Keep Austin Weird

This morning we headed out for Austin (but not before eatings a dozen sausage biscuits each). It was a quick trip. Traffic was light. We drove around a bit talking over the best course of action. We hit a Kinko's and printed up some flyers to pass around. While there, I got a hold of my friend Mario who gave us a lot of great advice on where to go to promote.

From there we went to the Dobie Theater where the screening is taking place tomorrow. Gabe was supposed to drop off a copy of the DVD for them to check out. Unfortunately, it was closed. They only had screenings set up for the evening, so they aren't open during the day. Or so it appeared to us. So we put out some flyers on a nearby ad table and had some lunch.

It's rough business, self promotion. Two quick examples. Gabriel gave a guy sitting near us a flyer. After a few minutes the guy left. A few minutes after that I went to spit out my gum and noticed my used Orbit landing on one of our flyers. There was ten cents well spent.

There was a small indie looking video store there at the Dobie Center. I told Gabe we should check it out and see if they'd put up a poster or let us leave some flyers on the counter. As we approached I saw a sign posted that read: NO SOLICITING. So we backed off, but then we stopped and thought we should ask anyway. So we went back, but stopped again. I noted that it didn't look like there were any other promotional items around. Gabe agreed and added that the guys working there didn't look too happy either. So we left, but stopped and returned yet again. I said, it's worth just asking. The worst they could say is "no". So we got to the door and Gabe told me to go for it. What do you mean ME? You're the Director, guy. Yeah, but you're the ice breaker. Since when?! Come on, man. ... Fine. Okay. So I go in and talk to the guy at the counter. He points me to someone else. We talk to that guy and he says: "Sure." They had a whole counter just for stuff like ours. So we left some flyers and a poster and thanked them. I think this story best illustrates how Gabriel and I aren't the best salesmen in the world. I mean, not every filmmaker can be a carnival barker yelling: "Come one, come all!" It's tough for us. But we're getting better at it.

After that we headed for Gabriel's friend's place where we'll be staying while we're in town. He's actually someone I know too. He was in my film "PUSHED." A super8 project I shot in college. He's a cool guy, but I'm not sure he knew we'd have stuff to do that night. It's the one caveat of staying at friends' homes. Especially ones we haven't seen in a long time. It's understandable that they want to hang out and catch up, but we're kind of here to work. It's fine line to walk. You don't want to be rude and not spend time with them and just be like "Hey, I just came to sleep on your floor, not hang out." But we have to get stuff done too. But it's been working out. Just takes understanding.

Gabriel and I headed back out around 8 PM to hit up some of the places my friend told us about. But before that we went back to the Dobie and dropped off the DVD. They also let us tape up some posters. Hopefully they'll catch some people's attention. We went to I Love Video after that. We were told it was free beer night. Never heard of a rental place giving out free beer. In my mind I pictured it to be like a gathering place. Maybe it had a patio or lounge area where people sat around drinking their free beers and chatting about movies. Turned out just to be a movie rental place with a keg. Which is REALLY cool, but not what we were hoping for. It wasn't very busy when we showed up (we were supposed to meet a couple of friends there earlier, but missed them as we were running behind). It might have had something to do with the dead keg. Anyway, they let us hang up some posters and flyers.

We tried to find another I Love Video location, but got lost. We ended up at Waterloo Video since I had a general idea of where it was. They were really nice too and we put up some more promo stuff. Gabe even got some contact info about possibly carrying "GEM" there for rent. God Bless Independently Owned Stores!

We also put of posters and flyers at Waterloo Records and Book People.

Gabriel and I ended up recording more rants out in the parking lot. There we were approached by a homeless guy. He asked for some change, but also about the truck. We gave him some money (we need the good karma) and talked to him for a bit. He was an interesting guy. A New Yorker. I asked to videotape our discussion, but he was a bit camera shy. Too bad. He wished us luck. We told him to come to the screening. If anything, he'd have a place to sit and be warm for 90 minutes. We'll see.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. Finding places to promote. Then the screening at night.

Before I go to bed though, I'd like to talk about a couple of things.

First, about the blog. I've had a few e-mails from friends and family that aren't that familiar with this site and how to navigate it. So here's a quick crash course: If you'd like to leave a comment, go to the end of that particular blog entry and click on comments. You DO NOT have to have an account to leave one. And you don't even have to leave your name if you don't want to. However, as a security measure against spam, you DO have to fill out the CAPTION on the right of the comment field. A caption is a random mix of number and letters that you have to type EXACTLY as pictured in order to prove you're "real."

If you want to e-mail a specific entry to someone, simply go to the bottom of that entry and click on the icon that looks like an envelope. You can also click on the title of the entry and that will take you to that entry's own web page. You can then copy the web address and paste it in an e-mail.

If there are any other questions about the blog, please ask. And please, leave comments. It's always good to know you guys are enjoying what I write.

Second, please take the time to click on a few of the sponsors' ad banners on the Green Eyed Monster website. They're helping us with this trip and every click counts (and the banners change everytime you go there, so click often). Thank you.

See you tomorrow. (Sorry no pictures tonight. Be back tomorrow.)