So much has happened in the past two months, it makes my head spin. The big news is that, two weeks after the Los Angeles premiere of Claustrophobia, my reps got an offer from a distributor called filmnic. And I took it! So now this film is going to hit video shelves across the United States and Canada. I've been told that it won't necessarily be released as a "filmnic" picture, so I'll let you all know which home video company will actually be putting it out there, and when that will happen. All are pretty certain that it will be before the end of the year. Whether they use the poster art that I designed is unclear, but I wouldn't count on it.
This sale has been a bit of what they call a "Pyrrhic victory": It's great to get the film out there, and there is a little money coming in for it, but it's not enough to break even. I think about the amount of paperwork I have had to fill out, and the money I've had to spend just to get the video masters prepared, plus a complicated situation with the Screen Actors Guild, and it's almost made this seem not worth it. I'm kidding, of course. I'm thrilled to get this movie out to the public.
Aside from that, I screened Claustrophobia a few more times, once in my hometown of San Jose to an enthusiastic (and much larger than anticipated) audience, then twice back here in Los Angeles. Great responses every time have reassured me that, however humble this project is, it still connects with people, and makes them laugh and scream. I also spent a few days in Las Vegas at the end of July, speaking on a panel about self-distribution (which is how I eventually tried to sell my first film Foreign Correspondents). Not sure if that was a totally successful trip, but I met some cool people who will hopefully become good friends. And yesterday I recorded the director's commentary for the Claustrophobia DVD. I think that will be the only "special feature" on the disc. The next step is overseas: I depart Los Angeles tomorrow, and fly to Haugesund, Norway on August 17, to attend the Norwegian International Film Festival. They've invited me to show both Claustrophobia and ForCor, and it looks to be great fun. That commences two and a half months of travel for me. I will be back in the swing of things around Halloween.