SXSW Leftovers PT3: GOOD NIGHT Premiere

I was post-supervisor on The Bounceback and had been working on it right up to its premiere. The second film I was a part of that premiered at the festival was a movie I co-edited called Good Night. I worked on this film on and off over the course of a year and a half. I thought director Sean Gallagher had a pretty unique and savvy approach to making a micro budget indie that tells an emotional story.

I've been looking forward to Good Night's premiere for a long time. I get attahed to each long-form project I work on. As an editor, I feel like I have to. I feel like I have to be on that edge of objectivity and emotionality. As Pacino said in Heat, "Keeps me sharp. Where I gotta be."

During the course of making this film, some of the events it depicts paralleled events in my own life in unfortunate ways. The themes of the film took on even greater meaning to me. I think grew close to this project in ways I hadn't to others since the first film I edited, I'll Come Running. That's not a slight at any other film on my resume. Circumstances just made Good Night uniquely entwine with my life.

SXSW 2013 - Leftovers PT2: BOUNCEBACK Premiere

The premiere for The Bounceback was Saturday March 9th at the historic Paramount theater. Panic struck our team an hour before the show when our director, Bryan Poyser, got word the screening might have to be canceled due to a problem with our HDCAM tape. As Post Supervisor I went on high alert as getting these tapes made and QCed was part of my job.

I was on my way to the Paramount when he called me so I was able to get to the theater pretty quick. There was some confusion but we figured it out pretty fast: There had been a problem with the film screening before us. Our tape was fine. That other film's screening had been canceled (but SXSW added two more screenings to make up for the loss of their premiere). Still, it was a scare before our big unveiling. Good thing they keep the Paramount cold inside cause I was sweating bullets for a few minutes.

Jury Duty

In 2005, I was lucky enough to win the Best Hecho en Tejas (Best Made in Texas) Film Award at the Cine Las Americas Film Festival for my short film "Test Day." The shorts we screened with were strong, powerful narratives. The Hecho en Tejas section that year was comprised of only four short films. Today, it has expanded to include two features and around eleven shorts.

For that matter, Cine itself has grown since 2005. It is screening somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 films, shorts and features, docs and narratives. No film screens twice. There's a lot to experience in under a week's time.

I've been looking forward to getting back to Cine Las Americas ever since "Test Day" screened and was warmly received. This year they asked me to be a jury member for the Hecho en Tejas section. What I've discovered is I am a one-person jury - so if anyone is upset at the end of the weekend they only have me to blame! No pressure...

SXSW 2013 - Leftovers PT1: Missing Swag and Riding Coattails

This year's +SXSW  felt different. Maybe it was the plethora of Texas films that had received acclaim at Sundance ahead of their regional debuts. Maybe it was the fact I had two films I worked on premiering at the fest, and I realize how fortunate I am to be a part of two great projects that beat the odds (and how much luck figures into festival selections along with the quality of the projects). Maybe I felt the size of the festival in a way I hadn't before.

But there was a different energy this year. And in retrospect - now that I've had a month to reflect (and to finally write a post on the festival; wish I wrote more often but I when duty calls, I answer) - maybe the energy didn't come from the festival itself but from the banner year that Texas film is having. Whatever it was, it made for a memorable fest.

Halfway through the festival I landed a free lance gig editing panels for SXSW Interactive. So not only did the fun end prematurely and I saw way less movies than I had initially planned, the time I had to publish posts got eaten up by some uneventful panel cutting. That's the trade-off with such a large festival in your own backyard: There's work to pick up during a solid two week period. (And if you're a free lancer, you know it's hard to turn down work when it's this abundant.)

So what do I have to add to the post-SXSW reviews so many bloggers and critics have already provided for the past month already? Honestly - probably not much. But I got all these photos I took and they need to go somewhere...

This will be the first of a set of free-association, summative posts about the fest as I experienced it. You won't find any movie reviews here. Just impressions and fuzzy memories. And some photos!

Mentoring at SXSW 2013

Last year I was lucky enough to on a +SXSW panel with a director I had just finished editing three projects for (+Kyle Henry) and an editor I have long admired (Sandra Adair). The panel was a workshop where the three of us would give notes on fundraiser reels that filmmakers brought in for us to watch in a room full of strangers. It was an informative, practical and useful workshop that I think people really dug and that we should try to resurrect next year.

This year, I'm a panelist of another sort: A SXSW mentor. Mentor workshops operate like this: Attendees read the bios of the mentors of a given session, then sign up for one-on-one time with the mentor they most want to hear from. You can sign up to meet with one or you can meet with all of them.

I've never done it before, so I'm looking forward to meeting some new folks and seeing what the experience is like. I hope my professional experience in production and (mostly) in post-production will help answer some questions for other working filmmakers.

I'm in the Producers/Production 2 session on Tuesday, March 12th from 330 PM - 5 PM. There are some great folks in that session, several of whom I've worked with. If you're coming to SXSW 2013 consider signing up for any of the offered Mentor Sessions!

Mentors: Production/Production 2

The Lowdown on GOOD NIGHT at SXSW 2013 (includes trailer)

The second of two films I am a part of that world premieres at +SXSW this year is Sean Gallagher's Good Night. I was one of the film's editors alongside Don Howard (and uncredited editing Gallagher - because once you are writer, producer, and director on the film, I think most people will assume you had a hand in the cutting).

This film has traveled a long and windy road. I've jumped on and off it just by virtue of its director's approach to making it. This film was a labor of love for all involved. I know that phrase gets tossed off easily but many of the cast and crew worked well below their pay grade or for nothing at all. There is something about this story and about these characters that I think everyone was drawn to, and we just wanted to help Sean see that it end up on a big screen someday... even if that day was further away than we thought it would be when we first came aboard.

Over the course of this film's development, many of its themes have touched the lives of its creators in ways we never could have expected nor would have wanted, in some cases. For me personally, its surreal how closely some of the events in the movie played out in my own life.

It's a challenging, darkly funny, scrappy little movie. I think Sean and producer Jonny Mars assembled the right crew to see it through.

Good Night world premieres Monday, March 11th at 945 PM at the Rollins Theater. Visit this page for its other screening times.

The Lowdown on THE BOUNCEBACK at SXSW 2013 (includes trailer)

I worked on two films at +SXSW this year. On the Bryan Poyser's latest, The Bounceback, I came on board just before production began as the film's post production supervisor. I've worked as an editor on a number of features now. Post supervising gave me an opportunity to have something closer (but not exactly, let's be clear) to a producorial role on the film.

Responsibilities include tasks I'm used to such as digital workflow, coordinating between departments during filming and in post, and troubleshooting/tech support. I expanded on my experience by hiring personnel, scheduling and negotiating with vendors, and being a point of contact for the director, producers, editing team, graphics team, and our post house.

It wasn't all technical and bureaucratic, however. I watched nearly every cut of the film and provided feedback throughout the post process. I was a sounding board, at times, for the director and producer, who are good friends of mine. I felt like I was still part of the team even though I wasn't in the editing chair - which is where I'm used to sitting.

I feel more confident now in a role like this. It's not a role I want to be in as much as I enjoy editing and direction, but in independent film there is no downside to having a multitude of skill sets.