Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Fright Night

The fine folks at TvFILM decided to host a live screening event in honor of Halloween. Ghost Tours, as well as some other films from season 7 and a few that didn't make it into the broadcast, screened at a lovely venue downtown. The space is owned by the local NPR affiliate and is most often used for live music events so they have a fantastic sound system. It was so nice to hear the score the way it's really meant to sound.

Monday, June 29, 2015

TvFILM on WMHT

TvFILM is a locally produced program in Albany, NY that is part of the PBS affiliate WMHT. The same station that as a child I donated my allowance to so that they would continue to broadcast Doctor Who. Now the programming brought to you by your generous financial support of WMHT is Ghost Tours as well as other local independent films and interviews with the filmmakers. As part of the show itself you get an interview and a film for each of the filmmakers. Then online you get bonus features.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

This week only

For the next few days they will be promoting us: Next on TvFILM: Season 7 Episode 2

It only shows about a second and a half of our film, but it's exactly the second and a half I would have expected. And of course this means that if you are in the WMHT viewing area (Albany, lower Adirondacks, southern Vermont, probably as far west as Utica) you should tune in next week. Sunday at 11pm or Tuesday at 7:30. 

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Good showing at Balticon


The weekend at the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention went very well. I spent a couple of days there meeting audiences, meeting other filmmakers, speaking on and attending panels. The screening itself was well received. There were probably more than 100 people. We screened second to last before the intermission so on the break I got to talk to people when it was very fresh in their minds. You can kind of tell, watching the audience watch your film, how they're reacting, but it's even better when people immediately want to talk to you about it.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

More Upcoming Screenings

Just at the time that we premiered at SENE we got a bump in acceptances for other screenings. It's made for a really nice couple of weeks lately.

SENE was, as usual, a good festival to attend. The audiences in Providence are always engaged and supportive. We got a lot of great feedback all weekend long. It was nice to screen on Friday in the big theater because there was more time to talk to people who had seen it. Killer and Take Out had both screened at SENE in years past, but on Sunday in the last block of the festival. So as premieres go it was everything I could have wanted.

That same weekend I got notice that Ghost Tours got picked up for season 7 of TvFILM on WMHT in Albany, NY. I don't have the air date yet, but I'm going next week to do the interview part of the episode. In season 6 they played Killer if you want to get a sense of what the program is like.

Since then I got an acceptance notice from Balticon, which is the Baltimore Science Fiction convention held Memorial Day weekend. We'll be screening as part of the Sunday Night Film Festival if anyone is around Maryland and wants to come out for an evening of fun sci-fi films.

And this morning I got word that they will be screening Ghost Tours at the University Film and Video Association annual meeting. This one is not really open to the public as it is a conference for film and video professors. But if any of my professional colleagues happen to be going to the meeting I'd love for you to come out and see the film. They don't have the schedule done yet, but it will be in the program when that gets published.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

World Premiere



We have been accepted into our first festival!! Here is hoping for the start of a long and happy run.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Official Poster

So far I've done about a dozen festival submission, but that is a long game. Both in terms of time spent submitting and time spent waiting to here which ones we'll get into. Patience and perseverance are both required. In the meantime I found someone to give us a hand with the marketing. Many thanks to Alexandra Lambdin of the University of Central Missouri.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Ghost Tours is ready for the world

Ghost Tours is officially finished. I am making "hard copies" to be kept on file at school as a record of my thesis. The thank you gifts for the donors are all in the mail if not already in your hot little hands.

I want to take a moment to thank all the folks who didn't have any spare cash to offer a financial contribution, but who still offered the invaluable assets of love, support, and encouragement. It was a huge endeavor, partly because it was a fairly ambitious film, and partly because it was my master's thesis film and so had a bit of extra Importance. Knowing there were people who believed in what I was trying to do and in my ability to do it really helped keep me going. I appreciate each and every one of you.

The goal now is to bring it to a festival near you so that everyone can see it. I've started a few festival submissions, but mostly I'm waiting to have a moment to think so that I can set myself a festival strategy. Submissions aren't free (usually) so it's important to maximize the budget by focusing on festivals that are a good fit, and playing a long game so that you're always getting the early bird rates. If a likely candidate is on their late deadline (and therefore likely twice as expensive) then mark it in the calendar and submit on the next cycle. Festivals usually accept anything finished within the last two years. Patience will get you more viewers in the long run.

Stay tuned here, and subscribe if you haven't already. As we get screenings I'll make announcements and post dates, times, and where to buy tickets.