Just a quick addition to yesterday’s post celebrating the one year anniversary of the Dangerous Crosswinds premiere at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. I forgot to mention that HippoPress was the media sponsor for the film and we were fortunate to have this super full-page ad appear several times in their Manchester and Nashua editions in the weeks leading up to our premiere. A special thanks should go to Jeff Rapsis for all of his work in creating this ad – this gave our film some phenomenal exposure and, for a micro-budgeted production like Dangerous Crosswinds was, was certainly an ad for the ages…

It was one year ago today that our film Dangerous Crosswinds (www.dangerouscrosswinds.com) premiered at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH. At the time I don’t think I fully appreciated the evening in the manner I should have – there was probably too much anxiety floating through my brain that night to make much sense of anything. Plus so many of us on the crew were simply too exhausted from the lengthy battle it had been to stage a film premiere in the manner we did. But looking back now it’s easy to see what a resounding success that evening was – both artistically (read some of the wonderful testimonials at dangerouscrosswinds.com/dc_testimonials.htm) and financially (we sold close to 700 tickets at $15 along with more than 100 DVD’s at $15 each). Besides the ad to the left (one of many wonderful ads that HippoPress ran for the film) I’ve also posted a number of photos (courtesy of Photographer Keith Spiro – home.comcast.net/~kspiro/) below:

DC crew guru RJ Norton shoots the proceedings.

The evening’s host, NH Union Leader columnist John Clayton, introduces the film.

Singer-songwriter Laurel Brauns performs before the first screening.

The film’s composer, Jeff Rapsis, and The New Hampshire Philharmonic perform before the second screening.

DC Director of Photography Marc Vadeboncoeur and DC composer Jeff Rapsis share a laugh with Manchester Mayor Bob Baines.

Yesterday St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Manchester, NH held a special luncheon commemorating the 100th anniversary of the church’s founding. Besides the parishioners, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in North & South America, attended.

This celebration coincides with our recent documentary entitled St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral 1905-2005. This two-hour film featured more than forty interviews and explored the first one-hundred years of St. George. Clips were premiered at a special screening held on November 4, 2005, with the DVD being released on December 27, 2005.

If you’d like to purchase the DVD, feel free to call the church office at (603) 622-9113. I was happy to hear that a complimentary DVD was given to the Archbishop – I hope he enjoys our film when he gets a chance to view it.

Retaining a crew after a production wraps is essential. Developing a crew who choose to stay involved with a production company, film after film, greatly speeds up the process as communication becomes second-nature (i.e. you’re not starting from scratch each time out). I think that one of our biggest accomplishments has been that, after two features, we’ve come pretty close to retaining the entire creative and technical teams behind both films.

I’ve always thought this to be an obvious goal yet I’ll never forget debating the point last summer with a State Official who insisted that, so I wouldn’t fall into a “rut”, I take advantage of the various databases of available personal. Rather than encourage a model that works (Old Man Dogs and Dangerous Crosswinds are proof in point) this person argued that I should replace successful loyalty with blind networking.

This is not to say that I don’t believe in bringing in blood as well. We’ve already begun to do that with Death & Glory and will continue to do so once we nearer the start of production. Also, several of the filmmakers Marc and I met this past weekend at our Digital Filmmaking Workshop would be excellent fits for future productions, people whom I’d definitely like to have an opportunity to work with. But this area should always be approached very carefully as you must be certain that whoever you bring on board “gets it” – i.e. identifies with what your company’s creative and distribution vision is.

I always make a point of informing prospective crew members that Back Lot Films has never been about bringing in outside Hollywood talent/crew, playing the festival circuit  and ”calling” New Hampshire home. By informing potential crew members as to what your realistic expectations are with your film, you’re not only protecting yourself and your film but you’re also being honest by giving this person the respect they deserve as they seek being hired.

Free screenings with their obligatory feedback session from audience members do a horrible injustice to the local film community and should be discouraged. The Smuttynose Brewery in Portsmouth has begun such a thing entitled the Unfiltered Indie Film Series.

A recent press release in Fosters Daily Democrat reads “The filmmakers, along with members of the casts and crews of the films, will be in attendance to talk about their films and answer audience questions. Small donations to defer set up costs are appreciated but are not required. On the last Sunday of each month, Smuttynose Brewery will present films produced by local filmmakers in an effort to establish an interactive creative community around the art of film production. Area filmmakers will have an opportunity to screen their projects in a relaxed and informal setting and solicit feedback from their audience.”

These free sceenings falsely re-enforce the notion that a local film isn’t a real film but instead an amateur production in need of creative or monetary assistance. Not to mention that if series such as these become popular they will provide yet another difficult hurdle for area filmmakers who actually attempt to make a living off of the professional films that they produce.

Raising the bar in independent filmmaking includes setting a price for your work and sticking to it. By charging for your film you are positioning yourself and everyone involved with your film alongside other professional filmmakers. You should only screen or give your film away for free if it’s for a charity or cause that you support. I urge other filmmakers in this area to say no to this practice of free screenings and to stamp it out before it becomes commonplace.