My 7 Best Memories As a Filmmaker

I really am looking forward to the opportunity to engage once again in the collaborative act of making my 3rd feature film, The Butterfly Chasers, which we are in the middle of campaigning for via Kickstarter. I feel very lucky to be able to work with some of our people again, as well as some new people. I look forward to learning from them, not necessarily the other way around.

I also had a chance to do some reflecting last night, while hanging out with some of the cast & crew of Uptown, at our reunion. This recent memory is now one of several, stand-out memories. Here are 7 more:

7) A Call from Kent Sutton:

As the director of our short film Miranda, Kent was the only one who attended the far-from-home premiere screening in Bryan, Texas at the Red Wasp Film Festival. I knew he was there alone - alone to graffiti the town with posters and flyers, alone to get out and talk about his film, alone to answer the Q & A questions thrown at him afterwards. This seemed to me to be the best way to "break" a new, first-time filmmaker. Put him out completely on his own - with little support besides a cell phone to call back to his company (us), and his friends and family. He called from the lobby about how well the screening went, about the lady who was touched by his domestic violence short, and how being the only person of color in not only the theater but the entire town made him feel (he found it hilarious). I told him to keep his hopes small as they read the award-winners, and that he had already done the film well by screening it to a receptive audience. I wanted to keep a fragile, first-time filmmaker's expectations low. It would be safer that way, less painful. 5 minutes later, he called back with, "We just won the Audience Award." I flipped out on the phone - I was so besides myself. I remember it being so late, because of the time zone difference, and I still hopped up, gliding around the room, laughing to him on the phone. I was proud and very happy for him as my director and as my friend.

6) Discovering New Retailers:

I would get a rush when I would awake and stumble on a new retailer stocking our first 2 features. Although we signed with a distributor that we knew could get us into some cool retail spots, there were others that I had never seen them place in the locations that they placed ours in. I wasn't surprised to be stocked in Blockbusters, Best Buy, Barnes & Nobles and Amazon - that's what we signed up for. I was surprised to see us stocked in Walmart, Target, FYE, and Turner Movie Classics. I remember that for one month straight, early in their release, I woke up every single day to a new retailer carrying our titles. For 2 films made under the disadvantages of DIY scrambling, it was a surreal time for me to witness.

5) The 10 Commandments of Chloe party scene:

My co-writer/co-producer Naama Kates and I somehow put together a rather large group of actors that we cast for this sequence, a party scene where everyone is intoxicated, and having separate conversations at an apartment after-party. With the help of our associate producer, actress Wendy Keeling, we assembled the most eccentric, hilarious group of actors (including Naama) to each construct their own stories, create their own characters, names, and scenarios. I gave each set of actors a certain amount of time to do this, and then I turned on the camera, started rolling, and went around the room. Each actor pulled off funny, genuine moments in one single take each. Easily one of my favorite memories as a director so far.

4) Cookies & Cream preview screening:

We first screened a preview version of my first feature Cookies & Cream at the Helen Mills Theater on West 26th street in Manhattan, thanks to the very generous and always supportive Jason Turley, head of the Sexy International Film Festival. It was our idea to bring together everyone who hadn't yet met but who had worked on our first 3 titles, to at one time finally meet, hang out and talk shop. It would also be the first time many of these people would see our first intro film, Cookies & Cream. This event also sparked several future movie collaborations - something I had fantasized about for a while. The film opened with the trailers for Uptown and Carter, with both directors and their nearly all of their cast & crew in attendance. Afterwards we took pictures, had drinks and a great time.

3) The Case of the Actors' Writing Credits:

I will never forget when we were on our 2nd or 3rd day of shooting Uptown in the middle of Central Park, and Brian Ackley, Uptown's director approached me after watching his incredible actors perform another take. It was the scene where Meissa Hampton as Isabel tells Chris Riquinha as Ben that she is less than happy in her marriage. Her fingers linger alongside a fence that reveals several buildings from our skyline. Brian uttered "cut," then glided over to me and whispered something like, "I've been watching and listening to these two very closely, as I know you have. They are contributing so much and the dialogue is basically their own. What do you think about us giving them both writing credits?" My heart melted instantly. I smiled and replied, "Absolutely." I think I skipped home that night. It was the epitome of the self-less, collaborative method of filmmaking we had always strived to engage in. And it simply made me happy. I don't know how else to put it.

2) Cookies & Cream in Idaho:

I will never forget what is still my best film festival experience ever, and that was premiering Cookies & Cream in Idaho at the Idaho International Film Festival. They flew me out and put me up in top notch, 4 star hotels for 6 days and 5 nights. I met so many filmmakers that I still keep in contact with from time to time, including guys like John Gavin, Joe Sorrentino, Paul Osborne,Todd Giglio and Chris Springer. Former programmer Bruce Fletcher is the best programmer ever - and I'm not saying that because he selected my film. The whole team was on time, helpful, professional, and enthusiastic, and the owner of the festival Lyle Banks saw my film personally and volunteered to conduct my Q & A! After screenings, there were always the best parties and bars on the main strip full of patrons of the film arts and a cool, fun, college crowd.

My first screening was a disaster - I learned the hard lesson that filmmakers sometime learn about not pre-testing your film before your screening. I shot Cookies on mini DV, which means most of the time it had to be adjusted for contrast pre-screening. Feeling that my digi-beta master copy would suffice, I foolishly did not test it, and before you know it, way-too-dark images of my first film began screening to (thankfully) a very small audience. I apologized to everyone that attended and urged some of them to attend my next "main" screening which was on a prime night (Saturday), and one I promised them would be pre-tested. Most of them did, and the film screened to a packed house of people I had never met before. That was also the night we got our first couple of distribution offers.

The most life-affirming memory I have of this was the night after Cookies screened for the last time. I went around the town collecting my (very expensive) movie posters that I used to promote it. As I was taking down the last one, the woman who owned the place asked me if I directed it. I told her I did, and was I taking the posters back to NY with me. She proceeded to tell me that a young, fragile woman named Natalie had asked her to save it for her just in case I never came back to get it. Apparently Natalie shared a lot in common with Cookies & Cream: the film being about a single mother who accepts an adult industry job to take care of her daughter rang true for her. She was the daughter, and some of the words that Carmen says to Candace in the movie are some of the exact same words that Natalie's mother said to her. I reacted with surprise. I was very touched, and moved. I immediately took a Sharpie and signed my name on it, "To Natalie. We're honored to have made this for you." Then I gave it to the lady, and followed up when I got back in town to see if she gave it to her. She did.

1) Calling actors Chris Riquinha and Meissa Hampton:

My favorite memory ever is another producers' memory. It was when I first heard from the LSU Cinema Club's Outhouse Film Festival director that both Chris Riquinha and Meissa Hampton were nominated for Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress for their performances in Uptown. It felt good not only because they are now some of our favorite actors and personal, good friends of mine, but because I really felt they deserved it. The icing on the cake was calling Meissa to inform her that she had won. It made my day, and I would bet that it made my day even more than hers. I gloated all day, I was so happy for her, and for Brian.

These are the types of memories one can get addicted to, and I can't wait to relive some of these moments in new ways, while creating new ones.

Help me make some new memories, by pledging anything you can towards our campaign for The Butterfly Chasers. You won't be charged unless we make our goal. Here is the LINK.

Thank you for reading,

- Princeton