New Songs...new Scripts...and new Perspectives

Never a dull moment...

While we tweak the edit on Beautiful Noise this week as a result of the Sarasota screenings, I've been polishing the screenplays for the prequel and sequel and listening to a lot of great original songs that have been submitted for the next 2 BN films. No major changes are being made in the edit, but Marc and I did see a couple of things that made us cringe a little...but that apparently was completely missed by the 2000 + people who have seen the movie so far who were absorbed by the Story and the Characters. One new shot we're adding for sure is an establishing exterior scene of Los Angeles, as the film starts in 1974 in L.A. and then makes its way to present day southwest Florida. But other than that one additional shot, the edits we'll make to two different sequences are minor...but necessary. We're fielding some conflicting input as some people we show the film to who are in the business from a "crew" standpoint are quick to point out a few technical flaws that we're addressing...but after extensive Q&A's with audience members who have seen the film once or twice we get a completely different perspective. "Civilians" absolutely love most everything about the film as is and they seem surprised when we ask them about the so-called flaws that some tech people point out. They just don't understand what we're talking about as they are so engrossed in the emotion and message and songs in the movie. I've decided that the best thing to do now is to show the film outside Sarasota and test screen it in Ft Myers and Tampa and Orlando to make certain that the reactions and positive rave reviews we're getting are as genuine as we believe them to be. Those test screenings plus the reaction coming out of the Dayton Film Festival will guide us and put some things to rest. You can tweak your movie forever and never be completely satisfied and in fact screw it up if you're not careful...so we'll see what some new audiences think and then go with the flow. Better to deal with this stuff now before the summer/fall international film festival schedule kicks into high gear.

Meanwhile, I have a core group of primary actors and crew who are involved in the upcoming Serenade & Heartlight BN projects who are anxious to read the 2 new scripts. I've had the storylines fleshed out for some time now...but like the current film, I am writing the lyrics of the songs I'm selecting right into the screenplays because they once again are crucial in propelling the action and character development - so it's taking a little longer to polish because I keep finding cool new songs to add to the mix.

April was a spectacular month for our Beautiful Noise Team and May looks like it's going to be just as productive. The Dayton Film Festival is our next stop in a couple of weeks...then the rollercoaster ride of film festivals and special showcases in the US & Europe will dominate our schedule while pre-production commences on the 2 new BN movies.

Lots of moving parts...and lots of opportunities for all involved. We're building both a film franchise and an indie movie production company all at the same time.

Have I mentioned lately how much fun this all is?

ST