This is what it’s all about. Forget the various interim screenings; the rough cuts, the fine cuts, the finer-fine cuts, the just-a-few-more-nips-here-and-there cuts. Forget the Avid screenings with rough sound. Forget the horrifying viewing of the Interpositive print on video to check your sync. Forget, too, the sneak preview for cast and crew. All of these things combined can’t even begin to compare with the energy, anticipation and expectations surrounding a world premiere. We introduced “What I Like About You” to the world tonight at Slamdance 2000. It was a full, but not overflow crowd that filled the Main Screening Room; a perpetually overheated micro-greenhouse effect that can be murder on an audience’s temperament and endurance…especially when a film starts a half hour late as ours did. The most encouraging thing, aside from the fact that the audience laughed in all the right places and genuinely seemed to enjoy the film, was that only four or five people left…and two of those came back. That’s an amazing audience retention rate at any festival, let alone a fest attended by jaded, overly film-saturated folks in the midst of Park City Madness. But people stuck around and laughed. A lot. So, we saw firsthand that a “neutral” an audience likes the film. The bigger — and at this time unknown — question, is who was in that audience? We know some acquisitions people were there, but not as many as we hoped. The upshot is that we’re now confident that audiences will enjoy the hell out of “What I Like About You.” Now it’s up to the distributors to get the film to them.
Highlights and Impressions: Two slices of pepperoni pizza for dinner on premiere night. Ain’t film glamorous?…Favorite Overheard Quote So Far: “I have worldwide offices in two locations.”…Forget the “Amaragosa” seat cushions. The (new) best swag I’ve seen is the “exposurescifi.com” lip balm…Fall-out to follow. Until then…
