It is now 11:43PM. I have been up since 5:30AM. Here is a short sample of my day today: working on emailing hundreds of schools and organizations about our world premiere, attending a photo shoot this afternoon for Venice Magazine in the park, fielding booking requests from around the world, talking to Amsterdam about their screening of SEE WHAT I'M SAYING last Friday, talking with several distributors about potential deals, booking flights for our deaf entertainers to attend the premiere, talking with Powder and deaf sign language performers from out of town to coordinate rehearsals for premiere, getting deaf motocross rider Ashley Fiolek's new book KICKING UP DIRT in the mail from our partner Harper Collins, proof-reading our fantastic program that our event coordinator Alex Kalognomos wrote for the premiere (I LOVE ALEX - HE IS THE BEST), following up on theaters who are playing our trailer in movie theaters (HOW AWESOME IS THAT?), thanking Marc Bovee from Universal Studios on a daily basis for opening up doors for us right and left, thanking my kick-ass team Sheila Dvorak and Nathan Crocker for cramming into my small studio and doing the work of a major studio, wishing Brian Cole, Renee Ross and Barbara Cohen a happy birthday, sending my sister a quick email about another Hilari with my spelling finding me on Facebook, feeling southern and cooked some black eyed peas and collard greens for lunch, getting our CD sampler ready for the premiere, lining up volunteers for our run at the Laemmle and in NYC, finding a place to stay for a month in NYC in April, writing my boot camp instructor Bernardo to see if his new company Fit Food can be a sponsor of our VIP reception, talking with our post house to coordinate putting the music video onto our DVD for screenings (THANK YOU, MATT RADECKI, GOD OF KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THINGS TECHNICAL), following up for more VIP's to RSVP (no word from a very silent Marlee Matlin yet, which is odd since her Twitter is all about making noise for captions), watching our music video hit 4,600 views the first week it is up, feeling elated that the first female director just won an Oscar last night, and trying to figure out what to wear for the premiere. And I still feel guilty that I didn't hit the gym today.

Tomorrow I go to look at projectors, have an interview with Venice Magazine, have a technical run through at the Egyptian, see if my friend Paul Lucas is back from Australia buzzing through Los Angeles, seeing if NAD can come on board as a community partner and following up with Harper Collins about our book.

Let me know what you want to hear about and I will be happy to blog about it in my next entry. Until then, I'm going to bed.

Comment (1)

I finally have a quiet moment at home to upload photos and reflect back on the incredible experience this past weekend in Bremerton. It was actually a nice break to hop on a plane and escape the madness of preparing for the world premiere. I was dropped off at the airport by my new assistant (don't I feel fancy - it's usually me doing the driving) and was met in Bremerton by my hosts, Maryl and Bryan. We met the Captionfish guys, Chris Sano, Brendan Gramer and Greg Millam for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. These guys have a great thing going; with a background from Microsoft, Google and Amazon they set up the first Fandango for deaf people with listings of open captioned films.

On Friday, I taught three workshops at Olympic College - Improv/Theater Games, Behind the Scenes of See What I'm Saying, and introduction to directing/producing. These students were so hungry for a creative outlet. We had a ton of fun at each workshop, especially the improv group. I was impressed by the eagerness of all of the students to jump in and try new things.

Maryl and Bryan took me to a local seafood restaurant on the water where we met some of their friends. I learned new regional signs for Bremerton, oyster and clam, as well as some local history about Bremerton being a Navy town. The mountains are stunning, and I was lucky that it was clear and sunny for most of my stay.

Saturday - the day of the big screening was filled with so many wonderful moments. I met two gifted students - Andrea and Delaney - who traveled by ferry with their parents to interview me about what it was like to work with deaf entertainers. Their project is for the history project competition, and they were extremely prepared and exceptionally bright. I tried to give my perspective as a hearing director who had the great privilege of working in the Deaf community and steer them towards some resources. I saw a woman slip in to watch. She sat and watched most of the 30 minute interview before introducing herself. It was Mayor Patty Lent, the Honorable Mayor of Bremerton. I couldn't believe it. She was so incredibly gracious, and pinned an official Bremerton pin to my shirt. It was a great moment.

Comment (1) Read More...

I am a little behind in my blog, as we just announced our world premiere of See What I'm Saying - March 18, 2010 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and have been swamped with emails. This premiere kicks off our theatrical opening in Los Angeles March 19th at the Fairfax Cinemas on Beverly Boulevard.

I landed at Sundance this past week after the announcement to do some business, see some films and take a few days to breath some mountain air when I got the news that we are premiering in NYC on April 9th at the Village East Cinemas. I couldn't stop jumping up and down!

I was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of work that is coming my way when I received a fan letter that made me remember one of the reasons why I am doing this film. With the writer's permission, I would like to share this with all of you. I hope it touches you as it touched me.

Comment (0) Read More...