Like Butch & Sundance

So OK...it's a coupla days removed from our 6th and final Sold Out screening of Beautiful Noise at the Sarasota Film Festival...the most successful movie, box-office wise, ever to play the festival...and all everyone keeps asking me is "How does it feel?". And all I can manage to give them in return is a sigh of relief and a satisfied smile...until now. I've processed it all and experienced the tension flowing out of my mind and body, leaving me with, of all things, an empty feeling of sorts. It's almost the exact feeling I had the day after principal photography wrapped. My Cast & Crew departed after days of battle getting the film shot against all the odds...and there I was the next day...suddenly alone...feeling empty. So as the accolades continue to roll in this week, as my Team preps for the upcoming international film festival run, as we help Sarasota's Riverview High School promote the benefit screening of the film at their Performing Arts Hall on April 29th, at a time where I rightly should be gliding on air for having written, produced and directed a feature film that took the town by storm during one of the most prestigious film fests in the world...I can only say I feel a little like Butch and Sundance.

My all-time favorite movie is The Godfather...and a close second is Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. William Goldman's screenplay and Newman & Redfords' portrayal of the legendary outlaws has stayed with me for decades now. The final frames of the film showing Butch & Sundance trying to fight their way out of that South American plaza are among the most thrilling sequences I've ever experienced at the movies. After falling in love with the characters for two hours, watching them evade their pursuers and finding ways to clear every hurdle in front of them, I felt every shot that ripped through their bodies as they stumbled and fell together into the small room that briefly shielded them from the hellacious firepower they faced. Bloodied and exhausted from the gun battle, they still managed to kid with each other and yet, right before they bolted back out the door together to continue the fight, they paused, looked at and acknowledged each other...their friendship, their journey, their time together and what it took to get them to that time and place.

That's how I feel now.

When I look in the mirror and think back on everything it took the last 18 months to make the movie and have it ready in time to showcase at the Sarasota Film Festival, I see a bloodied, exhausted gunslinger looking back in the reflection. Making Beautiful Noise is the hardest thing I've ever done. Nothing...and I mean nothing about this indie motion picture was easy...with the sole exception of deciding to cast Danielle, Jay & Kimber. That was easy...'cause they are all fantastic people and you know that the moment you meet them. The rest of the process was a bitch. But at the same time, it's among the most worthwhile things I've ever tried and accomplished...and it has confirmed that this is what I'm supposed to be doing the rest of my life. I'm no longer chasing a Dream...I'm living it.

When Butch & Sundance blasted back out into the plaza, with guns drawn and determination written all over their faces, the picture goes to freeze-frame, desaturates from color to sepia tone, then the camera slowly pulls out to an extreme wide shot before it fades to black amid the echoes of gunfire that engulfed them. In my teens when I first saw the movie, I was always glad that my heroes were never shown gunned down by the Brazilian Army they faced. In my mind, I chose to believe that they somehow made it out of that plaza and made yet another getaway.

So yeah...that's how I feel. It was tough stuff...and there were more times than I can count where I thought it just wasn't going to happen...but I made it through...and I learned so much from the experience. Now I'm a full-fledged Filmmaker...with a core group of talented, loyal actors and crew that I'll work with time and time again...and a Musical-Drama I'm so proud of because it does what I set out to do...to entertain...to make 'em laugh and make 'em cry and send a little message along the way about the power of Love, Belief & Inspiration. The themes of Beautiful Noise mirrored the themes of making our indie film. Never give up...never give in...trust your gut instincts and keep moving forward...no matter what.

Standing still and waiting around for something good to happen is not in my DNA. Like Redford states in full "Sundance" mode at an important point in the film..."Can I move? I'm better when I move." So I'm moving fast to capitalize on the positive wave that has washed over our Beautiful Noise production. We're hot on the trail to secure worldwide distribution for our Movie and Soundtrack - and at the same time I'm polishing the screenplays and scheduling pre-production for the prequel and sequel. There's no time to waste. It's all happening...and the cool thing is, when it comes to figuring out how a movie like Beautiful Noise was made here on the Suncoast, there are an awful lot of people who are asking the same question Butch & Sundance did: "Who are those guys?".

We're Midnight Pass Productions. And we make feature-length movies in Sarasota Florida.
We do what others talk about.
We make it happen.

And we love what we do.

ST