The End of All Things
The tour of Horrors of War is now complete. In less than 10 days I went from coast to coast, screening my first feature film to audiences. I feel exhausted, still. In between trips, I managed to work in some freelance shoots. I did a 3 day stint for the United State Patent and Copyright Office and a high school state finals track meet in rain for 7 consecutive hours (thus ruining my 5 day old VANS bought on Hollywood Blvd.).
I’m glad it’s over. Finally. I’m sleeping pretty soundly at night because I did what I set out to do. The best acting for the film is me at the Q&A’s because I’m unbelievably SICK of talking about Horrors of War. I want to move on, and now I feel that I can.
On June 1st, we screened in Dayton Ohio at the Neon theatre. This was John Whitey’s time to shine. He was on all 3 TV news stations and did up the promotion on his own. I was glad to not have to be involved as I was prepping New York. Unfortunately, we got dissed by the printed press in Dayton, and that’s even after John spoke to them and sent materials.
The Q&A afterwards went well and we had some great reactions. The best comment came from a gentleman who said he has been watching the site and been tracking progress from the first notice and never dreamed we would actually make the movie, nonetheless screen it on the big screen. He also commented on how much he loved theWebDocss and the entire Horrors of War site.
The pleasure for me was having my friends Pat & Cathy with me to see the movie. We don’t get to spend as much time together anymore so this was a fun trip riding out & back with them.
The party plans for the New York trip spiraled down to nothingness. Thank God I didn’t pay for the rental van up front because I’d have been screwed. For various reasons, only Brandy, Phil, and I wound up driving to New York. Everyone had their reasons, and it’s okay but it was disappointing.
The drive wasn’t that bad and we had a good time regardless. We stayed on the upper west side in a travelers hotel, meaning tiny halls and tiny rooms with shared bathrooms down the hall, also a side effect of having to scale back on a budget. I wound up going insanely over budget because I was going to pay 1/7th and wound up paying 2/3rds. Yikes, that hurts.
Once in New York, I was ready to relax. Brandy & Phil had drinks and Brandy came back to the room inebriated and silly. The next morning we were off to have a bit of fun before the show. We went to Times Square and I got the director’s cut of KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and THE WARRIORS.
We ate lunch at Planet Hollywood, where the food was less than stellar and we had a panic because the theatre called and they had not received the DVCAM tape for the screening. Thank God on Saturday night, hours before leaving, I made a BetaSP backup of the movie so that no matter what we were covered.
After going to St. Patrick’s (and a failed attempt to get SUBWAY SPOONS from Brandy), we made our way to Greenwich Village so we could find the theatre early and get some dinner. I checked email at a coffee house and had a slice of pizza across from the theatre where our poster hung and the name resided on a marquee.
I was sitting in New York staring at the sign with a movie I imagined 3 years ago on it. How cool is that? I hope I never lose the magical feeling of that. I feel great. A few minutes later, I see Joe Lorenzo with his gathering family outside. I say hello and meet some of the Brooklyn born Lorenzo’s as they already gush over how proud they are of him. Joe is originally from Brooklyn, but currently resides in Ohio. He brought out over 30 family members to the show.
We had a packed house and it was rowdy. MANIAC COP (1-3) director William Lustig was there, and I got to meet him, a nice guy. With a little bias towards Joe Lorenzo (duh), Megan Pillar made it out too (she’s currently living in Brooklyn herself). This show was one of the best showings yet. Very animated, very emotional, and we had the audience from start to finish. Even the coda after the end credits hit hard too.
We did the Q&A with everyone there, albeit brief, and that went good too. People are always interested in how we pulled this movie off. The actors, Brandy, Megan, and Joe, got asked some good questions and everyone participated. I got to meet even more online pals in person, an experience I’ve accustomed myself to, and I think by now I have met more virtual, online filmmakers than anyone else.
Joe’s family had arranged a private party at a club called the Speak Easy Lounge which normally wasn’t open on a Monday night, but they opened for us and celebrated the accomplishment of the film. Everyone was proud of Joe’s part and were blown away that he was one of the lead actors, whereas we are always like, “Duh… he’s that good”.
Soaking up the Big Apple this trip was fun for me. It opened some creative doors that have been closed for a while and I started to formulate some changes to an older script that I wrote after my first ever visit to Manhattan, when I was in the front row of David Letterman in 1996.
On the 9 hour drive home to Ohio, I had hard time focusing on any topic. I was still decompressing after a month long run of screenings all over the country. Luckily I’m a workaholic and have things to do, both personal and professional, otherwise I’d drive myself nuts. I wrote a reply to an interview with a magazine and took some other notes that occurred to me on the next film I’m working on.
Overall, the screenings went very well. Attendance was better in some cities than others, but it was worth it all because we got a lot of notice and almost entirely great reactions to the film. Don’t get me wrong, there were walkouts in some cities, but no film will make EVERYONE happy. This movie basically stays niche specific and won’t be enjoyed by everyone.
I’m a little disappointed that more of the actors did not cash in on the opportunities the film has created. If every actor, or even half the actors had contacted agents in LA or New York about the screening and their involvement in it, they could have helped themselves get noticed more. Being pro-active is an important part of finding success in this business. To each his own, but I guess I need to accept that most people are not as tenacious as I am about making my film career a reality.
There were a few questions asked at pretty much every screening that people might want to know.
#1. What was the budget?
A. “under a million dollars” and that’s all we’re prepared to say at this point.
#2. What was it shot on?
A. Film. ALL film, no video in the feature. Mostly Super 16, some 35mm, some regular 16, and even some Super 8 film for flashback
#3. How did it work with two directors?
A. easy, I directed the first half, and John Whitney directed the 2nd half. No real conflicts no fights at all.
#4. Who was that sexy G.I. outside the Colonel’s tent?
A. Andy Wourms, our 2nd 2nd assistant director on the film, and I agree he’s dead sexy.
#5. How did you come up with the idea for the film?
A. It started on a train ride from Paris France to Heidelberg German in 1997. I was excited to be across the Atlantic Ocean on another continent and traveling and I looked out the windows of the Eurorail and thought to myself…”Jesus, it looks exactly like Ohio. Same trees, same grass, same suburbs.”
I feel that at this point, I’ve done all I can do for Horrors of War. It’s in the hands of our Executive Producer/Sales Agent and soon in the hands of our distributors, not mine. I can hand it over because I’m ready for the next project.
Speaking of which, I’m expecting script pages any time now and I can get hard core into preproduction for the intended September shoot. I’m switching gears and going into a dark comedy. I think I’m doing things backwards, as this film has 1 location and a limited cast. Usually filmmakers go the other direction and start small, then go bigger.
That’s all folks,
Peter John Ross
