Back Home (Austin Wrap-Up)

Gabe and I made it back to DFW last night about 1 AM. It was a big decision to make: whether to leave Austin at night or in the morning. In the end we opted to leave at night if it meant spending even just a bit more time with our families before the big trek east. It was also a fortunate decision because it has been snowing and sleeting like crazy all day! But lets talk Austin.

Wednesday morning was spent mapping out Austin to make sure we wouldn't get lost again. I found where the other I Love Video location was and The Spider House Cafe... Wait, I have to tell this story before I go on:

Our hosts went to work in the morning but told us to hang out as long as we needed and to make ourselves at home. Well, I was craving a cup of coffee. I asked Gabe if he thought it would be cool. He said it shouldn't be a problem. So I found the coffee and pulled out the coffee maker. When I picked up the coffee pot to put the water in, the lip popped off. No big deal. It wasn't broken, it just wasn't attached correctly. Anyway, I fixed everything up, turned on the machine, and went back to work. After awhile, it sounded like it was done. I went to get the coffee... no coffee in the pot. But the water level was down. I opened up the filter compartment and it was FILLED with coffee and grounds. I couldn't figure out what happened. I thought maybe the coffee maker was broken and they don't use it. But then I saw it... I forgot to put the lid back on the coffee pot! So the release valve wasn't being engaged. I spent a lot of time cleaning it up. Sorry, A.J.

But it doesn't end there! I was the first one to take a shower. Our hosts had bought us a couple of shower sponge things. I grabbed the first one and something poked my hand. I opened it up and there was a needle stuck in it! It was brand new so I figured someone at the store where they bought it must have done it as some twisted joke. I'm just glad I found it before I started bathing.

Lastly, I almost slipped on the bath mat TWICE. And not "oops" slips, but "I almost cracked my head open" slips. I knew right then, it was going to be one of those days.

Anyway, we headed to the aforementioned sites and tacked up posters and flyers. After that we hit the UT campus and walked around and posted up stuff on bulletin boards and anywhere else it looked like people might see them. We even went up to the RTF department and put up some flyers (don't think we were supposed to), and picked up a few brochures on their graduate program while we were at it.

After an afternoon of promoting, we broke for lunch. We talked about our realistic expectations. We knew, even after all we did, it wasn't going to be enough to get as many people as we wanted. But we also knew we learned a lot during this part of the tour. And it was great to get this experience in Texas before we head out of state. I slipped a few flyers into a few issues of the Austin Chronicle before leaving for the Dobie.

We set up everything at the Dobie, checking out the projection quality. I was really impressed. It was the best projection of the movie I've seen so far.

We passed out a few more flyers in the food court and out in front of the Dobie. But we really weren't getting much of a reaction. Expected, I guess.


My friend Fulton showed up and brought a friend of his. Later another friend, Mario, came. It was like a mini "Blackout" reunion. We had the Writer/Director (me), the Producer (Fulton), the Editor (Gabriel), and an actor (Mario).

We all went upstairs and hung out in front of the theater entrance. We decided to hold start time for 30 minutes since we had the room for a 2 hour block anyway. In that time a guy walked up to us. At first I thought it was Gabriel's fraternity brother (Gabe received an e-mail telling him that the Austin chapter of his frat would be sending people, but none came). Turned out he was a "Green Eyed Monster" Friend on MySpace and saw one of the bulletins that Gabriel posted. Like I said before, I was truly shocked. I mean, something we did WORKED!

Once we got him, we were cool. We had succeeded, even if it wasn't in greater numbers. We had a room of people, 5 people, but people nonetheless, that had never seen the film before that screening. That's 5 more people than we had before Austin.

Like I said, the screening went well and we did a quick Q&A afterwards. I didn't know what our film school friends would make of the film. I figured if anybody could dissect it to pieces, it would be film kids. But it was actually the opposite. Because they know how hard it is to make films, they were impressed with the quality of the first feature made by one of our own. It was a great time. Everyone wanted to hang out afterwards, but we had already made the decision to head back to DFW so we could get ready for Texas Fear Fest 2 this weekend.

It promises to be a good event. Keep checking in.

And just because he's become an Internet phenomenon...Rascal!