Victory is Ours!

[My first award, the Judith Rheiner Independent Spirit Honor! "The Red-Headed Menace" won 1st Place at the 29 Days Later Film Festival]

If you weren't at the Creative Alliance last night for the 29 Days Later Film Festival, you missed a great time. And not just because I won something shiny!

Dawn & Dean, the organizers of the event and the competition, did a fantastic job, as well as contributing shorts of their own to the evening's line-up, though they decided they were not personally eligible for an award. There were 10 films in the competition, plus Dean's and Dawn's, plus a bonus short from Mob Television, so attendees got to see THIRTEEN shorts for $8! There was drama, horror, and lots of comedy. No two were alike, and all were enjoyed by a very enthusiastic (and sold-out) crowd.

Forgive me my cheesy-ness, but it really did warm my heart to see so many of the people who participated in the making of "The Red-Headed Menace" in the crowd. Of course Regina was front and center, of course Michelle was late :) . Of the EIGHTEEN actors that had speaking parts in our little 8 minute short, nine of them were present, including Nicole Smith, who played the oldest of the three children in the movie. She looked excited and happy when she arrived, but after we won, I thought she was just going to burst! Other actors attending were Cheryl Scungio, David Thornhill, Jr. (who got more screen time than he bargained for, thanks to some funny improv he did with Megan Rippey), and my reluctant star/"Make-up Girl", Lisa Knoch. Also both of our stunt guys, Jeff Wilhelm and Mark Mosier and their wives were there, and they seemed very happy with the way the stunts came across on screen. They are already thinking about how we should kill/maim/ignite Mark for the next production. Many of my extras were in the crowd, such as Kelly Coston, Linda Gustafson (who snagged the primo spot I had slated for Kelly, but she arrived a few minutes after we were ready to shoot because she was coming directly from Philadelphia airport), Lois Tuttle, and Lois' fake date Gary Morin. Crew members Megan Reed, Fred Besche, Elizabeth Foks, and J.R. Maroney were there, and Craig Herron, who was not actually crew but an actor this time, but he also designed my logo for Steel Corset Productions that I got to use for the first time. Short story long, "The Red-Headed Menace" was well-represented.

As a bonus, dear old Mikey B (ONE OF my Executive Producers on "Smalltimore" - Hi Tom!) came down from New York for the big to-do, and we are heading to his cabin in a few hours for the weekend. I'll be taking my hard drive and laptop to do some more tweaking on the short before I turn a copy over to the Hampden Short Film Festival, so hopefully you will be able to see an even better version of it there on Saturday, September 12, and ALSO since we won first place, "The Red-Headed Menace" will screen again at the Creative Alliance on Monday, October 5, during the CAmm Salon/Cinelounge monthly event.

I want to tell you about how happy I was to win this award and how much it meant to me, but I can't quite figure out how to tell you without sounding obnoxious about it. I put a LOT of work into this short, and it was nice to be recognized for that, but everyone who made a short can say the same thing. "The Red-Headed Menace" really was a group effort, and though I was at the helm, it would not have been a fraction of what it was without the incredible (and extensive) cast and crew - almost FIFTY people! I was even happier for them than I was for myself, because everyone worked very hard, took direction well, and it was a long day of shooting, but everyone did everything I asked of them, above and beyond. When Dean announced us as the winner, it was the shouts and squeals and (Regina's) screams that put a smile on my face more than the actual win did. It was an electric moment and I truly enjoyed it.

Michelle supplied the Grand Prize of a weekend's gear rental, but she was not one of the judges, none of whom I had ever met, so it was an impartial panel. I was talking to one of the guys from Mob Television (they took Second Place) afterwards, and he told me they didn't mind Second Place because that was the prize they really wanted, 8 hours of special effects work provided by Craig Herron/Herron Designs. Mob Television's short, "Tiny," was hysterical and my favorite (besides ours), and I would not have felt bad if they would have won. They always come up with funny shorts and I knew they would likely be my stiffest competition. "Tiny" will also be screening at the CA on October 5th.

The Judith Rheiner Independent Spirit Honor is named after a friend and mentor of Michelle's. Judith is battling cancer and was not able to attend. I've heard some amazing stories about her and hope to be able to meet her someday, and I am very proud to have received the first award in her honor.

Everything about this competition and the production itself was a lot of fun, and it is hard to pinpoint what "the best part" is. It is very satisfying to be recognized, it is good for the resume, it was an incredible feeling of camaraderie to have so many of the cast and crew there, excited and cheering for us. It was encouraging to have people who worked on "Smalltimore" want to be a part of it, and now to have those same people plus all the new people that worked on "The Red-Headed Menace" asking and offering to be a part of whatever I come up with next. That means more to me than I can explain in words, it makes me feel like I am doing something right, and it is more flattering than any award could ever be.

Last summer when I was shooting, "Smalltimore," which overlapped my friend Eric Thornett's shooting of his own feature, I was sort of jealous because Eric has his own sort of semi-permanent crew/cast/entourage, that work pretty well as a team, people he can count on, who will line up just to work with him for nothing but the glory of it. I also saw that on a monthly basis when attending CAmmSalon/Cinelounge at the Creative Alliance, with Mob Television setting the example of what a tight and self-sacrificing group of creative friends and cohorts can come up with. I wanted that. I really wanted that. But I had no idea how to go about getting that.

I think that probably the best part of making "The Red-Headed Menace" is that I feel like I have that now, or at least the beginnings of it. I do have people now, both cast and crew, who know that they can count on me to do what I say I am going to do, and to pull together a production that they can be proud to be a part of. And they reflect that back to me and give me their best, and that hand-in-hand effort is what results in a great production.

And I think the single most important thing that has come out of this that it has cast in stone both my friendship and working relationship with Michelle. We really were like a well-oiled machine the day we shot, and I know it is just going to keep getting better. If "The Red-Headed Menace" had not won, it was my evil plan regardless to talk her into doing another short with me before the end of the year. Now that I won the gear package for a weekend, that will definitely be happening - just with a bit less arguing about it.