Blowing Smoke (Archives 11.1.04)

We were hesitant to talk about this, for fear of jinxing a possible coup, but now that it appears someone was just blowing smoke up our proverbial asses, we might as well let the hot air out of the bag. We had a bit of short-lived excitement as Hollywood (or should we say, Chicago) played with our heads for a few weeks.

One of our cast members had received a phone call from a major player in the world of daytime television. Now, we don't mean to harp on this, but this person has the power to bring national attention to someone just with a simple endorsement. So anyway, O great one had read a column written by our friend in which he had called this person to task for failing to avail herself of her power to reach America, such as urging her viewing audience to participate in the political process by voting. This media mogul wanted to know what our friend had in mind.

In the course of their conversation, our movie came up, and a media relations rep asked for a copy of our movie as soon as possible. There was supposedly interest in doing a pre-election show about voting, which tied directly into our movie. Of course, it is well known in Hollywood that when someone wants something quickly, they usually sit on it for months. You see, it's not that they really want it. It's just that they don't want anyone else to have it.

Nevertheless, we shipped a rough DVD off in a same-day costly courier across 1000 miles, so they would have it before the weekend. Little did we suspect that no one would even look at until the following week. Each of our followup calls was greeted with the same response - "someone" is looking at it - and "someone" will call you back. When we asked who the "someone" was, the response was, "I don't know."

At this point, we doubt this opportunity will result in exposure, but such is the game. Queries to the media for possible reviews were equally enlightening. Did you know that newspapers and radio stations only want to review your movie if you buy advertising time or space? So much for the free press! Our experiences so far only strengthen our resolve. This is a grass roots movie, made by the people and for the people.