Witt’s Daughter Movie Theatre Limited Release

 Yes, you read correctly. “Witt’s Daughter” has a limited release of three days: September 28, 29, 30, 2008 at the Laemmle Grand 4 plex in downtown LA.  Showtimes at 5:00pm and 7:30 pm.* This is very exciting!

The screening came about as yet another Divinely provided act of kindness– and this time completely unexpected.  

When I first undertook the production of Witt’s Daughter, I decided that I had four goals for the project

 

• To work with a film crew to learn how a movie set runs
• To have a director’s reel
  
• To put my film in a film festival
• To hopefully find myself in the pool of films for Academy consideration

 

All through the course of my film,  there have been wonderful little “events” that I attribute to God’s providence. My incredible Cinematographer, Jeffrey Siljenberg,  came to my attention when a friend of mine told me about a “kid” he had met who was Gaffing a production he was on.  I would later find out, that my friend Eric only met him briefly, but was so impressed with his personality that when I was looking for cinematographer’s, he recommended him (without seeing his work)  Jeff, would not only become my vision wizard– but he would be the man who made recommendations when it came time to hire my crew. Goal one-Check.

As far as making the film the way I saw it in my mind, I have spoken in another post of the  generosity of several local businesses that contributed, goods and services, far beyond what I could afford.  But the thing I thought would be the easiest proved, indeed to be quite difficult.

Getting “Witt’s Daughter” into film festivals.

–Several years ago, I vacationed by myself and went to Florence.  Not really having an idea of what to see while I was there, I decided that I would tour most of the locations that they had used for the Merchant Ivory movie “Room With a View”  (and of course see the David– (two out of the four of them–Seeing the sites in real life as I had seen them many times in the film gave my vacation a fun theme instead of random sight seeing. 

I approached submitting “Witt’s Daughter’ to film festivals the same way.  My theme though, was getting the film into a festival that would position it to compete for an award so it could find itself in the running for academy consideration.  There are around eight hundred film festivals around the world. The Academy web site has a list of festivals that are Academy qualifying and I started there just to get the lay of the land.  But when it came time to actually apply to the festivals I registered the film at  Without A Box.   The web site (now owned by the same folks who own IMDB) was created to be a one stop shop to unite the filmmaker with the film festival they desired in hopes of self distribution. Registration is free, and the filmmaker can set up their project quite easily by filling in their online questionnaires.  For a small and worthwhile fee, the site allows posting trailers and a Press kit.   Once the project is set up, then becomes the task of applying to film festivals… each with their OWN fee.  

I was excited about how the film was looking, so before the film was finished, I decided to submit a rough cut to several film festivals.  Even though it was allowed– in hind site, I would not recommend it.  Frankly, I knew better, I had learned in school– don’t submit a portfolio to a job unless it says everything you want it to say– and so I don’t know why I did not take that into consideration when I was submitting the film to festivals.  Just because I saw the film as finished and beautiful in my head–doesn’t mean that your festival judge, hip deep in FINISHED  screeners will be able to see the same thing.  A word to the folks who are just starting out– wait until you’re done– You’ll be all the better for it.

As the year dragged on, I began to get calls from the actors, eager to have scenes for their reels, and I regretfully had to decline and beg their patience.  Because some festivals don’t want films that have been online (I mean– unless they’re an online film festival) and more importantly to my goal, the ACADEMY  would not consider a film that had been on line– even in reels–Only ten percent of the film can be shown online; eg. if your film is 30 minutes, an acceptable amount online would be 3 minutes (so trailers were fine– and they told me to er on the side of caution if I had three minutes worth of trailers– to knock that off the 10%.)

Another problem I would discover would be that the film’s length and subject matter were holding it back.  At thirty nine minutes,  it was tough to program.  I learned that shorts festival programmers figure their audience is at a shorts festival for variety, so the longer shorts cut down on the time available for– well– the shorter shorts.  As for the subject matter, I received this one “We regret to inform you letter” from a festival which read:

“As you know, the judging of a film is a subjective process. Over the course of an eight day event there are a very limited number of spaces for screening and this limits us on the number of films we can potentially screen. Additionally, not every film fits into the overall program of any individual festival, which is dictated by the films received that year. Your films performance in this competition should not be viewed as a statement about the films possible success elsewhere. In my experience, a film sent out to many festivals will find its audience.” (emphasis added)

So, as the summer was fast approaching (and the deadline to qualify for the Academy being the end of September) I began to think about putting “Witt’s Daughter” into a movie theatre. Once again, the Academy has strict rules for how a film qualifies  and obeying these rules were not going to be inexpensive.  In the end, the option proved to be impossible– as the short paying gig I had at Disney was cut shorter, and suddenly without a job, paying to keep a roof over my head seemed to take precedence over… hmmm– putting a film in a theatre.  I consoled myself with the thought that according to the film Academy, I had two years from the date of completion of the film to qualify.  I was sure I could save up the money and try again in the new year.

sigh…

But things were about to change.

My First Film Festival Acceptance

I had made plans to have a screening and invite my friends to attend for free, much the same way as a friend of mine, Joe Haidar, had done with his recently finished film “Animated American”, but losing my job put a cramp in that mojo, so instead, I applied to a couple of local film festivals.  Even though they were not big time festivals, at least I thought it would provide my local friends the opportunity to see it on a large screen–of course should it get accepted.  It was one of those two festivals that I heard from last Wednesday.  The Hollywood Film Festival will be screening “Witt’s Daughter” on Saturday October 25, at 11:00pm at the Arclight theatre in Hollywood. Late– I know, but hey- it was the first film festival, and I was elated.  Maybe things were picking up.

Yeah? 

No.

Right after that, boom. Boom.  Two more rejections from the bigger film festivals.  At this point I began to make peace in my mind that– even though it was my “Goal” to qualify for Academy consideration, maybe it wasn’t God’s–At least for this year. I so much wanted the whole thing to be over.  To get the film out there, and let the chips fall where it may– but it was proving more difficult than I had ever thought it would be.

And that’s when it happened…

The gift. 

So amazing and so incredibly unexpected…

I received a phone call. 

“I live on a river” the warm voice said on the other end of the line ” and sometimes I see people struggling. I ask them if they’re okay.  Sometimes they say yes –even though they’re not– and off they go down the river at fifteen miles a hour on their way to Laughlin.  Most people who pass them can’t be bothered.  They wont stop and help.  But when I see people struggling, I offer, I haul their jetskis out of the water and help them on their way…  When I heard that all that was standing between you and your screening was a sum of money”  ( a really incredibly impossibly huge sum of money– all the more so, since I don’t know where all of next month’s mortgage is coming from) “I felt like I was supposed to do this.  So I’m going to do this for you.  I want you to put your film in that theatre. You can’t wait any more.  You need to see where this project goes.  You’ve poured your heart and soul– and I’m sure your savings into this. Lets Let the chips fall where they may– you can’t wait another year”

…the thing was, I had never met this person before.  

He had just heard about the situation from someone on my crew.  I wasn’t complaining.  I even told this person I was content to wait until next year.

I was stunned.

–but believe you me, when my benefactor offered to pay for the screening-I pounced on it like a cat on a bird– with humbled gratitude.

For the past year, I paid for “Witt’s Daughter” out of my saving and after creating budget.  I even budgeted for my film festival submissions.  It was the first time I had ever been that organized to plan anything– I was so proud– albiet so poor as well– when I took all my paperwork to my accountant.  I was proud of the fact that I had not only made a film– but administered it as well.

Two days after that kind phone call, I got a check  in the mail wrapped in an invoice for the theatre.  Folded around that was a plain piece of 8.5×11 paper which read “You don’t budget for a miracle”

I hope to see you at the screening this week!

 

*The screening one of four in a short film screening package.  Witt’s Daughter starts at approximately 5:18 and 7:28.  I’m told that tickets can be purchased online.