The timing of registering First Launch on Film Freeway and participating in one of their marketing programs worked out well. Within the first week, the sequel was an Official Selection of the Birsamunda International Film Awards. That selection was followed by several more from festivals that had previously accepted First Signal and SOS United States. When one considers the amount of time, energy, and resources that go into writing a script or producing a movie, every selection means the world. It means that someone, some group, appreciates your work.

I was particularly excited when First Launch received an Honorable Mention at Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival and won both Best Poster and Critic’s Choice Award at Indo French International Film Festival. For me, the objective is to bring sufficient awareness to the sequel of First Signal to “launch” it into production—hopefully next year.

First Launch, however, is not a small story from a scale point of view. I wrote it with the intention that hopefully, someday soon, it will be recognized accordingly and properly produced. When I wrote First Signal, the goal from page one was to produce it with my own resources. Frankly, I’m glad I wrote First Signal the way I did as I believe it provides a solid foundation for what unfolds in First Launch.

SOS United States, however, is a different animal from a production standpoint. I wrote the story several years ago and have updated it through those years. Then, I adapted the story last year into a novel.  Suffice it to say that the project is ready to go on two creative fronts.

Two weeks ago I met with a filmmaker friend, conversed with a special effects expert I’ve worked for years, and talked to a producer from my last project. Barring some unforeseen circumstances, we plan to put SOS United States into production this year.  On the one hand, it’s very exciting. On the other, it’s a bit disconcerting. For as a self-produced independent film project, it will be my largest and most sophisticated project to date.  But now that a team I trust is equally committed to the project, anything is possible.

That is the one thing about this industry I can’t stress enough. It’s vital to have a solid core team that you not only enjoy working with but trust. Producing a motion picture from script to screen is, using one of my favorite words, a herculean task. We know there will be days when we think it can’t happen. We know there will be sleepless nights. We know we will be holding our “day jobs” while juggling this on a weekend. But we also know something else—we’ve done it before. The process is not a mystery. It’s a process that worked because we all strived for the same goal—the completion of a motion picture.

The feeling is like none other. You are sitting in a theatre. The lights dim. The curtain parts to a black screen. Suddenly, the whirl of a projector (OK, I’m being dramatic. Digital media doesn’t whirl) and the creation that you’ve worked on for a better part of two-plus years comes to life.

SOS United States