"No Gnus is good gnus, with Gary Gnu!"

Ah, the bygone days of the Great Space Coaster. Days of innocence and imagination. Well, actually they were mainly days of annoyance, because they were school says, and I was one of those kids who dreaded going to school. Just bored me silly. Loved college, couldn't stand primary school.

But good old Gary was right. Sometimes it is better not to know. Unfortunately, I do have news. News, I was expecting, but bad news nonetheless. We received our second rejection today. We had been rejected by Berlin previously, but today we were rejected by Sundance. Of course I was assuming we would be rejected. A low budget film with no name actors and an unknown writer/director, about a day like September 11th, in black and white, with no one to champion it to the higher-ups at festivals-- I'm expecting a lot of rejection actually. I think we have a better chance with Slamdance, not much, but better, even though I'm still expecting to be rejected.

And now that it seems we have been rejected by the other producer's rep we approached (not rejected outright- they simply won't return my phone calls, which is clear enough for me), I need to figure out how to leverage getting the film into the Tribeca Film Festival, which is in many ways the best place for the film to premiere. So, if anyone has any brilliant ideas, or great connections, (or if there is anyone reading these blogs at all), let me know.

The important thing to keep in mind about rejection is that it is not necessarily related to the quality of the work or the talent of the creator. Or, maybe this is something that people who have been rejected a lot, like myself, tell ourselves to cushion the blow. Either way, you can't really worry about it. You just need to press ahead. Unless of course you begin to suspect that you and your work suck. In which case, you might want to consider putting your energies into something else.

Having watched the film for the first time in almost two months, I feel very confident in the quality of the film. I don't think it's brilliant, but it is certainly very good. What I question is whether people are ready for it. Or, more accurately, whether I can create a enough of a buzz around the film, in just the right way, to prepare people for it. The biggest problem with the film is that it is exactly what I set out to make: a complex film about the issues of September 11th. A film that explores these issues, from violence and compassion, to death an forgiveness, from multiple perspectives, interweaving past, present and future, combining narrative and documentary structures, and providing answers to the questions that are asked. It's exactly the kind of film that geeks me. But that will be part of the struggle to get it across to an audience. It looks great, the acting is wonderful, the sound track is amazing, the editing is interesting, the writing is solid, but none of this may matter because the film is demanding. And I mean that literally. It demands your attention as a viewer. It demands that you think about what it is saying. It demands that you think about yourself and your life, and what you feel about the world, especially September 11th. And I just don't know if people will respond to a demanding film.

I knew that I was creating a film that was beyond the average viewer. I knew that it would be too complex, to dense, for the folks who only like to watch big budget action films, or Adam Sandler comedies (which would include me much of the time), but I may have made a film that it too demanding even for the people who like demanding films. I guess only time will tell. I think the biggest job I have ahead of me is going to be convincing people that the film is even more rewarding that it is demanding. I need to figure out how to use its complexity and depth as selling points. I mean, it's not Finnegan's' Wake or anything like that. It's not inaccessible or incomprehensible, it's just intricate.

So, I'll try to take the rejection and use it as motivation. The important thing to remember is that while I may feel a bit down, there are thousands of filmmakers today whose dreams have been dashed, and unlike many of them, I have not gone into debt to make my film, or borrowed vast sums from relatives and investors, so relatively speaking, I'm doing pretty well.

Back to Top