DAN HOOVER

Last time I had a film at the ‘Dan Hoover’ International Film Festival was with Zacharia Farted. A film that Damon Vignale, myself and Madison produced. Directed by Michael Rohl, it was a hit at the festival and none of us had ever been treated better. Van-, I mean ‘Dan’ rolled out a red carpet for us and we’ll never forget it.

8 years later, I’m back with a short. My Directorial debut and I wonder if anyone will even notice. Shorts are kind of off the radar and it’s all the harder inviting people out to see your film. And not to be pessimistic, but few people really care. Appearances to such screenings are mostly obligatory. And it’s a gamble to boot. The screening could fall on a Monday afternoon or a Tuesday morning. You want important people to come out, but you’ve got to be careful. Politics should never be mixed with expectation, and yet, that’s exactly what you’re doing. It’s never something I feel comfortable with.

“Hey. Want to come and see my play?” You can almost hear the groans. Oh, shit. I don’t want to see this guys stupid play/movie/art show. I’d rather just sit home and watch Dancing With Midgets. It’s a short film for Christ’s sake. Which means I’ve got to sit through 70 minutes of other peoples crap before getting to the film I said I’d come to see. God, I really don’t want to go.

And then YOU get all bent out of shape when they don’t show. “Huh, Steve ‘said’ he was going to come. But I don’t see him. Fine, screw that guy. Next time he asks me for something, he can kiss my ass.”

Ridiculous.

Now, I’ve been down this road a thousand times and I honestly DON’T hold it against it anyone should they not make it. But still, I ‘do’ remember those that did. And that is enough for me to be aware of how sensitive it can all be.

You spend an entire year of your life on something and now you want to unleash it on the world. We’re all human and so you do, consciously or unconsciously, seek validation from peers and professionals alike. You want to prove yourself.

And yet, you can’t get caught up in any of it, regardless of the out come.

If it flops, doesn’t mean it’s a bad film. And if it’s a massive success, doesn’t mean it’s a good one. So, at the end of the day, you’ll never really know. All you can do is judge things on whether or not the film holds any merit to you.

And it does.

Therefore… and why the hell not… Let it make a fortune. In fact, even if it sucks, I hope it makes a fortune. I’m sick of taking the philosophical high road. I’ve never had a ‘hit’ that carried any kind of significant financial reward. They’ve all put me in the poor house. It’s been hell trying to pay people back. Investors in various projects, etc.

Would I trade it all away for material goods? Hell no. But it really would be nice to make some headway as a filmmaker. To be able to reward people for their generosity. To pay my crews what they’re worth. Buy myself a friggin’ shack somewhere. A new car for the folks. You know the drill. Instead, every dime I make goes back into this damned business.

The other day myself, Madison and her hubby James all went to the fair and they had this massive house there that they were raffling off. A mammoth thing that everyone was lined up to take a tour of. Anyway, we decided to wait in the line and take the tour. Well, the home was gorgeous and I thought to myself, “I want this.” Granted, who wouldn’t. But I’m so sick of the basement suites I find myself in for the sake of my dream. It would be so nice to make a couple of bucks and to actually live in a ‘home’ of my own.

I don’t know if any of you are familiar with Vancouver, but a condo is now around 800,000 for a thousand square feet. That’s a million bucks with taxes and the like. Who the hell can afford that? Not me.

Like I said, I make a good living for a single guy, no kids etc. But I also live with the girlfriend, drive a second hand car and other than a student model saxophone, I don’t own much.

But, I ‘can’ make the odd movie, and finance it on a working actors wage. I am living my dream and when I finally come to my senses… God, am I lucky. I still have a family. And it’s a family that laughs its ass off when we’re together. And we get together often. I can have Kelsey Grammer call my mom from set to say hello. Shoot guns with Arnold Shwarzenegger and spend some quality time chatting up The Fonz (Hope you’re well Henry). I’ve got my friends, girlfriend and people important to me.

So, who the hell am I to complain? In fact, you know what? To hell with the house. It can wait. I’ve been blessed with the greatest people in the world, love them like mad, and to have any one of them over to my basement suite, is to turn it into the Taj Mahal.