It’s been almost two months since the last update. Why? Well, unfortunately there hasn’t been much to update on. No new festival acceptances as of late. In fact, I just received a psuedo-rejection yesterday from Rhode Island International… “pseudo” in terms that while I didn’t get into RIIFF proper, they have a separate Horror film festival which I’ve automatically been submitted to… so we’ll find out in September/October if “In the Dark” is accepted there!

Two more notifications due this month!

Well, yesterday was the “In the Dark” screening for Gone With The Film Festival. I’ll be posting further thoughts later today, for now, click here for some pictures I’ve posted to Facebook.

I am also happy to announce that “In the Dark” is now available online, and in high-definition!! Visit Vimeo.com to watch the movie in its entirety! When you’re done, if you’re a Vimeo member, leave a comment, and whether you are or not, rank the movie on IMDb! Thanks!

First I’d like to let everyone know that “In the Dark” will be screening this Sunday, May 17th during the 3-6pm block at the Gone With The Film Festival in Hollywood! The festival is taking place at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater at 4800 Hollywood Blvd. You can order your tickets online by visiting either itsmyseat.com or bgttix.com (links to both available on the festival’s webpage, here).

Second, I’d like to announce that festival director Mario Polanco has contacted to give me advance notice that “In the Dark” will be receiving the fest’s “Best Horror” award! So now that we all know it’s a winning film, there’s no reason not to go! See you there!

It’s common knowledge within the film festival circles that if you submit to a festival and you never hear back, it’s a safe bet that your movie didn’t get accepted. Even if they don’t notify you, you can at least check their website to see if your movie is in their schedule.

Not so with USA Film Festival. For short movies, they have little to no consideration. On a film festival forum I visit, there were a dozen or so posts repeatedly asking if anyone knew anything about notifications; no one did. We were expecting the list of screening movies to be posted at the very least the day of the festival; to THIS day, two days after the festival ended, they still have their temporary “new website coming soon” page.

I was one of those who had assumed his movie was rejected, having not heard a peep from anyone. Much to my surprise, I got a voicemail today that told me, Enrique Garcia, that my movie, In the Dark, had WON the national shorts competition, and that they wanted my mailing address to send me my “CHECK”. I was floored to say the least… I didn’t even know I was in the festival!

Sadly, it was not to be. When I called them back, it turned out there was another movie by the exact same name that had won, not mine. Needless to say, I’m less than happy with them right now

Just got word last Friday (and confirmation last night) that “In the Dark” will be screening at Gone With The Film Festival next month in Hollywood!

The festival takes place May 16-17th at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater, 4800 Hollywood Blvd, in Hollywood. “In the Dark” will screen during the 3-6pm block of movies on Sunday the 17th. Tickets are available directly from the gallery at http://www.bgttix.com (scroll down to see the list of events and click on May 17th!) for $17.50 each (15% discount for groups of 4 or more).

I myself will be in attendance (and at the ceremony afterwards) and stars Tara Shayne and Kris Kjornes are tentatively expected to be there as well.

Well, after a bit of hard thinking, consideration and internal debate, I’ve decided to begin winding down the festival submissions for “In the Dark”.

I had originally intended to try to make it to 100 submissions, then later dropped that number to 75… ultimately the number dropped to 50 (mostly due to the amount of money involved… last month I surpassed the $1,000 mark, between fest fees and postage). I’ve decided it’s time to begin being more selective about which festivals I submit to and start drawing the process to an end.

Partly because I would like to begin working on whatever’s next. While working on “In the Dark” I intended for it to be my last short, to be followed with a feature (technically, to be following by one or two screenplays I could try to sell, or find an agent with). Then I thought, “well, maybe ONE more short… something I can shoot and edit very quickly.” In recent days I’ve found myself coming up with a few more ideas, so “what’s next” is, for now, undecided. But there WILL be a next, guaranteed.

More thoughts later

FilmmakerIQ is a website I am a member of that is dedicated to moviemaking and networking among moviemakers. They have a wealth of information regarding everything from pitching ideas to investors to distribution techniques. They saw fit to feature my “making of” featurette highlighting the digital effects of “In the Dark” on their website, along with an article I wrote on working with graphic designers.

Click here for “Behind the Scenes”
Click here for “Working with a Graphic Designer”

Those of you who love short movies or indie movies will be interested in this – as part of participating in this year’s Dam Short Film Festival, “In the Dark” is now available on the festival’s website as part of a compilation DVD that you customize yourself. Select “In the Dark” and up to 5 other short movies and you’ll get a DVD with your selections. Host your own mini-festival at home

Bare Bones International Film Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma has already posted the schedule for their selections, over a month before the fest! “In the Dark” will be playing April 17th during theirr 7pm short movie block. Keep tabs on “In the Dark” at BBIFF by clicking here, or click here for the entire schedule.

Don’t forget, “In the Dark” plays first at the Backseat Film Festival, next Sunday the 15th during their 4pm shorts block in Philadelphia!

For the most part I’ve been reporting only good things on this site (and rightfully so!). I thought for an interesting change of pace, I’d post some of the responses I’ve gotten from people who “rented” out “In the Dark” for free from a few local video stores (read more about the rentals by clicking here).

Renters were given a survey card to fill out once they returned the DVDs, with common questions like “What is your favorite part?” or “Would you recommend this movie to others?”

One of the harsher responses was to the question “What was your favorite part of the movie?” – answer: “There was none.”

Someone else responded similarly, to another question: “What part of the movie did you like the least?” – answer: “All of it.”

One of the more confusing responses (two-parter): Would you recommend this movie to others? “Yes.” / If a full-length version … were sold in stores or shown in a movie theatre, would you watch it?” “No” (maybe they’d only recommend it if it were free?)

Responses are all mixed in terms of like and dislike… so no solid conclusion can be drawn from the surveys.

HOWEVER, the one thing I’ve noticed is that the more avid movie-watcher (for instance, those who regularly watch shorts, or attend film festivals) tends to enjoy “In the Dark” more than the average movie-watcher, who may never have heard of shorts or festivals. This may draw up two conclusions (or a little of both) – “In the Dark” is a good but not commercially viable movie (at least in its present form) or, perhaps with some tweaking, “In the Dark” could become marketable, but as a niche movie.