Tuesday, September 16, 2008

New Jersey to New York to New England

Spider here--since this system just today arbitrarily decided there is no such person as Jeanne, and never has been. Because we're on the road at the moment there is no easy way to fix this. So for now I'm going to pretend I'm Jeanne and type for her.....much as I did back in the day, when we were writing novels together.


Jeanne here now, speaking through Spider's fingers:

As Spider just explained, we've been on the road for awhile, so this has been my first opportunity to blog since Jim and I attended the Giant Screen Cinema Association conference in New Jersey last week. And to my absolute lack of surprise, Jim has already given you a thorough, accurate and articulate account of our adventures there.  It leaves me little to comment on except to say that the more we pursue this, the longer and more complex the path before us seems to get. 

You might think that would be dismaying--but it's just the opposite.  Working with Jim at yet another conference continues to build my confidence that we're going to reach the end of that path with success.  Each time I get a closer look at the process, I better understand just how good my partner is at this, and how fortunate I am to be working with him.

We'll be on the road for some time yet.  We just had a Robinson family reunion last week in New York, and of course we've been lucky enough to also spend time with our daughter Terri Luanna and son-in-law Heron in the Bronx.  And this week will be spent with my family in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile work continues on the script, and Jim has some interesting new strategy ideas I'm sure he'll be discussing in days and weeks to come.  I give my continuing thanks to all of you for your ongoing support; filmmaking is an expensive game.

Meanwhile, for a quick reminder of how this all got started, go to Spider's website or the iTunes Store, and check his latest podcast, SPIDER ON THE WEB #54, which contains a short excerpt read by Spider from Blackstone Audio's newly released audiobook of STARDANCE.  The next podcast will contain an even longer excerpt from the next book in the trilogy, STARSEED.  And as soon as Blackstone can get it out there, STARMIND (which has already been recorded) will be available too.  Astute friends of Stardance will notice that Jim designed the covers for Blackstone's editions.  Aren't they pretty?

Warm, weightless smiles to you all,
Jeanne

Thursday, September 11, 2008

GSCA Conference


This week Jeanne and I are attending the Giant Screen Cinema Association conference in NYC. We're meeting all sorts of great folks here, and getting a warm reception to boot.

The nice thing about this crowd? No Hollywood Attitude - these are all incredibly sharp and dedicated people who love Large Format film. We've met people from IMAX, representatives of Technicolor, various theater principals and independent producers, film buyers and folks from various production companies. Greg McGillvray of McGillivray Freeman films was kind enough to invite us onto their chartered party boat on our first night here (that's a pic from our trip around Manhattan - under the Manhattan bridge, with the Brooklyn Bridge and the twin towers lights in the background.) A gorgeous night made all the more fun by good company, including our "mentor" Andrew Gellis - a man also responsible for some very successful giant screen films. He's been quite a boon to us as well.

We've seen a slew of large-format films, especially notable was Van Gogh: Brush with Genius - surprisingly good use of the giant screen. And today we had a speaker talking about marketing through blogging and viral video, etc. And Jeanne and I looked at each other and thought "We're way ahead of you, Buddy." (Well, I thought "buddy", she man have thought "man".)

But that reminded me, hence this post.

Speaking of which, jump out to YouTube, people, and share our clip some more - we'll get something new soon. Also, tell us what you think of the new home page intro on Stardancemovie.com.