New York . . New York

I really don't know what to say about my trip to NYC and the CMJ Film Festival. I was already very exited about the trip because . . quite frankly New York is the greatest city in the world. But I didn't know the trip was going to be so emotional and such a blast.

First off, staying with my brother Chris in his upper East-side apartment was great. Then meeting up with my friend old John Hill and having some great NY pizza and then going to the Museum of Modern Art was such an awesome way to spend a Thursday. And then Thursday night Chris and I went to go see Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway. You just can't beat that.

Then Friday we met up with my other brother Joe and friend Imran for the festival. What a great turn out. A fantastic mix of old friends, new faces and just plan film lovers. Alex and Frances, two of the organizers of the festival were so gracious to us and said some really encouraging things about the film.

Having Sammy's parents at the showing was very special. I really think they took a lot out of the film. They kept telling me "thank you" for recognizing their son. And although I appreciated it I don't know if I deserved a thank you. I just tried to show Sam in the film for what he was . . . a great guy with a great sense of humor. I hope I did that.

When Sam passed away in June it made me very sad that he would never get a chance to see this film, and I know he was exited to see it. But after this screening, with his parents and friends in attendance, in the city he loved . . I don't feel that way anymore. I know Sam was there watching with us, that I'm sure of. The only thing I'm not sure of now is if he liked it or not. But I guess someday I'll get a chance to ask him.

Thanks NY, thanks CMJ

IndieFest 09

I just got word from Todd Thompson from Stars North Films that Average Community was accepted into IndieFest 09. Very cool, I'll have more details soon.
www.indiefest09.com

It's out now

So after two years of this movie being in my head, on my computer and on my TV, it finally went on a big screen in front of an audience. We had the first screening of Average Community this past Sunday. There was a nice turn out and everyone really seemed to enjoy and connect with the film. It was amazing that our film made people cry for, and connect with people up on the screen that they have never meet before.

One of the best comments I heard was from someone who brought her 14 year old son said that the film will help her open up a dialog with her son about drug use.

It was also great that my brother Chris came down from NYC, and my old friend and band-mate Joe Bryce boarded a plane for the first time in 18 years to come down and support the film. Thanks Joe!

Screening soon

Plans are in the works for the first screening of the film. It will be in Orlando at the beautiful Enzian theater. I will be announcing the date really soon.

I was finishing up the DVDs over the weekend and making copies. I was working with my three month old son in one arm. It's funny that my wife Kris wasn't even pregnant when I started this film, and now I'm finishing the film with the newest member of the crew sitting on my lap. Maybe that's not a big deal to anyone else, but I thought it was cool.

Just some glitches

Well Joe and I finished mixing down all the sound last night. As always it took longer then I expected, however it sounds really good. Joe did an excellent job cleaning up some really rough audio. He says he could have done better with a little more time but as it turns out . . we are all a little low on time right now.

The only thing left for me to do is fix some glitches in the video. For those of you that don't know, back in March the hard drive I was working from malfunctioned just as I was about to lock the picture. There was a time there, where I thought I lost everything. Thanks to Data Doctors and my personal financial angel who said "I won't let this film die", I was able to retrieve the data.

Not without a few glitches it appears. Every few minutes in the film there will be ONE frame that has a tiny white box that just appears. They are really hard to see, but as my fellow filmmakers can understand, they drive me crazy. As we were mixing last night I noticed five more of those little bastards. Once I have time to sit down and fix those I'm done. Boy, if anyone told me making a feature film would have been this tough, maybe I would have decided on a career in plastics.

Never blogged

Alright I've never blogged before. In fact I'll admit that I always thought that people who kept blogs who didn't have any kind of notoriety were a bit presumptuous and self serving. However it's been suggested to me that as the director of an independent feature film, I should have a blog. So here goes.

Maybe I'm starting this a little late because the film is just about finished. We are just mixing down the audio and trying to clean up what we can. But for the most part it's done. And for anyone who doesn't know (which is probably most reading this) I started developing this film in the summer of 2007. So it's been a long road. And I have to say that the film is turning out better then I hoped.

One thing that really makes me sad however is that one of my oldest friends and my old band mate Sam Latini will not be here to see the finished project. Sammy is a big part of this film and I know he was really exited about seeing it. Sadly Sam passed away last month at the age of 39. He will be missed.