To make a short story long:

As indie filmmakers know well: when your crew and cast celebrate wrappin' time, the "Martini" is now a real one and just the beginning, your heart drops as you think about tomorrow. And if you're smart, you quickly switch to your Scarlett O'Hara mantra: "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."
Taking "IT" to Germany
But then dawn breaks upon the crew littered among various forms of ethanol and traces of Tetrahydrocannabivarin. Soon they all head home to prepare for their next gig. And then it's you--look in the mirror: that's who I mean--who is left behind in the dust, now charged with figuring out how to deal with the big "it."

Taking "IT" to Toronto
Because now this "it" is yours. Congratulation, you've just been married to "it" for better, or worse, and there is no divorce. This one is for life, baby. Rest assure, "it" will continue to live long after you have succumbed to that tiny blood clot! And as you , newly-wed, may still not even know "its" name, "it's" already looking at you wondering how you will take it out into the world, introduce "it" to friends and strangers, drag "it" out of the stuffy editing room and onto the boulevard, into the sunlight for everyone to have a good look.

Winning "IT" respect
And that's when you start hearing the quiet bickering and snickering, and harping like through a megaphone into your ear canal--and you pretend to smile. You gloss over ambiguous compliments, friends volunteering their truthfulness and only confirming why they were never your friends to begin with. You skip over frowns, those dark screening-room yawns, the snide remarks, the clever bon-mots like: "you're too hip for your own good." Or the silence, the "lets not talk about "it" as if you just came out of jail. Why is this happening? Are they jealous because you have done something and they have not? Absolutely. But that's not all. Sooner or later you realize this: While you think of yourself as "its" loving wife or husband, almost everyone thinks of you as "its" pimp.

Parading "IT" in public
Please note my qualifier, 'almost everyone,' because there are those, believe it, or not, who are open enough to glimpse what you see in "it," those fragments of the original love and energy that made you create "it." Those very few might even appreciate this love and share it. They might ultimately end up liking "it."

'Liking' something is not easy and it takes a whole lot of courage to put down one's flag and raise one's thumb, while it's incredibly safe to knock everything down, to point out faults, to ridicule. The intellectual wrecking balls seem to actually gain in reputation and "page views" as they feed on filmmaker's faults and scorch artistic ambitions that might have fallen short in the incredibly complex process of pulling off a film. They're in it for themselves. They want the mob to admire the triumph of their bookworm eloquence and their mastery of a mushy and dangerous concept called 'common sense,' as they stage their movie-review-bum-fights on magazine pages, web pages, and obscure YouTube channels.
Dressing "IT" up with art work...

But those few who actually have the courage to take on the great risk to appreciate something--and in the process to open themselves up to be derided as another "pimp" for your film--those few and far between are your audience, your friends. And that's what you need in this darkest of all hours in the life of a filmmaker:
...and with "ITS" first poster
people who have the guts to befriend your film.

When Cyxork 7 was screaming at me to open the door so "it" could strut down the sidewalks of the movie world, dragging me along, I finally decided to pick up the phone and make a call--a cold call.

Now, cold calls have never worked for me, but this one was lukewarm. Some editor of the Los Angeles Magazine (who has hopefully moved on since my call) had made a promise to "do something" for one of our dear actresses and she offered that I should cash in her chip. Amazingly, I got through to that editor and ended up with her on the phone. Of course she didn't remember the name of the actress, made me spell it several times, and naturally couldn't recall ever having met her or offered to "do something for her."
...and "ITS" second poster
I thanked her and wanted to end the call, but she didn't want me to hang up. As you know, the question of who ends a call is a matter of power and rank and she must have sensed my nonchalant attitude towards accepting 'my place in the hierarchy of the world' and behaving accordingly. So she had to pull a bit of 'rank' and turn the call into a teachable moment about "that film of yours."

Reluctant to even engage in any discussion of my well rehearsed summary--sorry I didn't stumble and give her an opening--she instead jaw-locked with immense ferocity on its title Cyxork 7. How on earth could anyone (of sane mind, like hers) combine the letters C-Y-X into any word? This, according to her, would never work because it made no sense whatsoever to her (meaning: the rest of the world). After she noticed that I had stayed silent for a sufficient length of time, meaning I had accepted her wisdom, perhaps even written down bits and pieces, the moment had finally arrived for her to end the call: "Sorry I've got to go now, but keep me in the loop." Yeah,
Pushing "IT" in Hollywood
right!

After this lesson about movie titles by a representative of a magazine with the most original title ever: "Los Angeles Magazine," which is like calling laundry detergent, "laundry detergent" and then saying that it's more than that, plus learning from a friend that a movie critic for the LA Times wanted five grand for a positive review without guarantee that it would be printed--an offer I declined--I concluded that there must be a better way letting Cyxork 7 out the door.

And so I googled the name of our lead actor, Ray Wise, and happened to find someone who seemed to be a fan of Ray. That was a good beginning. The one I found lived in England and ran Sci-Fi-Online: Darren Rea. I wrote him an email.

Somewhat beaten down by now, I tried to be subtle, not to sound like a full-blown pimp:

Hi Darren,

I just read again your interview with Ray Wise. At the end he was mentioning future projects. Well, his latest film is just completed. It's called "Cyxork 7." It is a black comedy about the making of a low budget sci-fi film. Ray plays the washed up action star Kommander 88 who banks on the publicity of shooting the latest sequel to the faltering "Cyxork" sci-fi franchise during a predicted massive earthquake.

The film is just completed and will be taken to distributors within the next few months. So, it's not out yet. If you like to check out the website, it is: www.cyxork7.com

Take Care and thanks for your great site,

Andreas Kossak

And this is what I got back from Darren within hours:

Good morning Andreas

Thanks for your e-mail

I had a look over your website and I've got to say your film looks like a lot of fun - looking forward to seeing it when it makes it to this side of the Atlantic.

It's great to see Ray in a starring role. I've interviewed quite a few actors over the last few years (Richard Gere and Will Smith for example) but I really thought that Ray was one of the nicest actors I've ever had the pleasure to talk too. His body of work is so diverse and he is such a talented actor I was glad to see that he was as professional in person as he is on the screen.

Just thought I'd let you know that there is a news story live now on http://www.sci-fi-online.com.

I was also wondering whether you would be interested in us running an interview or feature on the site on you and the film?

All the best.

Darren Rea

Editor
Sci-fi-online
Direct Publications


To make a long story short:

with Roberto Bacalski celebrating the end of pushing "IT"-- for now...
Finally, someone who didn't look at me like a pimp! Someone who would give Cyxork 7 at least a fair shot. And as it turned out, Darren liked Cyxork 7 and gave it a great review. Not only that, he interviewed Cyxork 7 co-writer and director John Huff, our fantastic actor Roberto Bacalski, and me.

Indie filmmakers know that you have to commit at least six years of your life to see a film all the way through, that you have to take incredible financial and artistic risks to say "yes" to an idea and turn "it," against all odds, into a finished film. Indie filmmakers also know that all can be ruined in an instant by a critic's ego trip. Still, that's the risk one must take when opening the door. So it's good to know that there are people out there, like Darren, who you can trust to be open to your film, who will respect what you have done and will have the courage to step out of the crowd and say: "I like it," if they do. And for an indie filmmaker that's as good as it gets.

AK


At least they got the CYX right!
Thanks for correcting the spelling of "ITS" name.

LINKAGE: