Zero to Sixty in a thirty-second phone call
On the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving my cell phone started buzzing. I didn’t recognize the area code, which always gives pause. I tried to remember – is that New York? LA? Utah? Jersey? I answered and was thrilled to hear, “Hey Tom, this is the Slamdance film festival….” My girlfriend gave me the “inhale, exhale” look. The New Year Parade’s festival run was about to begin.
Today, after the press release hit, I felt very fortunate to get a ton of calls and e-mails from friends, including the other amazing filmmakers who were part of the IFP Narrative Rough Cut Lab. After toiling away with a small crew of friends in Philly over the past few years, it’s great to have a network of friends all over the country offering support and insight. For me, that was the best of many benefits to come out of the IFP experience.
Although we were not supposed to tell anyone, I assume the list leaked at some point because in the last 48 hours my phone has been going crazy with calls from interested parties. All of this makes me thrilled for the cast and crew because they worked for three years without pay or guarantees, so it’s nice to have an opportunity to give them some exposure and to potentially bring The New Year Parade to its intended audience.
Speaking of which, here’s an update on post: The new cut is playing VERY well. It’s funny how you spend so much time in post trying to get your head around things (especially when you’ve shot 180 hours of footage) and suddenly you turn a corner and things click into place. We’re doing some fine tuning over the next two weeks – smoothing transitions, adjusting the pace in some montages, combing through footage to make sure we used the best takes, and adjusting the structure on the final scene. I’m also fortunate to have an insanely talented peer group at Temple University, who have been giving incredible insight. Because we all know and trust each other, they pull no punches and push me to trust my gut. And the cool part is, the more I trust my gut, the more others seem to connect with the film.
Tomorrow I am meeting with the South Philadelphia String Band to fill them in on the exciting news, and to begin working on press in Philly. The timing in our home town is perfect because the Mummers’ Parade is only a month away, so our announcement is especially newsworthy. It’ll be great to get the band some press before the big day – they were such gracious collaborators and it’s one way I can give back. Also, it’s an amazing opportunity to raise awareness. There are over 15,000 Mummers in Philadelphia and I’d love for them all to see the film when our distribution strategy is in place. It’s the first fiction film to capture that tradition, and we’ve done our best to do that in a way they’ll be proud of.
Over the next couple weeks I’ll be posting about the various stages of finishing the film and prepping for Park City. It should be a crazy ride….
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Comments
Hey Jeff,
Mummery is a folk tradition in Philadelphia that dates back to pre-Revolutionary times where the working class put on a parade on New Year’s Day. In 1901, the parade was set up as a city-sponsored event, and now the various string bands begin preparation the third week of January for the following year - practically putting on Broadway shows - some spending 100,000 dollars for a very small prize. The cool thing is that while some of these guys are amazing musicians, the bulk of them do this purely for tradition because their fathers did it, their grandfathers did it, and now their kids are members. It’s crazy fun and the whole city comes out to celebrate it.
Congratulations! Hard work and persistance finally pays off in the end, I can’t believe that the crew stuck around for 3 years and are finally getting their due…
Remember me, now that you are a big film producer? Congratulation on your 2008 Slamdance Film Festival Award Winner! Great job!
What’s a Mummer?