Let's try again

As you may or may not remember, last week we got bumped. And since I'm busy filling out my brackets, I'm just gonna use the last email and tweak it.

Tonight, 12 March 19 March, yours truly will be featured on BlogCritics Radio. I'll be discussing gravida, the Now Film Festival, and the state of indie film in general. I'm told my segment will start around 9.40 9.30 and you can hear it anywhere in the world. Click on the image below to get there.



And for all of you who asked: they archive everything, so if you miss it, you can listen to it later and stuff.

2nite

Just a quick reminder.

Tonight, 12 March, yours truly will be featured on BlogCritics Radio. I'll be discussing gravida, the Now Film Festival, and the state of indie film in general. I'm told my segment will start around 9.40 and you can hear it anywhere in the world. Click on the image below to get there.

Lucas on the radio

Here in Pittsburgh we've had a nice run of weather: several inches of snow and sleet this weekend, followed by 70 degrees on Monday, and tonight it's 40 and raining there's a flood warning. So...if we don't get swept into one of the 3 Rivers, here's what'll be happening soon.

gravida is inching closer to our goal of 20,000 views in the Now Film Festival, as we've got a total of 15,685 combined on YouTube and MySpace. It's nowhere near the BAFTA nominee that's in the lead, but it's doing ok, probably in the upper half. But don't worry, the voting hasn't started yet. Still, if you haven't started telling your friends, what are you waiting for?

In other MySpace news, our good friend Justin Crimone over at zeno films is in a contest of his own. His short planet of the living dead is in the running for a spot on George Romero's new Diary of the Dead DVD. You know the drill. Watch it, thumbs up, etc.

Back to gravida. We are currently in the process of being added to everyone's favorite film information source, IMDb. For whatever reason, it's harder than you'd think to get added, and it takes forever for all the information to get uploaded, but we're there. Go here.

And about that radio thing. Next Wednesday, 12 March, yours truly will be a guest on the Blogcritics Radio Network, which you can conveniently listen to on your very own computer. I'll be talking about gravida, the Now Film Festival, and "indie filmmaking in general" sometime between 9 and 10 EST. Want more info? Check it out. This week's guest, you may notice, is Debbie Gibson. That sound you just heard? That was Ryan Estes' head exploding. Remember to gather ye olde kids around ye olde internet radio and listen in. Maybe I'll make a fool of myself.

For the moment, I think that's it. Don't despair, you'll be hearing from us again real soon.

a Pittsburgh screening and festival 5.0

As I write this, gravida is nearing 9,000 total views on MySpace Film (rating of 82%), and YouTube (rating of 4.8 out of 5). Our goal is 20,000 total views, so we're on the way.

If you haven't watched it yet and rated it, then what are you waiting for? It's so easy (and fun!). You can see it on the front page of MySpace Film as the featured short. But, for those of you having trouble with it, click the image just below this one:



Much thanks to everyone thus far who's been helping us out, either by watching it, or embedding the video on their MySpace pages and/or blogs, or just getting the word out. I'd list everyone, but there's too many and I'll forget someone and then they'll be mad. So, thanks to everyone.

But, wait, there's more.

We've been invited to participate in Viewer Discretion, a Pittsburgh screening thing. (click here for directions) See? It's even on a flyer.



The plan is to play L'Attente and guard duty and maybe gravida, but probably not, as they try to keep things under 10 minutes. So, Tuesday, 26 Feb, 8.30pm. $3. See you there.

Oh, and that festival 5.0? We're in the Bare Bones Film Festival, the schedule just hasn't been announced yet.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna see if I can't get myself added to the Oceanic Six.

publicity and myspace and such

You may have heard something in the air about a film festival we're in right now. You may be tired of hearing about it. Either way, we've got more information for ya.

The idea behind this festival, as I understood it, was that we were going to be on the front page of MySpace Film for a week. And I suspect that's still the case. I'm told there was something of a crisis situation over at MySpace this weekend and as of right now (7.43pm on Monday), the featured short is still "Bedhead", which I'm beginning to hate the sight of. But, if you click on it, you get us, so that's something. Also, if you go to MySpace TV and go under the film heading, well, there we are as the "hot video".

The other semi-finalists in this fest have amassed anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 views, so our new goal is to get 20,000 views (and keep our ranking as high as possible). As of right now, we're at 2,170 views with a 87% rating, so we're on the way.

How can you help? View it as often as you'd like. Tell your friends. Click on the "thumbs up" (and not the "thumbs down"). And if you've got a blog/MySpace/whatever, embed the video on your page somewhere. You can find the code here. If you need any help, don't hesitate to email me. I can help you tweak the links on it, if you want.

Also, we've got some media coverage to tell you about. We were featured today on ScreenGrab, the pretty awesome film blog, and the equally cool GreenCine Daily. ScreenGrab called it "the best of the lot thus far" and "a mature character study about a young pregnant woman trying to keep her loneliness at bay."

Go, watch. If you don't have a MySpace account (only needed for rating the film and commenting on how much you love it), then make one. It takes like 5 minutes.

Hey look, we're in the paper...and on MySpace...and elsewhere...

As promised, the promotional stuff for the Now Film Festival continues. gravida is on the festival webpage for your viewing pleasure, on YouTube, where people are arguing about a pregnant woman drinking wine, and later today on MySpace Film, where we'll be the featured selection for a week.

Today brings a little bit more for your reading pleasure.

First, those of you in Pittsburgh can pick up a copy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and find us on the back page of the Mag&Movies section. Or, you can read it online here.

Also, there's an interview with yours truly about gravida in Actor's Ink, which is some sort of newsletter/publication with a circulation of roughly 70k. The interview starts with a short review that contains the note that, "With a shoestring budget and a few friends, Lucas McNelly tells a story of loneliness and uncertainty better than most of the filmmakers in Hollywood can imagine." You can read the entire interview here, including the parts where I do some name-dropping of fellow filmmakers.

Speaking of name-dropping our fellow filmmakers, our friend David Lowery has made the cut of South by Southwest, no small feat.

watch us on YouTube

Just in time for Valentine's Day, everyone's favorite love story, gravida is now online in conjunction with the Now Film Festival. Today we're on YouTube and starting Friday we'll be a featured selection on MySpace Film. It's been up for an hour and I've already started getting feedback from "industry" people.

Exciting, no?

Here's what we need you to do: follow the links and boost our numbers/favorites/ratings/whatever. It won't factor into the voting for the finals (and the Hollywood screening), but it can't hurt, right?

I know what you're thinking. Now that gravida is online, does that mean we won't pester you about buying a copy? No way.

Festival 4.0

So the good news we thought we were going to bring you, that's not going to happen (but fear not, we shall survive).

Instead, we've got something a little different for you.

gravida (you remember gravida) has been selected to screen as part of the Now Film Festival, which runs primarily via the internets, both on their webpage and the MySpace Film page, and YouTube, with a final screening (if I understand this correctly) in Hollywood on 20 May 2008. More information as we get it.

By my math, we should be up and running around the middle of March, at which point you should all go and check it out. And then, go to the d press Store and buy a DVD.

Ok...um...there was something else...Oh, right. The Pittsburgh Playwrights is running a Spring Reading Series where every day for the month of February, a different play will get a staged reading. Our friends are all over this event, too many to name without forgetting someone. Check it out when you get a chance.

And...that's it. If you can vote this Super Tuesday, make sure you do so. Me, I'll be watching the returns and muttering about how badly screwed up the major parties are.

Festival 3.0

Quickly on this snowy Friday afternoon:

gravida has been selected to appear in the 4th(?) Annual Mid-Valley Video Festival in Salem, OR. We will screen Thursday, 21 February at 9pm with James Spooner's White Lies Black Sheep at the Northern Lights Theatre Pub.

Also appearing in the festival is David Lowery's A Catalog of Anticipations and the Butler Brother's Confusions of an Unmarried Couple, both films by friends of ours.

Strangely enough, we hoped to get a good news update to you this weekend (assuming the news was good, of course), but about a completely different subject, so stay tuned. Cross your fingers.

tonight (and tomorrow)

A quick note for everyone in the Steel City (or thereabouts).

Steve Vesolich and Jerome Wincek will be playing Club Cafe in Pittsburgh tonight (that&'s Friday) at 7pm. I don't know how much it cost, but it probably will be under $10. Anyway, you should go. It'll be fun.

And both of them have music for sale on their respective MySpace pages. Go. Buy it. Be a good person.

Plus, you can check out our videos of Jerome in action. Like this one:



Also, our friends at the Hodgepodge Society have a free show tomorrow, 26 January at 9:30pm at the Backstage Bar at the Cabaret at Theater Square.

Um...I'm sure there's more, but I'm short on time. Later. Oh, and thanks to everyone who saw far beyond frail on their recent tour.

Notes from Festivus

You know you've been at a festival a long time when on day 3 you say to someone, "You know, I vaguely remember watching a zombie movie, like, a week ago." Such is life in the festival world where you routinely watch films from noon until nearly midnight, drink alcoholic beverages, and talk to fellow festival goers about what films they saw that you completely should have seen. Depending on your level of cinephilia, it's either completely awesome or a bit much.

It helps, certainly, when you've got a film in competition and the badge of honor to prove it. Everyone makes a point of telling you they liked your film (even when they didn't), or how they wish they could have seen it. It's no wonder filmmakers love going.

For the inaugural Festivus Film Festival, we hit Denver around 10am Mountain Time and promptly hit a local micro brew house that featured a beer dedicated to the late, great Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. From there, we hit the festival, housed (for our purposes), at the historic Oriental Theater.



The festival kicked off with Wasting Away, a zombie movie about from the zombie's point of view (they see themselves as "super soldiers" and everyone else is infected) and Kill Kill Faster Faster, which looked really cool, but I came in half-way through and was too tired from the jet lag to follow it.

Saturday, we screen bright and early at noon as part of the "Popcorn Matinees" with Maine Story, Taken, In Times of War: The Ray Parker Story (winner for best documentary short), Simulacra, PK-Granny, and Revolver. The screening went well. Maine Story is clearly the best film of the set (or maybe I'm biased because it's set in Maine and the accents aren't all screwed up), but the important thing is that gravida isn't the worst. No one walks out. No one boos. Well, except for these guys:



Then, a Q&A (that's yours truly on the left wearing a "Debs '08" shirt, even if you can't see it):



There were basic questions about budgets and cameras and whatnot, and we got a few questions asked specifically about our film (such as, "Where did you find a pregnant actress?"). And that was it. A number of people came up to me over the course of the day to say how much they enjoyed the film and we were able to make a number of contacts with other filmmakers and pick their brains about the whole festival sequence. Part of the value of going to this festival was to see what other companies do to support their films, and I think we've picked up a number of good ideas we can use for next time.

But there were 2 more whole days of films. Notable films were Avec la Moustache (the best film in the entire festival, I thought), Cabbie, Partially True Tales of High Adventure! (the narrative short winner), Hope Springs Eternal (animated winner), Beauty 24 (a bad documentary about a fantastically interesting photography project, also the documentary feature winner...go figure), Indestructible (a heart-breaking doc about ALS), and Life With Fiona (I didn't see it, but the filmmakers were really nice and helpful).

And that is about it. Don't forget to purchase a DVD or a tshirt. Be one of the cool kids.

a question for our fans, etc.

simply put:

What can we do better and/or differently? What opportunities are we missing? What would you do if you were us?

any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

thanks a lot.

"un filme" number 5

Daniel Stiker, Pittsburgh, PA

Jerome Wincek kick-starts your New Year

A Happy New Year from all your friends at your favorite film collective. Some of us are a little, um, hungover, so we'll make this short-ish and sweet.

Last night I was asked if we had any New Year's Resolutions, and we don't, really, only the constant one of making d press Productions cooler and more kick-ass than it was previously. We did a pretty good job of that in 2007, so fingers crossed that we can do the same in 2008.

On to the good stuff...

Recently I was in Franklin, PA to see Jerome Wincek and his band the Old Hats play a show with Matt Reed. Jerome and I had discussed maybe putting together some video of him, so I took my camera and was able to come up with two lo-fi music videos of him playing live.










Enjoy.

Also, Jerome Wincek will be playing a show with Steve Vesolich at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh on 25 January, if you feel inclined to check him out for yourself.

And now...the feats of strength!!!

In this update: we hear about festival number 3, we put our mind on our money, a quick tour around the collective, and maybe--just maybe--we'll finally get somewhere in this whole bagel strike...

First..."he finds tinsel distracting..."

Word in my email box this morning is that gravida is an Official Selection in the inaugural Festivus Film Festival, which runs from 11 January until 13 January in Denver, CO. This is obviously cool for a number of reasons, including the fact that the Festivus episode of "Seinfeld" is one the favorites of the McNelly household. It's another Festivus miracle!

If you're scoring at home, that makes gravida 2 for 3 in the festival circuit, with the one negative being Sundance, which was a long shot anyway.

And if for some strange reason you haven't yet seen gravida, don't forget that we're having a Christmas, etc. sale at the store where you can get FREE
Shipping on the DVD and the
"un filme" shirt. The sale runs until 22 December and both items would make excellent presents for everyone you know (including yourself)

On to the section of the update where we pimp our friends & fellow artists...

Ilona V's old band, the Arrangement, has posted one of their old songs (written and sung by Ilona) on the Studio Eight Boston MySpace page. The song, "Sisters of the Storm" is from the point of view of a religious extremist.

Amy Crawford is playing another show at the Bitter End in NYC on Sunday, 16 December at 9pm. Tickets are $5. To quote Amy, "I'm *thisclose* to getting a featured night there, so I would REALLY appreciate it if you came out to support!!" So, you know, go and be supportive.

Check out Amy's MySpace blog for more info:

If for some reason you're going to be anywhere near Franklin, PA tomorrow (like, say, you got lost on your way to the middle of nowhere), Jerome Wincek is going to be playing a show at the Summerhouse Coffee Shop with a special guest, the ultra-reclusive singer/songwriter/folk hero Matt Reed. There are dead musicians who play live more frequently than Matt, so don't miss out on this rare event. Doors open at 7pm. Go to Jerome's MySpace page for info, and to purchase some of his new tunes.

Our good friends far beyond frail have yet another tour lined up, this one visiting such hit towns as Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans, Austin, and Ambridge, PA (yes, Ambridge). Check out their MySpace page to see when (or if) they're coming to a town near you.

Ok, that's it. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy an aluminum pole.

Sundance?

Hi all,

2 things that happened within hours of each other this weekend:

1. Yours truly broke his nose assembling IKEA furniture. It's not Owen Wilson bad, but you can see where it happened.

2. Contrary to our wildest hopes and dreams, gravida did not make the Sundance cut. This is not a surprise at all, but still. There were over 8500 submissions for 200 spots.

So it goes.

Remember, the Free Shipping sale contines until 22 December. Load up on Christmas presents for everyone you know.

That is all.

"un filme" number 4

Levi Stahl, Pittsburgh, PA

every Friday is Black Friday

Here at d press Productions we believe that you should be allowed to
celebrate the religious holiday of your choice, so while most of us around here observe the sacred traditions of Festivus, we understand that others might not. So, in the spirit of cooperation and...um...togetherness, we've decided to offer...wait for it...

A CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SALE BLOWOUT BONANZA!!!!!!! (or Hanukkah, if you prefer)

From now until the randomly chosen date of 22 December, any and all items purchased from the Store will be shipped to you for absolutely free. That's right, free. A savings of up to $6 on a DVD/shirt combo.

What do you have to do to realize such amazing savings? Simply go to either the DVD page or the "un filme" page and follow the buttons.

What an absolutely perfect way to fill your shopping list and support your favorite film collective at the same time. And if you've got any moody teenagers floating around, word out of a certain high school in Pennsylvania is that the kids love the "un filme" shirt. Everyone wants one.

Also, if you're in a shopping mood, our good friend Jerome Wincek has a new album that you can purchase directly from his MySpace page. I've heard it. It's awesome.

That's it. Get thee to the internets. Happy holidays from your friends at d press Productions

thoughts from 3rff

In case you'd forgotten, last night was the first half of the competetive Shorts Program of the 2007 Three Rivers Film Festival right here in Pittsburgh, PA. The rest of the 21 films will screen on Wednesday, but they were kind enough to make sure we saw the winning films from that group, so we've got a pretty good idea of where gravida falls overall.

Sadly, we did not come away with any prizes, but you'll have that.

The program was a mix of narrative, documentary, and avant-garde, so it's difficult to compare, but here goes. The judges were all film professors from the city, and the shorts program is more or less put on by Pittsburgh Filmmakers, an organization known for focusing on "art" over narration, which is part of the reason I thought L'Attente would get in and gravida might not.

Anyway, the best film of the 3 winners was clearly Adam Taylor's Adam Taylor's Dracula, a simple comedy that images Count Dracula as a janitor at Pitt. It was a simple premise that was well-written and didn't strain itself in trying to get your attention. The audience loved it.

But it didn't win. The winning film was Elizabeth Henry's Through These Trackless Waters, a montage of wildlife footage representing sex. There wasn't a single shot in the film that didn't come from stock footage, meaning at no point did she use a camera. Some would call that less filmmaking and more editing (actually, it's entirely editing). Numerous people walked out, and I don't blame them. It wasn't very good, even for what it was trying to be. It's the type of film that makes people hate avant-garde cinema.

Third prize went to A. Wallace's El Otro Lado, a documentary about the fence on the U.S./Mexico border. Basically a series of voiceovers paired with a long, tracking shot of the fence, it was interesting, but hardly award-caliber.

Other notable films were Kun-I Chang's Fission, Justin Crimone's Wooden, but wonderful, and Jose Munian's Sampsonia Way: City of Asylum.

As for gravida, something was amiss in the projection, as the film was very dark and the color washed out so that the red light at the end was mostly pinkish. It certainly didn't look as good as it did at the premiere. Despite that, audience reaction was pretty good. You could sense that they were uncomfortable at times, and no one booed, which is always nice. I'd say it was probably one of the 3 or 4 best films of the 12 shown last night. So it goes.

Of course, you can always purchase your very own copy of gravida from the webpage

In other news, Trent Wolfred tells me that the "un filme" shirt will be featured more prominently in this week's "Something to be Desired", so keep an eye out for that.

It isn't up yet (well, it might be, depending on when you read this), but it should be sometime today. Make sure you check it out.

And buy one of the shirts for yourself.

That's all for now.

as seen on .tv!

In this email: d press merchandise shows up in an unlikely location...people play songs live on the radio...more on the festivals...and, as always, rambling from yours truly

As I'm sure some of you are aware, Pittsburgh has it's very own web-series, which films all over the city on a budget of, like, zero. Despite the complete lack of a budget, they've managed to film 4 complete seasons (now 7 episodes into season 5) and score a cover story in City Paper, among other places. So, when earlier this summer I was in an award-winning play with Trent Wolfred, one of the actors in Something To Be Desired, I got to thinking and we got to talking about films in general and, lo and behold, look who's wearing an "un filme" shirt in the latest episode. So, go, check it out. I'm told Trent will be wearing the shirt over a couple of episodes, meaning a hell of a lot of people will see it in action.

Oh, and when you watch the series and don't know who any of the characters are, don't ask me. I don't know either.

And I know what you're thinking now, "gee, I sure would like a shirt like the one I saw on .tv". Well, you can. Just go to the webpage and buy one already.

Upcoming shows:

24 October (Wed), Steve Vesolich plays live at Club Cafe at 6pm ($5). If you can't make it (and with LOST not on right now, you don't have a good excuse), it'll be on the radio. Check it out on the internets.

27 October (Sat), Steve again plays Club Cafe, but on a Saturday. 7pm. $5

Much thanks to everyone who went to the far beyond frail and/or Any Crawford shows recently. Some of you saw the far beyond frail shows in Boston and NYC (in fact, probably more of you than did in Pittsburgh), which is very cool. Isn't supporting artists fun?

Also fun is film festivals, such as the Three Rivers Film Festival, who's full schedule is now online. Peruse it and you'll find some nice stuff (in addition to gravida), such as Frownland (recommended by David Lowery), Grace Is Gone (that John Cusack film about war), a new print of Woody Allen's Manhattan, and Strange Girls, a Pittsburgh film featuring our very own Joanna Lowe and crew work by some of the crew from gravida (maybe all, I can't be sure).

Tickets for the Three Rivers Film Festival can be purchased all over the place. They're $8 each, or for $40 you can get 6 tickets and a free t-shirt (oooohhhh.....aaaahhhh)

So, that's it for now. Watch the web series. Go to Club Cafe. Buy stuff.