Festivals, Festivals, Festivals - (Submissions that is...)

10 Percent!

Apparently that's the magic number.  I've been told by several people who have traveled the festival circuit that the acceptance rate is about 10 percent.  We've submitted to seven film festivals so far, and we're still waiting to get accepted.

Right now we're waiting on word from The NewFilmmmakers Showcase at Sunset and Gower, The Catalina Film Festival, and The Oregon Independent Film Festival.  And, for at least two of these festivals, the notification dates are still a couple of months away. 

I recently told Vacant House actor, Jason Zahodnik that I now understand what he goes through as a actor when he auditions for a role.  He auditions, and then he waits... waits for word of whether or not he got the part.  Sometimes he gets a phone call, sometimes he doesn't.  Submitting films is very similar.  We submit, and then... we wait...  IT'S EXCRUCIATING!

We have at least four more festivals that we'll be submitting to in the coming month.  Several friends of mine in the festival world have watched the film and assured me that we WILL get in... we just have to keep trying.

I never thought there would come a day when I'd be writing about the END of this very long journey of filmmaking.  So many things I learned!  In fact, almost EVERYTHING I now teach about storytelling I learned by going through the very arduous process of writing Vacant House.  Some things I learned through discovery, some things I learned by working with writers who are more talented than I am, and some things (many things actually) I learned through mistakes.  But I am so thankful for the lessons learned, no matter how those lessons came about. (I would love to write a book just on the lessons I learned while making this film, if for no one's benefit but my own.)

It won't be long before I begin journaling about my next film project (you'll just have to wait and see!).

In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that this year, I will be co-authoring a book with my colleague, John K. Bucher, Jr.  John and I are writing a book about story structure for short films.  We hope to have it completed by the end of the summer.  This book is written based on over countless hours of personal filmmaking, five years of teaching film at The Los Angeles Film Studies Center, and workshopping well over 600 short films along the way.  We hope to bring what we've learned to the pages of our book for everyone to enjoy (details coming soon!).

In other news:

This past week I got to spend a wonderful eight days in Kiev, Ukraine teaching a group of fabulous students all about screenwriting and directing.  I was joined by a great team of people from Simplebulldog Studios.  One member who joined us on our team was the very talented Director of Photography, Joe Sindorf.  We had an amazing time working with students from all over the world (Ukraine, Syberia, Croatia, Estonia, Spain, Egypt, and Israel) who were VERY eager to learn filmmaking.  It reminded me of just how much I love to meet new people, experience cultures that different from my own, and TEACH filmmaking!  So, a BIG "Привет" to all of my new friends I met in while in Ukraine!

My Wonderful Class of Filmmakers in Ukraine!

On the plane ride home, I was fortunate enough to sit next to filmmaker Clay Jeter who's recent film Jess + Moss played at Sundance last year.  I got a few festival tips from him, so it was a providential meeting.

That's all to report for now.  I'm hoping to have many more things to write once this little film of ours hits the festival circuit.  I keep everyone up to date over on our Facebook page, so be sure to head over there and "like" us if you want up to the minute details about what's happening with the film. 

Thanks so much for all of your support!

Jeremy