Now that I'm back from Austin, this week has been a mad rush to get the film out to other Festivals. I am mailing copies all over the place. It's time consuming and expensive. These are the costs of filmmaking that I didn't consider when I made the project. I basically have no money and no social life, because I get home from work and I have to burn DVDs, fill out entry forms, buy supplies, etc. It's great, and I'm really glad people love the film, but I wish I had mentally prepared better for this part of the process. Next time I will know.

We got back from Austin last night, and I spent a little bit of time today searching the internet for reviews or mentions of the film. I have compliled most of what I found on a new Reviews/Coverage page.

The reviews seem to be more positive than negative, and certain people are really connecting with the film. It's a great feeling.

I sent a DVD off to the Seattle International Film Festival today. It would be so great if we could play at that fest. I've always wanted to go to Seattle, and the fest is just so big and exciting that I would love to experience it.

I'm here at the Austin Convention Center in the Press Lounge waiting to be interviewed by someone from the University of Texas TV station. We've been trying to do as many interviews as possible to raise awareness of the film. It has been a great experience to talk about the film with an audience, and to speak with interviewers and critics. People have been tremendously supportive and I heard today that last night everyone at a particular party seemed to be talking about our film. I'm really glad that we made the kind of film that gets people talking. That's the ultimate compliment.

The screening yesterday was a lot of fun, and we had another good crowd out to see it. I'll post some pictures of the theatre as soon as possible, because it's really neat looking inside.

The awards ceremony is tonight, and after that the parties and everything else end, and I can focus on just seeing movies. I'm looking forward to that.

We got into Austin last night and went to dinner with Dan Brown. It was great to finally meet him after talking to him online so much. We ate at this place called Gueros, and it was really good. We left some postcards there, and this morning I hung up one of our posters at this video store called VULCAN or something like that. Dan said it's a cool place and lots of people rent there.

Today we slept in a bit, had breakfast at the hotel, then went to the convention center to get our badges. The computers were down when we got there, so we hung around for about 40 minutes waiting for them to come back up. During that time I met Susan and Arin from FOUR EYED MONSTERS, Sean Ackerman from STRAIGHT LINE, Bryan Poyser who directed DEAR PILLOW, Rusty Nails, who has a short in the festival called THE RAMONES AND I, Scott Weinberg and Erik Childress from efilmcritic.com, and Matt Dentler who is the director of the SXSW Film Festival. It was really cool to get to say hello to so many people who I only knew from email.

Later we went over to this Austin Public Access TV station and did an interview with THE AUSTIN MOVIE SHOW, hosted by Jegar Erickson and Leila Hernandez. It was really fun, and some of the people from other films were there to be on the show as well.

Tonight we are going to hit a few parties and try and meet as many people as we can. Austin is really beautiful, and the people have all been exceptionally nice. It's going to be a great week.

The movie premieres tomorrow!!!! I don't know what to think. I hope people come.

We're getting everything read to head off to Austin. I'm nervous, excited, overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed, thrilled, etc. This is amazing. It still doesn't feel real.

There are some exciting things to annouce on the publicity front. We got our first review of the film, from Don Lewis at Film Threat and he gave the film 4 stars out of 5. Click here to read the review. There is also a very extensive interview with me at this awesome website called Braintrust DV. I've been a fan of this site for a long time, and it's really great to be a part of it. Warning, this interview talks about the film in depth, so if you haven't seen it, you may want to wait to read this one, or it might spoil a lot of things for you. Click here to read the interview.

We're driving to Memphis tomorrow, staying at Kris's mom's place, then driving to Austin on Thursday. It's going to be an amazing 10 days. I need sleep.

We signed a contract with Carmichael Films today to be the sales rep for the film. Chris Pizzo is representing us, and will be working to try and secure a distribution deal for the film. We are excited to be working with them. It's a big step for us, but everything at this point will be a great learning experience, and hopefully it will mean a nice distribution deal and some money to make another film. Fingers crossed.

Here's a cool little post about the film that I came across while google searching...

Sex in the 00's (from The Independent Film Weblog).

We leave for Austin Wednesday morning, and there is still a lot to do. I am beyond excited, but I can't help being overwhelmed by it all. Matt and the people at SXSW have been really helpful and cool, so that's great. Kris and I are going to tie up some loose ends tomorrow, try and get a good night sleep, then hit the road to face our destiny. I can't believe after all this time we are finally heading to Austin.