Smashing Smalltimore Success!

My goodness. I am still on a high, last night was SOOOOOOOO much fun! What was equally great was seeing loads of faces that I know and loads of faces that I don't know, but everyone seeming to have an equally good time. It was the first time I have shown the movie to an audience that was not entirely biased. That's the real test. Of course my friends, my family, and the cast and crew who helped me to make the film are going to say nice things about it, and that is always good to hear, but the ultimate goal of any artist is to have a total stranger love your work. And I had a lot of strangers come up to talk to me after the film with smiles on their faces.

The two questions asked most often were, "When can I buy it on DVD?" and "How can I get the soundtrack?" The answer to the first question is, probably about six months from now, but definitely in time for Christmas, so start thinking about all your Baltimoron friends, here as well as scattered about the country, who would love to have this movie in their Christmas stocking!

The answer to the second question is: click on the links to the musicians websites on the right side of this very page you are reading, buy their music and create your own soundtrack! Some of them have downloadable clips, and some are on CDbaby so you can buy just the songs you want or their whole CDs. Of course I recommend doing the latter!

I can't even count how many compliments I got on the music as well as the movie. During the screening, I heard someone behind me say to her friend, "This music is REALLY good." It is one of the things I am most proud of about the film, and I love that people are both surprised and excited about it all being original music by Baltimore artists. 37 songs! That's a box set.

Speaking of music, as in "music to my ears," another thing I heard from a lot of different people was that they loved that it was SO Baltimore. Again, I was glad to hear this from the people who live here and feel it was authentic and I did them proud, but also from people who came in from out of town to see the movie, people who don't know much about this city, who said to me that from the film they had a very clear sense of the Baltimore that I was trying to show them, and they liked it. That made me very happy.

There were a few sound glitches that surprised me, because I literally got done burning the DVD at 6:35pm and we started the film around 7:15pm! I keep telling you I am an 11th-hour kind of gal, but this was extreme even for me. Eric came to the show, and afterwards I was kind of joking about it, but I was upset that the last song, where Joyce sings, was partially screwed up. Eric kinda yelled at me, not real yelling, but my procrastination annoys him a little, I think. Since I didn't have time to proof the DVD, it bit me in the ass because, "You ALWAYS do this!" he said. Yea, I said, but I always seem to pull it off. Almost every friend of mine that is an artist of any walk of life is the same way. If we didn't have deadlines, we'd never get anything done. Anyway, I think the gag reel saved me a bit because then everyone had a good laugh at the end while the credits rolled, and I think that helped them to forgive the glitches. I hope so, anyway.

I will fix them soon, but I gotta tell ya, I am SO glad to not look at it for at least two weeks. The premiere was a big step and a big event, and I am ecstatic at the turnout as well as how well it was received. I did feel badly that there was not enough seating for everyone and that I couldn't reserve seats for everyone who worked on the film, but I DID tell everyone a million times to get there early, and I am just glad that Russell didn't make me turn people away at the door. The Wind-Up Space's capacity is 240 people, and we were VERY close to that mark, and that head count doesn't usually include dozens of folding chairs.

So, like I said, I am glad to step away from it for a bit, but there was so much fantastic energy in that room that I do look forward to the fall when I can have the DVD release party. I don't know the venue yet, but I promise to have it at a proper theater with seating for all!

Thanks once again to everyone - the cast, the crew, the artists, the musicians, and my friends who loaned me their homes and businesses as locations, and thanks to everyone who came out last night and made the evening such a success! Is this a great town or what?!?!