The original Cypress boys reunited at the EvenHand Bubble Lounge party
(L – R: Jon Glascoe, Pete Kreutzer & Joseph Pierson)

The Tribeca Film Festival was everything I expected — the hype, the crowds, the buzz, the overall fabulousness. The Thursday night screening of EvenHand was an early sell-out, which removed a huge item from my list of things to be anxious about. But, it was soon replaced on the list by the challenge of finding tickets for people that we wanted to see the film. All of the EvenHand gang sacrificed our tickets — we’d already seen the film countless times. Then it dawned on me the afternoon of the screening that the Tribeca policy was to not let anyone in without a ticket — even filmmakers attending their own screening. This caused a flurry of activity in the final hour before the screening to get tickets for me, Bill Sage & Bill Dawes, as we all had to at least make an appearance in the theater. In the end, it turned out to be a SNAFU by the Festival; there were actually seats available after all. The only complaint I heard about Tribeca all week was this same situation of shows being listed as sold out and there being empty seats in the house. But, every festival has growing pains and for the size and quality of the Tribeca Film Festival, they did a phenomenal job, especially considering that this is only year two.

Lovisa and Peg posing and smoking in Tribeca

The screenings went really well. In addition to the Bills, Io Tillet Wright (Toby), Mike Jones (Screenwriter), Alex Albanese (Editor) and Joel Goodman (Composer) attended both and Stanley Tucci and Edie Falco came to the Thursday screening as Bill Sage’s guests (and both loved the film). There have also been a few follow-up meetings with industry folks that may result in some exciting news soon. If there’s just one person there that matters, you’ve accomplished what you need to.

On Thursday night we partied at the Bubble Lounge. Rachel Goldstein set the party up and worked her magic by packing the place with people. Considering that we were one of ten festival parties held that same night, she did an outstanding job of spreading the word. It was especially impressive considering that the cheap-ass filmmaker didn’t spring for an open bar!

Here’s some recent fan mail. The first e-mail is from an entertainment lawyer.

“I can honestly say that I do not often see any films
(commercial, indie or otherwise) that are as well-crafted and moving as “EvenHand”. My wife is even more critical than me, and she continues to marvel at what a wonderful film it is. The film certainly deserves a release and hopefully the TFF [Tribeca Film Festival] exposure will be helpful to that end.”

The next one is from someone who saw Evenhand at the USA Film Festival.

“Hi, I just wanted to thank you for a great film. I’m a huge Mike Doughty fan, that’s what drew me to the USA Film Festival screening in Dallas. Although Doughty’s songs were phenomenal I was truly moved by how “right” you got it when it comes to a day on the job for cops.

Although I’m not a cop, I was a crime reporter in a small West Texas city for 5 years. I spent lots of time going on drug raids, at crime scenes and hanging out at the police station. I spent so much time with cops I started to feel like one. Until your movie I’d never seen anything that comes close to capturing the day to day nature of a cop’s life on the job, the hardships they face and the fact that they’re more than a little misunderstood.

In short, Evenhand was so well done it made me homesick for my old job and old friends. When I got home from the screening I emailed my cop pals about the movie. Hopefully you’ll find a distributor and one day my friends at the Lubbock PD can see it play in their hometown.

Thank you for making this film.”

Hearing from people that actually like and appreciate my work is great, especially while I wait for news of EvenHand’s distribution prospects. I’ve posted some additional fan mail on the new Fan Mail page. In the meantime, one print is on its way to Atlanta and the other to Newport. Please visit the Film Festival page for details on all upcoming EvenHand screenings.

– Joseph Pierson