Written by Shaina Vorspan
A couple of weeks ago, JesusCat made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Comedy Festival. Julia and I were deeply humbled and appreciative of this experience. For those of you unfamiliar with the festival submission process, let me give you a brief overview.
Basically, you invest your money in various (lots if you're willing) festivals you hope will think your film is worthy of screening, maybe even an award, and some recognition. You are in no way guaranteed a spot in any festival, big or small, no matter how much you spend, or how much you "put it out into the universe".
We knew this going into our festival submissions, and hoped that we would get into at least one to make it somewhat worth it, and even better if it was in California, and even better if it was in Los Angeles sometime in the spring so our cast and crew could have a screening sooner than later. Lo and Behold, the first festival we submit to (which we hauled a** to get a "work in progress" copy out by the last deadline) we not only got into, but we got a screening in California! In Los Angeles In the springtime!
Q&A A couple of weeks ago, JesusCat made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Comedy Festival. Julia and I were deeply humbled and appreciative of this experience. For those of you unfamiliar with the festival submission process, let me give you a brief overview.
Basically, you invest your money in various (lots if you're willing) festivals you hope will think your film is worthy of screening, maybe even an award, and some recognition. You are in no way guaranteed a spot in any festival, big or small, no matter how much you spend, or how much you "put it out into the universe".
We knew this going into our festival submissions, and hoped that we would get into at least one to make it somewhat worth it, and even better if it was in California, and even better if it was in Los Angeles sometime in the spring so our cast and crew could have a screening sooner than later. Lo and Behold, the first festival we submit to (which we hauled a** to get a "work in progress" copy out by the last deadline) we not only got into, but we got a screening in California! In Los Angeles In the springtime!
The L.A. Comedy Film Festival is touted as being the "largest comedy festival in the United States," so naturally we were thrilled to be showcased in the same festival as such household names as "National Lampoon" and "Michael Richards" A.K.A. Kramer (who appeared in a short at the festival).
We felt the screening was a huge success! Most of our cast and crew were able to come and bring their friends. The audience seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the movie. And we got to give out our "swag" to lucky question-askers (of which we got a lot of great questions).
Yes the sound was maybe too loud at times, and yes we would've loved for 500 people to have come (not like there was that much room in the theatre), but for our world premier of a film we've put our heart and soul into, we could not have asked for a better first festival/first screening to have been a part of.
Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out, or who expressed their excitement and wanted to make it out! You will be hearing about any other screenings in the future and we would love to either have you see it again, or see it for the first time!
We felt the screening was a huge success! Most of our cast and crew were able to come and bring their friends. The audience seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the movie. And we got to give out our "swag" to lucky question-askers (of which we got a lot of great questions).
Yes the sound was maybe too loud at times, and yes we would've loved for 500 people to have come (not like there was that much room in the theatre), but for our world premier of a film we've put our heart and soul into, we could not have asked for a better first festival/first screening to have been a part of.
Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out, or who expressed their excitement and wanted to make it out! You will be hearing about any other screenings in the future and we would love to either have you see it again, or see it for the first time!