boboratory.com

So,

We’ve submitted Sacrifice to five festivals so far (we added a 5th yesterday), we started the year with 4, two hometown places (Phoenix Film Festival and Phoenix Comicon), two Pie In the Sky shots (London Sci-Fi Festival and San Diego Comicon). I’m going to keep quiet on #5, as we just submitted to it and I’d rather not breach etiquette by posting about places too early in the process (not sure what etiquette is, but I’ll be cautious).

This whole process of making a movie, from start to finish, has been a new experience for all of us, and the process of getting people to see our movie has been no different. I’ve approached this part of the process in the same way that we approached each other portion of the process, with humility, and determination. We’re the guests here, the new kids, the unknowns.

My hopes going in were fairly straight forward, getting into one would be wonderful, two would be fantastic, three would be amazing and hitting all four would be, for me, the filmmaker’s equivalent equivalent of sex.

So far, we’ve missed two (Phoenix Film Festival and London). The other two haven’t announced yet.

It would be easy to be either discouraged, angry, or even a little bitter. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed. I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit that these last two (Comicons in Phoenix and San Diego) weren’t a little more important to me, and my hopes have elevated a bit. I kinda feel like Sacrifice is a little more geared towards the people that attend these events. I am proud that in submitting to London, we submitted something other than a zombie movie. Hopefully, we will have been noticed for that.

All that being said, I’m trying to keep in mind all the little things that remind me that what we’ve done is pretty damn cool.

• Things like my friend at a recent showing reminding me that having a real helicopter in any capacity to shoot in was amazing.
• Things like the people that we didn’t know before the process watching the movie and zeroing right in on the strengths we knew we had- a reaffirming prospect.
• Things like the areas where the film does show some weakness are areas that can be strengthened with experience, we got the fundamentals right.

Both Phoenix Film Festival and London were very gracious in their rejections, and while I am not sure I make the kind of entertainment that PFF is looking for (and that’s not a bad thing), London won’t be able to get rid of me, I already know what we are sending there in 2012. But, none the less, we swung and we missed. Those are the moments when you need to take a deep breath, really do a gut check, and remind yourself that this was your first effort- this is the first thing you’ve made, and it’s OK to not be picked. It doesn’t take away the awe at the tremendous people that came in and made the film so awesome. It doesn’t take away that feeling at 10pm in the dome in Casa Grande when you walked in and saw a real like movie set.

You remember that you are doing it because you love the process of doing it, not for the accolades. Hold that moment, let it motivate you to keep at it.

In the end, I love the movie ( I know people in the industry say you shouldn’t love your projects, but I do love it). If I had had a bigger budget, yeah, but we made it with what we had, and some really special people, whom now I will try and find ways to do more projects with them, and make something a little better. My heart is out waiting for these two notifications, but it won’t be the end if they don’t come in.

Oh, and don’t worry, we aren’t done submitting it yet, and I’ll keep ya posted.