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May 30, 2004
Happy Summer!
What a festive, busy May we had for
the flick! Sadly, I was unable to attend the
Trenton Film Festival on
the East Coast. I heard from those who attended (thanks for all the
emails!) that it went over well and that approximately 40-50 people
turned up. Not a bad turnout when there was basically little or no
advertising! All of the emails I received after the
TFF were lovely and told
of everyone leaving the screening happy. Only one niggly thing:
Apparently, someone from the festival told the crowd that ‘someone
with the film’ was going to speak and asked the crowd to sit through
the credits and a short film festival promotional film. I was told
that everyone sat patiently through the credits and endured the film
festival promo. Then the TFF
rep stood up and said that the person with the film decided not to
speak. Was this a ploy to dupe loving
glennmovie attendees into sitting through their shameless
self-promotion? Or was someone ‘with the film’ really there and then
decided that they did not feel like speaking? I think the answer to
the first question would be yes and the answer to the second question
would be no. You gotta love the old
TFF for trying to get as
many bums in seats as possible, but I wasn’t crazy about people
possibly getting the impression that I was there and ‘didn’t feel like
speaking’. Anyone who knows me, knows there are but few occasions I
don’t feel like speaking!
I worked for about two months on
trying to publicize the LA screening. With the help of some lovely
Glenn fans, I was able to send out press releases to all the media
outlets. Radio, TV, and print. I would pick up any newspaper and
magazine, peruse the ‘masthead’ (list of credits) and I emailed/faxed
any appropriate departments the press release about the movie. Not one
person responded! It’s a bit like throwing a dart at the dartboard
blindfolded and hoping you’ll hit a high score. I just emailed anyone
in any arts/music/film dept desperately hoping that some journalist
somewhere would write something about the movie. Since no LA radio
stations play 2004 Glenn, I contacted the stations that play 1980’s
Glenn songs during their lunchtime blocks or on weekends. I asked them
to do a ticket giveaway. No one responded! I also approached several
companies, asking for sponsorship in order to cover the bar minimum.
No one responded! I wrote People
Magazine here in the US and they actually DID respond! They even
offered to buy me lunch! A tear came to my eye at the mere thought
that there might be a wee story to promote the movie in one of the
world’s biggest mags! I sent them a preview copy of the movie and then
when I emailed them to see if they watched it or if they still wanted
to have lunch, they never responded! Is it something I said? Or didn’t
say? When you’re just one person doing all of this donkey work,
rejection or uh… no response at all is a bit depleting. In Hollywood,
no means no and yes means no!
I posted on damn near every
musician’s website I could think of announcing the screening.
My posts usually looked like the
following: HEY! (band/artist name here) FAN SHOWS SQUEEZE DOCUMENTARY
IN LA! Hopefully, that would lure people to click on the post. Then I
would post: "Hello (band/artist name here) fans. I’m a huge
(band/artist name here) fan and thought that you might be a Glenn
Tilbrook fan as well! He is the former lead singer of Squeeze and I
made a documentary about him. If you’re a fan of his music, Squeeze’s
music or (band/artist name here)’s music, you’ll love this
documentary. I would love for you to attend the LA screening of my
movie on May 11th at CineSpace.
Feel free to go to my website
for more information!"
I posted on the obvious sites like
Aimee Mann and
Ron Sexsmith and also posted
on Neil Finn,
Paul McCartney, and
Sheryl Crow amongst a billion
others. Hopefully, it convinced at least one or two people to come on
down but I fear it only convinced people that amyglennmovie is a
shameless spammer. Oh well. It’s publicity and it doesn’t cost to
post, so I did it. My lovely friend at a radio station here in LA
apologized for not being able to promote the screening on air since
they don’t play Glenn’s music, but instead offered to post the date
and time of the screening on the radio station’s website under arts
and cultural events. I thought that was unbelievably sweet until
someone at the screening said they saw it posted on the site…listed on
the wrong night. DOH! Somehow I don’t think that
CineSpace was bombarded the
next night with throngs of angry Glennmovie
fans desperate to see the flick, but I suppose it’s the thought that
counts, eh?
I also flyered as many British and
Irish pubs that I could visit. I was desperate to meet the bar minimum
of CineSpace and thought those
crazy foreigners would be my perfect target audience! And hey, let’s
face it, you crazy UK’ers love Glenn! I also faxed a million of the
press releases to the ‘calendar’ sections of all the local papers in
the hopes of someone listing it. LA
Weekly was the only one that took the bait and instead of just
stating "Independent Film Screening" at
CineSpace, they wrote, "Glenn
Tilbrook: One For the Road" Premiere of Amy Pickard’s documentary
about the frontman for the popular 80’s band Squeeze, who toured
America in a mobile home in an attempt to go independent in 2001. For
more info, visit
www.glennmovie.com".
I also invited every human being I’ve
ever met in my whole life to the screening. I invited some bigwigs in
the industry as well as celebs. (I thought, what the hell?) I invited
known fans of Glenn’s:
Mike Myers,
Christopher Guest, and I even invited
Rick Springfield! I had
to unexpectedly fly home to the Midwest for a family matter (all is
well) and guess who was on my flight from LA to Chicago? RICK! I found
my seat, scribbled an invite to the screening on the back of my
glennmovie.com flyer, which I
have on me at all times, and blagged my way up to first class by
feigning the loss of an earring. I saw Rick, sitting there reading a
book on The Beatles (see, he was
meant to be my husband!) but then some guy sporting a mullet started
rapping with him. I suspect he was a roadie since he was clad in black
and looked unclean so I just gave the flyer with note to the steward
and asked him to give it to the gentleman named Rick. I invited Rick
to the screening and signed it "your friend in coach, Amy 33C". I
didn’t know if he got that I left my seat number rather than bra size,
but what does it matter? Rick never showed at the screening and one
suspects that he would’ve been jealous if he had.
On the day of the LA screening, I
decided that it wouldn’t do me any good to get nervous and freaked out
like I did before the San Fran screening, so I approached the evening
with a Zen-like confidence. I did everything a plebe like me could do
to get people in and now there was nothing left to do. I went to my
Tuesday yoga class and felt fantastic afterwards. My roommate Suzanna
and I decided to treat ourselves and go for ‘manis and pedis’.
(manicures and pedicures). There’s a "nail bar" around the corner from
where we live that only charge 12 bucks for both. The last time I went
there over a year ago, they asked if I was my Suzanna’s mom! (If you
do the math, I would’ve had to give birth to Suzanna when I was 5
years old.) Suz thought it was hilarious. Fast forward to a year later
- as we sat at our respective pedicure stations, she kept saying, "Hey
mom! Mom! Mom!" until I looked over at her. Real mature! Thankfully,
there was no mention of age or young motherhood this time around. My
friend Katie Puckrik topped this mom story when she told of her
manicurist looking at a recent picture of Katie and asked if she was
the woman in the picture’s mother! So the only thing worse than being
accused of being your 30 year old roommate’s mother is being accused
of being your own mother. Now that sounds positively
Appalachian. (I kid because I love!)
Painted and buffed, (if you must
know: "Lilac
I Care" on the fingers and
Pikes Peak-A-Boo
Purple on the toes) we then changed into our foxy outfits. We were
both feeling rather relaxed and sassy… until my phone started ringing
off the hook… with people telling me they couldn’t make it to the
screening. I like to lounge on the couch as much as the next person.
In fact, I’m quite proud of the fact that sloth-like behaviour runs in
my family. I have a high tolerance for dormancy. However, I never
realized how hard it is to get people to leave their houses and come
to a screening. I think if Glenn had been there in person, a few
hundred would’ve turned out, but seeing as how it was just a movie
about Glenn and little old me, I was expecting 10 people to show after
all of my last minute cancellation phone calls. I told everyone to
come at 8pm since we’d start the movie at 8:15pm. At 7:45pm, Suz and I
were the only ones there. I started to panic and the bar owner even
bought us the first round of drinks out of sympathy!
The
CineSpace staff is amazing.
All the employees there promised to buy a few drinks to help out and
they were politely tolerant of my running around. Suz helped me leave
glennmovie.com flyers on the
tables and luckily, friends started arriving! Then much to my
amazement, people I didn’t know started arriving! I made a groovy mix
CD alternating between Glenn’s new solo stuff and Squeeze’s Greatest
Hits. (Well, my favorite Squeeze hits that is!) The CD kept the energy
high and there was actually, dare I say it, a glennlicious buzz about
the place. And that’s not due to the fact that I was on my third
cocktail of the evening before the movie even started! Dammit, if
there weren’t enough people to meet the bar minimum, I personally
would try and meet it! Where are Glenn’s Hens from the UK to crank up
the bar tab when you need them? (Again, I kid because I love!)
Family friends from Dayton who
happened to be in town showed up, good pals who had helped with the
movie showed up and brought friends! Three folks drove from San Diego
for the screening and then drove back after it was over! A musician
friend Kevin (now drumming with
Grant Lee Phillips)
showed up and brought three of his friends. I met Kevin over 13 years
ago when I interviewed him for South Side Video in Ohio! He was
drumming for John Wesley Harding.
And to top it all off,
Pete Thomas,
fabulous ex-Squeeze drummer and current
Elvis
Costello drummer showed up with wife and (The
Like drummer) daughter Tennessee in tow and they all felt the love
throughout the night! My mate Debbie was deathly ill and dragged
herself to the screening in spite of already having seen the movie at
her house a month or so earlier. That’s dedication! Debbie counted
about 60 people there and I was relieved and happy to know that if I
didn’t meet the bar minimum, I’d certainly come close. Dave, a guy
that works at a record store in LA had emailed me before asking that I
email him a flyer for the screening. I did and he printed it out and
hung it up at the store. Dave showed up, enjoyed the movie and was
feeling the love! My friend Chris came straight to the screening from
the airport, bless her.
As the movie began playing, I was
reminded how cool it is to watch the flick on a big screen. The
audience responded enthusiastically, as they did in San Fran and I
couldn’t have been more pleased. The DVD was sticking though, in spite
of testing it the night before. I don’t understand why it does that. I
tried the DVD on three different players and on my computer and it was
fine. I have two public screenings and it sticks throughout. Oh well.
Everyone just assumed that the occasional slow motion glitch was some
groovy editing technique. Sigh. Everyone laughed in all the right
places, sang along to some of the songs and clapped when it was over.
I was ecstatic. And drunk. Katie had bought me another cocktail, which
I went to fetch with her at the bar and when I returned to my seat,
Suzanna had another one lined up. I was ‘double fisting’ the
Midori Sours
much to the amusement of my table. Feeling no pain and teetering on my
high heels, I hung out at the bar afterwards and talked to everyone
who attended. The mix CD that I had made was playing and it truly
‘carried on the love’ after the screening.
I chatted to as many people as I
could afterwards and was very touched by well, how touched everyone
was by the movie! It was touching! Many said how much they laughed and
how cool they thought Glenn was. My friend Tammy, who has been to a
million screenings since she was in the movie business, told me that
she had never been to such a ‘positive’ screening and that she was
really surprised at the lovely vibe. I would have to agree with her.
Everyone was just happy! Was it because they were drinking heavily to
help with the bar minimum? I’m sure it didn’t hurt, but I was truly
amazed at the glenn love!
The love turned to hurt though, when
I went to collect the two movie posters that I had printed up
especially for the screening. Someone stole them! On one hand, I
suppose that I should be flattered, but on the other hand, they cost
me a lot of money to make! Oh well, I suppose it’s a small price to
pay. After shaking hands and hugging everyone I could, I went to the
CineSpace folks and asked how
much I owed and the manager looked at me and said, "Don’t worry about
it." YAY! I met the bar minimum! The screening was successful! Hoorah!
Suzanna drove me home where I poured myself into bed, exhausted and
happy. I just wish Glenn could’ve been there to feel the love and I
wish that all the glennmovie listers
could have been there as well!
I definitely am working on trying to
get the movie seen in the US and the UK, it’s just a matter of money,
unfortunately. Ideally, I want to try and set up a screening in DC,
Boston, and NY in October. I came up with the idea of showing the
flick (which is only about an hour long) at a rock club and then
having local bands come on afterwards to play Squeeze and Glenn
covers. It would be a ‘hoot night’ and each local band would do
one or two songs a piece. It would be a real celebration of Squeeze!
I’d also love to try this in London and maybe somewhere up north like
Liverpool or Manchester. Obviously, this would take a great deal of
planning, not to mention dough, but I think it would be worth it. So,
watch this space! For you Londoners, I was thinking of somewhere like
the 12 bar club or the
Jazz Café. (the Jazz Café
is a bit too ritzy but the size is about right) The gig would need to
be somewhere that had seating since I wouldn’t expect anyone to STAND
during the flick. The idea of having local bands play Squeeze covers
was to help bring in an already established fan base since I can’t
afford to ‘rent’ out a space for the movie. Obviously this is all
tentative but it never hurts to try and plan stuff ahead of time,
right? It’s fun to think about.
The film biz is a funny one. On a
good day, I’m enthusiastic and proactive and on a bad day, I feel that
no one will ever see this movie since I’m the only person working on
it and that I’ve let Glenn down. On one of these bad days I emailed a
filmmaker friend of mine for advice. Rather fantastically, assuming
the role of cheerleader and therapist, he assured me that I wasn’t
crazy and that he knows exactly what it feels like to have your work
go unrecognized. He also informed me that his film was rejected by
every film festival imaginable. That is, until a big consulting firm
in NY decided to rep his movie. Once they repped his flick, film
festivals miraculously invited him to participate and they even waived
their submission fees and deadlines for him. He said that he had an
epiphany that the festival business is very political and that he felt
really sorry for thos
Rock On,
Amy
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