Brainstorming then what...

One of the things I'm noticing about building a campaign is that you have to kind of think of everything, every angle, group, friend or helper you can enlist to assist. It is a highly collaborative effort, and though it might be easier to do things on your own, success is highly dependent on triangulating with people you trust, people that have a similar passion for the subject matter.

We have been brainstorming all sorts of ideas and they're mostly good ideas, but I keep getting this feeling like - are we going to follow through on all of this. You can have a website, a twitter feed, facebook page and a whole host of channels - but would it be better to just have 1 channel, one central repository for everything that is "your film". It is becoming clear to me that the website is the "hub" - twitter, facebook, vimeo etc are teh spokes and the spokes need to go two ways, but always back to the website. The website MUST be dynamic in some way, by brute force or by utilizing sophisticated tools.

CHUNKALIZE
It make sense to break the work that needs to be done into logical chunks of work: costs, edit, audience, gifts, etc. Next week there is a big CHUNK - MUSIC. One of the biggest things we need to determine this coming week is what, exactly, will it cost to get the DVD (and other forms) out to the world. Next week I am going through the current edit to gather all the songs that are included and see if there is a way I can shrink that down without impacting the overall story. Quotes right now for songs are 10 cents per song, per dvd. So if I have 30 songs in the documentary that means each DVD requires us to pay $3.00. If that costs goes up to 15 sents then we're at 4.50. That work will take about 30 hours, believe it or not.

This week is the juke joint festival in Clarksdale, wish I was there, but I'll be there in two weeks. Check back as we progress!!

Kickstarter Campaign

We've been working on this film since 2003. When people would tell me that they had been working on their documentary films for 3, 4, 5 years, I'd think - are you nuts? And yet, here we are, 9 years later working to get our first documentary film "Delta Rising" out to the world. The campaign is based on partnering with blues fans around the world to get this film into their hands. Making a film is one thing, covering the music rights, insurance, covering distribution, archival footage etc is another. In order to get this movie out there we need to have our i's dotted and our t's crossed.

Today I worked with one of the other producers, Matthew Goff, to come up with a campaign game plan and are running that by, Laura Bernieri, our other producer. It is important to be clear about your goals, what you're asking people for and why. So we're kicking the kicking of kicking it off off. Stay tuned.

DVD and Campaign coming soon

We've been working behind the scenes on completing the DVD for distribution as well as social and educational media supporting both the blues and the little gem of Mississippi - Clarksdale. More will be coming soon and I how you'll join us for the launch of this new phase for the film.

New Hampshire Film Festival - Day 2 - Brrrrrrr!!

I woke up Friday morning, showered, gathered my stuff and walked outside and was greeted with a bit of winter. It snowed in Boston but it was just cold in Portsmouth. I drove in to town to see the film Food Inc and it absolutely changed my mind about what I ended up having for dinner. This is a really powerful move done in a very cool way with a very strong message without making you feel like you're getting pounded over the head. I would highly recommend it - and I am once again saying hello to my old fishiterian ways.

I was fortunate enough to do a radio interview on WCSA radio 106.1FM in the afternoon and it was quite fun. Thanks to Rick Dirck for putting that together. I'll post the audio out on the Delta Rising website before I leave Portsmouth but I need to edit it down a little because it is basically a full hour. The DJ, Shawn Henderson, was really gracious and a true blues fan. I love doing radio.

Laura Bernieri (co-producer, co-director) and Andrea Wozny (director ToTimbuktu) attended a legal panel that was in their words - amazing. All the legal copyright investment law etc can be a complicated arena and this panel really spoke out on how to avoid the common pitfalls indie filmmakers fall into. We all had a chance to speak with Paul Durham (Entertainment, Media and Publishing Group) and we are better filmmakers for it. We invited Paul for a quick beer and a bowl of chowder and it was great sharing war stories.

THE SCREENING
So our screening was at 6:30 at the Muddy River Smokehouse. This is good venue for the type of film we made and we were in the basement screening room. The house was about 80% full and the screening went well. We did QA after and got to talk at length about the film, what inspired the story (thanks matt for introducing me to chris) and how it all came to be. It is always terrific to see the film in front of an audience and gauge their reactions, and I particularly like it when people laugh.

We went to get a bite to eat and then headed off to the after party which was really rocking - but my 50 year old body was knockin so I didn't stay long but when I left it was still going strong. Today is a day for seeing a couple films, I'm especially interested in seeing MINE a documentary about pets during Katrina which is rep'd by my lawyer - George Rush. I met the filmmaker Erin at the party and it was fun to chat and talk about the film and how small the indie film world is.

Okay more tomorrow - m

pictured above are L-R, Laura Bernieri, Andrea Wozny, Michael Afendakis, Deb Barry, Nicole Gregg

New Hampshire Film Festival - Day 1 on the way

I flew from San Francisco to Boston last night and got into Logan at about 11PM. Super smooth flight, I got upgraded to first class, the guy next to me was quiet and still, the flight attendants were really terrific and I watched THE HANGOVER on the little digital devices they give you sometimes. That is a funny movie. I checked in to the Courtyard Marriott Logan Airport which has a "re-imagined' lobby area which I found to be a maze sort of concept where things are hidden by these half height walls everywhere. I had a beer and went to my room and watched Conan. Not a bad day.

I woke up to this glorious view pictured above and am taking a break from repacking my bags. I picked up my red Ford Escape from Hertz and got their Neverlost Navigation system (which I sadly find to be one of the worst around) so I'm antsy to get to Portsmouth and get my credentials, meet some filmmakers and especially meet Deb Barry and Nicole Gregg who basically run the festival. When we go to the Telluride Film Festival my wife Buffy loves to go through the schedule and mark which films we will see and how we will get from venue to venue in time. I am on my own this time and I just hoping to see 5-8 films and get to know more of the filmmakers and Festival staff.

As always I have 3 backups to the master for Delta Rising just in case something goes wrong. This cut of the film adds a couple dimensions that weren't in the previous versions - better graphics, better still imagery, added James Super Chikan Johnson to a scene near the end and I am now dedicating the film to some of the subjects in the movie that have passed away. This has been a 7 year adventure almost and time takes its toll on some of these great blues legends. Okay going to finish packing and brave the crazy highways of Mass. - Michael

New Hampshire Film Festival - Portsmouth

Well I'm off to the New Hampshire Film Festival this week. Delta Rising plays twice in Portsmouth - Friday at 6:30PM and Sunday at 2:55PM. I have never really been to the Northeast at exactly this time of year and I am truly looking forward to it. There are some folks I have been chatting with on Facebook that I have never met that I'll get to meet and I will get to re-visit with some of my filmmaker partners and friends.

I'll be blogging away and let you all know what I see and experience. This will be the 10th festival for the film and each one has had its truly unique flavor and ambience, some are super glitzy and others are really down home and comfortable. I have loved each of them and I have seen an awful lot of the country due to the film.

So keep an eye out. Chat with you soon!!

Michael

Telluride Film Festival 09

Telluride Film Festival really doesn't have anything to do with Delta Rising but more to do with our love of film and this most spectacular jewel - Telluride.

We flew from San Jose to LAX. Then LAX to Montrose, CO where we take the shuttle to Telluride (~9000ft). We sat next to Fred Ward on the plane and had a terrific conversation about his life in acting and other fields (he worked on BART in the 60's as a union strong guy) and the plane had many noteworthy directors, writers and actors on board.

FRIDAY:
Today is the first film day. We started the day off with this amazing brunch way up on the side of a grassy mountain slope with spectacular views of the rugged peaks and the valleys around Telluride. We sat at a table with Michael Lerner and the directors of the films Farewell and Sleep Furiously and had a spirited conversation about their films while we ate amazing cheeses, baked goods, locally grown foods in this unbelievable place.

After the brunch we went to a special screening of "An Education" directed by Lone Scherfig and also introduced the audience to an amazing young actress, Carey Mulligan. What a terrific sweet film this was. It's about a young English girl battling whether or not going to Oxford is the life she wants or whether spending her young years visiting Paris, seeing Jazz and being in the company of a bit of an older man is more appealing. Really terrific. We spent some time with Michael Lerner (Life During Wartime, Entourage many others) and he made a point about there being a crack here and there in the story and I just thought - I don't care..this film had me at the opening credits.

TUESDAY
Okay so I am back home now. What a spectacular time we had. We saw 15 films and not one of them was bad. I am going to do a crude ranking system here using a 5 star system to say how I felt about the films. Please check out the descriptions on IMDB or google.

An Education - Terrific - ****
The Last Station - Awesome Love Story between Tolstoy and his wife - *****
The White Ribbon - Layered, Tense but Long - ***
The Road - Powerful, dark with never ending hope - ****
Up in the Air - Funny, Sad - a very vunerable George Clooney - ****
The Prophet - Prison, where the meek end up kicking ass - ****
It came from Kuchar - Very funny, San Francisco Kuchar Bros - ****
Farewell - Tense KGB vs CIA - ****
Life during wartime - Funny, weird, quirky - *****
Bad Lieutenant - Corruption turns into Keystone Cops - ****
Samson and Deliliah - 30 lines of dialogue, aboriginal life - ****
The Jazz Baroness - Personal story about Nica and Monk - ****
Fish Tank - Tough, gripping - ****

Though I enjoyed all the films I probably walk away from the festival remembering The Last Station the most. This was a powerful and compelling story about Tolstoy and his wife during his last days, filled with love, hope anger and ultimately redemption. This has an amazing performance by Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren and especially James McEvoy.

Buffy and I had the great fortune to sit and have a quiet glass of wine and appetizers with Darryl Hannah while we were there where we talked about many of the environmental challenges we are facing today. She is a brave, earnest sweet person and it was a special moment for Buffy and I.

I am always sad to leave Telluride, but I was dying to get back home to my son Cooper and as I went in to work a bit late I got to see him and hold him for 5 minutes. And I wanted to make sure that we raise him to find a path that is his own and to dream big and free, Telluride can bring that out in a person.

We are off to the New Hampshire Film Festival in October where Delta Rising will be featured. Hope to see you all there! - Michael

Beverly Hills Film Festival

Well we are back from the Beverly Hills Film Festival and it was an amazing experience. We were in the heart of Beverly Hills - Rodeo Drive and all its trappings. Nino Simone who runs the festival was amazingly gracious and kind to us - and I am really happy we went. The selection committee at Beverly Hills was able to put a program together unlike any other festival we have been to. Not one movie at Beverly Hills had I seen at the other festivals and these were really great films.

The locale was special and there was an after party each evening which was a treat to experience. As with most festivals I met a whole host of other filmmakers and initiated realtionships that I hope last a lifetime. If you ever have the chance to experience the Beverly Hills Film Festival I would recommend it enthusiastically. I'm not going to go into much detail because you can pull it out of the attached video.

I want to thank all the folks at Beverly Hills for making our stay there so pleasant - and the closing ceremonies at the Beverly Hills Hotel was quite special to me - as it was the first time I had ever been there and this was also Delta Rising's first California screening.

Feel free to check out the my interview at Beverly Hills here: http://www.beverlyhillsfilmfestival.com/news_b.php

So long for now - check back as I will be updating the blog frequently.

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Well we landed in big sky country. What a beautiful place and what an amazing festival. We have seen some really amazing documentary films and have met a ton of talented filmmakers. The staff here are true film lovers and Missoula is a real suprise to me - the restaurants here are amazing, food is unbelievable, amazing coffee shops/cafe's - there is so much the town has to offer even thought it is compacted into a smaller space than a larger city. I am impressed.

Our film plays on Monday at 3:00 and I think the turn out will be good. I will post my sense of the movies a bit later on. I have included a quick clip here.

m

Home From Victoria

Well I'm home. It was a thrilling ride in Victoria. Playing to a full house and getting great feedback. We spoke with Distribution Reps, met other filmmakers and had an all around good time. My producing partner, Laura Bernieri, always said the film would have a life and it certainly had one of its best days in Victoria. Now we are onward to the Big Sky Documentary Festival in a few weeks and I am truly looking forward to that.

I have included a video of the beginning intro to the film and some of the clips with the audience response, they said not to bring cameras but I guess I'm allowed right?

Let me know what you think!!!

Sunday Feb 1 - Screening Tonight

Well we screen tonight, and as mentioned before we are sold out which is exciting. We have seen a few film here and one I truly recommend is called "One Week" and another is "50 Dead Men Walking". One Week is an inspirational story about someone coming to terms with a life threatening issue and the woman he intends to marry while he drives his newly acquired motorcycle across Canada. 50 Dead Men is an IRA/Irish story that is compelling and fierce.

Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, Flags of our Fathers) is here and has been really cool to all the filmmakers and Charles Martin Smith (American Graffitti, Never Cry Wolf) s here too. The Victoria audiences are very enthusiastic film goers and more than one person told me - what else is there to do at night. Well for me, there are terrific pubs, restaurants etc. But it does get kind of chilly at night.

Festival Director Kathy Kay (pictured above) has been tremendous and I highly reccommend coming to this festival if it ever should be available to you. I have gotten to speak with distribution folks at Bravo, Foundry Films, IFC and still have a few more folks to speak with. I hope the screening goes well and am really looking forward to it. I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow.

Michael

We're SOLD OUT

WOW! Here we are in Victoria, Canada going to opening night parties, mingling with actors, writers, producers, directors and I get a call - Delta Rising is SOLD OUT. Our movie - Sold Out in Victoria. I jump up and down and few times and can't believe it - and partially because it was right after this terrific interview my wife Buffy got me on CFAX radio in Victoria, Victoria's largest radio station.

I was expecting to be interviewed for 10-15 minutes but the host, Murray Langdon, a Victoria institution (and all around decent chap) took us to an hour and said if he had another hour we could keep going. Thanks Murray!!!

The BUZZ - it's hard to tell where the buzz is. Tonight was opening night and we saw a really great film - One Week. It was a Canadian Film and it was warm, life affirming, well acted, really well written and just a beautiful portrait of things most people must come to terms with. A bit of a road trip off the end of a really high diving board - you gotta check it out.

The after party was fun and there were a lot of people partaking in Vodka/Choclate Milk concotions that tasted a bit like a malt but got you pretty wobbly after 1 or 2.
I feel priveleged to be here, and I love Canada and especially Victoria. I am looking forward to our screening on Sunday and I get a bit nervous about it selling out and all - but what could be better, truly?

It's the journey and the journey is the ride.

m

Victoria we're here!

We're here, well across the street from here. The photo is the Empress Hotel where many of the filmmakers for the Victoria Film Festival will stay and where the hospitality suite is. I was excited to get here and when we did get here there was Trudy, our driver, was waiting for us. That is one thing about getting a film accepted to and then attending a festival - the treatment you get as a filmmaker is special..so much so that I had a driver - well for a day. We were drooped off at the hotel and immediately went to the hospitality suite to pick up our credentials and it was fun to walk through the entire length of the historic Empress Hotel to find the hospitality suite empty, vacant, unattended. Well the festival actually starts tomorrow, Friday but from what we understood the suite would be going strong but why we thought that...well I'm not really sure - but it is great to be here.

Tomorrow we officially go pick up our packets, hopefully get to chat with some of the other filmmakers, I have an interview on CFAX radio in Victoria at 3pm and then the opening night film and party follow. Delta Rising screens at 9PM on Sunday.

Now its time for a glass of red wine, putting Cooper to bed and kicking back with my wife. More tomorrow.

Two Festivals in Two Weeks

I'm on the train from San Francisco back home to San Jose and I am gearing up to go to both the Victoria Film Festival in Victoria, BC and the Big Sky Festival in Montana. The last festival I attended was in the Bahamas and this will no doubt be a different setting.

I have been to Victori a couple of times and always loved it. In 2008 the festival had over 18,000 attendees and the opening night gala is already sold out. I will be interviewed on Canadian Radio at 3PM on Friday 1/30 on CFAX 1070/107.3 KOOL FM and will be working with a host of distribution folks on Saturday and Sunday of that week. I am hoping to catch a number of films and meet other filmmakers and hope that I have the same luck with the quality of folks as I did in the Bahamas.

Following that I will be heading to Missoula, MT for the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival where some of the folks I met in the Bahamas will be in attendance, strangely enough our films kind of play back to back. This will be my first trip to MT and I am truly looking forward to it.

I have heard that both festivals are terrific and I am really jazzed to be making the trek. Please check back often as I will be updating this blog daily during the festivals to let you all know what I see and hear!

m

Closing Night, Final Thoughts

I just got back from the closing night film "Miracle at St. Anna" where I got to meet a very talented young actor "Omar Benson Miller" who went to my alma mater - San Jose State. He is terrifically talented and has that Forest Whitaker kind of thing going for him. He was quite charming and friendly to us.

The Miracle at St. Anna was quite good but certainly could have been cut down by 10 minutes or so, nonetheless I liked it quite a bit. I am a big fan of Derek Luke who played one of the leads. The film was shown in the Bahamas Performance Arts center and was a treat to see. I thought Omar might be good for the TV series we are creating and he liked the concept, although I have been schooled to not suggest anything to do about casting to anyone.

The closing night party was at a really cool place on the water called Lucianos. We had appetizers and drinks and I hung out with my new BFFF's Ariel and Owen - two filmmakers who had a short here and who also reside in the Bay Area. Contacts, Contacts, Contacts. We both went out until way too late hour but it was a blast.

Overall I had a great time here. It is a really swanky festival that is marketed well and has some great opportunities for filmmakers that want to network a bit. I got to talk to a couple hundred people about my journey to this really cool corner of the world - CLARKSDALE, MS and what that place has to offer to individuals and the world really. I hope many of them take a trip out and have an ice cold beer in a juke joint or two and listen to some great blues music and have some great southern style food.

My entire family enjoyed the trip and I can't wait to compare the warmth, humidity, sun, sand and beach of the Bahamas with the Snow, cold and mountains of Montana - our next stop on this film festival ride.

I want to thank my co-filmmakers Laura Bernieri and Matthew Goff, as well as the folks that have supported me along the way: Bill and Francine Luckett, The People of Clarksdale, MS, Joerg Schumann, David Schwartz, Lynette Shelton, Greg Stimpson, Kevin Kissling, Sandy Surrett, Kim Cheadle and of course my wife Buffy.

m

During the Festival.

Yikes. Do people still say that? I do I guess. Well we are mid festival, I am posting this late but WOW it has been quite a ride. We went to this very swanky opening party at a place called "Hole in the Wall" but it is anything but. This event was sponsored by Chopard and a number of other upscale firms and was really quite the deal. Red Carpet, a Versace modeling show, champagne, h'ors d'ouvre (did I spell that right) - totally reminded me of an average night at my house.

I met a ton of people, most notably Jeffrey Lyons who is all about talking baseball. Non-stop, he has published a series of baseball trivia books and knows everything about everything there is. But I stumped him because he didn't know that Don Zimmer coached for the San Francisco Giants - Gotcha Jeffrey.

I got to bring Cooper with us and Buffy and I had a great time. There was a huge fireworks display at the end and I think overall I felt a little underdressed. I met an awesome filmmaker who published a book that I used as my bible for the shoots I have been on - it is called "The Guerilla Filmmakers Guide" and he also had a great film here called "Gone Fishing" which is now on the short list for the Oscars. Check out his blog here: http://www.livingspirit.typepad.com/ .

My Film (Laura, Michael's and Matt's) Screened on Sunday at 1;30pm and Wednesday at 10pm. And though the turnout was not great (as was the case with all but the opening night film) the crowd that was there was very enthusiastic. We did have some sound problems that I tried to rectify but to no avail. I spoke with the projectionist on Wednesday and miraculously the problems went a way - felt like a completely different screening.

They had a tribute to Anna Faris (Lost in Translation, The Scream Series, House Bunny) which I almost skipped but ended up being one of the best things about the festival. I had such low expectations for that night but she was really terrific and sweet.

So that is it for now. I'll post one more entry about the closing night film and my last day.

Bahamas Intl Film Festival

I'm sitting at the DFW airport waiting for my connection to Miami where I will wait for my connection to Nassau and hope that weather and all those other snarky things don't happen on this trip. I am here with my wife and two year old Cooper - who a pretty amazing traveller.

We got up at 4:00 am to catch flight from SJ to DFW and Cooper just colllapsed on the ground in a a mini-tantrum for no apparent reason. He is protesting the airline treatment in the only way he can. Tantrum. I am looking forward to showing the film, and it plays twice - once at 1:30 on Sunday and then Wednesday at 10PM (Hmmm....not sure Im liking that programming).

As always I am paranoid about turnout and all the technical details - sound, picture, sound, more sound...that kind of thing. Cooper is now telling people on the elevator bye bye. Oh to be a kid. I haven't yet selected any movies to see, the festival is doing a tribute to Laurence Fishburn and Anna Farris (up and coming artist) and I will attend both of those see what I can see.

Alright that is all for now.