And...we're back!! Southern Circuit cont...

Note to self: Never follow months and months of working 7 days a week with a 3-day wedding extravaganza, and a 2-week trip traveling state-to-state all through the south again...because you WILL get a horrible, debilitating cold. Got it. Never again.

Yes, Gita and I enjoyed our first two screenings on the Southern Circuit Film Tour. We enjoyed our two free days in Nashville. We flew to Alexandria, Louisiana on day 5, and promptly got sick. Me first and then Gita-- both with bad colds that we are just now beginning to recover from. Let me tell you, nothing cures a cold faster than constant travel...lots of airplanes and driving.



It started with a sore throat in Alexandria. But with our biggest crowd on the tour-- a really great, engaged audience-- it was easy to look past it. We were told before the screening that a soldier had called the venue, saying he had been through Bangor and been greeted by the Maine Troop Greeters, and was planning to attend the show. During our Q&A, he stood up and recounted his experience traveling through Bangor, saying he remembered how nice my Mom had been to him. After the Q&A, he introduced himself as Bobby Strother and said he had a gift he wanted to send back to the troop greeters with us. We agreed to meet him the next morning so he could bring us the gift before we hit the road to New Orleans. The next morning we met Bobby in front of the local drug store after stocking up on cold medicine and tissues. Bobby handed me a large triangular wooden box with a glass front. A perfectly folded American flag rested behind the glass, and an engraved plaque read...



This was no normal gift...a unit coin, a thank you card, no-- this was something Bobby had laid his life on the line for. Something that represented everything Bobby loved about America, and he talked to us for a long time about just that, and about how tough it is to come back after serving and having to re-adjust, and about friends getting divorced, and about friends dying, and about how if he had to go back again he'd pack his bag and leave tomorrow because serving his country was worth it. He said, "when we're over there we're wearing our vests which are about 75 lbs. and all our gear and we carried two weapons, so you're talking about 100 lbs of gear...we had a lot of weight we were carrying with us over there."...And it just made me think about watching the troops walk down the ramp over and over again at the Bangor International Airport and seeing them breathe a big sigh of relief at the sight of the troop greeters, and the flags waving, and the smiles welcoming them home, and how it really is "that moment" when the weight of it all is finally lifted off their shoulders. I can't wait to get back to Bangor to pass along Bobby's gift.

Tomorrow, I'll spare you the most boring trip to New Orleans ever, as we spent the entire time in our hotel room coughing and sneezing, and I'll skip ahead to our screenings in Alabama and Mississippi and the story of "Big Joe" Evans going for the oyster eating record. How can you not be excited?!

Southern Circuit Film Tour - Day 1 & 2...

"This is not our honeymoon..."
Aron Gaudet

This was Gita and I on Friday...



That's right, we got married on the coast of Maine (notice the paparazzi chasing us?), and two days later we were in Nashville, TN. The Southern Circuit Film Tour happened to fall directly after our wedding, and so although we made it very clear to each other that "THIS IS NOT OUR HONEYMOON!", the trip definitely has a weird honeymoon vibe to it all.

Day one took us from the Bangor International Airport (where much of The Way We Get By takes place) to Nashville and Vanderbilt University. This is the first year the folks at Vanderbilt have taken part in the Southern Circuit Film Tour-- so that means we're even. It meant maybe a slightly smaller crowd than normal, but definitely a group of people that would probably otherwise never have the opportunity to see our film in a semi-theatrical setting. And even though we were screening at a university, the crowd was littered with people of all ages, so the word apparently had spread beyond the campus. All in all a successful screening.

Gita and I love a good breakfast place, so day two started with us trying to choose between the Loveless Cafe and The Pancake Pantry-- 2 local favorites that everyone seemed to recommend. The choice was made easier when we discovered The Pancake Pantry was less than a mile away. We drove up to find a long line waiting outside on a Tuesday morning!! This place had to be good right? The line moved quickly and Gita and I were soon experiencing the best pancakes either one of us has ever had... we're still talking about them. Let's hope the pancakes on day two are not the highlight of the trip, but you've got to start somewhere.

After the best pancakes on earth, we set out for Bowling Green, Kentucky for our screening at Western Kentucky University. It's a little over an hour north of Nashville and the scenery is exactly what I would expect driving from Tennessee into Kentucky-- rolling fields and farms, old weathered boards holding up barns that looked like they should collapse, but somehow were still standing. Just beautiful countryside for a drive.

We made it to Bowling Green and to our screening to find a bigger audience made up primarily of students. We always like showing the film to a younger audience because everyone assumes that The Way We Get By will appeal more to senior citizens and baby boomers, but what many people forget is it's young men and women on the other side of the handshake, heading to war or returning home, so a university campus is filled with people that have brothers or sisters or friends that have been through Bangor and met the troop greeters. Last night was no exception, as a student approached us after the film to tell us he had been deployed through Bangor and remembered meeting all three of the subjects from the film-- especially Bill who is always the first in line to greet the troops. Everywhere we go it seems the Maine Troop Greeters have made their mark in some way. It was reassuring to know Bowling Green was no different.

Coming up... Day 3 & 4 are rest/travel days so we're working on something fun to do before heading to Alexandria, LA for our next screening on Friday. Keep reading.

"The Way We Get By" Goes Hollywood...

Associate Producer Jessica Barnthouse delves into the L.A. Grassroots Marketing Outreach for "The Way We Get By"...

As you know, The Way We Get By will be having its Los Angeles premiere from August 14-20 at Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hills. As with New York City, I've been busy with grassroots outreach to make sure that the people who would love The Way We Get By are aware of the venue and screening times. With all of the press we've been getting, from The New York Times, to national NPR, and countless television interviews, one would think that word about The Way We Get By would have already spread like wildfire all the way to the West Coast. This is not necessarily the case, however. And trust me when I say that if you ever make your own amazing film, you can never do too much grassroots outreach.

So how do you get an audience to come see your film when you're 3,000 miles away from them? It's not like New York City where I can just show up and hand out fliers (yes, I did this for four days all across NYC). The key is to be meticulous, creative, and persistent. First, I compiled a 12-page list of every veterans group, military recruiting station, aging association, and volunteer organization within a 30-mile radius of the movie theatre (I was like Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive-- our audience would not escape!). Next, myself and our new intern, CJ, began calling and emailing each place on our list.


New intern CJ charming L.A. by phone.

The film, because it's such a great story (shameless plug), turned out to be an easy sell over the phone. Calling the military recruiting stations was especially rewarding as time and time again, the soldier on the other side had either heard of the Maine Troop Greeters, or had experienced them himself. I suppose that's the benefit of making a movie about three people who've already been met by almost one million American troops from across the country. And that's what's so great about this human story: that coming to a movie theatre can reconnect you with the strangers who cared enough to give you a hero's send off to war and welcome you back home as a respected veteran when you returned.

And in case you haven't heard, we've even had a few celebs talking about the film, with Alyssa Milano and Milo Ventimiglia from the TV show Heroes supporting the film on Twitter! I definitely believe that with the combined grassroots efforts of myself, CJ, and our new celebrity friends, Los Angeles is going to be a major sucess! Buy your tickets now while they're still hot: Laemmle Music Hall ticket info

Jessica Barnthouse
Associate Producer

Creating The Perfect Logline - Part 1

If you talk to anyone in the business of marketing films, I guarantee that you'll be lectured on the importance of the log line - a single sentence that captures the essence of the film while sparking the audience's curiosity without giving too much away. When I found out that I was getting the opportunity to assist a burgeoning filmmaker in promoting her recently released indie documentary, The Way We Get By, I decided that the log line should be the foundation of any of my future marketing efforts. Whether I would be creating Facebook groups, posting Twitter updates, or blogging about the movie, I planned on referring back to my own original log line to help sculpt both the content and style of any self produced marketing material.

When I first saw the trailer for The Way We Get By, I immediatley assumed that I could come up with some line about how the documentary is a heartwarming tale of how three members of America's "greatest generation" find purpose in life by greeting troops as they return home from war. Not bad, right?

I tried out some of these initial log lines on some of my über hip friends and their responses were all pretty much the same. There'd be a slightly awkward pause and then a comment like, "Um, so it's like some movie about old people in Maine who shake troops' hands?" Some would follow that up with a smirk while the nicer ones would hesitantly offer some half-hearted complement like "Oh, well, that sounds kind of inspiring…" or "That sounds like it could be good." My test subjects' lack of instant enthusiasm motivated me to refine my approach, so I began toiling away for what seemed like days, on trying to come up with the perfect logline.

Then came my big Aha! moment. I had my epiphany. And no, it wasn't the perfect logline for the film. It was the realization that it wasn't my logline crafting ability that was preventing me from getting people excited about The Way We Get By. It was the fact that I had yet to actually see the movie, and that was when I learned that you can't market a film until you actually see it (Exception: Transformers).

Finally seeing The Way We Get By changed everything for me. I walked in expecting to see a typical real life narrative; a plot driven documentary that would leave me brimming with patriotism and a more congenial attitude towards both Maine and the elderly. I predicted a simple yet dainty, easily-packaged film that could do well with the right audiences: Republicans, ex-soldiers, and old people. But the Greenwich village audience, which The Way We Get By premiered to this past Friday night at the IFC Center, consisted of many who fell outside such demographics. And yet, somehow amidst this diversity, the film flourished. From the Marine in camo to the NYU cinephile, from the WWII vet to the smelly kid with dreadlocks, the audience was moved. The evidence was right there in front of me. I watched as individuals eagerly awaited their turn to meet the filmmakers, Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly afterwards, their faces all sharing the same expression, characterized by a grin stretching from cheek to cheek and glassy eyes where tears had once occupied. Maybe that's how I came to realize the true potential of this film. As cheesy as it sounds, I instantly adopted the mindset that everyone and anyone must see this film, and since coming to this realization, I've radically altered my strategy for composing that perfect logline.

As I promote The Way We Get By, I find myself moving away from trying to critique it. Sure, I could provide you with evidence of its stunning cinematography, comment on some of my favorite scenes, and make allusions to Godard while discussing director Aron Gaudet's ability to find beauty in the film's harsh yet ordinary setting of rural Maine, but there are professionals for that sort of thing (Rotten Tomatoes). Instead I wanted to share some of my priceless wisdom with the masses, and what better way to do it then through a series of blog posts that track my progress in attempting to provide The Way We Get By with that perfect log line. Stay tuned...

CJ Saraceno

Intern

Moviemaker Article -The Way We Get By

The MOVIEMAKER magazine article on THE WAY WE GET BY is out in stores now! Get a copy and share with your friends. Learn what we did to make our film and get it out into the world.

Click here to read the article

And then buy a copy of the magazine and support outlets helping independent filmmakers!

Associate Producer Jessica Barnthouse Conquers NYC!

Let me tell you-- excitement is definitely brewing in New York City for The Way We Get By. I know this, because I spent the last four days on foot all over Manhattan and Brooklyn handing out and putting up fliers for the theatrical run starting Friday at the IFC Center. All in all, it was definitely an amazing experience. Here's the rundown of what I did:

Saturday I started in Union Square taping fliers to anywhere there was room. I was nervous about doing this at first-- I mean, I'm an outsider to NYC so I wasn't even sure if what I was doing was legal. However, after taping up fliers in front of numerous police officers without so much as a quizzical look, I realized they probably had bigger fish to fry on the streets of Manhattan. Armed with my cell phone GPS, I put fliers up from Union Square Park down the streets to Washington Square Park, then all over Washington Square Park, all the way to the IFC Center, and then to Tribeca, and back up to the IFC Center. I used up a brand-new roll of Scotch tape that day.

Here are some photos from Saturday:



1. The Way We Get By at the Union Square subway stop!



2. The Way We Get By at Washington Square-- it definitely adds to the scenery.



3. I gave some fliers to police officers I met while postering Washington Square. One of them said his dad is a veteran and plans to take him.



4. As you can see here, Hermoinee Granger is fully endorsing our Battle Buddy promotion for The Way We Get By.



5. Check out that guy's awesome trumpet!



6. I took this at the IFC Center. Notice how The Way We Get By flier is in the center, like the sun. Now, notice the other, smaller, postcards circling it.

Sunday I woke up early to do something I haven't done in about six years: I went to church. Actually, I went to five churches. I'd never been to a mega church, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect and I was kind of afraid everyone inside would somehow "know" I hadn't been in a while. Fortunately, everyone was incredibly welcoming and had an earnest interest in The Way We Get By. That day I focused mostly on youth groups and volunteer organizations. Hopefully we can get a ton of volunteers of all ages out to the screenings this weekend.

Sunday photos:



7. One of the directors for the St. Paul Community Baptist Church was excited to hand out fliers and show the youth group the film trailer.



8. This is the Christian Cultural Center. It looked like the Pentagon from the outside and had a rock band playing all throughout the sermons. I'd never been in a church this large before-- they probably had about 100 different flat panel TVs inside! Perfect, I might add, for watching The Way We Get By trailer on.....

Monday and Tuesday I spent both days going to as many veterans and military recruiting organizations as possible. This was by far my favorite part of the whole trip. Every person I met was so helpful and excited about the film coming to NYC, it made my whole trip worth it 10 times over. I had the pleasure of meeting Iraq veterans, Afghanistan veterans, Gulf War veterans, Vietnam veterans, Korean War veterans, and WWII veterans. I've never gotten to go to Bangor and experience the "real deal" of troop greeting, but I shook a lot of hands and thanked every soldier I met while in New York. It was fantastic!

Monday and Tuesday photos:



9. This is one of the recruiting officers from an Army National Guard recruiting station in Manhattan. Hopefully he can recruit people to The Way We Get By!



10. The Marine Corps Band had an amazing outdoor concert in Manhattan. I tried to pitch the film to one of the officers present, but she told me she'd heard about it already and sent the information to everyone she knew. It was great to know that the word was really getting out.



11. This was at a VFW post in lower Manhattan. When I asked if I could take a picture, the veteran on the left replied, "Sure you can, but don't get my cards in the picture!" I'd say I did a pretty good job of that.



12. This is Richard Dugal from the Catholic War Veterans. He was a huge help and took me around to all of the other veterans offices in his building to hand out fliers to.



13. This is Lieutenant Commander Suzanna Brugler from the Navy Office of Information. She was super excited about the film and was nice enough to email our fliers to a lot of other Navy offices around NYC.

As you can note from the pictures, my grassroots marketing experience in NYC was great. My feet are sore and I'm about three shades darker from walking around in the sun, but it was all worth it. I don't want to speak too soon on this, but I predict the film will be a major hit at the IFC center this weekend. If you live nearby, it's definitely going to be a film you'll want to see, but get your tickets online early-- it's going to be a sell out!

The Way We Get By Photos!!!

Check out our production photos for THE WAY WE GET BY on Flickr!! We will have many more photos coming soon but this will get us started. Share and send the photos on to your friends and family.