Spin Me Right Round

(Cheryl Scungio as a rather drunken Gracie)

I'm a pretty happy camper today. Since Wednesday, our fans on the Facebook page, "Smalltimore, the Movie," (don't forget the comma) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smalltimore-the-movie/54159809709?ref=ts has TRIPLED! Mostly through Kyle Holtgren's, Phil Calvert's, and my own friends, but we are also pulling in random people along the way, and I love that.

Eric got on board the other day, after I made a rather pointed plea to my friends who had not yet become fans. He is new to Facebook, and he asked me if it got me anything, having people sign up. Not per se, but it definitely helps. It is all about keeping the buzz going, keeping people talking about it, and if you think about it, it is kind of hard to keep people talking about a movie they've never seen, and don't know when they'll see it. But that is exactly what I have been doing for almost a year and a half now, via this blog, layering that with the occasional mass email, and now adding the Facebook page.

Anyone who has ever been to one of my parties or events can tell you that I know how to plan a good time, and a good turnout. Because what I am doing for Smalltimore is exactly what I do for all my events. Like I said in the very beginning, that is what making, and now marketing, a movie is - event planning. Scheduling, being organized, making sure everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing them and finding a way to reward them for doing it so that they stay excited about it. More than anything, it is about communication.

People forget things, and get bored quickly. We're all busy, and in this world where we watch the news with remote control in hand, flipping between several channels which each have one or more talking heads in the middle, various stock, weather, and time info in the corners and a streaming ticker across the bottom, our attention span has been reduced to the point that we require our information in sound bites. Collective social A.D.D.. Just the facts, Ma'am. And quickly!

Now that I have the FB page for the movie, that fills that niche, and I am glad to have it, despite the "new" FB being so annoying. But there are quite a few people that read this blog regularly, it gets an average of about 30 hits a day now. Until recently it was averaging 20, but it has gone up since I have been writing a lot lately. Which is nice, because I was afraid it would go down, that people would get bored with hearing so much from me!

I think the blog serves a certain purpose that I can't accomplish on FB. It is pretty stream-of-consciousness for me, and I think we all enjoy getting inside someone else's head, but my posts usually end up being some sort of story, and most people still like a good story. That's why we still love the movies! Especially if it is some sort of inside scoop, and even more so if it is some sort of inside scoop on a person. The days that receive the biggest number of hits are always the days that I post a profile of one of the actors (and my stat tracker differentiates between how many individuals view the page and how many page loads there are, so that number is not skewed by a few people returning to the page multiple times). BTW, Kyle, the biggest hits I have received in one day came on the day I profiled Phil Calvert - so don't think you're sailing away with that steak dinner quite yet. I think he is due for a comeback (see the posting earlier this week, "Feed a Starving Actor")!

I discovered that this (profiling individuals) was a very good tool a few years ago when I organized a couple group art shows with some of my artist friends here in Baltimore. I didn't have FB then, so I sent them out via mass emailing. We had great turnouts at both events. I received loads of compliments on them and no one minded at all that I was sending them a rather lengthy email once a week. As a matter of fact, once in awhile, I'll run into someone I haven't seen for a bit and they will tell me that they miss my mass emails!

I think the key is keeping it personal, that's what I try to do here. And funny, of course. It's not that hard. This IS Baltimore, after all. And Baltimore + actors = Plenty of material to work with.

Wise Guy

As I profile my actors I am thinking a lot about my time in pre-production and especially the casting calls. That was probably my favorite part of pre-pro, even though I had to make a lot of difficult decisions, torture some people with the lingering unknown until I made up my mind, and sometimes disappoint people that I really would like to work with. Though I have done a few things to put myself in the actor's shoes, I have not gone so far as going for an audition. I want to, and I think I will before the year is out. I figure then I will know what it is like to be rejected, because I am quite certain that I would be! But even going in knowing that, I still think it will be a nerve-wracking experience. Being alone, onstage, and fully aware that you are being judged and measured against a whole bunch of other people based on your looks as well as your talent... how could it not be? It seems a little masochistic to me when I think about it.

At the first round of auditions at Baltimore Theater Project back in April, one of the first people to be in front of me was one Ms. Regina Guy. She did a great job but unfortunately was not quite young enough to play Gracie or Mel, and quite a bit younger than I had envisioned the part of the wealthy widow. But her enthusiasm was striking, and I could tell she really wanted it. At the end of her audition, she said, for the record, that if she wasn't right for one of the parts that she would be happy to be an extra or help out in any way she could. I thought that was pretty cool of her to say, and made a mental note to self.

When it was time to contact all of the actors who came to the first round (and I contacted every single one of them personally to tell them yes or no, almost 100 people altogether), I let Regina know she didn't fit one of the roles but I would love to have her on board as a Production Assistant. She was a bit disappointed (and voiced that) but still willing to be a part of the project. She came in to help me facilitate the second round of auditions and ran the holding room with a gloved iron fist. She showed up early, helped me haul ice and finish setting up the craft services tables, and when the actors arrived she expedited dispatching them to me for their scenes, as well as making sure they were fed and comfortable and had anything they needed. And she honestly seemed to be having a blast!

Her first day a rousing success, I definitely wanted Regina on for the whole shoot, and she obliged. The next gathering was the table read of the script with all the actors present. This was everyone's first introduction to Joyce Scott (Mrs. Talford). I knew Regina would be crazy about her and I asked her to pick Joyce up. That was all it took, and Regina appointed herself as Personal Assistant to Ms. Scott for the entire production.

Though I had hired someone specifically for meal times, actors and crew (if you want to keep them happy) graze the Craft Services table from call time to wrap. Regina loves to feed people and keep them happy, so these tasks fell naturally to her, as well as a lot of the additional responsibilities of meal times. I'm not sure I ever even put her in charge of it, she just took charge, making my life easier, so I was all good with it. When the other members of my Production Interns "A-Team", Corey Dillon and David Sarmiento, would get to set, she would put them to work helping her to get all the mis en place for the day before she would let Corey could get to his wardrobe duties and David go to help the crew.

I know she'd rather be in front of the camera (and she does appear several times in "Smalltimore", so look for her), but this kept her in the thick of things with both cast and crew and she did an amazing job. So amazing that Michelle and I both recommended her to do the entire catering gig on the project we worked on next, "Juju". Regina got (and rocked) the job, and a new career was launched!

More importantly, we became friends, and it makes the day go a lot faster when you are working with hard-working people that you like. Favorite days were those that Regina made her famous chili. The first time, I was a little concerned that the cast and crew might feel this was a cheap lunch, because it was the only thing on the menu. But we were filming at my friend Greg's house, and using the whole interior, so Regina had to set up shop on the front porch. Space being limited, we couldn't have done much more anyway. But in addition to the VAT of chili, she brought all the fixings and rigged an entire chili BAR with onions, sour cream, shredded cheese, and salad, and it was a smash hit. She even brought some vegetarian chili for a few of the crew with special diets. Everyone had seconds and thirds, and no one complained when we served it again within a week.

The chili appeared several times on the "Juju" set, and Regina always made a little extra for me to take home. We have remained friends, and in touch, and just this morning she texted me to say she is whipping up a batch, would I like her to bring some by tomorrow? Possibly the most rhetorical question that has ever been posed to me.

Moral of the story, stay open to possibilities. Regina didn't get exactly what she came to that audition for, but it ended up opening a lot of doors for her because she was positive and flexible. She has worked on several productions since "Juju" and has entrenched herself in the local indie production scene. And I made out like a bandit because I spotted a valuable asset and made sure to find a place for her. Everybody wins!