The Grand Tour

THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE is hitting the film markets with another new poster.  It  is on its way to the MIPCOM broadcasting trade show in Cannes, repped by ITN, and we made it to the front page of the email blast and the fifth page of the catalogue, with this new art.

Never Had To Battle With No Bullet-Proof Vest

I haven't sent a newsletter all summer, and I guess my only excuse is that my summer kind of drifted away.  One morning early this season I woke up vomiting with what felt like a hot knife under my ribs.  Shortly thereafter I was standing in the emergency room and they were handing me a gown.  The next day I was short a balky gallbladder.  Then came a few weeks where I couldn't even walk my dogs or pick up my grandbaby, a terrible way to live.

But all of a sudden I have had to jump back on the train, or it would leave without me.

ITN Distribution has my first movie, THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE, at the Toronto Film Market, and here is the brand-new cover art for it.  I think it really jumps out, and I hope people like it.

That was two days ago, and then yesterday ITN dropped the trailer. I thought their take on it was interesting and again I hope others feel the same.

It looks like I have one more screening of CRAWLSPACE at the end of September, courtesy of the Chicago Horror Society (details forthcoming) and then I'll be full-bore promoting my second film SCARECROW COUNTY.  We are setting a goal of finishing it up by the end of September to be ready for a big convention and spooky fall screenings.  I believe I have a pretty cool screening locked up for the world premiere, and another one back at the Farmland Community Center where we shot two days on SCARECROW COUNTY and one on CRAWLSPACE.  Two or perhaps even three more I can sniff in the wind, so if you live in the midwest you should have every chance you could ever want to see SCARECROW COUNTY out in the wild.

After this, it's always best to have a couple of things brewing, and I do, and you hope and hope and some things fall by the wayside and once in a great while something takes off.  Everybody thinks they are going to retire and write a book or make a  movie or take up painting and it will all be there in front of them, but it's work and it's catching lightning in a bottle to make something happen, and then to do it again and again.

Today is my birthday, and when I turned 50 I took the day off and took myself to the movies, and it was very luxurious, so I have been doing it ever since. I don't know if there is anything in particular I want to see, but I have an interest in eating an Impossible Whopper, so if I can find one, I might do that. There is a screening of READY OR NOT right at high noon and I hear good things about it.

The last couple of years I have walked my dogs past a graveyard down the road, just to keep things in perspective, so I might do that as well.  I'm not sure that it's a coincidence that me and two of my most frequent collaborators--b-movie directors Mark Polonia and Henrique Couto--all live within walking distance of a graveyard.

Since I am taking the day off, when I got to work yesterday I got a super nice surprise and early birthday present from friends and colleagues. This is the framed movie poster THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE undoubtedly stolen off the wall during its screening at Film Scene in Iowa City by my pal Jason. I loved this retro poster they did and am flattered to have this framed copy that several people chipped in on to have done up nicely.   I think they wanted me to hang this in my office, but then I would have to explain it to unsuspecting ordinary people, and I try to keep my higher ed day job and b-movie night life separate as much as I can.

My wife asked me if I were going to make any birthday resolutions and I think all my resolutions take the same shape--watch my diabetes, try to help my children and grandchildren as much as I can, try to be a good partner and friend and colleague, keep working on projects.  I have had versions of these same ones for a long time and they ain't a bad list of things to try and be good at.

The poet (not the actress) Maggie Smith once said, "For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird."  (You can read the whole poem here).  That really struck me as the truth but I think it's important to remember that the world is full of small kindnesses and it's best to try to stand on that side of the line as much as you can.  Another smart person said to me recently "give yourself permission to rest" and that kind of pulled me up short.  So I'm taking today and this long weekend to do so, I hope.  Then I'm going to try and wing my way into Fall with my flock.

Thanks for sticking with me, and more details on both my movies are coming soon.

This post first appeared in my e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.