Fear has gripped me for the past year. I’ve been afraid to take a simple risk for fear my work may get rejected and ridiculed. I have feared that should my movie, “King’s Highway” get posted on the Internet, I may lose the opportunity for some kind of distribution deal. I have been scared that by opening the movie up for free viewing, no one will actually watch it and the experiment will be a failure. But I’ve been a fool.
As you may know, “King’s Highway” is a feature movie I wrote and directed back in 2001. That same year, Jacob was born and diagnosed and my grand plans to be a movie star director were sidetracked while I took on the responsibility of being a father. I have no regrets. I know I shouldn’t have to say that, but you’d be surprised how many people would choose their career over their family. When the film was finally completed in 2003, my producing partner, Ryan Johnson, my creative partner, Villamor Cruz, my gracious star, Geoff Stults and I all assumed we would breeze into film festivals and walk away with some sort of distribution. Obviously, we were wrong.
It’s not because of the movie. Oh, I know there are shortcomings. But when you have a budget of $5000, you have to make some concessions. But the movie works. There is a great deal of love in the characters, the performances and the production value. I am proud of what we accomplished. That we haven’t been able to find someone to release it on video has been one of the biggest professional disappointments in my short career.
Then I heard about a new website called iklipz. It’s like You Tube, but the site allows filmmaker to post entire feature films. And it’s free.
I have known about the site for about a month and fear has hindered me from posting the movie. This morning, I finally placed “King’s Highway” on iklipz. Let me tell you that a small weight was lifted from my chest. At long last, I can get feedback from people who don’t know me and will, hopefully, offer an honest opinion. At long last I can find out if the hundreds of people who have seen the movie and liked it weren’t just saying so because they liked me or thought that our accomplishment of producing a 112 minute movie for under five grand was greater than the movie itself.
You tell me.
To the right, there is a direct link to the movie. Watching a movie online isn’t the greatest movie experience. The films are compressed and uploaded, affecting the look of the movie. But maybe, just maybe, some of you will get into the story and dig the music (which I slaved over finding) and will email me requesting a copy of the movie in clearer digital quality. Could “King’s Highway” become some kind of cult hit? Who knows? But I am glad to finally be able to tell the people who come to this blog that they can see my movie in some form.
So, check it out. Don’t cost nothin’. FYI: “King’s Highway” is a romantic comedy/dramedy/road trip movie (gee, no wonder it’s a tough sell). It stars the aforementioned Geoff Stults, who has appeared in “The Break-Up”, “Wedding Crashers”, “D.E.B.S.”, “7th Heaven” and the new ABC series “October Road. His costars are Lori Heuring, from “8MM2”, “Mulholland Drive” and “The In Crowd” and John DiResta, who appeared in the “Miss Congeniality” films, Ed Burns’ “Ash Wednesday” and has had three television series. Yes, my sister in law, Karyn, plays a supporting role. I actually write this role for her when she was still acting. When we decided to go low budget, I asked Karyn if she’d come out of “retirement” to play the role. She agreed and I gotta tell you, she kicks ass.
Also, there is some stellar music, including songs by Mother Superior and Andrew Bird.
Oh, and you should know that the film would be rated ‘R’ for language (ooh, the language, sorry), some brief drug use (i.e. pot smoking) and brief nudity (written into the script at my producers request and because it was a part of the storyline, I honestly couldn’t cut the scene, much to Julie’s objection.
Aloha
Comments