So... this TIFF gets better and better for us.  We braced ourselves with the typical, neurotic anticipation all indie filmmakers put themselves through on days like today... the morning single tickets go on sale at the TIFF box office... the Day of Destiny.

I mean, what if you made a whole entire movie and then no one bothered to show up???  That'd suck. But... I would assume it would be easier to get your brother-in-law's aunt's niece's best friend's babysitter a ticket to the premiere night of Coopers' Camera, because the picture you're seeing here is THE LAST COOPERS' TICKET SOLD TODAY...  it was just before hour 3 of the box office being open (at 9:51 am) when this ticket was sold to... wait for it...  OUR EDITOR ADEN BAHADORI!!  Remember my previous blog post where I was talkin' about how Aden stayed up to all hours of the day and night for us? Dumping P2 cards, editing the movie, making trailers.... well... he scored the last ticket.  And seriously, I kid you not... Ben Iscoe my 1st AD sent me a Craigslist posting today from a guy willing to pay $$$$ for a ticket to our Sunday Preme. Hot Ticket indeed!

Days like today are awesome. They're exciting and full of adrenaline and ultimately incredibly validating to us - the filmmakers. It means fans, family and filmgoers are coming out to our movie. It means we have a chance to hit a chord with people, get the film seen, make an audience laugh (at least, I hope to God they laugh). It means someone is spending their limited entertainment dollars and scarce allotment of time on this planet to check out something you spent your blood, sweat and tears making on long days, in small, dark rooms and in motels - like in this picture here.  This is Sam Bee and Jason Jones, exhausted on our last day of shooting. Days like today remind me of nights like this one.

That night was incredibly long, kinda cold and for those of you that will be seeing the movie (provided you woke up like my wife Sarah & our friend Ann Pirvu and stood in line at 6:00am this morning!) -- basically the entire end of the picture happens here. Don't worry... not going to be giving anything away plot  wise here - it's not that kind of blog. But the reason why days like today remind me of nights like that is this guy here.

This is Jon Stewart. He's hosting an event that's copyrighted and trademarked and a big part of the entertainment industry and since this is a bigtime festival blog, someone from the (as Mike Beaver's character in Ham & Cheese would say) "Macabity Awards" (TM) might be reading this and I don't want to have to delet this blog.  It took too long to write.

Jon was hosting this incredibly important awards show the night we were wrapping up our film.  Since the motel scenes were night shots - we started late,  ended when the sun came up - we kinda broke for lunch when the Oscars were on (frak - just let the cat out of the bag)...  Man, what a surreal night.

Samy (DOP) wanted to light the whole thing basically with a glowing helium balloon because it was the best way to light a huge area with very little time and money. Again - Samy's a genius. I never ask questions like - where does the helium come from? Can we suck on it later and make funny voices?

Anyways - on this night, the night of the Oscars, under the translucent light of a magical balloon --- my two stars broke for lunch and watched their boss host the biggest awards show on the face of the planet. And I thought to myself - geeze - we're one degree away... we're so close. THE OSCARS MAN!!!   I was so very proud of Jason at that point for not listening to anyone at Hill Park High School Drama to give up because he couldn't sing "Maria" from West Side Story.  The kid just stayed with it, you know? And now he's watching his boss host the Oscars!  And then Scorsese won and we all went back to shooting and it got me kinda thinking 2 things: 1) I hope I get to meet Martin Scorsese one day - and then 2) it got me all paranoid like - what if I finish making this crazy movie and no one bothered to show up????

You guys answered my question (and prayers today). Thanks for showing up. I sincerely hope you like our  movie when we premiere it this weekend. We tried our guts out for you.

I'd also like to give a big shout-out to TIM HAMILTON and his short film "THE CATSITTER" which opens at our screenings - which is so cool.  I love that - seeing a short before the feature... it really does create a great festival atmosphere and it reminds me of my film school days when we'd  see features and shorts back to back to study them. Tim Hamilton is the shiznat -- his "Truth In Advertising" was LEGEND when I was making my way up the ranks of music videos --- you should check it out on the youtube if you haven't seen it.  Please save some laughs for Coopers afterwards!

PS - Aden is starting the bidding at $100 for that last ticket.  We have to pay for the HDCAM master somehow.

PSS - I hear that Rush (Day-Of) Tickets and Industry Screening tickets are still available for Coopers - and they usually release blocks of tickets closer to the screenings as well.. so please keep checking the TIFF website if you still want tickets. [I hope I just didn't diminsh the value of Aden's ticket for eBay]  If you don't get to see it at TIFF, please write your congressman for a full domestic theatrical release of the film so the whole continent can go see it.

PSSS - I'm kidding. Please don't write your congressman about that. Write your local distributor.

See you guys in four days!

Shoot Good Film,

WPS