Sonoma Bound with "Mr. Santaland Diaries."

One day before heading up to Sonoma and I'm getting really excited, but not as much for myself as I am one of my leads, Joshua Hutchinson. Josh was born and raised in Sonoma (he was Josh Farrell then) and still has many ties there. Though he now lives in Los Angeles, he still is involved in Sonoma having volunteered on many occasions and most recently, performing two sold out weeks of David Sedaris' THE SANTALAND DIARIES at the community center with all proceeds benefiting an arts programs for children in Sonoma. Some of his previous films have played Sonoma like last year's THE VILLAGE BARBERSHOP, but he has never been the lead. Now, with THE FULL PICTURE, he gets to return to his roots with a film that he stars in and here's the other thing: Josh nailed his role.

The character, Hal Foster, is a corporate lawyer with a oral fetish and interesting take of fidelity. On paper, the guy appears like a slimy, know-it-all jackass, but that's the challenge of the role. It is imperative to the story that you, the viewer, still like this guy, and with some of Hal's actions it is not a easy thing to do. But Josh worked diligently on his character and tapped into the fun-loving side of Hal Foster so that even against their better judgement, the audience can't help but love this guy. Quite simply, Hal's a crowd pleaser and this film wouldn't be successful with out Josh's talent and ability. So, for this festival, I get to play second fiddle and fade into the background, with the limelight being cast where it should be, on the star, Joshua Hutchinson.

Durango Wrap-up...Next Stop, Sonoma.

I just came back on Sunday night from Durango Independent Film Festival and after two nights of comatose sleep, I finally feel capable of forming a coherent sentence. So here’s how it went. I was initially concerned about our Friday screening at 3:15pm but what I didn’t realize is that the whole town supports this “little” festival and everyone makes sacrifices to go to the screenings. So for our Friday screening, we had a very respectable crowd and more importantly, the people that came responded as we had hoped, which was really important being that Mike and Tony from Rivercoast Films Distibution were there. I had met them in the filmmaker lounge on Thursday night and after a couple drinks and a few laughs, (very good guys BTW) convinced them to come to our screening. To make a long story short, they loved it, and though that is just a start, it’s the right start to potentially work together.

As for the rest of the festival, well, it was a blur. We partied some on Friday, then woke at 5:45am on Saturday to drive an hour away to ski at Silverton Mountain. Our guide, “Ron-bow” ran us ragged, hiking and skiing till the last chair. Then we raced back, had a quick soak in the hot tub, and got dressed for the 9:15pm showing of THE FULL PICTURE. Once again, we had a good crowd and after a lengthy Q & A, joined the other filmmakers at the closing night party. By this time, Joe, Keith and I were spent and even though we managed to choke down a couple drinks (Tom Collins were the special on the night…too sweet to enjoy but free so we tolerated them), we couldn’t physically make it to the late night parties.

So in short, Durango…very cool and a great festival experience. If you are a skier and film lover, I highly recommend hitting this little gem but bring No Doz and an oxygen mask, because sleeping four hours a night and skiing at 13,000 feet can kick your ass.

Onwards to Sonoma International Film Festival (April 1st-5th) where one of my lead actors, Joshua Hutchinson (he was Joshua Farrell then), grew up. For schedule information, click here.

The Snow Be A Coming

Just a little update for everyone, fast and furious. Keith Stockmann and Joey Oh, two longtime friends, have joined me for the trip to Durango. We touched down, went to the filmmaker lounge, met the festival staff, had some drinks, and promoted the hell out of the film. The Durango community appears to be incredibly supportive of the festival and everyone we've talked to seems to be interested in our film. On Thursday, we headed up to Silverton to get some skiing in. The mountain is in the San Juan mountain range which are simply majestic, reminiscent of the Canadian Rockies. Silverton has some great terrain but the snow quality was lacking. A storm is supposed to be rolling in tonight so we're excited by the prospect of heading back to Silverton tomorrow.

THE FULL PICTURE is screening today at 3:15pm and we're fired up to be playing in front of a crowd where we know absolutely no one. This is first time that all the feedback will be raw and uncensored. I feel very confident in the way the film is playing and look forward to the challenge.

SF Indie Wrap-up and Durango Prelude

So yesterday was THE FULL PICTURE'S last showing at SF Indie Fest and after 4 screenings in 3 weeks, I'm happy to report that the festival was incredible success. Every show was packed to the gills with enthusiastic, attentive crowds and press coverage could not have been better with seven interviews and four reviews to date. We were the best selling film of the entire festival and finally have the necessary -and complimentary- press coverage to fill our press kit. We were selected as one of only four films for a bonus screening at Sugarbowl ski area in Lake Tahoe and I was fortunate enough to be the only filmmaker in attendance. It was the first year that SF Indie tried such a thing but thanks to Alex West and some of my ol' buddies from my Tahoe days, we were able to drum up a good crowd.

I have two days to recharge the batteries before heading off to Colorado for Durango Independent and begin this cycle again. The past month has been a whirlwind but I honestly couldn't be more pleased with how the film is playing and the comments we've received. It's at moments like this, I begin to believe that we can be one of the lucky small films that finds its audience. Oh yeah, and we got into Somoma International too!