Chance Premiere @ Sidewalk 9/22

[The Big I T]

Nice article Sally. Educational. Informative. Entertaining. Thought-provoking. Fine use of quotes. You done the Fourth Estate proud.



And, it sounds like you established a pretty darned good rapport with the interviewee.

********

"How 'bout them Broncos..." -- Riley, saying something undeniably charming and useful, in The Initiative

[emma peel]

The Big I T, I think Sally and Amber's people have definitely developed a rapport. I believe by Friday night, people were going up to Sally and asking "Where's Amber?"

Janice

[kpmuse]

Terrific article Sally and excellent photos Rally. Amber is a hottie, and I love her quirks. She is so wonderful to the fans. What a doll

Tara or nothing.

Tara & Willow Love Forever

[theatremouse]

Quote:

---

1. A description/plot summary of the film--this is important given that the chances for actual distribution/release of the flick remain "iffy". I understand that there are supposedly some "copyright" concerns about this [(although I really don't see why--I could summarize/describe the action of "Casablanca" without giving away the ending). And please don't give us this "girl-looking-for-love" summary : that could be the plot of about oh, I dunno, about 5,000 different flicks!

---

righto, but the specific requests they made was that descriptions be limited to exactly that, hence everyone uses the same two sentence blurb about the plot. its just like anytime anyone tries to say anything about rosie o'donnell's book they get cut off and limited to saying "it's about a girl who called the adoption agency and things that happened because of that". blah blah blah. that's all they want to be said.



peace out.

Willow: It's horrible! That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil and... skanky. And I think I'm kinda gay.

Edited by: theatremouse at: 9/26/02 9:47:47 am

[Willowlicious]

Excellent article, Sally. Thanks.

--------

"I'm not the girl you once put your faith in, just someone who looks like me....All the perfect drugs and superheroes wouldn't be enough to bring me up to zero. So get out while you can."


"Humpty Dumpty" by Aimee Mann

[Chewster]

God that was a hell of a journey but I finally made it home a few hours ago. Glad to see that the other Kittens that I met seem to be home okay too, and also that Anne Marie was not in Isadore's path.



I have very little to add to all that has gone before other than to say that Chance was far, far better than I ever hoped it would be and that I think that it has a good chance of being picked up for some sort of release now that it has been expanded beyond the original 73 minutes (largely by the songs)



Yes some stuff from the script was cut but then again some of the content, for example the ecstasy scene, would have have been seen by those who see such things as sending a bad message (though the real message would of course have been 'drugs are bad look what they do.')



Amber as Chance carried the film marvelously and James was... yes I will say it, very good. The whole cast was.



Amber as a person... wow. She is a sweetie and a stunningly unassuming. It was a shame, as others have said, that she needed to have a body guard (but even he could be seen to be having a laugh at times) but that is the way of the world and if it made her more comfortable then I am all for that. He had an earpiece and everything but I am sure that he was just listening to the football because there only seemed to be him there!



My own pictures of the Q&A were not great. First time using the digital camera and all, besides I seemed to catch that microphone stand more than her or the others on stage with her. I was glad to see all those others that are already up then.



A big hello to all the kittens I met, too many to remember I am afraid I am horrible with names, but those I spent most time with get an extra big hello - Katy, Syd, Toni & Chris (whose picture of me in their album is SOOOO unflattering - thanks guys) Jennifer, Jimmi (with whom I drank a whole lot more Amber Waves on Monday night trying to forget the empty shopping wasteland that is Birmingham AL), Janice and someone I shall and have just called T or possibly C. (I only told one person who didn't know.)



It was all good clean fun... apart from Katy having a Kitten sat on her face all night. BUt someone already mentioned that. I mean I wouldn't have, but being as it had already being raised I thought I would bring it up again, (apologies if you are that Kitten!)



More as I think of it later apart from I came back to find a customs/VAT bill for the import of my Kitten stuff. So now I pay California Sales Tax as well as UK VAT?? Gee... so unfair.

Paul


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Edited by: Chewster at: 9/26/02 4:24:43 pm

[BoredNow99]

Great article, Sally. You should feel justifiably proud of yourself



I got a really good sense of Amber as a person which, to someone who is unlikely to ever meet her, is a gift.



Thanks for sharing it with us, and well done.

Willow...It's Glenda in a bubble power, not Margaret Hamilton on a bicycle power

[DarkWiccan]

Here is a vague (but less vague) summary of Amber's film...



Here's this girl Chance, apparently well-off, but chooses to live in a ghetto-based apartment because she likes saving money. We never learn what Chance does, if she does anything. You get the idea that she might live on an allowance from her parents... but then her mom shows up and says that she is broke and needs to live with her, so there goes that idea. Unless the allowance is from her father.



Chance is best friends with Simon (James Marsters) and he lives on her couch rent free. They both have their own quirks and help each other out when it comes to getting rid of annoying boyfriends, girlfriends and placating Chance's neurotic new-age mom.



The plot bounces from past to present tense, with Chance narrating the entire way. It's more a character study of sorts about a young woman who is not what you could call innocent trying to figure out what matters in life and relationships.



Hope that clears things up a little bit.



Cheers

DW



Edited because I am stupid with character names...thanks Holley

"Promise me you'll never be linear." "On my trout."

Edited by: DarkWiccan at: 9/26/02 6:49:08 pm

[maudmac]

No problem, DW.

---------------------------
Don't let those seeds pop so much!---Mike

Edited by: maudmac at: 9/27/02 3:20:40 am

[Hemiola]

Thanks, DarkWiccan!

-----------------------------------------

"O salce! salce! salce!"

Willow Song from Verdi's "Otello"

[katydid]

Paul: Thanks for bringing that back up...lol I only wish that statement was true...that is the only thing that could have made the weekend any better. Glad to hear you got home okay.

--------------
She practically had genuine molded plastic stamped on her ass.

[helpful information perha]

www.postherald.com/me092402.shtml

Films pull in bigger profits

By ROBIN CLEMOW

BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD

Thanks to sweet Reese Witherspoon and avid Amber Benson fans, revenue for the fourth annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival jumped this year, officials said Monday.

This weekend's three-day event, in addition to preview screenings last week, brought in about 75 percent more cash than last year's independent film fling in downtown Birmingham.

Festival director Erik Jambor declined to give any specific figures, saying Sidewalk officials were waiting on final counts and attendance reports. The revenue increase came from more ticket sales and an overwhelming increase in merchandise sales.

"I think we had a lot more films that sold tickets individually," Jambor said. "Some people might have bought a ticket to come see 'Shalom, Y'all' or (TV star Amber Benson's film) 'Chance' and stuck around to see others."

He added that the opening night film, "Sweet Home Alabama" starring Reese Witherspoon, brought in some festival-goers that might have otherwise skipped the event.

The festival on Saturday sold out of T-shirts, hats, buttons and other Sidewalk merchandise, even though organizers ordered enough to have leftovers, based on last year's sales.

Officials already are making plans with what to do with the extra money.

"We're trying to build up our year-round events," Jambor said.

The Sidewalk festival will use some of the money for workshops throughout the year, and for its monthly film screenings at WorkPlay, which officials launched last year, Jambor said.

"(This year's success) shows that people like this event and want to see it continue to grow," Jambor said.

Sidewalk winners included "Easy Listening" for Best Feature, "Shalom Y'all" for Best Documentary, "Funny Ha-Ha" for Performance by an Ensemble Cast, "Fits & Starts" and "Une Fille de Joie" for Best Short Film, "Ray4theNBA" for Best Documentary Short, "Hannah Can't Swim" for Best Student Film and "Abracadabra" for Alabama Spectrum Award.

Audience choice award winners were "Chance," "Shalom Y'all" and "Crank Calls."

[justastraightdog]

Thanks, HIP. reading the first sentences was my ROTFLMAO of the day. Because I still have your info on the board next door in mind. And both numbers together are such a nice picture...

_________________________________
No safety or surprise, the end

I'll never look into your eyes...again

from "The End" by Jim Morrison/The Doors

[bowieinberlin]

Hey, thanks for all the kind words everybody. This was something I wanted to do more than a year ago, and I never thought I'd have the opportunity.



Amber had so much to say that I thought was really interesting, and I hated to have space constraints. She really blows my mind.



Anyhoo, I want to make sure that I give credit where it is due, and the photos were taken by a very talented young lady who is now a full-fledged Amber fan. She rocks like mad. All over the place.

* * * * * * * *


"There was a fish ... IN the percolator."

[Chewster]

It was a great article Sally and maybe you could put together the version where you weren't constrained by space? Just as an exercise in impressing the hell out of us all? (Even more.)



And yes, I think Amber is known for converting the unwary with her charms. Got to watch that rocking though.

Paul


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[emma peel]

From HIP's post above:



"This weekend's three-day event, in addition to preview screenings last week, brought in about 75 percent more cash than last year's independent film fling in downtown Birmingham. "

-------------------------

Hehe. Don't we all know the real reason profits were up 75%?(and I certainly don't think it was because of Reese Witherspoon, who I do like by the way).

Janice

[foundpoem]

Congratulations, Sally, on achieving the interview goal and on making a great article out of it.



"Avid Amber Benson fans" contributing to Sidewalk's jump in revenue...

you know, Amber's approach to building a Hollywood career reminds me of Clinton's approach to winning the Democratic candidacy for the '92 elections. So many people said they voted for him because they'd /met/ him, heard him speak, been blown away by his charisma, presence, and vision.



Of course, Amber's not trying to win a major election or nuthin', just entertain and pay the bills. But now that I think of it, the 2016 election trail is not /that/ far away....gotta start planning early...

[VampNo12]

What an excellent article Sally (and thanks for sharing your Amber interview with us), Well done!

[Vampire Parrot]

I took some pics of Amber at the filmmaker's seminar, held at WorkPlay on Friday 20th.



www.photobox.co.uk/public...bum=145784



From James the Amberholic Vampire Parrot

Edited by: Vampire Parrot at: 9/26/02 9:53:22 pm

[urnofosiris]

Thank you Vampire Parrot, those pics are wonderful. I love her facial expressions in these pics, and bless her for not wearing any make up. For some reason the last one is my favourite.

--------------------

Tara: "uh Willow?"

Willow: "No dancing naked, huh?...It just won't be the same."

Tara: "That's all right, we can save it for later" ----From Wilderness, the newest WT comic written by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden

[emma peel]

Hey, Sally. your article's now on slayage.com.

Kewl.

Janice

[VampNo12]

Thanks for the pics, Vampire Parrot, they are beautiful! I agree with DrG I just love her facial expressions she really runs the gamut in that department ! Oh an Amber tongue, you can't go wrong with that !

Edited by: VampNo12  at: 9/26/02 11:09:18 pm

[BethanyB3]

According to Amber, Chance is "sought of a slacker" who lives off of her trust fund. But this allows her to pursue her work as an artist. All the works in the apartment were supposedly created by her. Hope this clears it up, it was one of the things that came up while speaking with her Sunday night.

**********************************************

"From the creative & receptive emerge the ten thousand things" ~ Chinese proverb

[tommo]

The one of her resting her head on her arms is my favorite. She's lovely. Thanks for these.

----------
"I feel like I've been split down the center and half of me is lost." Yeah Willow, I know exactly what you mean...

[superZONic]

Hey y'all, I transcribed what i could hear of the Q&A. The questions were really drowned out so maybe Rally or someone can fill that part out.





******************************************

Quote:

---

Please welcome to the stage writer/director, Miss Amber Benson…[huge applause]



[Amber emerges from the stage and becons her mother Diane Elizabeth Benson (producer,), Mary Brezovich (producer), Patrice Cochet (director of photography), Aaron Fruchtman (original scorer), and Jeff Ricketts (Malcolm – Chance)]



AB: Um ,we have a bunch of people here. This is our premiere. This is the first time we’ve shown this in front of an audience. [Big applause]. Um, Mary and Jeff….you guys in the audience? Come up if you are…and then… Mom, get your butt out here! [audience laughs]. We’re waiting on our composer and our director of photography.



Mary Brezovich is from Birmingham. She’s going to hell with me. [laughs] That’s all I could think while I was watching it. I’m going to hell. My whole family is here. Friends. I’m going to hell in a handbasket. So uh…lemme introduce you to everybody. Our composer is still not here. This is Patrice Lucien Cochet, he is our Director of Photography, and the young man to his left is Aaron Fruchtman he is our composer... Did I say it right, Aaron? This is Jeff Ricketts – he played my dad. He’s not old enough to play my dad but I needed somebody to play my dad. He’s an amazing, talented actor and he stepped up to the plate. He really saved my butt. This is my mother – the matchmaker lady.[Diane demures] Our producer Mary Brezovich who is actually a Birmingham native and I met her in Las Angeles and we just really clicked cuz she’s super bright and super talented. She is a director herself but deigned to help us out on this cuz we needed help. Oh god, did we need help. [Mary is a little teary- very sweet] So, everybody’s really enjoyed Birmingham. You guys have made it a lot of fun. I dunno should we do the Q& A thingie?[squints] I dunno. I can’t see. I’m dazed.



Erik Jambor: Any questions or?



Aud: Can I give you something?



AB: Can you give me something? Uh, ok!

[gift and hug are exchanged. Applause. Audience member asks to photograph Ambers ass. Amber turns back to audience and obliges but has a messenger bag on] You get the bag. [Aud. Laughter]



We’re gonna kinda try and do something afterwards so…There’s another film coming in and we don’t wanna take away from that. It’s really wonderful. Y’all should stay and see it. I recommend it highly.



EJ: OK I HAVE A QUESTION



AB: Ok, you have a question there..



Can you tell us where did you get the idea to make a film cuz yo've been acting for awhile? Why did you make your own film and where did the idea come from?



AB: Well, I’ve been an actor in Los Angeles for 11 years. I’m from here originally. I did a lot of theatre here. I kind of exhausted what there was to do here. Moved to Los Angeles, my mom, my sister and I. I just, I got really sick of playing you know, the love interest or the buxom girl that says “ Woo hoo! Party!” so I decided to do this and so I wrote it and I did not write it for me. I did not write this to play. [laughs]. I wrote it for somebody else to play. Not me. I am James’ character. That is me. Sex does not give me anything… I’m a nice chaste girl. [laughs] Um. So that’s where..kinda where it came from. I just wanted to do something…I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. I think we all have something inside of us that if you can just tap into it…we’ll be able to do whatever we want to do and luckily I found amazing fans and they totally supported what I was doing. They helped me raise money. Most of the money I paid myself. Now I’m broke. So it’s good. But I dunno. Do you have questions for anybody that worked on the film cuz they worked really hard on it and I couldn’t have made the film without them. [the crew behind her look a bit bashful]. Ok they hate me now. [laughs]



Audience member: I have a question. When you do digital..I noticed the lighting…Some of the scenes … [something about the color changes and contrast. Amber pulls Patrice up to the mic to answer]



PLC: Actually it is a challenge. It doesn’t have much latitude. I think the projection is a bit dark too.



Audience member: Yeah. I did notice that.



AB: It just depends on…you kinda hafta tweak the colours in the projection room…and thank you to the projectionists. They were wonderful. I went running down and went “ Please please play the memorial [for J.D.Peralta] at the end. Please please.” A close friend of mine passed away and I dedicated it to her because she...really, uh... She’s still with me, so. Yeah but it was difficult I mean really financially is why we chose to shoot on DV and ...I think it looks really good! Yeah? [applause]



Where do you plan on taking Chance next?



AB: Um. I dunno. Mom, you wanna answer that? [Diane laughs. Amber begins singing Matchmaker matchmaker make me a match while DB does a little FOR dance. Aud. laughs] Oh uh, she wanted to know where we plan taking Chance next?



DB: When we made this we were thinking it was more of an…educational experience for Amber and uh, if nothing ever happened to it, it was a calling card for her in Hollywood. Because, they don’t think women uh can do anything…[Amber backs her up. Shakes her head and pouts] and we wanted to show that a young actress [Amber pumps her fist] could also direct and write and produce [huge applause]…





Audience member: Was that a real apartment or was that a set y’all used?



AB: She wanted to know if the apartment was real and what was with the red?



DB: That was a real apartment. That was our apartment and I painted the walls orange and I hung the pictures, and I was the…I did the set.[applause] And if things continue…we might actually get a distribution deal and we’ll see it on the big screen. [audience YEAHS. Applause.]



[question about budget and what cost the most]



AB:[begins to answer but Mom steps in] I...huh?

DB: Patrice LOVES to eat. [laughs]. We spent more money on food than anything. [all laugh. Patrice looks embarrassed]

AB: Actually she wanted to know um, I said that our budget kinda went up. Actually Mary did help us get get everything in order. We did a SAG low budget agreements. We ended up paying everybody …that uh, kinda bumped our budget. But, Mary kinda helped put it all together. [motions to Mary] Come and explain why our budget went UP.





MB: Well its…I guess you start out and you think you have control over all the costs like they happened to move into a two bedroom apartment that…happened to fit the movie we were making…[laughs] So…that was easy. We had our location right there. But then things like, just I dunno, like transfers and decks and uh, I dunno..insurance and uh, bribing neighbors, actors..



AB: Tell em about the neighbors.



MB: Well one of the best, uh worst days was...there was just this really irritating nasty neighbor who would try to just you know, dig it into us. He would just turn on the radio right when were doing outdoor scenes. You know I think he would actually leave the apartment some times and you know, leave the radio going. So, one time we called bluff and got the police in. So, I dunno, it was pretty good. [laughs]



AB: Mary took care of the police on a number of occasions. [laughs]



AB: Somebody in the back because ive been [taking questions from the front]. Its all I can see.



Audience member: First I’d like to say congratulations. It’s cool to see you going from like, Stoned Girl With Banana to [Amber mimics petting a banana] to like, writing and directing so…congratulations.



AB: Thank you!



Aud mem: …and I was wondering how it was that um, elements from the Buffyverse fell into some of your movie and why you decided to use the dragons inn t-shirt?



AB: Oh, drag on in? Dragon inn? I dunno. Our…the guy who did the wardrobe for us, Nicholas, actually worked for Buffy and so he pulled a lot of stuff from Buffy. Cythia Bergstrom and Cindy over at the wardrobe said “Go ahead take whatever you need.” Every one at Bufy was like, one hundred… and fifty thousand percent supportive. Joss let us shoot pieces at Buffy, the Bronze. There’s Andy Hallet singing at the Bronze. [mimics Andy. Laughs]. These are all my friends. In fact, come here [beckons to Jeff]. Do you recognize Jeff Ricketts [Weatherby the Watcher thug on the Buffy episodes, This Years Girl and Who Are You?]



JR: I’m not old enough to be her father. I spit in her [Buffy’s] face. That was my most memorable moment. [all laugh]. What Amber didn’t tell you is that our original scene with Chris, who plays my wife, was originally staged in a restaurant. And so we went and shot it…I forget why we didn’t use it there. But then we decided to put it on a boat. They were like, “ Wellllll, you know the restaurant was nice but….let’s put it on a BOAT.” I was like, “ Ok, alright.” [Amber is laughing]



AB: You don’t know what happened?



JR: No…[steps aside for Amber but Amber just whispers in his ear] Oh, right. RIGHT. For me that was the best part because the woman who played my… young personal assistant, her dress actually got ripped off. [audience laughs]. Yeah. I guess we had to cut that. But what you didn’t see was…and I wish...maybe it was slightly in the outtakes, what was her name? Lara who plays my personal assistant when she was letting the oysters go she was like, [adopts girlie voice] “ BE FREE, OYSTERS!” It was…we all loved it. [Amber and all laugh]



AB: It was painful. That’s why we had to put it in the outtakes. Did you see Mary in our outtakes? She’s collecting the oysters.



JR: They did smell.



AB: Foul…foul.



[male audience member asks question and for a hug. Audience awws again. ]



AB: He was sweet. Cute. [laughs] He wanted to know basically what it was like being a first time director and do I have anything in the works? I have nothing in the works at the moment. Just kinda ideas. My friend and I, Terry are gonna try and do something maybe here in Birmingham. Uh, but ah, it was a lot of fun directing for the first time. I had a blast. I could not have done it without my mother and uh, Mary, our sound…well Patrice of course since he’s got the camera, and our sound mixer who’s going [imitates an out take scene in movie]. They…and Stacy our production, uh, script coordinator. They really looked out for me cuz I couldn’t be in front of the monitor and in front of the camera so a lot of times, I took their advice like, they’s come over to me and say, “ Don’t scrunch your head up! It looks weird. You said that wrong. Do it again.” I had like…there were like, seven directors on this movie [laughs]. I only directed the parts I’m not in. No. [laughs] It was a lot of fun and I got to work with James Marsters who’s a friend of mine and Andy Hallet who’s a friend. I worked with them [audience hoots] Yeah, and I got to work with Jeff who’s a really good friend and Mary. I mean. everybody. These are my friends. We made a movie together. They say friends can’t work together but they can. It does work. So…um?



Audience member: I watch you on Buffy. The only reason I started watching Buffy was because of you.



AB: I started watching because of YOU. [laughs]



Audience member: You character on Buffy has taught me so much. I mean [something about her friends telling her to watch because she is so like Tara and how Amber’s the best one in Once More With Feeling– sound poor, sorry] Can you sing a song?



AB: Oh, thank you. Can I sing you a song? [audience hoots] Row row row your boat gently down the stream….Actually, I’ll sing Aarons …Aaron doesn’t like it when I try to sing his music cuz I get it wrong. I’m like, [imitates the score]“ Durn doeen durn DOIN” [laughs. Winds down.] That was bad. [laughs again] Ok, Mr. White shirt. [breaks away to take picture with the previous Tara/Amber admirer]



EJ: We may have to limit the uh, hugs...[audience laughs]



[audience member expresses disappointment cuz they also wanted a hug so Amber blows a kiss. Question is asked about, I think, career paths and how did one get from Birmingham to big time. Again, poor sound.]



AB: Um...Mary you wanna help me with this cuz you did the same thing I did. You jumped out to California and it’s weird. Well, she moved to New York and then to L.A.. Comere. I hate doing this stuff . I’m bad at it. Well I think that , uh just doing public theatre here and being involved with theatre here. I did childrens theatre. I found my passion. I was really lucky. I knew when I was a tiny little thing that was what I wanted to do. I mean, I have a background in it because f what I did here. Then I was able to go there and actually not be scared to be in front of a camera. But, Mary was different. She went to New York and directed theatre which is a COMPLETELY different medium than film but ...it’s not that different. I mean, when you’ve jumped from here to there it’s not that different.



MB: No. And if you hang out with Amber and Diane you know, their personality and their friendliness. I mean they kinda tear up the town in their own way. I mean they really, they managed to get this pulled off without getting shut down or dealing with neighbors, dealing with people. I mean I think southern, you know, kindness, hospitality and generosity really goes a long way in places where that’s like, a breath of fresh air. That’s...[audience applauds big time]



Audience member: What was it like to work with James and the other actors on Buffy? Was it hard to make the transition [from acting with them to telling them what to do] It’s an independent film…



AB: “ James you gotta kiss better. Let’s do this again…Five takes is not enough.” [audience laughs]



Audience member: You had to do those love scenes again and...



AB: …again and again and again….[laughs]



Audience member: [as Amber] “ I’m sorry…”



AB: [laughs] Yeah. You're sorry. “I’m sorry. I’m so upset about it..” Um, actually, it was strange because it wasn’t weird…[thinks about what she has just said. goofs on herself] " It was strange because it was weird…" [laughs] It wasn’t…they were my friends and they respect me and they listened to me…and they really listened to my mother because she can be MEAN. [audience laughs] No. But it wasn’t hard and yes, I think Patrice’s favorite scene is the uh, the dead girl and the Amber Benson makeout scene because we did that a number of times. [imitates PLC] “ It’s not right! We must do it again!” [all laugh] How many takes did we do , Patrice? Many I guess.



JR: [runs to the mic] Patrice is french, you know. [more laughter]



AB: Does anybody have any questions about the music because I was gonna go without a score for a long time cuz I was like, “ I can’t afford it. It’s too much money.” It worked in FUNNY HA HA [another very good fest film]. They didn’t have a score. It coulda worked here but this..i dunno..it made the movie come…It was the last thing we did and it just like “ WHOAH. Oh my gosh! We have a pretty funny movie now!” [looks for questions] Ok. Do this [waves madly]. We got one. [motions to Aaron]



Audience member: Will the soundtrack be available anytime?



AB: [laughs] Oh, probably not. Not at the moment. But do you have a question for Aaron.



Audience member: I have one up here. Way in the balcony.



AB: You go, girl.



Audience member: Why did you decide to do the sort of music video moments? Why did you decide to bring a musician into the film?



AB: [laughs. Quiets. Frank.] Uh, just because it was too short. [laughs] But..it was my mom's idea actually. But it's interesting because I thought with that we’d have enough music but we really didn’t. [points to AF] You came in and you know…



AF: That’s a soundtrack actually. The score was the instrumental parts. It was just great working with Amber. [laughs]



AB: Tell them about how many main people we had…



AF: We did. We had the best LA session musicians.



AB: Can’t say their names though.



AF: No, we don’t want them to get in trouble with the union. But, they were absolutely great.



AB: Aaron was directing like fifty year old men. He was like, [makes some conductorish hand jives] “ Tempo needs to be up.” And these guys were just like, [makes bowing gestures]. The score was so phenomenal. I’m embarrassing him. Anybody else have anything for Aaron?



Audience member; What other music composers for film inspired your sound. It almost sounded like…forgive me I can not think of the name of the composer, almost like Einstein on the Beach.



AF: That’s Phillip Glass.



AB: She wanted to know who inspired him.



AF: Actually on the temp track for this score there was Arvo Parts [transcriber note: sorry wasn’t clear on this] ...who was from the same school as Phillip Glass so you did give that idea for the mental institute and then also there was a few bossa nova tunes which were influenced by Stan Getz and Jobim.



Audience member: Excellent score!



AB: [claps maniacally. Audience applauds]



EJ: You’ve had your hand up for awhile…



Audience member; My question is why did you chose your cast, your family and your friends? Was it just for the avid support?



AB: It was like an underwire bra [mimics the lift one of those gives. Laughs]



Audience member: And also would you [not sure..something about telling it to the stuffed fish they were carrying.]



AB: Alright. Throw it up here and I’ll answer.[fish is hurled. Amber makes a choice catch- har] I chose to ask my friends and family to help me out because I trust them . I knew they would give a hundred and fifty percent. Mary didn’t sleep. My mother didn’t sleep. Jeff got a little bit of sleep. Not much. Patrice didn’t sleep. Aaron came in kinda late. I think he got a little sleep. I mean, they gave…they gave their hearts to me. They got the project. They were behind it. They, you know, they didn’t show up late.[laughs] I knew that they would be there. You know? It was really tough because we were shooting Buffy while we were doing this. We shot over a 5 weekend, 10 days we shot and James was working on…doing all his things with Sarah. [laughs knowingly] Poor Sarah. She’s awesome. But, ah, so he was coming in and he was working and Andy was working and they’d just come in on the weekends and just, “Ok we’re here for 12..18 hours. We’re here. Whatever you need.” They stayed and it’s all you can ask is that they just come decently on time and they stay until you know, they’re amazing. [points to her crew behind her]. They’re amazing. These people. You should hire them for your crews. Yeah right. Actually, get Mary as your director. I’m just gonna stick to acting. Um,



Audience member: Did you practice doing any shorts? Doing any short films?



AB: Huh? Am I doing…oh, have I done any short films? Is that a SideWalk plant? [laughs] . I actually…I actually did a film that won Sidewalk in ’99. The first year of the festival. I just wanna say that these guys are amazing [points to Erik Jambor]. They’ve done something wonderful here at SideWalk [applause]. They are bringing independent cinema to you guys because it’s tough. It’s tough to find good films and theatres that show good films and we don’t wanna see Arnold Schwartzenegger cut peoples head off. You know, I’m sick of it. I wanna see things that are personal like FUNNY HA HA or STANDING ON FISHES or MASTER OF THE GAME that are personal stories that people are putting out there. People are exposing their soul to you and if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. If you do like it, you have the opportunity to be like, “ I GET this. This is wonderful. I never would have seen this except for [sings praisingly] Sidewalk!” SO, these guys are amazing. I actually went to school with a couple of them. But they’re doing something wonderful and you guys need to come out and support them. Do whatever you can. I know a lot of you are from other places but even you can help support them just by coming. You know.



EJ: Alright, who’d had their hand up the longest because I can’t tell….



[too quiet to hear]



AB: Am I psychotic? Is that what you’re asking? You know, I’d love to do another film. She’s asking me if I’m doing this again or doing other projects. I’m gonna be doing a film in October. I’m not 150% sure yet but it looks good for it. Another gay themed thing. [audience appreciates this news] I know. That seems to be my thing. [laughs]



Audience member: [too low to hear question]



AB: Well, you know, life is short. This film is actually dedicated to a close friend of mine who passed away. She was 30 years old. She had cancer. One minute she was fine and the next minute she was gone. It really hit home. It made me realize that we are here such a short amount of time and we’re all interconnected. We’re all human beings and we all go to the bathroom, we all have to eat. Patrice, a little bit more than the rest of us. [laughs] He’s gonna hurt me later. [laughs] But uh, you know. It’s how you treat people…regardless of who they’re sleeping with, who they’re in love with, what colour they are, what religion they’re into…You know, you gotta treat them with respect and compassion. How you would treat yourself. I could die tomorrow, I know I’d be happy with how I live my life.I’ve never purposely gone out to take someone, well maybe in elementary school I did try and trip somebody but it wasn’t anything…ok, I’ve digressed. But, you have to treat people like people. You treat them well. Its all we have. We have each other. That’s it. It’s a short amount of time we have. [applause]



EJ: There are like three people with one arm here so….



AB: She’s asking if we had to improvise any scenes while we were filming. Yeah, I was sitting at Buffy getting my brains sucked out rewriting ah….[audience laughs] the restaurant scene because 10 minutes..how many minutes did we erase? [motions to PLC] Oh, come here. Come on. She was asking what was improvised and I was talking about the restaurant scene and how we had to dump it because…



PLC: We used the camera for playback….and we forgot to cue it back up. [all laugh- whoops ] But I realized that after 20 minutes. We erased 20 minutes. We could have erased the whole hour. [walks away]



AB: Wait wait. Come back. Don’t you feel like it was for the best though? Tell them about the restaurant versus the… lighting-wise…



PLC: I guess the location was maybe not the best location. We did the best we could but I think it didn’t turn out…



AB: It was our first day.



PLC: really good but the boat I think is my favorite scene so I’m happy with it…



AB: [from film]" Aphrodesiums."



Audience members: So when’s the sequel? [Amber laughs, yeah right]



[audience question that was too low to hear]



AB: I’m glad I don’t hafta find any airfair..



EJ: Alright, who’s had their hand up the longest?



Audience member: Amber, I love you. I’m so glad I got to see this movie. Thank you...



AB: Thank you for coming.



Audience member: ...I guess you kinda answered my question about what role Emma Caulfield played. Was that supposed to be her?



AB: She got her dress ripped off. It was fantastic. She had a black wig on. She was like, [Amber mimics Emma with a VERY silly voice] “ Aphrodesiums?” [laughter] It was SO funny. And the desert tray [thrown] on her.



Audience member; Also, how does it feel to have an action figure of you coming out?



AB: Somebody said that. I don’t believe them. There is no action figure coming out! I know what people do to action figures. [audience hoots. Amber looks behind her and gets playfully scolded] My mom says I have relatives here and I do… so I’m stopping this…It was going so nice. Oh, I’m going to hell. Thanks you guys SO much. You guys are amazing. [applauds the audience. Waves]

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Edited by: superZONic at: 9/27/02 9:02:25 am

[SJ]

Thanks for the transcript.

[Kieli]

If I wasn't totally jealous before, am now the Green Eyed Monster personified It's a shame to be living in the one place where NOTHING happens. Thanks everyone for all of the cool news, pics and other such great stuff. I will now resume berated my credit cards for not recovering in time for the Chance filming

Love is tricky. It is never mundane or daily. You can never get used to it. You have to walk with it, then let it walk with you. You can never balk. It moves you like the tide. It takes you out to sea then lays you on the beach again. Today's struggling pain is the foundation for a certain stride through the heavens. You can run from it but you can never say no. It includes everyone."--Amy Tan "The Hundred Secret Senses"

[helpful information perha]

thank you!!!!

[xita]

Ok, boys and girls thanks to maudmac we have some video of the symposium. Please don't post this link anywhere else.



Get it while you can, before my server says , you are out!



kittenboard.com/kitten/ev...posium.wmv

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Tara and Willow

Accept NO subsitutes

[Willowlicious]

Thanks xita and holley!

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"And nobody wants to hear this tale. The plot is cliched and the jokes are stale. And baby we've all heard it all before." Invisible Ink by Aimee Mann