Hi. I'm a filmmaker.

So, this weekend I went to the Flyover Film Festival in Louisville, KY. And it was awesome.

Our film, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, showed Friday evening. We were after a film called High School, which was a super funny drug comedy. The audience for that film was a little small and we expected pretty much the same for ours. But when we went out for a brief intermission, we noticed a lot of people lined up outside. And sure enough, they were there for us.

Folks waiting for our film!

After the film, the producer and director always do a question and answer segment and, this time, they asked me to join them. In fact, they gave me an actual introduction which included the director talking about how I was brought on as an intern and then "made myself so completely invaluable that they had to make me associate producer."

The question and answer time

I'll admit that the experience was a bit overwhelming. On one hand, I felt lucky to be respected and recognized by the guys I had worked with. On the other hand, I felt completely out of place. I know that this is it for me. While it's great to meet all the other editors and directors and producers, I know that the contacts don't really matter. No matter who I met, I'd still be leaving the next day to return to life as a state employee.

But the part I enjoyed most was the response from the audience. As we were finishing up, a woman who was working as an usher in the theater came up to me and told me how much she enjoyed the film. When we were making our way to the after-party area, a few people who had seen the film stopped me to discuss it. And it was wonderful. I love when people actually are thinking about it well after the credits have rolled. And this film definitely is one that tends to make people think.