PRISM in the World

What's that sound? it's the tingling of senses in households across the nation where PRISM is being watched. Yes at long last PRISM is available to the public. It is renting in many national chains and online, and is also available for purchase in a number of places. It even SOLD OUT at Amazon on the first day.
It's really gratifying to see the work of our great cast and crew getting out there and by all accounts being received very well. We weren't supposed to make it because our budget was too low and our excellent talent was supposedly not well known enough.
But here is a picture of an eye level shelf of PRISM in the new releases section of a major rental chain which rhymes with "Rockcluster". (Note they were already about half rented by my lunchtime on Friday)
To all you indie filmmakers out there I say, go for it. The experience is the reward, and it is worth the effort.
PRISM on: Amazon, Netflix, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, Tower, Barnes and Nobel , and quite a few others.

Prepare for strange visitors

Zero Hour. PRISM goes to DVD distributors nationwide on April 4 with a street date of April 27. There's a buzz building about it among people who've seen the film. If you have, you already know that it is the kind of movie you think about and talk about long after it's over. There's already a long list of people who've seen PRISM at a screening and requested a copy so that they could watch it again.
It's an exciting time.

Distribution!

The Holy Grail of all independent filmmakers has found us!

We are pleased to announce that we have signed a domestic
distribution deal with Monarch Entertainment, one of the oldest
independent distributors in the nation, and a division of Ingram
Entertainment, the largest distributor of DVD's and Video games in the United States.

We couldn't be happier about this partnership. The guys at Monarch
are pretty selective, choosing only about 12 to 15 titles per year,
and they picked us. Here's a quote from their incredibly
knowledgeable and very shrewd head of acquisitions, Dan Norem:

"We were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of both the look
and the performances in PRISM. This was the first independent film
we've acquired from this area because we think it is a cut above the
majority of the material we screen and has a real chance to connect
with our audience on DVD. People will talk about this film after
they've watched it and we believe the word will spread."

I can't tell you how pleasurable Dan and Monarch have been to deal
with. Which is not to say they are pushovers. They are remarkably
sharp and know exactly what they are doing. I can just tell you that
they have a very important quality which is too often lacking in parts of this industry. Scruples.

I really feel that we are both working together to make the most of our project. So we'll have much more information soon about where PRISM will be available.

On a separate but related note, we are also in several discussions for international and television opportunities. Who knows. One day we might just break even.

Keep your eyes out for PRISM and spread the word. The power of this
movie lies in its ability to stimulate the mind and heart and to
inspire thought and conversation. Let's share the PRISM experience
as widely as we can.

Peace,
David

PRISM Premier

Well we've had our hometown premier and the screening went extremely well. Turn out was impressive, with over 200 people in attendance not counting most of the cast or crew. The venue was the charming and venerable Belcourt Theater. (Viva la Belcourt) At several moments there were lines out the door, and the lobby was elbow to elbow even as the theater was filling up.

During the screening we were watching the audience closely. People were very still and engaged. They laughed at the right moments and jumped at the right moments, and had a lot of great compliments and questions during the Q&A session afterwards. Even when we adjourned people were lingering around talking to each other about the movie.

We passed around comment cards and got some great responses. Some of the most gratifying were recognition in our picture of the DNA of the kinds of films we were aspiring to emulate. There were comments about Roman Polanski's work, references to movies such as "The Maltese Falcon", and "The Sixth Sense". Lots of people called it "Suspenseful".

There were of course a few critical comments, some of them quite fair, one humorously off the wall. But to our great pleasure the vast bulk of the comments were very positive. I've pulled a few representative samples. (just in case you were wondering, none of these are from my mom.)

"The idea was intriguing and the leads were especially compelling"
"I liked the suspense/thrill of the movie without very much violence"
"Exceptional actor selection"
"Believable acting, nice script, great job!"
"Very impressed with the script. Great cinematography"
"Exceptionally thought provoking, scary, exciting, and suspenseful"
"I'm amazed at what you've accomplished with the budget that you had to work with. Great job."
"Intense. Something to think about. "
"This was one of the most amazing, surprising films I've seen in a while. Terrifying! Spiritual."
"This movie left you with what a great intellectual, spiritual, psychological thriller should."
"The speech given by Morton was so masterful it could have been dictated by a demonic entity."

What has been more interesting are the comments from people we don't know that well, but who have contacted us to let us know how they felt. Some have been quite disturbed or intrigued. Often they'd say that they were on the edge of their seat, or that their spouses hands were in front of their face half of the time.

In most situations the couples have been discussing the concepts in the movie for the past few days and almost every time they have been requesting to buy a copy of the movie so that they could watch it again to figure things out, or prove to each other that their personal theories are correct.

Even though PRISM is more of a psychological/philosophical thriller than a scary movie, one of the greatest compliments we got was from a fairly close friend. He came up and told us that his wife (also a close friend) tried to stay, but had to leave in the middle of it because it was really touching a nerve and disturbing her deeply. Her fear outweighed her commitment to us! Awesome!

She appologized profusely later but I told her that this was the best news I'd heard in a long time. I was so happy because as you have (or will) discover, we didn't go for any of the typical scary movie cliche's. We were trying build a convincing drama which also taps into the deep rooted sense of wonder and fear of the mysterious and unknown. So far it seems to be working quite well.

Awards in Hollywood

We recently returned from a very busy week in Los Angeles where PRISM screened at the Hollywood DV/HD Festival.

I'm very happy to report that out of over 120 movies at the festival PRISM was nominated for three awards and took home two.
The subtle layers and unerring believability of our fantastic lead actress Karen Garcia was recognized as she took home the BEST ACTRESS award for the whole festival. Kudos to her. She really worked hard and inhabited the role. I'm so glad to see her gaining the recognition she deserves.

PRISM itself won the award for BEST MYSTERY / SUSPENSE feature, and was also nominated for BEST EDITING. It is quite gratifying to see people responding to the movie the way they are.

The festival was a very energetic afair put on by some amazing movie lovers in support of TRUE independent films, and the crazy passionate people who make them. I have to say the spirit was so energetic and the other filmmakers and atendees were so very committed to indie productions. It was a nice ocean to swim in.

PRISM actually screened twice. We opened and closed the festival. Reception was excellent. The Q&A questions were informed and knowledgeable. We got a number of great comments. We even had someone come up after one of the screenings to tell us how moved they were and how "real" the relationships seemed. It was also nice to overhear some of the discussions inspired by the movie and its philosophy.

Also in attendence was Brett Lee Alexander and his wonderful family. He was only able to make the first screening because he had to head off for a location shoot on another indie film. This kid is going places.

Overall this festival was a further recognition of the comercial viability of PRISM as well as the artistic success in touching people.
Just the beginning of many more good things for PRISM.

Besides the festival I also had a LOT of meetings in LA. Producers, Agents, Casting Directors, etc. It was a very productive week and some interesting things may be coming out of my time there. Keep checking back for more on this as it develops.

National Press

We have an advertisement running in a number of publications this month and probably for several successive months. We may have mentioned our excellent collaboration with SONY's digital media group in the use of their DigitalMaster Tape. We get to sing our unflinching support for the media in the current ad, and I can tell you, it's no BS. When you pour your heart, soul, sweat, and fortune into a movie, the last thing you want to worry about is whether the tape you take home from the shoot is going to glitch out on you. We had enough to concentrate on just making the movie.

Look for current issues of Filmmaker Magazine (Ryan Gosling on the cover), Movie maker magazine (Ed Burns on the cover), and RES magazine (Michel Gondry on the cover). All incredibly talented people whom we really respect. Especially Ryan Gosling. I think he's one of the most interesting and unpredictable young actors working today. I'd love to work with him on a future project. But back to the ads. We have a full page ad in the first
few pages of FM and MM, and a full Back Cover on RES!

The ad features a really striking production still from the film and of course a mugshot of Britt and myself, and then a bit about the DigitalMaster Tape. This should increase awareness for our project as well as the media, though I can tell you we already have some pretty interesting
prospects. More than one group has been talking with us about our strategies over the next few months. We'll keep you posted.

Setting the tone

We have the great pleasure to announce that we've struck a deal with
a THREE time grammy nominee to do our original score. His name is
David Arkenstone and he's an AMAZING composer with unbelievable range
and remarkable sensibilities. You can check out more about him on
his website.

http://www.arkdigitalmedia.net/

I've charged him with some pretty major challenges thematically and
he takes them all in stride. I'm certain this will add some really
wonderful depth and texture to PRISM, and I can't wait for everyone
to experience it.

Stay tuned for more details.

David

Sundance / Slamdance, The Return

I've just returned and begun to recover from a whirlwind trip to the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals in Park City, Utah. The weather was simply beautiful and the town was great, but what was most impressive was the amazing energy in Park City. You may not be able to see it, but you can truly FEEL that lots of big things are going on and lots of dreams are circling around the mountains.
I gave two talks as Slamdance and participated in two seminars at Sundance on the subject of Digital Filmmaking, in association with Sony.

These were quite engaging. The attendees were impassioned filmmakers for the most part so we got some really in depth questions about production techniques, lighting, and post production strategies. We did a really quite remarkable job of pre-production and production due to our highly committed cast and crew, so I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process of sharing that with people. The Sony guys were great.

I also attended a LOT of parties. There are so many amazing parties going on every day and night out there. Some for industry some just for fun. I was fortunate enough to meet some really remarkable people and to gain entry into places which were decidedly difficult to get into. I can also honestly say that for the most part the people I met were truly friendly. Very willing to share ideas and help each other network. There is the sense that everyone is sort of on neutral ground out there so everyone is more open.

There were of course several opportunities to meet the famous, which for the most part I don't spend a lot of time doing. But I did have the chance to talk with some people I really admire. I had an enjoyable, if brief discussion with indie director Kevin Smith on the subject of distribution. Specifically I was interested in the true viability of digital distribution today, and we talked about what he was planning for his upcoming "Clerks 2". Of course he is in a different position than we are at this point but he was very kind and had an excellent understanding of the state of digital distribution which let me know that he is keeping well informed on the subject. Nice guy.

I talked with a number of distributors of different sizes and showed several of them our website, and our trailer. The response was overwhelmingly good. Especially when I relayed the extra steps we have taken to make our film easily acquirable, such as good production stills, anecdotes, interviews, a clean edit for a film out, and so on. Suffice it to say that we have been requested to send a rough cut to a number of people as soon as one is available.

The Beastie Boys. I know that's a neck-snapping segue but I had to drop them in. This was a hot ticket event hosted by MySpace and GenArts. Very hard to get into, but certainly worth it. I wish I could have stayed longer but I had to bolt out to a midnight meeting with a very nice entertainment attorney with whom I had been corresponding for some time. There are so many influential people in this small town during the festival, it is truly amazing.

I spoke briefly with Al Gore who was attending the Discovery Channel party at Robert Redford's Zoom restaurant in support of his new global warming documentary. Gore was obviously quite busy but we did get to chat briefly about some of the things we are doing in Tennessee to promote local filmmaking, David Bennett's efforts at tax incentives for instance (whom I had met with earlier in the week). Mr. Gore was quite congenial and we even discussed a little bit about "Current", his Satellite TV station and their approach to the youth markets.

So many other people met and things done, it is hard to relay them all. I will say that Denis Quaid is a very nice man to talk with especially on the subject of New Orleans which is our home town, and in which he has spent quite a lot of time over his career. I only mention him because it is so gratifying to see people with some level of celebrity making efforts to help out people who continue to be in a really unfortunate situation.

All in all it was an extremely enjoyable experience as well as a productive time for PRISM. I like to think of it as great preparation for next year where we will hopefully be attending as
exhibiting filmmakers. (fingers crossed)
David

Director Seminars at Sundance and Slamdance

Come see us at Sundance and Slamdance this year! I will be fortunate to participate in some panel seminars and a couple of fireside chats at the Sundance and Slamdance festivals this year in association with Sony Digital Media.

Sony has been a fantastic partner.  Very supportive and encouraging of our creative pursuits.  As part of their ongoing efforts to contribute to the industry, they are holding several events to allow real filmmakers to discuss the challenges and merits of digital filmmaking.  The schedule so far is as follows:

Slamdance Fireside Chat, Jan 21  3:00 pm, Slamdance Lounge

Sundance Digital Filmmaking Seminar, Sponsored by Sony Jan 22  2:00 pm, Film Center (formerly the Digital Center)

Sundance Digital Filmmaking Seminar, Sponsored by Sony Jan 24  2:00 pm, Film Center (formerly the Digital Center)

Slamdance Fireside Chat, Jan 24  3:00 pm, Slamdance Lounge


I love to talk about film and story and all that relates to it.  If you are in Park City this season, come by.

Best wishes till the next post,

David G. Simmons

Principal Photography Wrapped

We wrapped up principal photography and have now begun the intricate and exciting process of post production.

The shoot was amazing, exhausting, exciting, exhilarating, nerve wracking, illuminating, and generally a whole lot of fun.

We stayed basically on schedule and not too far over budget, and we got a huge number of beautiful shots, as well as some really
fantastic moments.

Thanks to EVERYONE involved in the production phase of the film.
You're talents and perseverance were an inspiration, and we take very seriously the charge of making the most of the commitment and energy you invested in the project.

And for everyone else, just wait till you see PRISM.
This film is going to rock!

More to come soon...