I had a fantastic private screening at Universal last night with a group of industry folks who loved the film. I have been back and forth on the ending and the placement of our credits, and their reaction and comments after the film sunk into my consciousness. I woke up at 5AM today in a cold sweat, feeling that I need to change the ending back to the original ending. I spent most of my morning digging through old footage to line everything up to see if it works with our new cut. It does. Even though the film is basically finished, we are changing a few things before our launch in January. Home stretch to perfection!

I had it just about finished when my fabulous web designer, Hilary Carlip called with an update about our upcoming website overhaul. It's going to take a few weeks, but will allow me to start posting short clips from the film, since I know you want to see some. I want to also include some footage that will be in our DVD extras, including the fabulous Megg Rose who performed a Christina Aguilera song in sign language. I'm working with Mason, my music supervisor to get the rights to include it. Megg hasn't even seen the footage of her performance yet and has been patiently reminding me every few months not to let it get swallowed up in my 300+ hours of footage.

My supervising editor, Thomas Miller beeped through, calling from some airport to talk about changing the ending, and I'm sending him a Quicktime with the change for him to look at. I then got a text from Ninette from Powder about our music video from the film. She connected me with a fabulous location for the film shoot, which was confirmed later this morning. That helped me set the production date for this music video for December.

More emails came in, including one from a distributor who wants to set up a meeting with me and my producer's rep. I've been working with Jeff Dowd, The Dude and real life inspiration for The Big Lebowski. He's been in a good mood lately, and has been incredibly helpful in introducing me and the film around town.

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This screening was one of the best experiences this fall. Sean Furman of Arizona Deaf Theater had organized the entire event, and did a fantastic job with our workshop and screening. I was picked up at the airport by a young deaf actor named Michael, who filled me about Arizona State University. We drove straight to campus, where I taught a three-hour voicing for deaf actors workshop. We had about 15 interpreters and 5 deaf actors. The work they did was outstanding. Many of the interpreters had never voiced for theater before, and they struggled through the various challenges. It was worth it when they were finally getting the laughs in the comedic pieces by matching their deaf partners' work.

After the workshop a bunch of us went to one of the best burger places called Chuckbox. We had a great conversation at dinner with some of my old friends from AZTI whom I had met while filming Robert here two years ago (including Donna of Deaf Cactus News). I also made some new friends - Haley, Timothy, Patrick and a few others. The town was filled with tons of football fans before a big game on campus, and people were nervous about crowds coming out for the film. They had nothing to worry about. People drove in from all over Arizona for the screening. I would guess that half of the crowd was hearing and half deaf, maintaining my goal that this film is for everyone.

I was testing out some new changes in the film, and held my breath while watching the audience during the new section. They were riveted, and I feel like I now have my final cut. They laughed in all the right places, cried in all the right places and participated in a lengthy and invigorating Q&A after the screening. I choked up when several people were near tears in their comments on how important this film is and needs to be seen by everyone. I felt a tremendous sense of support as the crowd vowed to get behind the film when we return to Arizona for our theatrical screening, and will be lining up to buy DVD's.

So Arizona, my birthplace, I look forward to coming back next year. Thank you for a fantastic reception!!

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Hello everyone -

I haven't blogged in awhile because there's a very complicated release strategy that has been at work and I haven't wanted to share the details in public while it is coming together. Some amazing things are happening, including a 25 city tour of the film and a world premiere in Los Angeles coming together very soon. Tonight, I realized that it may not be bad to be transparent.

I had the honor of listening to Ondi Timoner at an IDA seminar, the only two-time Sundance Grand Jury winner. Her film We Live In Public is opening in Los Angeles tomorrow and she has my full support.

I was approached by the IDA media after the screening (they are my fiscal sponsor for "See What I'm Saying") to give my thoughts for their article, and I decided to post my full answer here so you can get a glimpse of what I am up against. Here are my thoughts from the evening.

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