House of Schmooze

Last night was a blast, and I don't really know where to start, so I will just start with the big news: I won the Best Director Award for "Smalltimore" at the ceremony.

That still doesn't sound quite right, it is like I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, like they are going to call me and say it was all a mistake. When they were announcing the nominees I was shocked to hear my name even for that. I was up against some tough competition, including Kely McClung for "Kerberos". He seems to know the people at Indie Fest, and they had pursued him to screen his film there. Also they had invited him to be a speaker on the first day of the festival. I thought he had it in the bag. I saw the movie, a dramatic action flick with some great fight and chase scenes.

Another director I was up against was Robert Stephens for "House of Fallen". Of everything I saw at the festival, this far and away had the best production values. It also had two stars, Corbin Bernsen and C. Thomas Howell.

The other nominees were Kurando Mitsutake for "Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf", and Chip Richie for "Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School," a documentary. I did not see either of these, though I wanted to see "Indian Boarding School" and I heard it was very good.

I didn't think I had a chance and was just happy to have been nominated, especially because this was an across the board sort of award, and there were about 160 films in competition. So for the 60 or so seconds between they announced my name as the nominee and when they announced my name as the winner, the thoughts flying through my head went something like,

wow, didn't see that coming, I wonder why they nominated me, don't even hope for it, Jeanie, you'll just be disappointed, but this is cool and at least I can say I was nominated and everyone who has something to do with "Smalltimore" will be excited, but what if I do win, what would I say, and would that make our chances of being nominated or winning Best Comedy better or worse, quit thinking about it, it is not going to happen, it doesn't matter, just have fun, OH MY GOD they just said I won, now what the hell am I going to say???????

Yep, pretty much just like that. Things moved very fast there for a minute as I walked up to the stage and accepted the award, and the first thing that came out of my mouth, I swear to God, right into the microphone, was, "Wow. At least now you know it's not fixed!" I'm sure the festival organizers LOVED that. I can be such a moron.

Then I said something like thank you several times, and that it was my first film, that I didn't go to school for it, and a bunch of people clapped. I don't know why I said that, it was just the first thing that popped into my head, and then I realized that might sound like showing off but that's not how I meant it, and I thought to myself, please stop spewing nonsense and say something good and get off the stage before you piss off or insult anyone else, and I said that I was sorry that no one from Baltimore could come out with me for this, but that one of the things about "Smalltimore" that I am most proud of is the soundtrack, 37 songs by 11 Baltimore artists, and one of them, Niki Lee, lives out here now and I was very glad she could be here at the awards tonight, then I think I said thank you a couple more times, grabbed the piece of paper that was on the podium with the nominees on it because I knew I would instantly forget who they were and I wanted to analyze this later, and then I FINALLY left the stage.

As I weaved my way back to the table, award in hand, it felt like that steadicam shot we have all seen in a million movies, people, strangers, in their seats, turning their faces to me and smiling and saying, "Congratulations," as I passed by them. It was very surreal, almost confusing, and I was very aware that I was unable to erase the, "WTF?" expression off my face for at least half an hour. This seemed to amuse Niki and my friend Adam who also attended with us. I met Adam Bronstein at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival in June (his film is "My Movie Girl"), and we've stayed in touch. It was REALLY nice to have him and Niki there with me, to have some friends there to be my cheering section and to share the moment with.

Also at our table, and in our corner, were Steve Belcher and Bill Rollins. Steve and Bill had a short in the festival called, "Unemployable". When I saw it, there were some scenes in it that were identifiable as Baltimore county, so I found a postcard of it afterwards and sent them an email inviting them to come to my screening, which they did. Nice guys. I think it was Steve (though it could have been Bill, I was still a bit dazed) who said to me, "I'm glad you won." It was sincere and nice to hear.

Rounding out our 10-top were some people from the movie, "Disowning Claire." Adam and I went to see this together, it screened right before "Smalltimore". It was hysterical and I loved it, the writing was very good and though the lead actress was great, I thought the actress who played the best friend, Ashley White, really stole the show. She was very nice in person, and funny, and her Dallas accent is as thick as Texas Toast. I need to write something for her. The woman who wrote it, A.C. (I can't think of her last name off the top of my head), was also very personable and funny. After the awards we all headed to the House of Blues for more drinks and to take some drunken photos, which I will post on Facebook after I get home, so if you aren't yet a fan of the "Smalltimore, the Movie" page, now would be a good time to rectify that.

This trip has been strange at times and lonely at other times, but all in all it was well worth it, and not just because I am coming home with an award (but that, as my friend and Executive Producer Tom would say, does not suck).

Before "Smalltimore" screened on Thursday, I went through the stack of business cards I had collected in the previous three days, and realized I had met a lot more people than I thought I had. I emailed them all to remind them to come to the screening, and although only a fraction of them showed, at least I have made initial contact and the doors are open to communication. By the end of the awards night, I had almost doubled that stack of business cards, including Jakob and Scott who made "Shades of Grey", and the lead actor of, "The Truth About Average Guys". This movie, and "Disowning Claire", were two that I would not have minded losing Best Comedy to. But since "Smalltimore" was not nominated for Best Comedy, it didn't matter anyway. The short "Cross-Eyed Dinner Theater Presents!", which screened with "Smalltimore," was nominated for Best Comedy, but "The Mel Bourne Ultimatum," another short, walked off with it. It was very funny, I saw it, but I didn't think it was quite fair that Best Comedy included both shorts and features. Oh, well. I should not be complaining.

I am thrilled to have won Best Director and I never would have imagined beforehand that this would even be a possibility. For me personally, I guess it is probably the best award I could hope for, but I would trade it in in a heartbeat for Best Comedy or even Best Music/Soundtrack. Though I may be the person who brought all the pieces of the puzzle that is "Smalltimore" together into one piece of work, it took a lot of amazing people with their individual amazing talents to make the movie as good as it is. I am very proud of them, and proud to share the credit for this award with them. Congratulations to all.