Press Day
Today was press day for The Nines, which meant six solid hours of talking about the movie. And it was fine. I conducted all of my interviews sitting next to Melissa McCarthy, so it was a good excuse to exercise our pact of mutual appreciation.1
And then I saw one. It was enough to make me start believing in that book The Secret.2
This picture is actually from St. Andrews at Hollywood Blvd. So there are at least two places in LA to see the wilding posters.
Near the end of the press junket, we held a roundtable in Second Life, which was actually held in the SL re-creation of my house.3
Lest anyone doubt that it was really me at the other end of the keyboard, here’s photographic proof. It was frustrating only because the questions came too quickly. I wanted to answer all of them, but by the time I’d finished one response, five more had gotten stacked up.
- Ryan and I have a similar covenant, but the world is pretty sick of it after the last publicity barrage. So we left him to fend for himself. And I slandered him, repeatedly. ↩
- That and a disbelief in the laws of science, logic or the fallacy of egocentrism. So, seeing the poster, plus those three things. ↩
- It’s on Metaversatility island, if you want to stop by. ↩
Articles
August 20th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
For a second I was worried. The Secret is spreading like a plague here in L.A. I must have had twenty people ask me if I bought it this summer. Someone finally burned me the copy of the “movie” and made me promise I would at least try and watch it. I got ten minutes into the DVD, turned it off, and promptly threw it in the trash. I probably should have recycled it, but I was too eager to get rid of it as soon as possible.
August 20th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Is it typical for a director to have to do that much PR work? Serious question.
August 20th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Adam (#2):
A director always does press, but yeah, I’m doing a lot. So are Ryan and Melissa. Publicity is much less expensive than advertising, and (arguably) more effective at reaching the people pre-disposed to seeing the movie, so that’s why you do it.
It’s fun for a while. And then it stops. But you keep doing it anyway, because you want the movie to do as well as it can.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Are you still going to post the full screenplay on the release date?
BTW - Did you know that the User Rating on IMDB is currently at 9? How’d you game that?
And how many ways do you think the critics will work the title into their reviews?
The Good: They should of called it “The Tens” because I give it a ten out of ten!
The Bad: This weekend, just say nein to “The Nines. (of course, they’re won’t be any bad reviews)
August 21st, 2007 at 12:21 am
Holy shmoly John, you have the same laptop as me. Ain’t it a beauty?
August 21st, 2007 at 1:40 am
Hi John
Was good to see you in the SL house last night although i missed the roundhouse, will there be a transcript of the questions and answers?
August 21st, 2007 at 7:32 am
DougJ (#4):
I’ll release the full screenplay, but probably a bit later, when we’ve expanded to the most screens, whatever that ends up being.
Carlo C (#5):
That actually wasn’t my laptop. It belonged to the woman who designed the SL aspect. (Which is amazing, BTW.)
Shell (#6):
There will be a transcript. Once I find out where it’s hosted, I’ll post a link.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:46 am
What’s The Secret?
August 21st, 2007 at 8:22 am
i love sharing your enthusiasm about your posters hanging around town. reading your blog really puts me inside your experience, which i think is not only fun, but helpful to really understand first-hand what it feels like to have your feature directorial debut hitting the world. it’s also interesting to see how much more emotionally invested you are in a film that you wrote and directed, as opposed to just directed. can’t wait to see the nines again!
August 21st, 2007 at 8:30 am
“Carlo C (#5): That actually wasn’t my laptop. It belonged to the woman who designed the SL aspect. (Which is amazing, BTW.)”
Oh thank god…I was afraid you had left the Mac clan.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:47 am
Hi John, thanks so much for taking the time to meet with the SL press yesterday– everyone was really pleased.
The SL press members who attended the event yesterday will be publishing articles throughout the week, and I’d like to give them a chance to share their stories before releasing the transcript publicly. We’ll post the transcript on the Metaversatility blog next Wednesday.
In the mean time, here is a post about the SL press event already circulating:
http://slrecord.typepad.com/thesecondlife_record/2007/08/say-hello-to-ho.html
August 21st, 2007 at 10:32 am
Ok. I literally just discovered SL a few days ago. I didn’t really see much of a point, but I’m quickly learning there’s a lot more to it. And a SL roundtable. That sort of blew my mind. Cool.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Hi, that link Adri posted isn’t working, think it has a typo, here’s the article:
“Say Hello to Hollywood” http://slrecord.typepad.com/thesecondlife_record/2007/08/say-hello-to-ho.html
The reason the questions come so fast is that people in SL are used to typing in chat and just letting it scroll. Then people can pick out questions — or not — at their leisure. They can save the transcript and answer them later. Somehow, this habit got started in this online world which didn’t have voice capacity until just this last month. So you get into this simultaneous and asynchronous blend.
August 21st, 2007 at 6:49 pm
There’s a pretty cool article about New York Times article about The Nines and JA which I haven’t seen mentioned yet (apologies if it already has and I missed it): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/movies/04augu.html?ex=1343880000&en=601a154e3e1861a5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Posters are up around the corner from my place, on Pico, between Wooster and Shenandoah (1 1/2 blocks E of Robertson). Just FYI!
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Doh — I’m so sad I missed the Second Life roundtable. Also sad I’m missing the LA premier — leaving tomorrow for Burning Man.
It’s crazy you say this, because I’m in the beginning stages of a plan. This fall I am thinking of organizing a series of screenwriting roundtables in Second Life.
John, was this your first SL experience or have you been on for some time?
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:27 am
it’s lovely to read your take on the press biz, especially regarding your hopes (posters). there’s something so hopeful about it that i am just writing to wish you well (i manage the theater at the Sundance Resort during the festival and saw the film there this year; very good, LOVE MM).
i blogged a blurb about the Austin screening as i have lots of collegues at UT Austin and nearby. (see: http://blkyburz.blogspot.com)
good luck!
August 30th, 2007 at 7:19 am
It is a beautiful laptop (I have one too!) Beats Macs any day. Except the keyboard could be more responsive…