All packed and ready for my trip to Montreal for the First Peoples’ Festival. I’m pumped!

I have to be at the airport at the crack of 5 a.m. (6 short hours form now), which is really gonna hurt, but hopefully I’ll catch some shuteye on the plane.

I’ll be Twittering and Facebooking while I’m there.

Bon voyage,
-r.

It’s been a while, since there wasn’t much to report in May. But things should pick up.

I’ve sent “The Dead Can’t Dance” off to about a dozen festivals, so we’re just waiting word. Gearing up for the First Peoples’ Festival in a couple weeks, though, and that will be awesome! Shipped off our exhibition print and made flight arrangements. The festival is picking me up at the airport and putting me up, so that’s very cool. I don’t have to worry about that (and I don’t speak French, although I was able to exist in Paris once for a few days).

It’s hard to believe that this weekend will be exactly one year since we started actual production on “The Dead Can’t Dance” at the Independent School. Simply amazing. I happened to drive by the school the other day, and it brought back great memories of dreams coming true (and nightmare of stuff going wrong).

We’re having a small crew reunion next week, so it’ll be nice to celebrate (like we need a reason) and reflect on the whole thing. This film has taught me monumental things about filmmaking, friendship, loyalty, resilience — and myself. Sometimes I simply wanted to just lay down and quit. But somehow, I kept picking myself back up.

I may lack the talent to be a good director, actor or writer, but I make up for it in passion, drive and stubbornness. Like I’ve said, I’m probably the Ed Wood of native cinema. And that’s just fine with me. He was told to his face that he was the worst filmmaker ever. But he didn’t care. Making movies is what he wanted to do, so he did. Simple as that.

And through all of my amazingly brilliant cast and crew’s hard work, we have a movie to show. And that’s very, very cool, my friends.

Happy birthday, zombies!
-r.

Found out our screening in Montreal will be on Saturday, June 19, at 7 p.m. That’s a fantastic slot! They must have really liked the flick.

I have to have it transferred to DigiBeta format for the festival, and that will be our exhibition print. The great, knowledgeable people at Outpost Worldwide is handling the transfer, which is not cheap. The whole process is going to cost about $300. Yeesh.

We’re waiting to hear on a few more festivals, and we’ve got other submissions coming up, too. We’re ready to go worldwide! Hopefully the world wants us.

Onward,
-r.

Shipped “The Dead Can’t Dance” off to five more festivals in the past couple of weeks, and our IMDB page is now live!

Other than that, just waiting to hear when we will screen at the First Peoples’ Festival in Montreal so I can book my flight. We’ll hear soon, I hope.

And production is nearing a wrap on Wade’s music video/short film for Gooding’s “No One Gets Out Alive.” I think there’s one more scene with me, and then it’s done! Well, principal photography, anyway.

Blogging will be sporadic, as my home computer is in the shop for the next 2-3 weeks, which is driving me crazy, but it’ll be nice to actually be able to burn discs again. Saw D.P. Jerod this week briefly when he came by to borrow the HVX-200 camera for the week, and we chatted briefly about some upcoming projects. And we had a mini reunion of the crew last week, so it was great to see everyone and hang out again. Makes me miss being in production.

Speaking of, I finally have narrowed down the next script I want to write, so I start prelimary concept-thinking this week. It’s an interesting process, where I start shaping the characters out of clay (figuratively speaking) and molding who they are and why they’re in the story. Ready to dig back in…

So, good things happening. Don’t forget to go the IMDB page and leave a rating, or go to the Facebook and leave a comment or review. If you wanna.

Happy Mid-May!
-r.

I’m sad to see April go. It was a monumental, incredibly busy month that flew by.

We had an amazing premiere, a great screening in Tahlequah, and heard news about screenings in Chicago and Montreal. I hope it only gets better.

Just this week, I shipped the film off to four more festivals, and there’s more submissions to come. I’ve built myself a schedule and have come up with a plan. We’ll just see who bites (come on Fantastic Fest in Austin!).

For May, I vow to eat better, because I ate absolutely horribly all through April, just grabbing stuff here and there, mostly fast food. I’m sure I’ve gained about 10 pounds. And exercise. I really need to exercise.

We’re busy wrapping up Wade’s short film/music video, and I finally have an idea for my next script. Just gotta get to it.

But promoting “The Dead Can’t Dance” comes first. This phase is a whole other beast unto itself, and it’s a complete job all its own. Just gotta get the word out.

Here’s hoping for good news in May!
-r.

Found out today that “The Dead Can’t Dance” will screen at the First Peoples Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, in June!

It’s not absolutely official yet, because the acceptance letters are still coming out, but this is awesome! Our international — and Canadian — premiere! Zombies go global!

I’ve been to this festival before in 2004, when they accepted “Dancing on the Moon,” and had a great time and met some really cool people. Hopefully it’ll be a blast again. The festival rep said that the screening committee was “delighted” to view the film. Fantastic!

Tomorrow, TJ and I head to Albuquerque for the Gathering of Nations Powwow, but really just to visit my brother Guy and Jodie. Should be a blast, if I can weather the trip, which I will. We’re taking TJ’s new car.

So, good things in store!
-r.