Funny thing happened while having my heart broken.

Cracker Funk

Cracker Funk

I received my first rejection-letter today. London Sci-Fi Film Festival tore my heart out, wrapped it up in my dismembered entrails, chewed it to a pulp and spit it back in my face. I felt absolutely horrible. I spent a year of my life on this project, absolutely threw myself into it -- how dare you deem it unworthy! They said we were on their short-list, but that's no consolation, especially since they probably say that to everyone.

Feeling like that kid who couldn't get a date to the prom, everywhere I looked was Doom & Gloom. Pessimism washed through me like Katrina on steroids. Seeing as how absolutely nothing positive could ever come of this movie, I experienced an "Ahh, Fuck It" moment. And in that moment, a truly genius idea popped in my head.

Forget selling DVDs. I'm going to give DVDs away, as part of a fund-raising effort, for a worthy charity or non-profit organization. I'm leaning towards an organization that supports arts in public schools, or something to that effect. Raise money for a worthy cause. Get people to watch my movie. Create positive publicity for my production company. Win, win, win!

Fart-Jokes for Art-Folks.
 
Cracker Funk said:
I received my first rejection-letter today. London Sci-Fi Film Festival tore my heart out, wrapped it up in my dismembered entrails, chewed it to a pulp and spit it back in my face. I felt absolutely horrible. I spent a year of my life on this project, absolutely threw myself into it -- how dare you deem it unworthy! They said we were on their short-list, but that's no consolation, especially since they probably say that to everyone.

Feeling like that kid who couldn't get a date to the prom, everywhere I looked was Doom & Gloom. Pessimism washed through me like Katrina on steroids. Seeing as how absolutely nothing positive could ever come of this movie, I experienced an "Ahh, Fuck It" moment. And in that moment, a truly genius idea popped in my head.

Forget selling DVDs. I'm going to give DVDs away, as part of a fund-raising effort, for a worthy charity or non-profit organization. I'm leaning towards an organization that supports arts in public schools, or something to that effect. Raise money for a worthy cause. Get people to watch my movie. Create positive publicity for my production company. Win, win, win!

Fart-Jokes for Art-Folks.
Click to expand...

Dang, I'm sorry, man. That's a pretty huge festival, so it might be a good idea to hang low until more returns come in.

A point to consider - a friend of my Father's played an exclusive folk club in the 70's that rejected Bruce Springsteen's demo tape. That guy is now a retired golfer and Bruce Springsteen is, well, Bruce Springsteen.
 
Who'd be British, eh? Top-hat wearing fools!

Your idea sounds swell, CF. We're actually speaking of putting together something similar, a "Walk the wire" campaign, for those who need help taking the first step. (A pretty broad spectrum, but if we can support that, then it would be great) We've been looking at a few prototype wristbands, and some killer shirt designs, be it the big music festivals are coming up, it would be a good avenue to start.

It's always refreshing to see this, CF. Every cloud.
 
Don't be too disheartened!

Surely you weren't pinning all of your dreams and future aspirations on getting acceptance at this one film festival? Have you entered into others? Wait to see what they say. Don't start giving away your movie too soon, there's plenty of time for that in the future!
 
Reading this post again, i hadn't considered that this was in haste. Refreshing as such a gesture is, take the advice and sleep on it, CF. There's an audience for "Anti-hero". You've just got to find the right darn festivals.
 
I think the charity idea is a fantastic one :) I am sorry to hear about the rejection-I had something similar happen recently (not film related) on a more serious real life issue-all because of a bureaucratic screwup.

I've dusted it off though and am pushing forward, and going to use the mistakes I've learned to reapply to the situation-I feel your pain!

But good getting up on the horse and going again! :)
 
Fart-Jokes for Art-Folks.
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Hell yeah. I'm a sucker for potty humor. Bring it on.

Sorry to hear about this news. I had no idea Anti-Hero was considered sci-fi, just thought it was a straight-up goofball comedy, but I've only seen the preview trailer you put together.

Keep faith, Cracker. There IS an audience out there for your film! As others posted, maybe it's best to sleep on it, take a breather, and shake it off. There's no way that all of your time and energy invested in your film will go wasted or unappreciated. It'll just take some time to get out there.

Now, on a lighter note... pull my finger. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, everybody.

Sorry, I guess I should've given more details. I haven't given up on the festival process. I was just writing creatively, to illustrate how damn depressing it can be to get a rejection-letter. As far as the near-future is concerned, I'm really crossing my fingers for Seattle International, but I'm not holding my breath. If you look at the films that get into that highly-comepetitive festival, they all have really slick production values, something my film lacks. I'm only hoping that they see the value in having a native Seattleite in their festival (holy crap, I would promote the heck out of it). More realistically, I'm holding out hope for LA Comedy Film Fest. That one could be really fun to play in. And of course, I do plan to submit to many more over the course of the next few months.

The thing about the charity/non-profit idea is that it's still a good idea 6 months from now. I feel pretty darn-good about this decision, and it's not so much a question of if, but when. This movie has never been about turning a profit. The main goal has always been to simply gain recognition, and exploit that recognition to either get a job or funding for the next project. In light of that main goal, I think the charity/non-profit idea is perfect.

So, let's say that I hypothetically release a limited amount of DVDs to cast/crew/friends/family, all of whom are salivating for it. Hypothetically, if I were to do that, so long as I kept it on the down-low, and didn't actively promote it to the public, I don't see how that would ruin any festival run. And then, after the festival run, I go mad-crazy promoting the charity/non-profit drive all over the place.

Oh, and to respond to your musings, Flicker, no it's not traditional Sci-Fi. It has no aliens or zombies, and it is not set in a distopian future. But the titular character is psychic, so I think that technically qualifies it. But yeah, it's mainly a raunchy comedy.

Cheers!
 
Oh no, so sorry, CF. But please, don't take it personally. Panels are always composed of people whose decisions are partly colored by their personal tastes, regardless of their hope to be impartial. That's just human nature. As long as you stay true to your vision, there will be an audience wanting to take this journey with you.
 
As many times as I remind myself with each of my movies that they can't possibly get into every festival they are submitted to, each rejection feels like a stab in the heart. How can it not? If you pour your absolute heart and soul into a film and it is rejected, for whatever reason, it's no different than getting dumped by lover or losing a loved one.

But your film will reach an audience, and touch an individual within an audience.
 
Hi, CF
Cracker Funk said:
Forget selling DVDs. I'm going to give DVDs away, as part of a fund-raising effort, for a worthy charity or non-profit organization. I'm leaning towards an organization that supports arts in public schools, or something to that effect. Raise money for a worthy cause. Get people to watch my movie. Create positive publicity for my production company. Win, win, win!

Fart-Jokes for Art-Folks.
Click to expand...

First, it "sounds" like a Jerry MaGuire moment there.
Epi-fannies; gotta love 'em!

Second, who's the target audience for FART JOKES FOR ART FOLKS?
I love it! It's great.
Will the local paper run an ad with that name?
My concern is that parents typically are going to route their kids around this title or name, and organizations are likely going to be resistant to associate with it, worthy and noble cause considering.
 
Uranium City said:
As many times as I remind myself with each of my movies that they can't possibly get into every festival they are submitted to, each rejection feels like a stab in the heart. How can it not? If you pour your absolute heart and soul into a film and it is rejected, for whatever reason, it's no different than getting dumped by lover or losing a loved one.
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Ah, man, I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. I was hoping that I would only be waiting on pins and needles until it gets into one, and then I'll stop worrying about the rest. In the restaurant business, I've learned to not really give a damn about days that are really busy or really slow. It's pointless to get down when you have a bad day, or to get excited when you have a great day, because the law of averages always works itself out. Anyway, I need to find a way to train my brain to just accept these festival rejections as part of the process. Of course it's not gonna get rejected by all of them. Of course it's not gonna get into all of them. Law of Averages, Law of Averages, Law of Averages...

rayw, in the beginning, Fart Jokes for the Art Folks will only be targeted at friends/family of cast/crew, and it will only be promoted by Facebook invitations to a private group, and via word-of-mouth. Once the film has finally gotten a festival run, then I'd like to promote the heck out of it, wherever I can, and the target audience is anybody who wants to help a worthy cause and get an awesome movie out of the deal. And, yes, it was a total Jerry McGuire moment! :lol: Oh, and if the word "fart" offends an organization, you can be damn sure that they won't want anything to do with this movie!
 
I'm going to pop round to 'London Sci-Fi' and beat some sense into them! ;)

But on a serious note I agree with everyone who's said just hold out a while longer. I think there's a strong chance that the main reason it didn't get into London Sci-Fi isn't that it isn't really sci-fi (I think that being psychic is more of an organic power and therefore more likely to fall under fantasy than science fiction). Wait and see what other festivals have to say first...
 
It ain't even halftime yet, so buck up, soldier!

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On another note. When I think about it, I've got to agree with Nick. It's more fantasy than sci-fi. After all, it's not like Porkrind was bit by a radioactive Japanese psychic spider or the product of some classified CIA experiment. :P
 
Mitter said:
Is it on Vimeo?
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Negative. It will be, soon, but not for public consumption. Password-protected, and on the low-low, and I ain't sharing it with but a select few, for select reasons.

Nick, Dready, I agree -- it's not really "Sci-Fi", except on a slight technicality, sort-of. Anyway, I'm still all about the festival run. Just applied to a new one last night (LA Underground -- 1st annual, dedicated to ultra-low-budget), and I will continue applying to many, on a regular basis. And when the festival-run is over, the more I think about it, the more conviced I am that a charity-drive is going to be a kick-ass means of getting people to watch my movie. Cheers!
 
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