2:20 PM - Sat 10.08.22
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(It's like I'm trying to force myself to write these faster - I've only got forty minutes before I have to get ready to head out - so we'll see what happens...)

Well, the big Premiere of Acting Like Nothing Is Wrong was Thursday night. at the Regal Theaters in downtown LA.

And I'd have to say, I think it was a big success.

After wondering if the number on the website was accurate, worrying about people dropping out, and so on, we ended up having 65 people in attendance - friends of Jane's, friends of mine, some of the guys who are in the film (Mike M, Cary, Tim G.), some other filmmakers who have films in the festival, and I think a couple of general audience members.

Jane had been imagining we'd be screening in a space the size of a screening room, while I was thinking more like the Colosseum; the reality was somewhere in the middle (I'd worried that our little band of film-goers would be scattered across a vast space and not feel like an honest-to-God "audience". But between the size of the theater and the amount of people we had, it didn't feel like an issue).

When we had a little preview of the film in Santa Fe some months back - for people who'd been involved in the Santa Fe portion of shooting - I felt as if it had gone well (They were clearly listening and responding to the film), but it seemed like their attention flagged at certain parts.

But at Thursday night's Premiere, it felt as if we had them from beginning to end.

Jane's seen the film I don't know how many times now, and it was at least my fifth or sixth go-round, so we were more listening to the audience than anything else - every laugh, every little gasp or intake of breath, and maybe best of all, the silences (No coughing, no throat clearing, no whispering, no shifting around in their seats. Just...silence).

And at the Q&A, and the after party (aka some drinks and snacks on the Mezzanine level), it seemed clear that the film had been very well-received.

If I were to boil down the responses, they seemed to appreciate my "bravery" in revealing myself (Some predicting the film would be a good thing for me, career-wise), and admire Jane's telling-of-the-tale - Her portraits of me, the flow of lighter and darker moments in the film (Considering the sometimes tough subject matter, the film got a number of laughs from the audience) the use of my dancing, the music, etc.

One thing people picked up on that I was really intrigued by - In the film I made a reference to looking for my "redemptive third-act", and a number of people approached me after to say that they thought the film was going to be my "redemptive third-act".

(I like that they'd remembered my saying that. And of course, I'd love it if they were right.)

And I was happy to get something I've been craving for a while now...

You kind of expect, if you haven't totally crapped the bed, that your friends and family are going to like your work, that they'll walk in with a certain "favorable disposition" toward it that helps your cause
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But I felt like people had gotten more than that from it, which was very gratifying - They didn't just "like it" because they knew us, they liked it as it's own thing, if you know what I mean.

And a number of people approached me who weren't friends of Jane's or mine, who didn't know what they were about to see, that seemed deeply affected as well.

That very much encourages me, particularly when we go to Utah, where there won't be a big Jane or Jim fan-base (I expect the Santa Fe festival - Jane lives in Santa Fe - to go very well for us. And in East Lansing, where we both have a lot of friends and well-wishers? Well, I expect that to be a major love-fest).

Well, I could say more, except I didn't give myself time to say more - I've gotta get myself cleaned up to go out.

Till next time...

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