Buttleman

The Had To Be Made Film Festival is just around the corner, so here is the latest information...

The Had To Be Made Film Festival (www.hadtobemade.com) has a partnership with small, non-chain video stores across the country who rent out the movies in monthly volumes. Volume 9 has "Buttleman" and two short films, and will be on the shelves in late December. I have included a list of the participating stores below, so you can see if there is one in your state.

If NOT, you have just about a week to get your local store to participate. After that, they won't include the store until the next festival, and they won't get "Buttleman"! So, here's what to do: Tell the store's owner or manager about the festival, and if they're interested get their name, address and phone number. Then contact Sonia Giddens at Had to Be Made and let her know about them. The best way is to call her: 323-653-3937, but you can also email her at sgiddens@hadtobemade.com. Let her know all the info and tell the video store to expect her call - then check back with them in a couple days. Be sure to tell her you want them to have the CURRENT series, with "Buttleman". Remember, time is of the essence!

Thanks a lot, and happy Tofurkey day!

HAD TO BE MADE FESTIVAL LOCATIONS

Latest Additions

Specialty Video Chicago, IL
Quick-Flix Cambridge, MA
Video Village Rockwall, TX
Video Station Alameda, CA

ARIZONA

Casa Video 2905 E. Speedway Tucson, AZ 85716
520.326.6314

Movies on Central 4700 North Central Avenue #121 Phoenix, AZ 85012
602.274.0994

CALIFORNIA

49'er Video 6633 Ventana Dr Rancho Murieta, CA 95683
530-759-8260

Penny Lane 620 S Raymond Avenue #4 Pasadena, CA 91105

Video Journeys 2730 Griffith Park Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.663.5857

Vidiots 302 Pico Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90405
310.392.8508

Movie Merchants 201 W. Napa Street Sonoma, CA 95476
707.996.7355

Box Office Video 6960 McKinley Street Sebastopol, CA 95472
707-823-9798

American Video Center 14442 Union Avenue San Jose, CA 95124
408.558.9545

Video Depot 41865 Boardwalk #109 Palm Desert, CA 92211
760-346-2946

Carmel Valley Video 308 Mid Valley Ctr Carmel, CA 93923
831-624-2270

Video Station 1929 Broadway Alameda, CA 94501

CONNECTICUT

Media Wave 1596 Post Road Fairfield, CT 06824
203.255.8643

Video Cinema Ridgefield, CT

WASHINGTON DC

Potomac Video 5536A Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20015
202-362-5018

FLORIDA

New Concept Video 1671 Meridian Avenue Miami Beach, FL 33139
305.674.1111

GEORGIA Cinema Shack 707-A E. Lake Drive Decatur, GA 30030
404.377.5575

HAWAII

Pauwela Video 375 W. Kuiaha Road Suite 35 Haiku, HI 96708
808.281.2452

IDAHO Video West 560 Washington Ave. N. Ketchum, ID 83340
208-726-3217

MASSECHUSETS

Video Revolution 97 Thoreau Street Concord, MA 01742
508.624.7234

PM Productions 485 High Street Dedham, MA 02026
781.326.6399

Quick-Flix 8 Bow St. Cambridge, MA 02138
(617)864-FLIX

MARYLAND

Potomac Video 7300 Baltimore Ave #A College Park, MD 20740
301-699-3377

MICHIGAN

Video To Go 300 N Clippert St #18 Lansing, MI 48912
(517) 351-2255

Movie Store, Ltd. 15300 Kercheval Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230
(313) 822-1355

NORTH CAROLINA

Visart Video 300 E. Main Street Carrboro, NC 27510
919.932.1945

Visart Video 3405 Hillsborough Road Durham, NC 27705

Visart Video 1945 E. 7th Street Charlotte, NC 28204

NEW JERSEY

Sussex Video Total Entertainment 205 Rt. 23 Sussex, NJ 07461
973.875.1944

NEW YORK

Kim's Video 6 St. Mark Place (between 2nd & 3rd) New York, NY 10003
212.505.0311

Big Picture DVD Superstore 9220 Liverpool Road Liverpool, NY 13088

TLA Video 52 W. 8th Street New York, NY 10011
212.228.8282

OHIO

Granville Video 478 S. Main Street Granville, OH 43023
740.587.4635

Campus Video 16 S. Main Street Oberlin, OH 48912
(440) 775-7422

B-Ware Video 13367 Madison Avenue Lakewood, OH 44107
(216)521-2210

OREGON Trilogy Video 2484 NW Thurman Street Portland, OR 97210
503.229.1884

DJ's Video 1670 Ashland Street Ashland, OR 97520
541.488.1901

LaBeck's Video Chest 2310 N. Lombard Street Portland, OR 97217
503.289.8408

Movie Madness 4320 S.E. Belmont Street Portland, OR 97215
503.234.4363

PENNSYLVANIA

Rick's Video 1300 Broad Street Greensburg, PA 15601
724.838.9040

TLA Video 736 Lancaster Avenue Bryn Mawr, PA 19106
610.520.1222

West Coast Video 4614 Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15224
412.682.3900

TLA Video 517 S. 4th Street Philadelphia, PA 19147
215.922.3838

TLA Video 1520 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19102
215.735.7887

TLA Video 7630 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19118
215.248.4448

TLA Video 1808 Spring Garden Street Philadelphia, PA 19130
215.751.1171

TEXAS

Cactus Music and Video 2930 South Sheperd Drive Houston, TX 77098
713.526.9272

I Luv Video 4803 Airport Boulevard Austin, TX 78751
512.450.1966

Take-1 Video 2811 Thornton Lane Temple, TX 76502
254.742.1340

Take-1 Video 2144 North Main Street Belton, TX 76513

Video Depot 403 S. Bosque Street 9 Whitney, TX 76692
254.694.4234

Waterloo Records and Video Video Annex 1016 W. 6th Street Austin, TX 78703
512.474.2500

Video Village 1107 Ridge Rd. Rockwall, TX 75087
(972)771-2222

VERMONT

Beyond Video 1141 Willoughby Square Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.296.4211

Potomac Video 7505 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA 22043
703-893-0745

WASHINGTON

Island Movies 382 Madison Avenue N Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
206.780.5663

Scarecrow Video 5030 Roosevelt Way Seattle, WA 98015
206.524.8554

Video Tonite 218 W 1st St Aberdeen, WA 98520
360-533-5368

Silverscreen Videos 1050A Hildebrand Lane Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
206.842.0261

WISCONSIN

Four Star Video Heaven 315 N. Henry Street Madison, WI 53703
608.255.1994

So, I'm a little annoyed with the Had to Be Made Film Fest because they have not been updating their website. HTBM has video stores across the country that participate and rent out the movies in their fest. Ours is coming up around the end of the year, but the website is terribly outdated. They tell me, for example, that there are several outlets in Illinois that carry the fest, but none of them are mentioned on the site. Check back here and I'll try to get some more info.

I did an interview for the DVD that will appear on the beginning and end of the movie. They had me driving my car around their neighborhood on a somewhat rainy day while they filmed me from the passenger and back seat. In other words, the interview will be cutting between a profile and the back of my head. Thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure it was boring as hell.

Part of promoting your film, helping it rise above the dung heap, is using your own charm to add a personality to your projects. Kind of like a politician, or a porn star. The renegade filmmaker, the underground auteur, the underdog idealist, whatever. Something.

Example:

HAD TO BE MADE GUY: So, why are you an independent filmmaker?

RENEGADE FILMMAKER: Because indie film FUCKIN' RULES, G! They can't take my shit uptown. Too off the hook, make the man shit his BVDs.

UNDERGROUND AUTEUR: If not, I would be a traveling monk in the mountains of Nepal subsisting on fervent prayer and yak fat.

UNDERDOG IDEALIST: Because independent film gives hope for the children.

FRANK: Well, you see, that's the big choice a filmmaker has to make, if you want to try and work in the studio system, you have more money but less creative control, whereas with independent film you have complete creative control but low budget, and there are pros and cons bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.

The interview ended with my having to tell the camera why my film "Had To Be Made". This was the introduction for the DVD. My brain completely shorted out. Huh? Why my film Had To Be Made? I don't know. Because I wanted to make it. Because I raised the money for it and didn't want to go to jail for fraud. Because "Buttleman" gives hope for the children. I couldn't think of an answer. I felt like someone in one of those rigged infomercials: Tell us why the Miracle Supremo-Tongs are the only tongs you'll ever need!

Anyway, I hope they find some way to edit a non-tedious interview out of it. I kept thinking of the interview on "Being John Malkovich" where Spike Jonze is driving his car and looking kind of woozy, until he jumps out to vomit at an intersection. Next time I'll try that.

On Halloween, thanks to my friend Tom, Steph and I got tickets to the Hollywood Hellhouse. For those of you who haven't seen the documentary on it, Hellhouse started somewhere in Texas, so good Christian children could have something non-Satanic to do on our most morally troublesome holiday. Basically, it's a haunted house, but instead of scaring kids with witches and ghosts, it's designed as a cautionary tale for the Christian right. The first room has three Satan worshippers telling of how they started out reading Harry Potter and Goosebumps, then went on to playing Magic and Dungeons and Dragons, and now they drink human blood. Easy as 1-2-3. It goes on to reveal a botched abortion, a date rape at a rave, a suicide, an AIDS victim, and a detailed tour of hell complete with a Jew in a meat grinder crying out "I was waiting for another Messiah... now I get to wait in hell forever..."

The Hollywood Hellhouse is entirely faithful to the script - which apparently you can mail-order - but all done with tongue-in-cheek flair. The walls of the abortion room were coated in blood, in which someone scrawled "Yes on 72". Several celebrities and comic stars were involved: Bill Maher played the Devil, Andy Richter played Jesus; Penn Jillette, Sarah Silverman, etc. were also involved... On the night we went none but Bill Maher were present, although there were many actors of the kind you know by face but not name. It was hilarious.

On the ride home, stuck in traffic on Hollywood Blvd, Steph and I got to play the uniquely Hollywood game of Best Costume-That-Might-Not-Be-A-Costume. Steph won, for a stout middle-aged guy in pink spandex with a huge mane of bleached blonde hair, like a member of Nelson or Twisted Sister. May have been a member of Nelson. Or Twisted Sister.