went on for a long time after the lights came back up. Lots of questions about how was I able to make such a film here in Sarasota...and also how in the world did I find Danielle, Kimber, Jay and Chris? Everyone reacted strongly to the announcement that we're filming the Beautiful Noise prequel and sequel back-to-back this fall in Sarasota...and they all wanted to know when the DVD would be available.
To leverage the incredible momentum we've generated coming out of the SFF, I've decided to allow additional screenings of BN for worthy Suncoast charitable causes in the next few weeks. There are a lot of frustrated moviegoers who tried unsuccessfully to see our film, so it makes sense to keep the ball rolling and use the excitement to raise $'s for local charities. More on this new development later this week...
Meanwhile, it's back to the beach and the gym to recharge the batteries, get my tan together and get back into great shape mentally and physically. I need to be ready for the tremendous travel and promotional schedule ahead that will be followed by long days of prepping the shooting schedules for BN 2 "Serenade" and BN 3 "Heartlight" later this year. After the special showcases this month here in Sarasota, our next film festival is in Dayton, Ohio May 20-22...then we hit the road to other US film fests and then on to Ireland and probably the UK early this summer.
I'll never forget these last 10 days at the SFF. Sarasota came out in droves to support Beautiful Noise. I'm only too happy to return their embrace by expanding the scope of our company, Midnight Pass Productions, and keep making indie feature films right here on the Suncoast.
ST
Beautiful Noise Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Beautiful Noise Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Unsung Heroes
Sunday morning: 8:40 am
Reflecting on everything in this quiet Sunday morning hour...trying to sort out the emotions and the next steps...gotta get to my walk on the beach and clear my head...
It's surreal. I can't stop replaying in my mind the flashes of film festival audience reactions to the movie...the laughs, the tears, the overwhelming applause at the end of each Sold Out screening. Then the scene changes to the blur of the Rush Line and demand for tickets, the positive reviews from the critics, the people coming up to me making appointments to invest in Beautiful Noise and the coming prequel and sequel...the clamor to buy the Soundtrack CD after each screening, watching the cast take their bows at the premiere and signing autographs, all the Red Carpet interviews, making the rounds at the SFF events with Danielle and realizing the impact the film will have on her and her co-stars...
...and then there's the flashbacks of the unsung heroes of Beautiful Noise...the small Team of people who stayed loyal and hung in with me through thick and thin...who helped me overcome every hurdle to get us to this place and time. From the intern production assistants to the staff at Riverview H.S.; from the legion of Suncoast sponsors to the family and friends who stepped up to kick-start the process; from the musicians and engineers who helped me create a hit soundtrack album to the Sarasota Film Commission staff who kept us pointed in the right direction - to the Cast members who had to keep juggling their lives and schedules due to changing production dates...it's just mind boggling what it took to get BN made and showcased.
Through that blur of scenes playing on an endless loop in my head a few faces do come into sharp focus...the ones who form the inner sanctum of our production...the ones who answered the call when the struggle seemed too much or when the voices of a few malcontents and naysayers tried to throw us off course...the ones who were there whenever I needed a lift and the encouragement to keep moving forward no matter what: Linda - Sean - Ralph - Marc - Ryan - Brett - John - Mandy...and Wendy.
The Guiding Light through it all has been Wendy Williams. First as an off-the-set advisor to me over the months, now as our Executive Producer and partner in the Beautiful Noise Trilogy - it was Wendy's decision to come on board in an official "hands-on" capacity that provided the rocket fuel we needed to position us to professionally work the international film festival circuit and at some point acquire Distribution. No matter how things end up, we'll all look back on the day Wendy signed on to the BN Team as the Turning Point for all things Beautiful Noise...now and yet to come.
Our 6th and final Sold Out SFF screening happens at 2 pm today. It's been a helluva ride so far...but the cool thing is...we're just getting started...and there's so much more good stuff coming up for us.
ST
Reflecting on everything in this quiet Sunday morning hour...trying to sort out the emotions and the next steps...gotta get to my walk on the beach and clear my head...
It's surreal. I can't stop replaying in my mind the flashes of film festival audience reactions to the movie...the laughs, the tears, the overwhelming applause at the end of each Sold Out screening. Then the scene changes to the blur of the Rush Line and demand for tickets, the positive reviews from the critics, the people coming up to me making appointments to invest in Beautiful Noise and the coming prequel and sequel...the clamor to buy the Soundtrack CD after each screening, watching the cast take their bows at the premiere and signing autographs, all the Red Carpet interviews, making the rounds at the SFF events with Danielle and realizing the impact the film will have on her and her co-stars...
...and then there's the flashbacks of the unsung heroes of Beautiful Noise...the small Team of people who stayed loyal and hung in with me through thick and thin...who helped me overcome every hurdle to get us to this place and time. From the intern production assistants to the staff at Riverview H.S.; from the legion of Suncoast sponsors to the family and friends who stepped up to kick-start the process; from the musicians and engineers who helped me create a hit soundtrack album to the Sarasota Film Commission staff who kept us pointed in the right direction - to the Cast members who had to keep juggling their lives and schedules due to changing production dates...it's just mind boggling what it took to get BN made and showcased.
Through that blur of scenes playing on an endless loop in my head a few faces do come into sharp focus...the ones who form the inner sanctum of our production...the ones who answered the call when the struggle seemed too much or when the voices of a few malcontents and naysayers tried to throw us off course...the ones who were there whenever I needed a lift and the encouragement to keep moving forward no matter what: Linda - Sean - Ralph - Marc - Ryan - Brett - John - Mandy...and Wendy.
The Guiding Light through it all has been Wendy Williams. First as an off-the-set advisor to me over the months, now as our Executive Producer and partner in the Beautiful Noise Trilogy - it was Wendy's decision to come on board in an official "hands-on" capacity that provided the rocket fuel we needed to position us to professionally work the international film festival circuit and at some point acquire Distribution. No matter how things end up, we'll all look back on the day Wendy signed on to the BN Team as the Turning Point for all things Beautiful Noise...now and yet to come.
Our 6th and final Sold Out SFF screening happens at 2 pm today. It's been a helluva ride so far...but the cool thing is...we're just getting started...and there's so much more good stuff coming up for us.
ST
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