With apologies to Blogger...

a few days ago, i wrote up a long post about festival entries, and (i thought) blogger ate it. so i posted a shorter version with the heading you see below this post. and (i thought) blogger ate it, too.

so i figured the problem, whatever it was, must be fixed by now. it wasn't. cruised the help topics and found out blogger doesn't like the non-standard browser i use on my mac. okay, fine. so it was a 'known issue' (to them, not to me). but i've been posting from this browser for months now, with no 'issues', so why all of a sudden is it losing posts?

anyway, i thought i'd get back to posting.

the locked-picture-cut of the film has now been entered in a bunch more fests. on tuesday, i entered eight more festivals. that sounds like no big deal. but it took me the better part of the entire day to get those entries prepped and sent off (and that was while using withoutabox.com, a festival-entry engine to which many fests now subscribe, meaning i didn't have to fill out every individual festival entry form. I just do a one-time 'Create Project' on withoutabox.com, and then 'Enter Festival' for whichever fests i want to enter).

WithoutABox saves time, no doubt. but every festival still seems to want their stuff done in a unique manner. some fests will accept dvd's for pre-screening purposes (i.e., not for actual showing in the fest, just for determining if you get INTO the fest). some don't want dvd's and will only accept vhs. among those who do accept dvd, many specify the ONLY kind of case in which you can submit your dvd. and what you should have printed on the case (running time, title, special tracking # issued by withoutabox). some require a press kit. some request but do not require one. some don't care about a press kit at all. some want hard-copy production stills. some will accept them in digital format. some want them but don't specify if one or the other is required or preferred.

these requirements really aren't that onerous or ridiculous for an individual fest. it's when you're entering a bunch at one time that it becomes headache-inducing. so by the end of tuesday, i had a whopping tension headache.

but, now the film is entered in 16 fests. i wish all 16 had the final picture cut, because i (obviously) think it's the best cut. but half of them will have that one. and it's a bit of a waiting game at this point.

which is frustrating for me. i have to get on with other things while i wait to hear. first results will start to trickle in the first or second week of december (from sundance and slamdance). missing out on those would be a major disappointment. but as i've said from the beginning, i know they are longshots at best because of how competitive they are.

the waiting kills me, because i am one of those people who has difficulty concentrating on the next creative project while the current one hasn't yet come to 'full fruition.' that's stupid, of course. waste of time. can't just sit here and wait for phone calls or emails that may never come. and even if they do, that's a lot of wasted time until then.

but my head just isn't in a new script right now. i need to start one soon. i am at that creative-insecurity point where i haven't written a brand-new-from-scratch feature spec in a while, and i'm questioning my ability to pull it off. my last few attempts have either been aborted or just not that great. so i'm worried i won't be able to write another great one (assuming i have written a great one in the past, which i admit is a debatable point).