Producers Journal: The private screening0

This past Wednesday, I attended my first private screening for a feature film I had produced.

It was nice to see my name on the big screen along with those of my friends and colleagues who worked on the project with me.

The event was held at the Landmark Theater in West LA and was attended by around 100 people. It was a fun, tight-knit event. The audience consisted of cast and crew, along with their close friends and family members. Seeing the whole gang again, in one place, was especially fun because most of us hadn’t seen each other since we wrapped the movie.

As we entered the theater feelings of excitement and anxiety took hold of our bodies, and we took our seats hoping for the best. You could see nervousness pouring out from the faces of more than a few cast members. Leave it to the actors to be over dramatic. Just kidding!

I had only really viewed one scene during editing and was definitely very excited to see the picture in its entirety.

The lights dimmed, the screen flickered as the movie started and a hush came over the room.

When the opening sequence began to unfold, cheering and applause ensued. When my name came up on the screen a surreal emotion engulfed me like a warm blanket, and my friends let out a cheer. Definitely a moment I’ll never forget.

As the movie played out, a nostalgic and sentimental journey played out alongside it in my mind. I was associating each scene with numerous memories from the day that it was shot. Things like what went down that day, the conditions, hardships, working past 4:00am in below freezing weather…all of it.

There is a scene in the film where our hero is jumping out of pickup truck while pulling up to a gas station, gun in hand. On the second take of this scene, when the actor swung the door open to jump out, there was some sort of gear malfunction. The car went in reverse and started down a one-way collision course with the gas pumps. Panic broke out on set: women screaming, people running, babies crying (ok, no babies, but it really was pandemonium). Suddenly, and not unlike a real life action hero, the 1st A.D. managed to sprint his way up and into the car, grabbing hold of the shifter, and slamming the damn thing into neutral, saving the day! It was soooo CLOSE!

There I was in the theater, laughing under my breath, and all the while intrigued by the intense scenes unfolding in front of me.

All in all, it was a great feeling seeing one of my projects come to life and entertain audiences! I can hardly wait to go to the next one.

…Until next time

Zeus Zamani