"A Day's Work" film blog

GenArt Film Festival Premiere Party

adayswork — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:37:52 +0000

I wasn’t there for the Gen Arts festival premiere party, but I was forwarded a video from it, and it looks amazing! We have our own party thrown just for us and our partner feature, “The Take” starring John Leguizamo, which promises just as swank given that its the closing night of the festival!!

But you gotta check out this video:

www.davidjr.com/genart

Did you see that the host of “Cash Cab” Ben Bailey came to the party? I love that show, Ben I would be honored if you came to our party at Spotlight Live in Manhattan as well!

Florida Film Festival and Orlando: Symbol of American Decadence

adayswork — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:34:22 +0000

This is considered one of the best regional festivals, and so far they have been inviting. That said, Orlando is kind of a wierd place… I would it is second only to Las Vegas in being a symbol of American Decadence… you arrive at the airport and look up and realize… there is a Hyatt built right INTO the airport, its the strangest thing there are people on their balconies looking down at the security bag check lines, it is the strangest thing I have ever seen. The whole city seems geared toward the theme parks, and I’ve never seen so many lakes in my life.

Our screening is tonight, I’m excited, promises to be a good crowd.

INSANE Festival Season begins…

adayswork — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:09:40 +0000

So, starting today, the insane festival seasons begins! We are screening at the Florida Film Festival tomorrow morning, at the Sacramento Film Festival tomorrow evening, then immediately again at AFI Dallas, Vail Film Festival, Method Film Festival, the Phoenix Film Festival and the Gen Arts Film Festival in NY, all in the same 7 day period!!!!

It’s been a tough call, but I’ve chosen to definately attend our second screening in Florida, both at AFI in Dallas, and then end up in New York for Gen Arts. This screening will be particularly amazing because we have been paired with “The Take” starring John Leguizamo and Tyrese Gibson (both of whom will BE THERE!!). One of my lead actors told me Leguizamo is one of his all time favorite actors, so this is especially exciting for him.

One more great thing, “The Take” was written by the Pate brothers, Josh and Jonas Pate, who happen to have written the NBC TV series, Surface, that another of my lead actors, Carter Jenkins, starred in. How funny is that?

San Luis Obispo Film Festival

adayswork — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:04:40 +0000

Last week we screened at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival, which was amazing! Highly recommended to any filmmakers out there… they were immensely nice, and I spoke on an amazing panel about the film industry and my own experiences. Our screening was sold out that evening, there was a line around the block and a lot of couldn’t even get in, it was fantastic. This is what I’m finding, that these slightly smaller festivals are more fun, that the people there actually care about the shorts and are really excited to see them.

Beverly Hills Short Film Festival and AFI Dallas orientation

adayswork — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 09:28:29 +0000

We screened at the BHSFF last night, and it was an interesting experience. Unlike some of the other festivals, this is a smaller affair, in a city that literally has hundreds of film festivals (compared to say, Omaha, where we played last week, where it really is an event). That said, they played us in a spectacular theater, the Fine Arts Theatre, and the image looked fantastic on screen.

It was funny though because we were part of a “Thriller” block, and I think someone gets shot in almost every movie, so it almost began losing its impact

My favorite film playing with us that night was called “Samaritan”, largely because it actually had me guessing, wondering where it was going and interested in the answer… a cool little film.

The other thing I did today was attend the AFI Dallas film festival orientation, held at the AFI conservatory. It’s a completely different affair, a huge festival spanning two weeks, red carpets every night, with a press coordinator working to get your film coverage and seen… it was amazing, and I cannot wait for it. I also met some of the other filmmakers playing the festival, and they seemed like a really savvy, talented group… one man described a film called “Filthy Food” that sounds like it is genius, apparently it has been playing the circuit very successfully for a while, and I cannot wait to see it!! Look it up, seriously, it’s worth your while…

Sedona Film Festival: First Screening

adayswork — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:21:37 +0000

Hi!

We had out first screening today. It was fantastic… the crowd really enjoyed the film, and we got excellent questions. Once again, a high school student came up and wanted advice and just to chat… you know, its really fun talking to energetic spirited film hungry students, it makes me want to be a teacher I hope one day I get a chance to do that…

Sedona is awesome… I cannot recommend this festival enough. Five nights at a beautiful resort, totally paid for, a bottle of wine with my films name on it, and every day all day is a green room with fresh fruit, drinks, past, all kinds of stuff! It’s great… and every screening is filled. The people here love film…

Sedona Film Festival and the quest for a late night bite to eat!

adayswork — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:18:56 +0000

I arrived in Sedona last night, and check out this photo of the view from my hotel room when I woke up.

But first, the night before… so I arrive late, and make it just in time for the tail end of the opening night party… and the large sumptuous meal presented is now long gone. It’s a little past 11, so I figure, ok, there MUST be some place open to get dinner. I proceed to drive around for an hour, looking for something, anything, to eat. And there is nothing. Sedona is a fantastic little town, but they don’t like eating past 11… even dominoes closed right at 11, just as I drive up to it! AHH….

It turns out I had the lamest, late night dinner one can imagine… AMPM. That’s right… I warmed up a beef and bean burrito, got a bag of doritoes, and got a bottle of mango juice. Yum

Carolina Film Festival

adayswork — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:13:49 +0000

Hey! So, a little bit a of a delay before the last time I posted on this blog. I’m actually in Sedona, AZ, right now, but more on that soon. We just finished at the Carolina Film Festival, which is a small but fun little festival in Greensboro, NC. What was amazing was that all those high school filmmakers came up to me after the screening asking for advice on filmmaking, which was so cool! I did my best to give ‘em good advice (sex, drugs, violence are the keys to good filmmaking was the first lesson … (ok, that was a joke… no need for drugs)

I wasn’t able to go to the Omaha Film Festival, but I heard it was a blast, and on the Bside website we got some really really positive reviews. I’m seeing more and more how selective you need to be though, I went to Carolina because its my home state, but it was a small festival, and probably not worth the airfare for anyone without a personal connection… that said, I’d love to attend some of the other festivals in NC, Hi mom!, Cucalorus, and RiverRun.

Our first screening at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

adayswork — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:58:02 +0000

Last night we had our very premiere screening at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and it was an amazing experience! It’s been raining cats and dogs all weekend, and we spent the weekend doing what you should do when its raining… in theaters, watching movies. There were some incredible ones playing at the festival, my favorite was an Israeli film called “The Bands Visit” that is just spectacular. It’s similar to “Little Miss Sunshine” in tone, but with a slightly darker edge considering its about a group of Egyptian musicians who get lost in Israel.

We played in a short film group with 6 other films, and they ranged from almost surrealist to heartbreaking (a film called “God Only Knows” had the audience stricken), but Charles Uy one of our producers came, as did actors Luis Chavez, Eddie Martinez, Hugo Garcia, and Leigh Hill, DP Nicola B. Marsh and AD Liana Maeby. It was great having everyone together again for dinner and drinks before the screening, we had a blast.

So, one screening down, many more to go. I’m very excited about all the festivals we have coming up, but I’ll be posting some photos from our premiere festival shortly.

Hello world!

adayswork — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:47:57 +0000

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