: Twenty-two - film chapter

Accompanied by Professor Anderson's praise, several people sitting in the office smiled happily. Professor Anderson also smiled happily. He was really happy for his compatriots.

"How about it, do you have any plans for Christmas? Now that the film is finished, do you want to go back to the farm?"

Seeing the teacher ask him about his Christmas arrangements, he thought about it and said:

"Well, going back to the farm for Christmas, my mom has called me a few times, and I always tell her she's busy with work, and if I don't go back, I think she'll drive to LA and smash all my prints. "

Listening to him teasing his mother, everyone smiled kindly. This country's family will always be everyone's number one belief. Jimmy suddenly looked at Wayne, and didn't speak until he saw that he noticed his gaze:

"Congratulations, to be honest, I thought you were shooting those bloody, unreadable stuff again. Don't worry, when I get back, I will help contact the film company to discuss distribution issues. But don't hold too much. Hopefully, you know, even if I use some corporate connections, I won't necessarily be able to get many people to watch your film."

"It's okay, Jimmy, do your best, I'm prepared."

He didn't want much. He asked Jimmy to come, just to give him the confidence that he could try his best to pull people. Otherwise, relying on their own luck, maybe not many people will come to see.

"Ok, just get ready. It's almost January, and the Saint Denis Film Festival is only a few days away. You have to give yourself a price in your heart, lest there be a company that takes a fancy to the bid, and you don't have the same heart. too big."

Jimmy reminded him carefully that Jimmy was afraid that he would price himself too high in his heart. Jimmy knew what the film distribution industry was all about. They were in the absolute upper reaches of this industry and depended on the blood of production companies to survive.

When Wayne heard his reminder, he didn't really take it too seriously. The bottom line he set for himself was lower than everyone thought. If no company is willing to pay a high price in the end, in order to send the film to the theater, he is really not afraid of losing money and selling it. The first film is mainly to promote himself and prove himself.

After this campus screening, he finally got rid of his workaholic character. Before Christmas, I rolled with Naomi for a few days, slept well in the apartment for two days, and drove back to the farm.

On January 17, 1991, Wayne and Luke, carrying copies of the film, flew to Park City, Utah, USA. Tomorrow, January 18, the Saint Denis Film Festival will officially begin here.

The Sundance Film Festival, the "Sundance Film Festival", is specially designed for independent filmmakers, and its influence has been growing in recent years. It aims to encourage low-budget, independently-produced films that express a very different purpose than Hollywood films. The Sundance Film Festival is organized by the Sundance Institute, which consists of 25 members.

In 1981, Robert Redford, interested in enhancing the artistic vitality of American film diversity, and his colleagues and friends at Sundance, Utah, established the Sundance Institute, dedicated to supporting and cultivating Freshman screenwriter, film director; support and help new feature films and documentaries participate in domestic and international film festivals.

This is the best platform for all independent filmmakers to market themselves in recent years, and Wayne's purpose is also this. At two o'clock in the afternoon, Wayne and Luke hurried from the airport to the reserved hotel, without daring to stay for a moment, put down their luggage and went directly to the rental theater.

The relationship with Professor Anderson, he helped Wayne get an invitation letter and a screening room. Although he did not participate in the competition unit, it was great to have a well-located room.

Just like Luke and the medium-sized theater in front of him, under the handover of the staff, he got nine days of use of the theater. The cost is not cheap, the daily rental fee is as high as 2,000 US dollars, but the location is good, just in the middle of the street.

After dismissing the staff, he went in and took a look. He wanted to make sure that there would be absolutely no problems with the screening. There are fifty seats in the whole hall, and the curtain is not big. After seeing the projector at the back, Luke is sure that there is no problem.

He took out a makeshift poster showing poor Naomi looking at the masked killer beside her with a terrified face. There is only one sentence on the poster, how can you escape when your birthday changes to a sacrificial day.

The production is very simple, but he doesn't take it too seriously. This poster is mainly to tell people what kind of films are put on here, and film company buyers, they will never watch this thing.

After making the poster stand, the two returned to the hotel and quietly waited for the film festival to arrive.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Wayne opened the door of the theater on time, and Luke took the copy to prepare for the screening. One after another, tourists came to the door, looked at the posters and chatted with him. There are many people passing by, but there are very few people who can go in and wait to watch.

Wayne wasn't waiting for them. Jimmy called him. Before ten o'clock, he would bring the guests over to get him ready for the screening so that nothing should go wrong.

Ignoring those tourists, he looked at his watch anxiously until Jimmy appeared in front of Wayne with two people.

"Wayne, this is James from Touchstone Pictures and Albert from New Line Pictures, is the film ready?"

Seeing that the two of them were relatively cold, Wayne greeted them and hurried to the back to help Luke show. There must be no mistakes in this scene.

After James and Albert entered the theater, they sat in the middle alone. He came to the front when he saw that there was no problem, and told Jimmy that he could start at any time.

"Jimmy, is it just these two? Are there any film crews from other companies?"

He hopes that there will be more, so that the chance of being favored will be higher. Jimmy shook his head and whispered:

"I only invited these two medium-sized companies with distribution capabilities. They still came to watch because of their relationship with caa. There should be no more. Tell Luke to start."

He nodded and motioned to Luke behind to start the show. He is not disappointed either, the film will be shown for nine days, and there will always be a chance until the festival closes.

After the lights in the theater were slowly turned off, just before the movie started, Wayne noticed that two more people entered the theater and sat in the back row. He didn't care too much, thinking it was a tourist.

With more than 90 minutes of show time, James' attitude towards watching movies has gradually changed. I was going to leave after reading it for caa's face, but I didn't expect it to arouse his interest from the beginning.

Since the first time the heroine of the movie was killed, James took out his notebook and pencil, and recorded it while watching the movie. Wayne, who was standing in the back row, noticed him, not only James, but the last two people who came in, one of them was reading and writing something, and Albert seemed to be completely impatient. Before the movie was over, he left early. Cinema.

Wayne didn't pay attention to the curtain at all. He observed several people in the whole cinema hall. Apart from seven or eight tourists, the most striking one was James.

As the movie ended, everyone applauded politely, and then all slowly backed out. James, led by Jimmy, came to him.

"Director Greenberg, your film is beyond my expectations. I will go back and report it to the company. If it is convenient for you, I will watch it again in the afternoon."

"Of course there is no problem, you are welcome at any time."

Seeing that he agreed, James shook hands with him amicably, and followed Jimmy out. When he walked out of the theater, Wayne realized that there was another person who had not left. It was a middle-aged white man in his thirties, and he was recording it just now.

"Hello, Director Greenberg, can I have a few words? I'm a filmmaker at Castle Rock Films. My name is Tom Hughes. You can call me Tom."

"Of course, let's go outside."

He didn't expect that there would be surprises. He took Tom out of the theater and went to the outdoor cafe next to him.

"Director Greenberg, before I came, Mr. Jennings specially recommended your film to me and let me take a closer look."

After listening to him, Wayne understood why he came here. It turned out that Jennings recommended it.

"You can call me Wayne. I really want to thank Mr. Jennings when I go back. What do you think, is Castle Rock Films interested in this film?"

Tom thought for a while, organized the language, and then said:

"The selling point of the film is relatively clear. I am more optimistic about it. Of course, I will report the film. No one knows what will happen in the end."

He wasn't disappointed when he heard it, and chatted with Tom for a while before saying goodbye and returning to the theater. In fact, they played a game all morning. He understood the key and only watched the afternoon.

"Luke, don't worry, calm down, please. Sit down and have something to eat." Seeing the anxious Luke walking around, he was obviously not in a calm mood.

"Wayne, what's the matter, do you think that James will buy our movie?"

Luke came to his side and looked at the people passing by from the street. From time to time, they can still be heard discussing the movie they have just seen, and the comments are obviously mostly negative.

"There's only so much we can do, don't worry, I'm sure someone will buy it."

He is not as anxious as Luke, and he still believes in the quality of the film. He went to several cinemas just now, and there were hardly any of the low-budget movies that were being shown that he could see.

All of them are constantly shaking pictures, super-long shots, and even what the director wants to express is inexplicable. It seems that it is not artistic enough to not shoot like this.

This gave him great confidence, at least in these independent films, his own films can be seen by others.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Wayne showed a professional smile and received the four people led by James. After greeting each other, Luke started the movie screening again.

This game was a little better than the morning. There were at least a dozen spectators. His attention was always on James and the others. From time to time, they could be seen whispering something, and it was not until the movie was over that James asked Wayne for his phone number before leaving with the company.

"Jimmy, do you think the touchstone people will like this film?"

Sending off this wave of people, he and Jimmy chatted softly. Jimmy recalled the expressions of the group of people just now, and said:

"Hope is great. I think they will contact you. All you have to do now is to continue showing the film and wait for more people to come to your door."