Double Edge Films

The Rise of the Film Club

2009-11-29T09:58:00.024-07:00

By Kiowa

It's been an interesting couple of weeks digesting the bit-torrent news and releasing Ink via Netflix, Blockbuster and other places. Not sure what to do with all the information, we were lucky enough to take a detour to the East Coast for a screening. Even better than that, we are lucky enough to be here due to the kindness and generosity of two people who are probably now lifetime friends: Pericles and Lisa Lewnes.

The very best thing about this last year is the opportunity to tour around the country and meet people. We have managed to draw an incredible level of enthusiasm and support for the film at our screenings. One such special screening was New York - I knew that a man named Pericles drove eight hours round trip to see Ink and meet us. On the street after the screening we exchanged hugs and screeners (Peri is himself an accomplished filmmaker, credits include Redneck Zombies and LOOP) and he told me about his film club in Annapolis. He and his wife wanted to bring films that might not otherwise get seen to their hometown in a casual bar or restaurant setting and they were willing to put in the hard work to promote the screenings. I was sold.

Peri and Lisa first showed Ink in early August, which drew us a whole new crowd of Ink fans. He showed the film Woodpecker the following month and then decided to crank the film club up a notch. Peri called me about six weeks ago and excitedly told me that he attracted larger sponsors and a great venue for his next screening, which he wanted to be an encore presentation of Ink. Not only that, he had gathered up enough sponsors to fly us out and put us up. So here we are enjoying the beautiful and historic town of Annapolis and an incredible steak dinner at the Lewnes Steakhouse - owned by Peri's brother and our travel sponsor.

How did we get this lucky? Peri and Lisa are some of those rare humans that are incredibly generous with their time and resources. They happened to fall in love with Ink and have been tireless in their efforts to promote the film with whatever tools they have at their disposal. I believe the film club is going to rise up as the chief screening opportunity for indie filmmakers. One film a month, heavily promoted at a unique venue with food and drinks - what could be better? It centers the focus around one film at a time and if the filmmakers can attend for Q&A then it is officially an "event" that people will get out to be a part of.

High quality film festivals like Flyway Film Festival and film clubs like the Annapolis Pretentious Film Society put the focus back where it should be: on the films and filmmakers. We had the best festival experience of our life at Flyway thanks to Rick and Diana Vaicius making us feel incredibly welcome and not lost in the fray as you do at most festivals. Similarly, Peri and Lisa take the time to promote individual films and filmmakers and truly make the evening an event to remember. We are super excited to get to Monday night and connect with people at the Rams Head On Stage. If you are a filmmaker reading this, you need to get in touch with both Rick at Flyway and Peri of APFS - two fierce champions for truly independent films and filmmakers. Another description might entail wings, some sort of halo and an angelic glow... that's how they appear to me anyway. Storytellers? I think so.

Rick and Diana Vaicius with Jamin at Flyway last month.

Ink plays at the Rams Head On Stage on Monday, November 30th at 6:30pm. $8 in advance and $10 at the door.
Click here for tickets and we will see you there!

A 360 Degree View of Internet Piracy

2009-11-13T11:40:00.023-07:00

By Kiowa

The last few days have felt like Jamin and I took a trip to an industrial-sized clothes dryer and jumped inside. Exciting, exhausting and potentially asphyxiating. All of this due to the news that Ink has been one of the most downloaded movies in the world since it hit all of the BitTorrent sites. Advocates from both sides of the table have come out swinging with their thoughts, and some sources have been suspiciously quiet. What do we make of all of this madness? Here are my thoughts, as they've been digested over a thread on Reddit.com and other places.

Here we are in the dryer... and damn if it isn't getting hot in here.

1. Amazing exposure? Heck yes.
No question here that Ink wouldn't be abuzz across many forums, blogs and film websites this week without the enormous boost to #16 on the IMDb MovieMeter due to the piracy.

2. Raking in the dough? Yes and no.
Our direct sales have quadrupled and a decent number of donations (still nothing comparable to 500,000 downloads) have poured into our website, which we are very thankful for. Unfortunately there is no way to tell if the direct sales are coming from those who downloaded or those who saw it on Netflix and want to own a copy. Still, if each person who downloaded the film would come and contribute $1, we could pay off this film and have a budget for the next one.

3. Still to early to tell the effects of this? Absolutely.
Nothing in the film world ultimately happens over night and it will take several months to a year to quantify all of this so it's entirely too early to take a solid stance either way, but I do think there's some value in getting the discussion going about piracy which is why I'm spending time on Reddit.com and writing this blog.

4. Is Hollywood oddly silent on this whole thing? Yes.
Not only can't we get any attention in the mainstream industry press, you would think that a tiny indie film with over 500,000 downloads in a week would demonstrate enough of an audience for a distributor to step on board. Distributors are looking for films that are easy to market and that have an audience. The downloads have proven, unequivocally, that Ink has a huge audience yet the crickets are still chirping on US distribution. My theory is this: distributors don't dare step up and validate the pirate community as an audience. They must keep their staunch stance against them, and to pick up Ink now would mean they're saying "wow, this really is an audience."

5. Why won't Hollywood recognize the pirate community as an audience? They don't pay.
So this is the real issue I'm grappling with. What is piracy all about? I've come up with three ideas: 1.) People want stuff for free, and/or 2.) People want instant and easy access, and/or 3.) People will only pay for what they like. Which one of these is true? I encourage anyone who has illegally downloaded a film to step up with your thoughts. The unfortunate truth in the music industry is that, for the most part, people just want things for free. Is this also true with movie downloads? How will it impact both in the long run?

6. If the download community wants to send a real message and be recognized as an audience, here's how:
* For those out there who download because you want easy access to something you can't otherwise get (i.e. you're outside the US and movies take forever to get to you, which we completely understand), then please do the download community a favor and track down the filmmakers and give them a few bucks.

* For those of you who only want to pay for what you like, please find a way to support your favorite artists as best you can. This will also send an extremely strong message to Hollywood to make better films and not just expect everyone to keep digesting a huge cafeteria of re-makes and franchise films.

* For those of you who expect things to be free, please consider how flawed that thinking is. Do you expect groceries, clothing and other commodities to be free? Making Ink is the single most difficult thing I've ever done and I can guarantee that every artist who crosses the finish line with a completed project feels the same. If the answer is truly that people expect things for free then the logical conclusion is that no one will take any financial risk in this industry and eventually there will be nothing to pirate. Talk about the law of diminishing returns.

This is a new era and no one knows which end is up right now. If instant file-sharing is truly the next step in film distribution, then there still needs to be a financial model in place that works. All anyone wants to do is to be able to move on and make another movie. That will be impossible if the world expects things for free. Or, all our movies will be paid for by huge corporate sponsors and littered with product placement - is that really a better alternative? Do we really want The Storytellers in Ink to be eating a Big Mac and swilling Coke after every fight? Probably not. I'm not claiming to know any answers here, I just want to put it up for discussion so please share your thoughts below and we'll continue to provide updates.

The coolest thing to come out of the piracy so far? This incredible illustration from a new fan who watched via download and spent 6 hours drawing this for us. Thank you Shane Lees.

Ink Jumps to #16 on IMDB

2009-11-10T12:32:00.010-07:00

by Jamin

The last few days have been a rollercoaster as Ink was bit torrented just days ago and has now been downloaded over 400,000 times around the world. Simultaneously Ink became available in all major and minor video rental stores including Netflix, Netflix Instant, Blockbuster, Amazon, etc... Over the weekend Ink jumped from a position of 12,991 on IMDB to #16 and is thus currently ranked higher than most major Hollywood titles.

Who knew that the file sharing community has so much power? The exposure for our film has been unprecedented and we have spent no money on advertising. As far as I know, no studio in history has ever driven a film up out of obscurity so fast. Turns out the audience now really does have all the control.

Our reaction has been to encourage the file sharing. The ethical argument for and against file sharing is very complicated, however, if the file sharers have the filmmaker's blessing to pass it around, there is unquestionably no injustice done. The fact is we own all the rights to Ink and the file sharers absolutely have our blessing. It would be a lie and naive to say that it's not benefitting our film exponentially. We've made a link available for those fans that want to support us in our battle by making a donation and we have Blu-Rays, DVDs, and other merchandise available for the most serious fans. This is a 100% independent film with no studio, no distributor, and no big money so trust me when I say we need all the help we can get.

Kiowa and I had a long conversation about whether or not we would be slighting our paying fans by condoning the file sharing. We both agreed that wasn't the case. Most of the world never had an opportunity to see the film in theaters. Many of them likely would have had we had the resources to bring it to them. Our truly die hard fans who bought theater tickets and are buying the Blu-Ray, DVD, shirts, and posters have something physical to show for it. We have disks that are personally signed and materials that no one else can have via download. Ultimately we know who our most die hard supporters are because we met most of them personally or have been talking to them for months via email, Facebook, and Twitter. They're also the people who are donating money on our site when they don't have to, buying numerous disks for family and friends, and voting and commenting online everywhere, and they are the critics who campaigned for it with ferocity even though distributors weren't taking it out. No one else would have ever known about the film had these people not built the base.

There are audiences all over the world not yet able to see Ink in an inexpensive and quick way. File sharing is about the only instant option for them at the moment and we don't want limitations keeping them from seeing the movie. We've always said the international audience is just as important to us as the American audience. We're thrilled to hear that Ink is finding it's way all over Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, and on and on. Someone recently told us that it's blowing up in Lithuania of all places. People are subtitling it and re-posting it in numerous languages. Incredible.

In the meantime we're thrilled about the official Blu-Ray/DVD release today. Ink is truly everywhere and it's a dream come true for a few people that made a completely independent, unconventional, unique, and heartfelt film.

Thank you all again for helping us each day. Thank you for the loyalty and the passion. Here's a new trailer just for you:

Goodbye Gatekeepers, Hello Audience

2009-11-08T13:23:00.027-07:00

By Kiowa

In the wake of the news that Ink has been ripped and downloaded 100,000 times in the past 48 hours across the bit torrent community, I feel inspired to share my thoughts on this "what does it mean?" news.

For the record, we do not condone piracy nor do we ever download any music, films or TV shows for free. Artists should be paid for their hard work. That said, it is possible that the exposure Ink has just gotten across free download sites has catapulted the film into an entirely new realm. Remember that Wolverine, a franchise film with a budget of $130 million, got leaked via bit torrent before its release and got 100,000 hits in 24 hours. Ink managed to do half that in downloads, and was number 1 on Pirate Bay yesterday with more hits than Paranormal Activity, Surrogates and Julie and Julia. Again, all of these films have had the help of the studio system's multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. Ink has had Jamin and myself, two laptops and an Army of fierce supporters grown out of our own hard-fought theatrical screenings - nothing more.

The packed house at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June 10th, 2009.

The main point I want to make in this post is about gatekeepers vs. audience. Had we relied on what the gatekeepers were telling us about Ink, i.e. "we don't know how to market the film," to "it's too strange" to "it doesn't have any stars" to "this would never sell" to multiple festival rejections, we would have given up and thrown in the towel probably by February. Instead of going on the expert opinions, we decided to take the film directly to audiences and bypass all the gatekeepers and guess what? Success! For one gatekeeper saying "there is no way to market this film" we have had 10 audience members claim it is the best film of the year. I'm not being boastful (there are plenty of people who think the film is awful), but I believe that 100,000 downloads across torrent sites in 48 hours is proof positive that the gatekeepers are out of touch with audiences. The film community elite have brushed Ink off as nothing, all the while the audience is screaming for more.

The "Oshkosh 6" - this group of guys drove 8 hours round-trip to see Ink at the Flyway Film Festival on October 23rd, 2009. From left: me, Adam Meyer, Mark Mazur, Trent Hillborn, Joseph Dhein, Joey Meyer, James Lieske and Jamin.

So for all of you filmmakers out there frustrated by a constant stream of "No" and "Please submit your next film", gather round and hear this: cover your ears, close your eyes, take the plunge and support your film with the ferocity of a mother bear. Kindly say "thank you for your time" and move on to the people who matter most - your fans.

Ink is available on DVD and Blu-ray on our website.
Ink will be available at Netflix, iTunes and Blockbuster on November 10th!

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: TODAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 2009 IS A REMARKABLE DAY. INK HAS JUST JUMPED TO #16 ON THE IMDB MOVIE METEr, ABOVE HOLLYWOOD TITLES SAW IV, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE AND BREAKOUT INDIE HIT PRECIOUS. INK IS THE ONLY TOP 20 MOVIE WITH NO DISTRIBUTOR AND ROSE IN POPULARITY OVER 80,000% DUE TO THE PIRACY OVER THE LAST 3 DAYS.

The Ink Story on Film Courage

2009-11-04T08:55:00.005-07:00

By Kiowa

We had the great pleasure of being on David Branin and Karen Worden's Film Courage show live last Sunday. Film Courage is quickly becoming a shining beacon of information for independent filmmakers wading through their projects, from financing to distribution. It was our second opportunity to be on the show and this time we discussed how we financed Ink, what our total budget was and how we're distributing the film while holding onto all of the rights.

This business is a challenging one, to say the least, so it is our goal to be as transparent as possible in the hopes of helping others. If you have a moment, please tune into the show archive:

LA Talk Radio's Film Courage Interview with Jamin and Kiowa Winans

You can listen to Film Courage live every Sunday at 11:00am Pacific time. David and Karen always have interesting guests from actors to producers to directors, all with unique stories and insight. Tune in every Sunday - we do!

INK on DVD and Blu-ray: Our Release Strategy in 5 Steps

2009-10-19T11:05:00.018-06:00

By Kiowa

It has been a long few weeks, which makes me think of the long months and even years leading up to these last few weeks. We began this journey in September of 2006 by going on a location to scout to Crested Butte, CO where we filmed the dreamy Storyteller forest and now three years later we are about to release the entire movie on Blu-ray and DVD. You can pre-order both discs along with a t-shirt and poster on our website. All items will ship on October 30th. Ink will be on the shelf at every Blockbuster store in the country, in addition to being on Netflix instant and rental, iTunes, Amazon, and others on November 10th.

For any filmmakers or fans who are reading this blog, I would like to share a bit more about our release strategy for Ink and what we have learned over the years. This strategy came out of years of attending festivals and having extraordinarily bad luck with traditional distribution deals and incorporates the recognition that times have changed.

1. Premiere Your Film, then use Festivals as a Supplement

Gone are the days of the 3:00am deals for $5 million at Sundance. If you don't believe me, look up the last five years worth of films that premiered at Sundance and see if they sold and if they did, whether they were ever released successfully. Years ago a filmmaker's only choice was to lay out a festival strategy, open at the biggest festival then spend a year playing at smaller regional festivals then try to go after a distribution deal.

That takes over a year of time, thousands of dollars in submission fees, press materials and screening formats all to have someone else collect your box office dollars. We had played at enough festivals with Spin and 11:59 to know that even if you're playing in a number of places and winning awards, festivals alone do very little to change the profile for your film. With Ink we decided to take the first large festival that would have us, then set off and do our own theatrical release. This disqualified us from numerous future festivals, but that was a sacrifice we were willing to make. We've found there have still been several willing to screen it regardless of the public release.

2. Open Where you have a Fanbase

Jamin has been making movies in Colorado since he was about 10 years old, and started Double Edge Films here in 1998. It hasn't happened overnight, but over time he has managed to build a small fanbase and populate an email list. It doesn't hurt that we used a ton of actors locally in Ink and other films, so when we announced news of opening Ink in Denver we had a good base of people to contact with that news. This helped us play 8 weeks at the Denver Film Society's Starz FilmCenter, which we are very fortunate to have.

We started out on a strong base of maybe 500 people locally which was essential to building word-of-mouth in order to extend our two week run into eight solid weeks. With the "Made in Colorado" angle, we took the film to independently owned theaters in Fort Collins and Greeley, and played at each of those locations for four weeks. We were able to take those numbers and start emailing other independently owned art house cinemas (independently owned being the key - you can pretty much forget dealing with any chains). It was very difficult and I maybe got one response for every 20 emails that I sent out and that was just to request a screener. Once you send the screener, it's another email torture campaign to get them to watch the film and even then there's no guarantees. Persistence is key, however, and we have been able to get the film out to about 15 cities.

If you still can't get your film into any theaters consider public halls, living room screenings, and film clubs and showcases. All these are rapidly growing trends.

3. Use Your Theatrical Proceeds for More Screenings

Contrary to the festival strategy where you are out-of-pocket a few hundred dollars on every film festival, you may make some money on your theatrical screenings. Sure, it always takes money to make money and you need to promote your film with posters and postcards and get various screening formats made but you at least have the prospect of getting some of that money back. Though theatrical isn't a huge money maker (especially at the small indie level) it is still the best way to promote your film and a way to keep your fanbase excited, get press and set your film apart from the rest of the pack. Don't expect to get rich unless you have that magic wealthy uncle whose willing to pour $1 million into a huge marketing campaign, think of theatrical as a break-even scenario. After the theater deducts their percentage of the box office receipts, you may be left with just enough to pay for your marketing materials and get the film out to the next place.

This, in our experience, is still more effective than festivals from both a monetary standpoint and a fanbase standpoint. Festivals can seem exclusive and "off limits" to some people and you may get a screening time of 10:00 am on a Tuesday. What regular working person can attend at that time? If you can tour with your film, get your fanbase excited and show your film at a good evening time slot then the overall excitement and exposure increases tenfold.

4. Be available on your Networks: Email List, Facebook and Twitter

In this new world of "Do It With Others" (DIWO, as opposed to DIY) distribution, it is your job to establish and nurture social networks. Social media has come a long way over the years and is becoming an incredible tool for those of us without that magic wealthy uncle. Twitter, of all things, seems to be the most powerful tool. If you establish yourself as a specialist in a particular kind of Tweets then you will get followers tailored to your message. The filmmaker community on Twitter is extremely supportive and everyone is excited to promote each other's work and achievements. There has been so much news lately about the collapse of the independent film world and speculation about how it's all going to shake out and that information gets transferred daily over Twitter.

If you're a filmmaker and you're not on Twitter you're not only missing out on the opportunity to build your film into a brand, you're missing out on an incredible volume of interesting and useful news. If any of us are going to fight our way through the wreckage of the indie film world, we have to get together, share ideas and start bringing our content directly to each other and our audiences.

5. Keep the Excitement High and Get Your Film Out on DVD, Blu-ray and Download

We get emails or Facebook posts every day from people around the U.S. and around the world asking how they can see Ink. A typical distribution path would take 2 1/2 to 3 years from festival debut to get out around the world. Our festival debut to DVD/Blu-ray release is a mere 10 months. You have to capitalize on the excitement of your film when you have it and if we were to wait another year to go to DVD and Blu-ray then people's attention will be elsewhere and Ink will feel like old news. Premiering at Santa Barbara in late January then playing multiple theatrical runs and one-night screenings across the country for the next nine months has allowed us to introduce the film to crowds all over the country and get a decent amount of online buzz and press. After a while some of your Facebook fans and Twitter followers grow tired of the postings about screenings that are nowhere near them. The only way to truly get the film out to everyone is to release to DVD, Blu-ray and download.

In an earlier blog Jamin said that the battle we all fight is against obscurity, so the key is to get your film out across as many platforms as you can. We ended up going through a company that helped us get Ink out to Blockbuster shelves, out to Netflix and up on iTunes. Those are tough deals to make on your own, but vitally important to getting your film maximum exposure. Your film needs to be available at many different outlets to hit the Netflix-only film watchers, or the Blockbuster renters or the iTunes junkies. We made a store selling exclusive signed copies and a well-priced bundle on our website for Ink fans and will be fulfilling those orders out of Denver.

Will our big launch be a big success? That remains to be seen, but what we do know is that we're excited to be offering the film to everyone everywhere. We'll continue to nurture the release and connect with fans and filmmakers over Facebook and Twitter and will always be on the lookout for that next big platform or technology. In the meantime, we'll be enjoying some scratch-baked pie (pictures to follow, I'm sure) in Pepin, Wisconsin with some great fellow filmmakers at the Flyway Film Festival this weekend. Then we'll be back in Denver to re-open the film on October 30th.

Theatrical screenings will continue even after the DVD and Blu-ray are released. That may seem odd, but this is a new era of distribution and we're dedicated to keep showing Ink on the big screen and connecting with people at whatever venue will have us. It is, after all, the Ink Army that keeps us marching forward and we plan to keep waving that DIWO flag strong and proud.

Ink from Start to Finish on Video 20 Questions' Podcast

2009-09-23T14:38:00.003-06:00

By Kiowa

Jamin and I are back in the basement (avoiding garlic and mirrors again) preparing for some very exciting announcements about the film. We got the opportunity to be on the Video 20 Questions podcast the other day and the real bonus was doing the interview via Skype with a man in Spain whilst we sat in our pajamas. He refers to them as "jim-jam's" in the interview, also known as "filmmaker casual." The upside to this business is that we can wear filmmaker casual most all the the time - the downside is that we can only afford filmmaker casual.

Kiowa Winans, Jamin Winans and Kirk Montgomery of Channel 9 News at the "Long Story Short" screening. No jim-jam's in this photo.

We discuss everything about the process of making Ink from raising funds to pre-production testing and preparation to the grueling 14 months of post-production and eventual DIWO distribution strategy.

Have a listen... filmmaker casual encouraged but not required.

Video 20 Questions Podcast

Fans Take Ink to the Next Level

2009-09-04T10:41:00.030-06:00

By Jamin

After four packed screenings in Los Angeles, Ink is finally getting a full run at the Sunset 5 in Hollywood.

It's been six months since premiering Ink at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and though we've been having a lot of successes, Ink has taken a path I never could have predicted. A lot of filmmakers have asked us about our strategy with the film and why we've made some of the decisions we have with the release of Ink. Here is a description of our experience and an explanation of why we're doing what we're doing.

A lot has happened in the past couple years and especially the past couple months in the indie film world. We're going through the worst economic times of our lives, the independent film model has imploded, independent distributors and theaters are collapsing, several of the distributors who are surviving are ripping off filmmakers, piracy is growing, and the media world is rapidly changing in ways no one can predict due to the web. One can look at the situation and either decide that the sky is falling or acknowledge that maybe the current shift is the beginning of something completely new and awesome. Depending on the day, we've believed both.

The line for Ink outside the Laemmle Sunset 5 for the August 27th, 10:00pm screening. Photo taken by a fan in line and posted on Twitter.

Like a lot of filmmakers, we finished Ink with the dream of a theatrical distribution deal and a substantial advance from a distributor. Though after our experience with our first feature film, 11:59, we decided we would do things differently. Instead of playing film festivals for a year in order to find distribution, we would premiere the film at the first big festival that would have us and move immediately into distribution even if it was self-distribution. We would not wait for things to happen, we would make them happen. Little did we know that we would be finishing the film just in time to watch the indie film market dwindle and retreat in a failing economy.

Santa Barbara International Film Festival contacted us before the movie was even finished. We sent them a copy and they accepted it. We rushed to finish the final touches on the film, notified every distributor in LA and premiered. After a glowing review from Ain't It Cool News, buzz began, however no offers came for distribution at the festival. Not a shock. Again, we weren't going to wait for distributors to find us, we were going to make a ruckus. So we came right back to Denver (our home town) and opened Ink ourselves. In the meantime agencies had seen the film and we signed with United Talent Agency. We were hopeful they would find a distributor for us, but we weren't going to hold back on our own efforts. We were learning at this moment just how bad the indie film world was sinking. The chances of any sort of good offer were getting grim.

Ink played 8 very strong weeks in Denver and an additional 8 weeks in other Colorado towns. The goal was to prove to distributors that the film had an audience. It did that, but still no good offers. It was becoming apparent that if we wanted an audience to find the film, we would have to take it to them ourselves.

Fans of Ink outside Cinema Village in New York City. Pericles Lewnes, second from right, drove four hours from Annapolis to see the film.

To be clear, it's not that we weren't getting offers, it's that offers and opportunities were all coming without advances, no money up front. In this industry money up front is the only money you will ever see. It doesn't matter if back end money is in the contract, you will never get paid. So signing a deal for Ink with no advance would essentially be giving the rights away for free and burn our investors. In addition, there would be no guarantee the distributor would even release the film. Happens all the time.

We decided to take the film out theatrically ourselves. The easiest path would have been to go straight to Blu-Ray and DVD, but we wanted as many people as possible to have the opportunity to see Ink on the big screen and we wanted to make sure we campaigned for the film for several months before the home video release. A theatrical release is still the best promotion for a film so we decided to continue taking Ink out theatrically ourselves to every city we could.

Fan appreciation night in Denver at the Starz FilmCenter, April 18th, 2009.

We booked screenings in LA, New York, Portland, Seattle, Annapolis, and many coming up including Chicago and a return to Denver. Mind you, this has not been easy. Kiowa has spent a better part of the past several months on the phone pleading with theaters and bookers to let us in. We're competing with huge distribution companies for the same slots. For every success there's been 20 failures, for every good day there's been three bad. It's an excruciating process with few rewards, but thus far, we've prevailed.

Once getting booked in a theater, the challenge revolves around promoting each city and screening... oh, and with no advertising budget. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, this blog, and our email list have been our whole campaign. Obscurity is the evil we're constantly battling. In an environment of mass promoting and media noise we're fighting to push Ink through to the other side, to an untouchable place where people will always be able to hear about it and find it. In Los Angeles most of our principal cast has been doing the same thing. They spend hours every day pushing the film further and further to it's own protected space so as not to get buried due to the lack of a big budget distributor and marketing campaign. It's a Herculaneum effort from just a few people.

The incredible evening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June 10th, 2009 with the whole gang. We have truly all become family.

But in all this pushing, one thing has surprised us more than any other. Since the very first screening in Santa Barbara we've had this growing underground army of fans that is relentless in spreading the word. I've never experienced anything like it, but it's overwhelming on a daily basis. It's this base that has given the film the buzz and ultimately any success it's had. We've been working for three years, are absolutely exhausted and have run out of resources, time, and stamina, but now our fans have begun carrying us. And this is why, looking at our situation, we're happy to be at the place we are. Had we taken a traditional route, we would have walked away from the film and let someone else handle it, giving the film an uncertain future. In the new and changing world where Trent Reznor is self-releasing his albums, David Lynch is self-distributing his films, and anyone with a computer and a web connection can start writing and find readers, we're so happy that we can connect with our audience directly.

So now we have reached early September and we're about to go into our first theatrical run of Ink in LA. We've been playing theater by theater for the past six months personally promoting each and every screening while simultaneously preparing the Blu-Ray, DVD and download release in a way where we keep all of our rights. Our goal now is to see Ink through and make certain anyone in the world can see it within the next couple of months. From there, we'll let the fans decide where it will go.

Ink will be playing at Laemmle Sunset 5 beginning September 11th.

Last Night

2009-08-21T10:38:00.004-06:00

By Kiowa

Ink sold out at the Sunset 5 in Hollywood last night several hours in advance. Thanks to all for helping us get the word out!

The next screening is next Thursday night (August 27th) at the Sunset 5 at 10:00pm. Next weekend Seattle!

Ink Back in Hollywood, Coming To Seattle!

2009-08-17T15:38:00.005-06:00

by Jamin

We have two screenings of Ink in Hollywood at Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theater:

Thursday, August 20th at 10:00pm (this Thursday)
Thursday, August 27th at 10:00pm

If the screenings do well, we'll extend into a week run so if you're in LA, please tell your friends. We would love to keep it going.

Immediately after, Ink has a weekend in Seattle at the Northwest Film Forum (August 29th and 30th).

Blu-Ray and DVD news soon!

The Ink Stars on the Red Carpet!

2009-08-07T20:51:00.004-06:00

by Jamin

At about midnight last night we got a call from our lead actor, Chris Kelly. He and Jessica Duffy, who plays Liev in Ink, had just walked the red carpet at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Hollywood. Chris tells me, "We were between Demi Moore and Kirsten Dunst and I'm asking myself, 'Is it weird that I'm walking the red carpet and yet I'm the poorest I've ever been?'"

And that describes indie filmmaking perfectly...

Ink will be playing at HollyShorts this Wednesday, August 12th at 9:30pm!

World Premiere of "Night Before the Wedding" Next Week

2009-08-05T11:24:00.022-06:00

By Kiowa and Jamin

David Branin, the man behind the Film Courage blog and LA Talk Radio's Film Courage show will premiere his film Night Before the Wedding at HollyShorts on Tuesday, August 11th. Premiering your first feature film in Hollywood is both an exciting and terrifying prospect, which David shares on his blog. We wanted to take a moment to show our support for David and his film.

David tracked us down years ago after becoming a fan of Spin and asked us to be interviewed on his podcast. Since then we have kept in touch and when we sent the news out that Ink would be coming to Santa Barbara, he and his wonderful fiancee Karen didn't hesitate to drive up and attend a 10:00pm show on a Thursday. In preparation for our big show at the Egyptian, David and Karen had us on their LA Talk Radio show and spent a good deal of time promoting Ink to all of their contacts.

We take the time out to write this because David is an anomaly. Filmmakers tend to be an unnecessarily competitive bunch, yet David is 100% about helping others. His radio show is dedicated to finding independent filmmakers to tell their stories and it's turning out to be an incredible repository of interesting information.

If you're a filmmaker struggling to get funding, find a crew and cast and figure out your distribution path, you should be listening to the show and archives. David and Karen put a lot of time and energy into booking interesting guests with great stories. This photo is of David, filmmaker Alex Holdridge ("In Search of a Midnight Kiss") and Karen.

On the film front, David's Night Before the Wedding is a compelling, elegantly crafted drama with dynamite performances, and ultimately a lot of heart. The film explores male friendships, peer pressure, commitment and regret. We highly recommend that anyone in the LA area attend the screenings at the Laemmle Sunset 5 on August 11th. Here is a video invitation from David and actor/producer Gregor Collins, who by the way, is excellent in the film.

One thing is for sure, David is building a huge network of fans by not only crafting great film, but by being an advocate for indie filmmakers as a whole. That will win every time. Congrats to you on your premiere David - we are rooting for you!

Find David Branin and Night Before the Wedding online:
Night Before the Wedding website
Film Courage blog
LA Talk Radio Film Courage show
Film Courage Podbean
David Branin on Twitter
Night Before the Wedding on Twitter

Ink Soundtrack Remix

2009-07-28T11:01:00.005-06:00

by Kiowa

As we've been working on our documentary of the making of Ink, Jamin has been remixing various songs from the soundtrack. To say thank you to our friends and fans, we've posted a remix of "The Forest" as a free download on our Facebook page.

Thank you everyone for your ongoing support and encouragement!

People Fly From Alaska to See INK in Portland?

2009-07-25T11:07:00.012-06:00

By Kiowa

We made the most out of our brief 43 hour trip to Portland. The night of the premiere, something extraordinary occurred. We managed to get a great crowd at the Hollywood and during Q&A a young girl raised her hand and said she was from Juneau, Alaska. She and her sister waited outside the theater after the show to say hello to us, and it turns out that young Caitlin and Abby are huge Double Edge fans. Their Mom flies for Alaska Airlines and they all hopped on a plane to come see INK. We were floored of course and if we would have only played INK to those three it would have been utterly worth it. Here's a photo outside the theater.

We had a lot of great questions in Q&A and then headed to downtown to a circle of gypsy food carts. This is where we found the hot and delicious Whiffies fried pies, which are of growing fame in Portland. I'm not sure why this keeps happening (okay, so I do) but here is the latest pastry photo. One chocolate peanut butter pie, one guava. Both heaven.

Yesterday we dedicated our day to Goonies. We made the incredibly beautiful drive out to the Oregon coast and visited Cannon beach where the final scene was filmed. No signs of Chester Copperpot, but One-Eyed Willie says hello.

Anyone in Annapolis, the next INK screening is in your neighborhood on August 2nd. Please RSVP early to The Annapolis Pretentious Film Society. After that, INK roars back into LA on August 12th for Hollyshorts, and then the 20th and 27th at the Laemmle Sunset 5.

Portland Tonight!

2009-07-24T11:47:00.005-06:00

by Jamin

An exciting day yesterday with a write-up in Fangoria and some international attention for Ink. I've been reading Fangoria for quite some time so it was a particularly surreal moment.

Tonight is the Portland premiere and Kiowa and I are thrilled to be here. This will be the first time either of us have been to the Pacific Northwest.

INK opens in Portland, OR in one week, other cities soon

2009-07-15T11:45:00.018-06:00

By Kiowa

An interesting phenomenon seems to be taking place with INK. As time goes on and we keep showing the film to more audiences and the crickets continue to chirp on distribution, we seem to be building an underground army for the film. We are getting pockets of enthusiasm from coast to coast, and within those places people are either setting up screenings or trying to get meetings with others who can help. I never thought this would be the path for the film, but as that path gets carved out we are learning this is the very best way for INK to find its audience.

With that, we have some great new screenings to announce. Please share this information with any friends you have in any of these locations to keep that INK Army strong and growing.

PORTLAND, OR
July 24th
ONE-WEEK THEATRICAL RUN
Hollywood Theatre
Get your tickets early HERE
(we will be there for Q&A on opening night)

ANNAPOLIS, MD -- SOLD OUT!!!
August 2nd
Sponsored by Pericles Lewnes and the Annapolis Pretentious Film Society

HOLLYWOOD, CA
August 12th
INK will play in the HollyShorts Film Festival at the Sunset 5 at 9:30pm

HOLLYWOOD, CA
August 20th, August 27th, Run Starts in Early September
The Laemmle Sunset 5 has given us two 10:00pm Thursday screenings in late August. If we can pack these screenings, INK will broaden into a run in early September.

SEATTLE, WA
August 29th and 30th
Northwest Film Forum

ALEXANDRIA, VA
September 12th and 13th
Sponsored by Thomas Roberts at Fire Flies Del Ray. More info coming soon.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO
September 16th
7:00pm at the Lon Chaney Theater

PEPIN, WI
October 23rd
INK will be an opening night film for Flyway Film Festival
(we will be there for Q&A)

We are really excited about all of these opportunities to screen the film and hope to be adding more soon. We are also trying to jump across the pond to the UK, so anyone in London or Dublin... stay tuned.

INK Sells Out in New York City

2009-07-10T11:48:00.010-06:00

By Kiowa

I'm dusting off after an incredibly fun night last night but want to shout from the tops of the tall buildings INK SOLD OUT IN NEW YORK! I always stand inside the theater for the first few minutes of the film to make sure the sound level is right. It was an incredible sight to see the usher helping people find seats with a flash light and people shimmy across eight people to find a seat in against the wall in the second row. This is the thing film producers dream of. Here is a picture of Jamin filming the line oustide the theater with our behind-the-scenes camera that has shot every step of the INK journey.

We had some great conversations with fellow filmmakers and film enthusiasts after the show. People sat on trains from upstate, drove in from Maryland and converged on Cinema Village to support us. I know we always say that we're honored and humbled by these experiences but it is true. Ink seems to be building an underground army and we will continue the fight to bring it to the rest of the country... even if it is one city at a time.

The Big City

2009-07-09T06:37:00.025-06:00

By Kiowa

We made it. It appears that we are at the center of the earth, a place also known as New York City. After a lifetime of seeing NYC in TV, movies and photos it is a real pleasure to actually see it with my own eyes. What a place! Here is a photo of us at Times Square yesterday.

Any solid Seinfeld fan comes to New York and finds their way to the nearest black and white cookie. I found this sweet baby at the Penn Station Zaro's bakery. Delicious.

We are optimistic about the screening tonight. As of yesterday we had sold 2/3 of the tickets so when it all shakes out tonight we should sell out. The best news of the day so far is that legendary movie producer and indie film crusader Ted Hope tweeted about the INK screening: Ted Hope Twitter.

This is a real honor considering Ted runs a terrific blog about the indie film world and is an advocate for the little guy. If you're a filmmaker, you must keep a bookmark for Ted's blog: Truly Free Film.

Hopefully tonight will be a success - we will be back tomorrow with an update.

Ink in New York City in One Week!

2009-07-02T14:21:00.007-06:00

by Jamin

I've been to NYC once in my life and Kiowa has never been so the idea of somewhat blindly premiering a film there has a way of making one lose control of one's bladder. Nevertheless, we're very excited. Our primary hope at the beginning of this adventure was to have the opportunity to play Ink in Denver, LA, and New York, so this week will mark a dream come true.

Despite our current lack of a theatrical distributor, we seem to be having a successful theatrical release. This week marks the 14th week Ink has played in Colorado, and we have now opened and will continue to be playing LA, now New York and then Portland. We have several other cities that we're lining up and we're currently looking into Europe. Kiowa and I are stretched about as thin as we've ever been (we never aspired to be distributors), but we're really happy Ink is getting to a broader audience on the big screen.

If you're in New York, here's how to find Ink:

July 9th - 7:30pm
Cinema Village
Tickets and info at: http://www.readyticket.net/webticket/htmlshowtimes/27/ShowTimes40003.html

We will be there for Q&A...or to be mocked, your choice.

Sci-Fi Scoop Gets Behind Ink

2009-06-15T23:35:00.006-06:00

by Jamin

A great article about our ongoing fight with Ink. Our thanks to Sci-Fi Scoop!

Stand Out Indie Film ‘Ink’ Still Seeking A Distributor

The Egyptian... tonight!

2009-06-10T12:33:00.002-06:00

By Kiowa

Our big Hollywood screening goes down in a little more than eight hours.

The good news: ticket pre-sales have been great and we expect a crowd.

The bad news: the theatre has a balcony so Jamin will probably try to throw himself over just before showtime.

Wish us luck everyone. :-)

AICN Strikes Again

2009-06-08T12:07:00.006-06:00

by Jamin

Just got into LA to find that Ink is once again on the front page of Ain't It Cool News. The ever heroic Copernicus (Andy Howell) is determined to get people to see our film and we're determined to let him. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41327

We also had the wonderful surprise of finding Ink on the front page of www.current.com this weekend. All this exposure couldn't have come at a better time considering we're just two days away from the Hollywood Egyptian screening...and we have exactly zero dollars for advertising.

LA Talk Radio Film Courage Show

2009-06-02T12:40:00.007-06:00

By Kiowa

The other day we had the privilege of being on LA Talk Radio's Film Courage show with hosts David Branin and Karen Worden. David has been a fan since SPIN and has always been a great support and promoter. If any of you read his Film Synergy or Film Courage blog, you will find a good number of posts about INK.

David and his wife-to-be Karen now host a radio show and have cultivated a list of very interesting guests and stories. If you are an independent filmmaker, or just a fan of people doing things differently, I encourage you to download the shows and listen. Lots of good information there.

Here is the link to our show: http://filmcourage.podbean.com/2009/06/01/filmmakers-jamin-and-kiowa-winans-on-la-talk-radios-film-courage/

You can catch up with David's blogs and stories about his own endeavors in filmmaking with his feature "Night Before the Wedding".
Film Courage: http://filmcourage.blogspot.com/
Film Synergy: http://filmsynergy.blogspot.com/

Thank you David and Karen for helping to get the word out about INK and we wish you the very best with your radio show and your film!

Egyptian Theatre Promo

2009-05-30T13:55:00.006-06:00

By Kiowa

Some very nice people are pulling together to help us promote our screening at the Egyptian in Hollywood, which is a short 11 days away. Check out this incredible banner a friend created in Flash. I have placed the .html link below if you would like to pass it around to friends.

Here is the .html link: http://www.jaminwinans.com/click.to.preview.advert.html
Here is the .swf link: http://www.jaminwinans.com/ink3.swf

Thank you Malena and Michael.

L.A. - 2 Weeks Away, NYC and Portland Dates Set

2009-05-27T10:06:00.005-06:00

by Jamin

We have just two more weeks until our L.A. premiere of Ink at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. June 10th at 7:30pm. If you're in L.A. make sure to get your tickets in advance at Fandango.

We also have both New York City booked for July 9th at Cinema Village, and Portland for the week of July 24th at Hollywood Theatre. Tickets have not gone on sale yet for those venues.

Stay tuned...

Ink Sells Out Ft. Collins!

2009-05-23T09:12:00.017-06:00

by Jamin

As we rapidly approach our L.A. premiere of Ink we've had the fortune of opening the film in other areas of Colorado including Ft. Collins this week and Greeley next week. As Kiowa, Jeff Pointer, Jeremy Make and I drove up to the Lyric Cinema in Ft. Collins last night we honestly didn't know exactly how the film would do, but to our surprise we had a packed house and a gracious and very excited crowd last night. Thanks to an amazing review from Gary Priest at the Coloradan and to the Lyric for very creatively promoting the film, it couldn't have gone better (as seen here in some of the promos and sophisticated artwork they created).

The adventure was a particularly fond time for Kiowa having had graduated from CSU in Ft. Collins a few years back. The town was amazing and I was thrilled to find and talk with my fellow film geeks after the show. It seems that both Kiowa and I are realizing that touring with Ink is becoming more about meeting great people than it is about showing the film.

While talking to the audience we were shocked to find we had visitors from both Portland and L.A. where we will be opening over the next two months. They're all planning on coming to see Ink again in their own city. ---- JUST 2 WEEKS UNTIL L.A.!

Ink Expanding to L.A. and New York!

2009-05-01T14:32:00.005-06:00

by Jamin

That's right, Ink will be opening in L.A. at the prestigious and historical American Cinematheque Egyptian Theater right in the center of Hollywood on June 10th! Soon to follow will be NYC and then Chicago and Portland (dates to be announced).

For our incredible Denver crowd, Ink is playing an 8th and FINAL week at Starz FilmCenter so this will be your last chance to see it here. We have plans to bring Ink to Fort Collins and Greeley very soon.

For all of you in other areas of the country and the world, more details soon...

Still Going

2009-04-24T10:00:00.004-06:00

By Kiowa

We are extending Ink yet another week at Starz until April 30th. This will be week 7 and we are pretty excited to be playing so long. People continue to fill the seats at a fairly steady pace and we're not sure where they are coming from at this point (we ran out of bribe money weeks ago). I will type a more in-depth update later, so for now please tell your favorite UPS guy and Barista that Ink is still playing.

Interview with Denver's Channel 2

2009-04-20T10:45:00.005-06:00

An interview on the morning show...

The Insanity of StarFest

2009-04-19T22:15:00.005-06:00

by Jamin

An incredible day and night yesterday full of Storm Troopers, Klingnons, and snowed upon Jawas. That, of course, could only mean we were at StarFest in Denver.

We had a fantastic time and a great crowd for our 10:00pm screening of Ink. Aside from Captain America walking out half way through the movie due to exceptionally high quantities of alcohol, the audience was outstanding. A great and very intelligent Q & A and a whole lot of love from all.

A very special thanks to our good friend Steve Colligan who donned Ink's costume and ran around StarFest scaring small children and a few grown men.

StarFest and the Ink Store

2009-04-18T13:45:00.007-06:00

By Kiowa

We are gearing up for StarFest this evening. I have never attended anything of the sort so it should be a fun experience.

I have added a few new products to the CafePress store so that the avid Ink fan can litter their entire life with merchandise. Drink your morning coffee from the Ink mug, while looking at the Ink poster on your wall and staying toasty in your Ink sweatshirt. Walk out to your car covered in Ink stickers and drive to work and write with the Ink pencil. Okay, so there's no Ink pencil. Wouldn't that just be strange?

These items and a whole lot more can be purchased at: http://www.cafepress.com/doubleedgefilms

Week 6 in Denver!

2009-04-17T10:19:00.003-06:00

by Jamin

That's right, Ink is extended yet another week! We're now officially going into week six of the Denver run, ending on April 23rd.

Also, Ink will be screening at StarFest tomorrow (Saturday, April 18th) at 10:00pm! Brown Coats, we'll see you there.

InkFest

2009-04-12T12:29:00.004-06:00

By Kiowa

Last night's fan event was a huge success. Ink played to another sold out crowd and people seemed to really enjoy watching some of the behind-the-scenes footage and checking out the props and costumes. A nice lady I met via Twitter volunteered her photography services, thus the great photo. Thanks again Ali.

Next week: StarFest. Ink is scheduled to play on Saturday, April 18th at 10:00 p.m. StarFest is the ComicCon of Denver and apparently draws quite a crowd so we are really excited to be screening Ink there.

Pictured: Nathan Evans, Alison Chilen, Jim Milligan, Jeff Pointer, Kiowa Winans, Quinn Stunt Double "La Nina", Ink costume, Number One Ink Fan Alex Teitz, Jamin Winans, Shauna Earp, Jeremy Make

Jamin and Kiowa on Channel 2 "The Deuce"

2009-04-08T13:01:00.005-06:00

By Kiowa

We had the good fortune once again to land a network news interview here in Denver. Channel 2 has re-branded themselves "The Deuce" and completely updated their look and format. We got to be their first guests and they were very kind hosts.

Ink Fan Event - The First of its Kind

2009-04-07T15:36:00.004-06:00

By Kiowa
By some genius stroke of luck, Ink seems to have gathered a few fans over the last month of playing at Starz. The fan is King around here, so we decided to go out on a limb and host a fan event this Saturday, April 11th.

The big evening will kick off with a 7:00 p.m. showing of Ink, followed by five minutes of exclusive behind-the-scenes footage. No one has seen any of it yet, including us. Jamin has only digitized about half of the 35 hours so far and we've barely seen any of it so it will be a fun surprise for us all. We will then do a Q&A with Jamin, myself, Jeff Pointer (Director of Photography), Nathan Evans (Production Manager / AD), Jeremy Make ("Jacob") and Brian Taylor (Fight Choreographer). The event will move upstairs into Gallery 30 where we will have some of the props and costumes on display for a good old fashioned "show and tell".

Tickets are 2 for the price of 1 if you print off and present this voucher at the box office: http://www.doubleedgefilms.com/inkfans.pdf.

Should be a lot of fun and we hope to see you all there.

A Sell Out Show and a Fan Site?

2009-04-03T14:19:00.002-06:00

By Kiowa

Yes and Yes. Can you believe it? We sold out our show last night (Thursday) at 7:00 p.m. Apparently they delayed the start about thirty minutes to get everyone seated. This, during the fourth week of the run. We are stunned.

As for the Ink Fan Site, this is the first. A very kind and dedicated fan, Alex Teitz, emailed me a couple weeks ago and said he would like to put up a fan site and interview the actors. It had never crossed my mind that this would happen and he got it posted today: http://www.repercussionsmagazine.com/ink/

Perhaps it's the alignment of the stars, or perhaps it was the delicious banana walnut pancake I had at DJ Berkley's this morning but I think this is how you define a great day.

The Hybrid Crew and our friend Brian

2009-04-01T21:32:00.004-06:00

By Kiowa

It's time to take a moment away from blathering on about Ink and give someone near and dear to our hearts a little bit of bandwidth. Okay, so this is somewhat related to Ink...

Brian Taylor (aka "Bama") is a friend we met about five years ago. He and the great Nathan Leite (aka "Nate the Average") built us a stellar Double Edge Films website completely for free. That was our intro to Brian and since then he has become one of our closest friends. Brian is one of those guys that has done just about everything: from sushi chef to brilliant graphic design and websites, breakdancing, semi-pro wrestling, hardwood floors, pizza slinging, tai chi, mixed martial arts and now parkour. He is our one-stop-shop when we have something totally outlandish in mind. The sentence in our house when the going gets tough is "call Brian". And call Brian we did when it came to the Ink fight scenes. Did I mention he served three years as a bouncer for The Church nightclub? Experience people... experience.

Brian, out of the utter goodness of his heart, rounded up the equally talented Eli, Lorin, Mikey and Klingon to tackle the task of training our un-trained actors to look like warriors. They worked in the gym for months and months choreographing every punch, roll and throw. Any of you who have seen the film know that the fights are one of the highlights. Brian and the Hybrid Crew mixed elements of parkour (which is their primary love in life) and some brutal close-combat moves to make for some outstanding action sequences in Ink.

Please look them up when you get a chance. Brian and the Hybrid Crew now teach parkour at various gyms around Colorado and you can see what they're up to by following thier video blog at: http://www.hybridfreerunning.com. When we finally get around to posting some behind-the-scenes footage you will see just how integral these guys were to the process and we can't say enough nice things about them.

As for Brian, we'll keep calling him until he changes his phone number or slashes our tires, whichever comes first.

Ink on NBC's 9News

2009-03-31T12:52:00.002-06:00

By Kiowa

We had the great pleasure of sharing Ink with the very kind Kirk Montgomery of 9News. He is the Captain of Entertainment news here in Denver and a big sci-fi fan to boot. It turns out he really liked the film. Here is the piece he put together.

Ink Extended AGAIN until April 9th

2009-03-30T10:48:00.006-06:00

By Kiowa

I'm not sure how it's happening on no marketing dollars, but people continue to pile into the Starz FilmCenter to see Ink. We had such undeniably strong tickets sales this last week that we have decided to extend one more week until April 9th. Thank you to all of you who have come out to see Ink here in Denver and for spreading the word to friends.

We made the decision to keep Ink at least another week because we feel like a lot of people are just now finding out about the film and it would be a shame if they didn't get a chance to see it. We will see how this next week goes.

I'm going to be putting in a good amount of elbow grease this week to see if we can blow the doors off the theater this weekend. If anyone has suggestions of Sci-Fi / Fantasy groups that they think might be interested in seeing Ink please post them here. I want to make sure everyone who is a fan of the genre knows about it and gets an invitation to come see it.

Here is a photo from opening weekend... the Ink family sitting on the stairs at the theater between shows. Showbiz is so glamorous!

Jamin, Shelby, Jeremy and Jessica.

Keep Going?

2009-03-26T11:01:00.009-06:00

by Jamin

So here's an odd dilemma. Our purpose in opening Ink at the Starz FilmCenter was to give our Denver fans and supporters a preview run of the film and generate some buzz. It was going to be a two week run and we were going to pull it. The hope was that we would eventually get a small theatrical distribution deal and the distributor would ultimately reopen the film in Denver.

As it turned out, Ink had a great turnout in its opening week and so we (along with the Denver Film Society) decided to hold it for a third week so everyone had a chance to see it. The plan has been to pull it after this week (On April 2nd).

So here's the dilemma... Last night (Wednesday night) we had an unbelievable turnout. The film is doing 30% better this week than last. What's going on? We've done no real advertising other than giving our audiences Ink postcards. And the kind of numbers were getting are unheard of for Starz on a weekday and honestly, most weekday screenings anywhere.

So the question is, "Do we extend another week"? Sure, it seems like a no-brainer, of course we keep going. However, there are a few potential issues. We want Denver to be a launching point, not the end of the road. If we continue a run too long, it could feel like the end of the road. The other issue is that potential distributors may be annoyed that we're "using up" the Denver audience before they can distribute the film themselves. Though, if I were a distributor I would see two advantages; we're proving the film has an ongoing audience and good word of mouth and we're setting the stage for a larger Denver release.

It's a tough choice, and if you have an opinion, by all means leave a comment. UTA is working as fast as they can setting up distributor screenings of Ink in L.A. There seems to be some interest. Hopefully something will come of it.

LA, UTA, and...the NRA

2009-03-21T16:29:00.006-06:00

By Jamin

Just got back from our first agency/distributor trip to L.A. with Ink. It was a last minute trip to meet with UTA (United Talent Agency) and form a more perfect union. UTA is best known as being one of the top 5 agencies in the world, repping Johnny Depp, the Coen Brothers, and many more. We're excited to say that we found UTA friendly, professional, and well groomed, thus we've signed with them. What does that mean? Well, surprisingly it doesn't mean we signed anything. However, it does mean that UTA will be representing Ink and me for future films.

So as early as next week, UTA will be holding screenings for several studios, distributors, and mini-majors with the goal of selling theatrical rights to the film. In a perfect world a distributor can help us expand the film theatrically to several cities and actually give all of you a chance to see it. We'll let you know how that goes.

In addition, our newly acquired and terrifically insane agent, Pete Franciosa will be doing his best to pressure me into getting the next two scripts completed so we can make another movie. "Pages guys...I need pages", Pete says.

We were also thrilled to meet up with our recently transported cast in L.A. and spend some quality time. Kiowa's now come down with the flu (it was only a matter of time) and trying to take it easy this evening. Ink is in its second week at Starz Film Center and doing great. Hopefully we can expand.

Ink Gets Another Week!

2009-03-19T19:41:00.002-06:00

By Jamin

Well, it's official, Ink is being extended for a third week at Starz Film Center. We had a tremendous weekend and it doesn't seem to be slowing down... and well, why stop a good thing? Here's something Denver Film Society put out in a press release:

"With only 8 showings, Ink outperformed all arthouse cinema titles playing in Denver last weekend, and nearly beat the per screen average attendance of all films, coming in only behind the Hollywood blockbusters Watchmen, Last House on the Left, and Race to Witch Mountain" - Neil Truglio, Denver Film Society.

Pretty phenomenal. Thanks to all of you who have helped make that happen. Here's to another week!

We have more news...we'll post here soon...

Sold Out!

2009-03-14T11:11:00.003-06:00

By Jamin

It was quite a surprise to hear our 7:00 screening of Ink sold out a day before the show. We hoped there would be a turn out, but I never thought Starz would have to turn people away a day in advance. And again, today the Saturday 7:00 is already sold out!

What a wild ride. The press has been amazing. Virtually every paper you pick up around here has written something about Ink. Jeremy (who plays Jacob) and I went to KBPI yesterday to promote the film on air. They were fantastic. Audiences have been overwhelming. By the time we got home last night I could barely see straight.

We're now off to do Reggie McDaniel's radio show in just a couple minutes. He's a wonderful man and a real support. We'll let you know how it continues tonight.

The Denver Cast and Crew Screening

2009-03-13T14:22:00.004-06:00

By Kiowa

This thing just keeps getting better. I never anticipated there would be such excitement/joy/hope/enthusiasm surrounding this movie, but that seems to be the overall vibe. Last night we had our cast and crew screening and it was blast. I can't say enough nice things about the people who helped us with this project and believed in us from the very beginning, and to have them all in one room here in Denver was an uplifting experience.

There are so many people to thank and be thankful for. It's funny how many twists and turns life takes to lead you to a particular moment in time and in that moment you realize you needed every one of those twists to get there - or at least to fully appreciate it. Jamin has had a bullet-proof focus on being a filmmaker since his family first got a TV in their house at age 10. He worked in a vet clinic for $3/hour to save up for his first video camera then spent the rest of his days in Jr. High and High School making movies with friends and editing on two VCR's in his basement. He sacrificed the entire decade of his 20's living in studio apartments, eating frugally, spending every last moment making movies and avoiding 9-to-5 jobs that may trap him into a particular lifestyle. Somehow he survived and in that time honed his skills. I came into the picture only four years ago and tried to jump in and help in every way possible.

When we set out to make Ink we picked a date, called our crew and told them to reserve three months. We had no money, no investors and no real hope of pulling it off but the cameras were rolling on that exact date and 2.5 years later, here we are. The people that stepped up two years ago to become investors I think saw that spark of determination and entrepreneurial sprit. The people that stepped up during the film I think saw some of the same but had that small nagging thought of "I really hope this doesn't suck." From the crowd response last night, I feel like we're firmly out of the suck zone and into the doesn't suck zone.

We have no idea where this may go from here. All I know is that we have the support of so many wonderful and talented people who we could not have made this movie without. Sheer will is what made this film happen, and now if we can collectively will it to break into something big then I think a lot of people will have a lot to be proud of. This was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but that also makes it the sweetest and most rewarding. Life is a funny thing.

We are going to LA next week, Tuesday through Saturday and already have a number of promising meetings set up. If there are updates to be had, you can catch them right here. In the meantime we will see you at Ink this weekend and if we seem tired, dazed and happy that's becasuse we are.

Social Media Hysteria

2009-03-10T19:33:00.003-06:00

By Kiowa

Facebook. Twitter. Blog. YouTube. Email. Website. CafePress. Go through them all then do it over and over and over and that is what has become of my last few days. It seems that social media is taking over the world and if you're not on the inside then you're practically left with a rotary dial phone with no caller ID. How did we ever survive before we knew who was causing the phone to ring? Will someone please fax me the answer using only dashes and punctuation?

It is really exciting to start getting into these things. So what, 175 million people set up shop on Facebook before we did which would render the Winans species extinct by natural selection standards. But, we're there now and people are actually becoming fans of the page. It's fun to see it populate with friends and strangers alike. Whoever you are out there jumping on the Ink bandwagon... thank you!

CafePress.com is one of the more brilliant innovations in recent years, even far surpassing the "Snuggie" blanket-robe thing. At CafePress you can upload your own graphics, create a storefront and sell merchandise. No boxes of t-shirts in your basement and orders to fulfill. They do all the heavy lifting (and thus get most of the $$) but it is totally worth setting up shop there for the fan who may want a t-shirt. Here is a sample of what we've got up there on several styles of t-shirts, hats, hoodies and bags.

We're two days away from opening Ink in Denver and so far the excitement seems to be really high. If you want to see what is being written about Ink I have it all posted on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/business/dashboard/#/pages/Ink/55404284537

We have been getting some interesting phone calls and emails from the Hollywood types but we know better than to celebrate too early. We just ate a delicious meal of mac and cheese and canned salmon for dinner. That's the reality of our life and we've been plenty humbled in the last few years to not order up the fireworks display over a few phone calls. If anything solidifies into real news, we'll of course share it here.

Cast and crew we'll see you all on Thursday and to anyone else thinking of coming to see Ink this weekend we will be doing Q&A after all shows. Again, thank you to everyone for the continued enthusiasm and support... it means everything to us.

A Sneak Peek

2009-03-06T10:49:00.005-07:00

By Jamin

I'm always amazed by my ability to get queasy before every screening we have. Even though Ink has played several times in Santa Barbara to enthusiastic audiences, I'm always convinced the world will end with every screening.

Last night we had the fortune of playing Ink for a group of Denver press, bloggers, fellow geeks and influential people. As usual, we couldn't handle sitting through the film with an audience, but Jeff, our nerve-free cinematographer sat and watched it for the (no joke) 9th time. He came up to me afterwards and said, "It's still great every time man". God Bless Jeff Pointer.

It was a great screening. People were enthusiastic, asked great questions, and were extraordinarily encouraging. Turns out I didn't have to hang myself after all.

The hope is that these people will help spread the word and encourage others to see the film. Ideally, it just keeps branching out from there and takes on a life of its own. We'll see... One more week until the Denver opening.

Photo: Jeff Pointer, Jamin Winans, Kiowa Winans, Nathan Evans, Jason Grant from "This Week in Denver" at the press screening. Thank you for the photo Sandra Murray!

Life in 140 Characters

2009-02-28T21:11:00.002-07:00

By Kiowa

So we're a little slow on the uptake for the whole Twitter phenomenon, but fear not, we have now established a way to communicate with you in a mere 140 characters. It's a fine challenge and it reminds me of a Saturday Night Live skit from probably 1988. It was a spoof on Texas Senatorial campaign ads and one Senator's platform was to shorten conversations by shortening words, particularly for people out of time. Therefore someone on death row would die of "leath injech". Maybe I'm the only one that ever found that funny. Then again, I find most things funny.

Anyway, please follow us on Twitter if you would like to be served the occasional update in 140 characters.

http://www.Twitter.com/DoubleEdgeFilms

Tickets to Ink

2009-02-25T23:13:00.003-07:00

For anyone in Denver considering coming out to see the film, please purchase your tickets ahead of time at the Starz FilmCenter website. Tickets can currently be purchased for the first week of the run. Jamin and I will be there to do Q&A after all shows on opening weekend. We hope to see you there!

Here is the link to buy tickets: http://www.denverfilm.org/filmcenter/detail.aspx?id=22444

Denver Opening March 13th!

2009-02-25T12:10:00.010-07:00

By Jamin

We're thrilled to announce Ink will be opening in Denver on March 13th at the Starz Film Center in Downtown Denver. We'll be playing the film for a two week run. From there we're hoping to open wider, but it will ultimately depend on the distribution deal we acquire.

Please, if you're in Denver, help us get the word out. We're going about this release very untraditionally. Ultimately we're trying to demonstrate a strong audience in Denver before releasing it wider. Word of mouth and press are everything (literally everything) to us, so spreading the word will have a huge impact...or not...we'll see.

The New Ink Trailer

2009-02-24T21:20:00.003-07:00

By Kiowa

We just got the new trailer uploaded to YouTube - please check it out and pass it around if you like it.

We will have our big announcement hopefully tomorrow. We're still hammering out some details so stay tuned.

Back in Denver

2009-02-19T16:30:00.002-07:00

By Kiowa

We have been quiet on the blogosphere for a few weeks, but that does not mean we have been taking it easy. Arriving home in Denver meant a steady two week trip back to the basement to do another pass on the film and cut a new trailer. We're making some bold steps and will be releasing a new trailer along with a big announcement early next week.

We have been surprised that the first trailer has played a bit "horror" for people and we don't want to turn away viewers that think it is a horror and don't like that genre. The film has creepy elements, to be sure, but is definitely not a horror. We have cut a new trailer that is a little more true to the overall tone of the film so be on the lookout Monday or Tuesday for that to hit our website and YouTube.

One Of These Things is Not Like The Other

2009-02-01T18:30:00.009-07:00

By Kiowa

If you just look over all the posters of the films playing at SBIFF it's very clear one of these things is not like the other. Ink is clearly the bastard child in the festival and after four screenings here, it's obvious none of the people coming to our film are actually festival goers at all. They're all coming into town from L.A. or the colleges nearby making us realize how great and die hard our fans really are. If it weren't for them, we would have had four very, very personal screenings of the film.

In general, film festivals center around a primarily middle-aged and older crowd whom is most interested in intimate dramas from around the world. In fact, the festival film has really become a genre itself, but a genre Ink won't ultimately fit in. And though SBIFF has gone extremely well (probably the best festival experience we've had) we've made the decision that instead of pursuing an extensive festival run, we're going to release the film to our fans as soon as possible.

Now we're just trying to decide how best to release the film. We have generated a lot of distributor interest from the reviews and crowd reaction at SBIFF, the only catch with distributors is that they can be slow to release a film and we're not interested in waiting. We want our fans to be able to see it now whether that be in the theaters, on VOD, DVD, or online so over the next few weeks, we're going to have to make some careful decisions of how to do that.

Likely we'll open Ink theatrically in Denver some time in the next 4 to 8 weeks. We have a very supportive fan base there and it's going to be the best place for us to start. As we negotiate with distributors over that same period of time, we will see what shakes out. The thing we aim to avoid is losing all of this great post-festival momentum and buzz to the point where the film seems "stale" in another year when the distributor is ready to push Ink into theatres. But ideally a distributor helps us open in theaters around the country very soon or we'll have a DVD, VOD, and online simultaneous launch.

Something that's extremely important to us is our international audience. We have really great fans in France, Germany, the U.K., Japan, Spain, Russia, Mexico, and several other countries and we're dead set on getting the film to everyone as quickly as possible. So it's likely that releasing the film digitally is going to be the best way to get Ink to everyone simultaneously. We will keep you all posted on where things land with distributors and for our Denver fans, we will see you all very soon.

For our last night in Santa Barbara we did the most remarkable thing. Maybe it's not remarkable to everyone, but for two people who grew up in the cold foothills of Colorado it was pretty awe-inspiring. We had made some friends earlier in the week and they invited us to a bonfire down on the beach. We followed the street directions to the location and "go down the stairs to the beach and turn left". As Jamin, Chris Kelly and I were walking down what must be 300 stairs, all I could see was endless stars, the mist from the water, the half-moon peeking out behind a tree and heard the waves crashing below us. It was like walking into heaven. We could barely see a thing, but what we could see, smell and hear was spectacular. A real treat for these folks from the Rockies!

Ink Finds Friends in Santa Barbara

2009-01-29T13:10:00.010-07:00

By Kiowa

Life continues to go well here in Santa Barbara. The weather today is in the 70's and being able to walk around in short sleeves and sandals is, well, pretty damn great. Our little Bed and Breakfast brings us delicious breakfast every morning and so far our trip feels like something out of a very nice fairy tale.

Word on the film continues to be great. We had our TBA screening on Tuesday night and surprisingly had about 35 people in the audience. We had a lot of enthusiastic people in the crowd and one who had been at Friday's screening and promised to return and bring her Mother tonight so she is currently our number one fan. Unfortunately our fan club is under-funded so the only door prize for her is a hug. Maybe someday we could send her a t-shirt, but that sounds a bit glamorous and expensive considering that I had a run by Wells Fargo today and move some money around into our overdrawn checking account.

We have been doing a little sightseeing around the area. Tuesday afternoon we drove up to the little Dutch town of Solvang and enjoyed an enormous cream puff.The major part of that fun was just driving along the 101 and looking at the ocean. We don't get big water in Colorado so seeing the ocean is a special treat. Yesterday we took a drive down to Covina to see Jeff, our Director of Photography. He grew up on Covina and has a lot of family in California, which comprised about a fifth of our audience on Friday night. After a few drinks, his group decided to reenact the film at about 2:00 in the morning. I'm pretty sure we should change our marketing materials and perhaps change this into a stage show from the look of the photo below.
Tonight is the big screening at the Lobero - 680 seats! We've got a few friends coming up from LA and a few others flying in from Denver. It's times like these when you feel loved by the people around you. We're super excited to see everyone and very thankful to have such wonderful friends.

If you happen to be in the area, don't forget that Ink plays at the Lobero this evening at 10:00 p.m. The Santa Barbara Independent gave us a nice press hit this morning on their website entitled "Winans Wows Audience with Ink" so hopefully that will get the locals out as well. You can read that here: http://www.independent.com/news/2009/jan/29/sbiff-09-winans-wows-audience-eminkem/

We'll be back on tomorrow and let you know how tonight's screening goes. Wish us luck!

Another Screening at SBIFF

2009-01-27T10:51:00.002-07:00

by Jamin Winans

It's Tuesday the 27th and the festival told us yesterday that they're giving Ink another screening tonight at 10:15 at the Metro 4. That's great news and very flattering, though I doubt many will show up considering it's not in the festival schedule. Regardless, we're happy to screen for 100 people or 2.

Kiowa, the crew, and I are all cautiously optimistic. We've been getting a lot of distribution interest and production company interest since the first screening. Simultaneously we've gotten a lot a great supportive e-mails and phone calls as well as a handful of "Make sure to keep your ego under control" e-mails.

Last night was the highlight of the festival for me. We went and saw a screening of Slumdog Millionare and the Director, Danny Boyle was there for Q&A. Danny Boyle is a filmmaking hero for me and countless others and it was thrilling to hear him speak. As is the case with Danny, he was extremely kind hearted, passionate and funny. It was really interesting hearing him talk about his love for Pixar as well as James Cameron. He is truly a fan of everything.

Should be an interesting night. We'll let you know if anyone shows up other than ourselves.

Ink Premiere and Review

2009-01-25T11:14:00.005-07:00

By Kiowa

Jamin and I walked out of our premiere on Friday night thinking that either our crowd was half-asleep on qualudes and barbituates (do they even sell those anymore?) or completely stunned. We don't exactly have Jerry Maguire meets Bride Wars, so showing the film for the first time was a huge awakening. Some people aren't going to get this movie at all and therefore not enjoy it, and others are going to think it's about the coolest thing they've ever seen. We would rather have a grade of "A" or "F", just don't give us a "C"!

We walked back to our questionably-stolen car in the fragrant Santa Barbara rain at about 1:00 a.m. thinking life will probably continue to be oatmeal-every-morning struggle it has been for the past four years. But, we went to bed feeling really good that we had at least found a few very enthusiastic fans that stayed and talked to us a while after the screening.

Yesterday was a new day, so we decided to attend the festival's screenwriting panel and while we're sitting there Jamin gets a text from Chris Kelly saying "Ain't it Cool News gave us an unbelievable review." What? From last night? Are you serious? Jamin got up and called Chris, who read the review over the phone, then he raced back into the panel and pulled me out. After giving the short synopsis, we shared a brief moment of "I hope this means the occasional waffle for breakfast!" and got a little teary-eyed. Making Ink has been the hardest thing I've ever done and Jamin has been purusing film since he was a little kid so if we are truly on the verge of turning that corner, it's pretty exciting. If not, let's just hope we can keep that electricity on in our house to at least be able to heat up the daily oatmeal.

Here is the Ain't it Cool News review written by Copernicus who is welcome to either one of our kidneys.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39874

Welcome to Los Angeles. Love, Variety

2009-01-22T23:24:00.005-07:00

By Kiowa

Today was the big day we traveled from Denver to Los Angeles to head up to the film festival. Upon touching down in Los Angeles and partaking in the modern ritual of immediately powering up the cell phone, we had a text message from Jeremy Make saying "Ink is in Variety". Jamin immediately called for a little more information and sure enough, two images from Ink made it into the print version of the January 22, 2009 edition of Variety. The first image is inside on the front page and is the promotional image for the article about Santa Barbara International Film Festival. When you turn to the feature article about the festival, there is a large image from Ink displayed with three images from other competition films.

Variety happens to be the holy grail in terms of film press. Jamin and I basked in the excitement for a while but were immediately humbled by reality when we reached our rental car facility, which could easily double for a chop shop. I'm fairly certain that we're driving a stolen Toyota Corolla, but no bother, they're not going to charge us for additional insurance.

Still, this is a pretty sweet way to start our festival experience. A number of our actors are already in town for tomorrow's big premiere and Jamin sat down with someone writing for the Santa Barbara Independent this afternoon. We have all of our press kits, all of our post cards, business cards and hopefully a somewhat coherent pitch to help get people into seats. I think we've made a good movie and now it's time to share it with an audience, which will all be happening in about 24 hours.

It's a thrilling time at the House of Winans. Jamin and I will do our best to keep the blog updated while we're here. If the rest of the week is anything like today, we will have much happy news to share. Until our rental gets towed and we wind up in the clink.

Ink - The World Premiere

2009-01-08T14:20:00.014-07:00

by Jamin Winans

So it’s been about a month since launching the first Ink trailer. The response has been tremendous and a lot of our fans and friends have been responsible for pushing the trailer around and garnering over 17,000 hits on YouTube alone.

The weirdest thing about getting into a film festival is that you’re not allowed to tell anyone until the festival officially announces it. So we’ve been sitting on our World Premiere of Ink news for several weeks now. Finally here it is:

We are very proud to announce that the World Premiere of Ink will at the 2009 Santa Barbara International Film Festival! The festival runs from January 22nd to February 1st and Ink will be screening on:

Friday, January 23rd at the Metro 4 at 10:15pm

Thursday, January 29th at the Lobero Theater at 10:00pm

Friday, January 30th at the Metro 4 at 10:15pm

Tickets will be available soon at: http://www.sbiff.org/

The festival is honoring Clint Eastwood, Kate Winslet, Mickey Rourke, Penelope Cruz, and Kristen Scott Thomas this year, so we’re excited just to be there. Ink is one of just seven films selected for the independent film competition.

Anyone in the area (or outside the area for that matter) is invited to come and we would love to see you. Our second screening is at the Lobero Theater which is a 680 seat theater. We’ll take any help you can give us to fill it up.

It feels good. If feels good to be done with the film and it feels great to be showing it so soon at such a notable festival. We'll be posting regularly here about our experience and get you all the pictures we can.

"Ink" and The Witch

2008-12-01T11:02:00.002-07:00

by Jamin Winans

I was about four years old, living in Ft. Wayne, Indiana when I woke in the middle of the night to something creeping through my room. I was half asleep and slowly getting my bearings when I noticed a large dark figure coming towards me. I closed my eyes, uncertain of what I saw, but hoped that it was just my vision adjusting to the dark. With my eyes shut and my blankets pulled up, I went over the image in my head. The figure looked like a cloaked monster with a huge nose and an old body. Was he evil and there to kill me, or was he something else?

Earlier that year, as my mom often likes to remind me, I had fallen in love with Snow White. The brunette with fluffy shoulders and a charming voice was unquestionably the woman of my dreams. The Seven Dwarves were like brothers. But at the early age of four, nothing scared the crap out of me like the evil Witch (in old woman form). She killed my woman and it took all seven dwarves to bring that bitch down. This figure in my room was strangely reminiscent of the Witch.

Slowly pulling together my courage, I reluctantly opened my eyes... There was no one there. Yeah, the room was dark and eerie, long shadows, but no apocalyptic demon. I relaxed, settled down, and lay awake a moment. I was about to close my eyes again, when suddenly a hand reached over from the side of my bed and came towards me, closer and closer. It almost didn't seem human, with long skinny fingers covered in dirt, they looked like rusty living knives.

And that's the last thing I remember. I woke up the next morning like nothing had happened. I immediately brushed it off as a dream, but to this day I still feel like it was something more. In retrospect, I can't deny the similarity between Snow White's Witch and the monster in my room. It would be stupid to not at least consider that my imagination had something to do with it, but still...

20 years later and I was still thinking about what exactly happens to us when we fall asleep, and whether or not it has significance. I began writing Ink and gave this "monster" a starring role. In the meantime, I married Snow White and convinced her to give up her singing-with-the-birds career in order to help me with an exciting and uncertain career in film production.

About two weeks into shooting the film we showed up in the intersection of 17th and Champa in downtown Denver to film a car accident. One of the cars was donated to us, barely ran, and smelled like something died inside. Seriously, we sent a team out to find air fresheners. We had to shoot a shot inside the car, so holding my breath, I climbed in to see how it would work. There was all kinds of trash throughout the car, but the one thing that immediately caught my eye was the ornament hanging off the rear view mirror. I couldn't believe it. It was a plastic head of the Witch grinning at me.

It's the morning of December 1st, 2008 and we're about to release the trailer for our second feature film, Ink. It's been over two years of script writing, pre-production, production, and post.

We've never worked so hard for such a sustained period of time before, so the reward of releasing the trailer after so long is particularly sweet.

It's an indie film and our resources are limited, but we know Ink is something completely unique and our audience will love it as much as we do. So we're determined to get the word out. We're pushing this trailer as far as it will go and praying our fans will take it that extra mile. Hopefully, the Witch won't stop us.