The long (LONG) road...

Thought I'd share that with you.

You're looking at a shot of the main monitor in the finishing suite at Optix Digital Pictures in Toronto where, today, I supervised the TV version cut of THE STORM my first feature film.

Reason I thought I'd post it is because of the time stamp (date) you see at the bottom.

September 29, 2009

Today's date.

No biggie right?

Mind you, if you were aware (as I so painfully am) of the fact that I 'locked' the final version of THE STORM back in early March 2007 you'd see that date and feel the significance of it.

WE'RE TALKING TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER!!

And the TV edit is just being done now and we've just now signed an agreement that should see our wee film hit select theaters in the U.S and the Worldwide market on TV and DVD in time for Halloween 2010.

THREE AND A HALF YEARS LATER!!

Talk about your 'long road home...'

It's almost unbelievable in some ways.  I mean, I knew it was hard to write, produce and direct your own independent film.  I knew it was virtually impossible for that film to ever see the light of day in terms of mainstream distribution, but that said--like every other first-time filmmaker--my hope was that we could be the exception.

And we worked hard, with the realities of the shoot, with the production value, with the story, with the cut and especially with the post-production (score, special effects, sound design, color correction and mastering) to try and set ourselves up to deliver something outstanding for the segment of the market we knew our film would eventually inhabit.

Along the way we had the film set up, and it fell apart, then re-set up, and it fell apart and in the midst of that process we've kept working to build our rep, build our contacts, build our slate and get ourselves into situations where we can meet people who can point us to the right people in the hopes that they might respond to our small, first-time film.

I think a key lesson in this for me (beyond the obvious ones related to the 'doing' of the thing in the first place) has been that everything you do, and I do mean EVERYTHING, can work together to help the things you do find their way in the World.

This means that everything is connected.  Nothing is wasted.  

You have to stay positive in the face of constant doubt and rejection and keep believing that, eventually, the thing you've done will find it's place.

I'll keep you posted on how things develop but thought I'd let you know today was a satisfying day.  My hope is that you will have some satisfying days soon as you keep at it, and keep at it, and...

Keep at it.

T