We've cleared the first hurdle, and now the "Reign of Judges" movie short will premiere this week in Salt Lake City!
I cannot attend the Utah premiere, and I'll be missing the Los Angeles premiere by just one day. Unbelievable. But I'm one of 13 people who have already committed to try to bring the short to Colorado.
Back in about 2005, I tried to help Chris Heimerdinger get his movie, "Passage to Zarahemla", to the big screen. It was the first time Chris, I and many of his backers had ever tried anything like this, and although Chris did successfully complete the movie, we as a group weren't as successful in getting people to watch it while it was in theaters. I didn't have a blog then, and I didn't know much about social media at all back then. I didn't have a clue how to get the word out other than telling people, face to face.
Everyone I told went to see it with me in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. All my friends and co-workers who aren't even members of my church, as well as just about everyone I knew from church, went with me in an effort to fill the theater. I don't think we filled even a third of the seats, and that was just one of seven nights.
Renting a movie theater for a whole week is extremely expensive. Chris lined up viewings in several areas, with similar results, except in Utah, where it enjoyed a #4 ranking. Not bad for a small budget movie! He took a huge loss, but I think he was happy to have made the movie and released it to video.
Reign of Judges director Darin Southam talked to Chris before he ever took even the first steps toward making his movie. In my opinion, Darin's doing everything we needed to do back in 2007 but didn't know to do or how to do, and a small but growing circle of supporters is doing a great job of getting the word out this time.
Darin has created a 13-minute concept film to show what he wants to do on the big screen, and that short will be featured along with a behind-the-scenes video in select theaters across the country and around the world if we can fill the theaters. Each showing will include at least one of the actors for a meet-and-greet, as well as autographs.
The idea is to fill the theaters first through pre-sales, before renting individual theaters, as well as sending deep pocket producers a message... We want this full-length movie to be made! If we can't sell the minimum amount of tickets for an area, those who purchased tickets for that area will have their money refunded. No one loses.
I am very proud to have supported the original Kickstarter fund for this project, and I hope we can successfully bring this baby to the big screen!
Social media sure has its great aspects indeed, allowing many people to see their creative dreams fulfilled.
ReplyDelete