nbcuniversal

Slowly But Surely

So a lot has been going on lately.  My film, The Device, has been accepted to two festivals thus far!  NewFilmmakers LA and NBCUniversal's Short Cuts Festival.  Technically, two and a half because HollyShorts hit me up and said that they liked my film and still wanted to screen it in their monthly program despite me not making it into their big annual program.  But in any case, things have been really busy and exciting!!  Especially with me finally being able to attend these festivals as a filmmaker and not just a spectator. 

The NewFilmmakers LA premiere went well although I do wish I had screened my film on a projector first before giving it to them.  Their projector screened pretty dark and on top of my film already being a pretty low lit film, it was hard to see a lot of the key moments.  I was actually pretty bummed about that and worried that no one would understand what's going on.  Despite it being so dark, it still got a pretty good response.  A number of people even came up to me afterwards and said that my film was their favorite of the block.  That was pretty cool.   

A highlight of the night was when I was onstage with the other filmmakers during the Q&A.   Someone in the audience asked us what kinds of cameras we all shot with and what our budgets were.  Of course, the other filmmakers shot with expensive cameras that cost over $10k.  One filmmaker even said that they "scrounged around and managed to raise only $20k."  ONLY $20k?!  Good goodness... So it felt extra amazing when I told the audience that I shot with a lowly Canon T3i and spent only $40 on pizza.  I could hear them trip out and as I glanced over at the other filmmakers onstage, I could see that they were impressed. 

But the best part of the night by far was the fact that I got to share my very first red carpet premiere with my beautiful mother.  She just so happened to be in town for her husband's mother's birthday so they all were able to come out.  It just felt so good to share that moment with her because it was finally something tangible to show her that all this hustling, grinding, and pounding the pavement is worth it.  It was good to show here that I'm not wasting my time up here, that I'm not fucking around, and that it's slowl but surely paying off.  I can't wait to bring her to longer red carpets for my bigger premieres.  I can't wait to retire her and buy her everything she deserves.  But for now I hope she's proud of me.  Just gotta keep hustling.  Slowly but surely....