POST PRODUCTION JOURNAL

Farrah Fawcett, Lisa & the boys

Our first SXSW screening was on Sunday, 3/09. We screened at the Alamo Drafthouse, where you can drink & eat while you watch a film. I thought that would be distracting, but the audience was the best we've ever had -- laughing in all the right places & gasping where appropriate, too. The screening was followed by a great Q&A, which included numerous compliments on the film. We sold out (& turned away 40 - 50 people).

Here's the ticket holder's line

The next event was the ASCAP / EvenHand party, featuring the music of the incomparable Mike Doughty and Los Mescaleros, a great San Antonio band. The party was held at Stubb's, a very cool BBQ music joint. Great food, excellent tunes and a really good turn-out from the SXSW film crowd. Lovisa and Emma managed the EvenHand T-shirt table and after a slow start, sales were brisk. If you want one, too, click here.

Doughty and I also did a radio interview with Sal Rastegar, a local Austin guy, during which Mike played some live tunes on the acoustic guitar. Very cool.

Doughty rocks the house at Stubbs

On Tuesday, I attended our jury screening at the Florida Film Festival. I was in Texas for our first FL screening, which was at their main venue, the Enzian, which is a pretty cool theater. It's the same idea as the Alamo in Austin -- eat & drink as you watch a film, although it's set up more like a dinner theater with round tables. The screening I attended, however, was in a shitty multiplex, the Park, and the crowd was pretty thin. There were no masks for the side of the screen and the entire film was slightly out-of-focus. One attendee, though, was Brian Quain, who has a cool website called Resolution 365. He made a new year's resolution to watch a film a day all year and post his reviews on the site. He gave EvenHand one of our best reviews yet. Thanks, Brian.

"Got Teeth?" was on a billboard I saw in Orlando. The city has a really nice neighborhood, for which Park Avenue serves as an axis, but there's also the usual endless strip malls. And, I guess, enough folks without choppers to warrant their own billboard.

The 2nd & 3rd SXSW screenings were at the Millennium Youth Center, way on the East side of Austin. I freaked when I got there -- it was in a really bad part of town and there were kids having birthday parties, playing in the video arcade and bowling. But, on Wed. we got a crowd of 80 people (house seats 130) and on Thurs. we had 115, almost selling out, which was outstanding considering what people had to do to get there. Good response all around and a really nice way to end the festival.

Kevin Coogan (ASCAP), me, Mike Doughty, Bill Dawes & Lisa at Stubb's

One of my favorite moments was after the Thursday screening. An older gentleman came up to me and shook my hand, saying "You made a damn fine movie." He left the theater, but came back in almost immediately and said "I've had over 34 years in law enforcement and you made a damn fine movie." It's nice to know that from an experienced cop's perspective I got it right.

The Farrah picture was taken when Lisa went out with Woody Harrelson's gang, who were attending SXSW with his film, Go Further. Lisa walked up to Farrah to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm Lisa," she said.  "No thank you," Farrah replied. Okey-dokey. [but, it all had a happy ending. See the T-Shirt page]

Please visit the Press page and check out the other recent EvenHand reviews: Film Threat (****), eFilmCritic.com (****) and Austin 360.