Shar Shares

Amazon has a massive subscriber base, so we have a cool opportunity to maybe get this movie seen by tons of people. In order for this to happen, we need SCRAPS to get into the algorithm so that it starts getting recommended to people who are just browsing the catalog. If you’d like to help make this happen, please take a moment to rate and review the movie on Amazon and/or IMDb. Word of mouth/social media posts are also greatly appreciated.

It’s very surreal to finally have this movie out for all to see. I found a website that tabulated this for me, and from the day I started writing the script (August 1, 2015) to the day of our release (February 13, 2019), 3 years, 6 months, and 12 days passed. In that time, you could watch this movie 21,888 times. Truth be told, I felt like I had done so by the end of this process.

Anyway, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone who helped this project reach this point, but there are two people in particular I want to single out right now. I haven’t talked about either of them in any previous updates because neither of them had really come into the picture yet, but this Amazon release may not have happened if it weren’t for Liz Manashil, an indie filmmaker who also works as the Manager of Sundance Institute’s Creative Distribution Initiative, and Glen Reynolds, the CEO of Circus Road Films.

I’ve yet to meet either of these people face to face, and I’m guessing they’ll never see this blog post, but both of them were kind enough to talk with me on the phone in separate calls that happened to take place within the same week back in October. Without me mentioning it first in either conversation, they both made compelling arguments for why this movie should live on Amazon, and I was sold. I am so grateful for their guidance and insight, as they most likely saved me several more months of being trapped in the mental loop of feeling like I needed to continue thoroughly researching and obsessing over every possible distribution option available before making my decision. So, if either/both of you ever happen to see this post, thank you again for the much-needed push!

For starters, we had a wonderful turnout for our LA premiere at Downtown Independent on August 8th. I didn’t take any pictures that night, but here are two I snagged at the tech check.

Good-looking venue, huh? Overall, I was happy with the response, but I was thrown by how quiet this audience got during some of the more serious and dramatic parts. The crowds in Chicago and NYC had continued to laugh at the intended moments of comedic relief sprinkled in throughout those scenes, but LA did not seem to go for those as much, so I did spend certain stretches of this screening mentally spiraling and worrying that I had lost everybody. Thankfully, by the end, the laughs were back to being frequent and strong, and some of the conversations I had afterward made me more comfortable with the idea that laughter shouldn’t be the only metric used to gauge whether this movie can keep viewers interested and entertained.

Quick sidebar: as it pertains to trying to maximize the laughs you’re getting on screen, here’s a markedly unfunny piece I wrote on the main advice I have for anyone hoping to direct improv on camera.

Switching gears again, about five weeks after our LA premiere, I received the updated sound mix, which I was finally able to review a few days later. All of the trouble spots we’d noticed during the screenings had been cleaned up nicely, and it felt great to email our wonderful sound editors to thank them once again for all of their hard work - this time without any more notes or requests.

So, what now? I’m not totally sure. I’m mostly just trying not to freak out about the seemingly endless variety of distribution routes we could take, or the (entirely self-imposed) pressure I feel to make the “right” choice, even though I intellectually understand that there probably isn’t one. Accordingly, my main goal at this point is to remain both proactive and patient.

Lastly, this almost certainly isn’t how this is done, but if making SCRAPS has taught me anything, it’s that you’d be surprised what’s possible if you just try, so I am gonna go ahead and give this a shot: if any of you know anyone who might be able to help us get this movie on Netflix, please introduce me, and I will pay you a small percentage of any resulting licensing deal (and/or give you some sort of producer credit on the film if you like).

Whether you've got a lead on that, or you have other questions/comments, or you’d like to be among the first to know when this movie becomes available, please email [email protected]. I swear we won’t bother you from that account unless we have a fun reason to do so.

This screening is totally FREE to attend, but it isn’t free to put on, so no pressure, but if you feel like chipping in any amount of money to help cover the rental fee, that would be lovely. Here’s my PayPal, and my Venmo is @DanielShar.

It’s always nice to know who to expect, so I’d love if everyone who is planning to come could use this RSVP form (with the understanding that admission/seats are first come first serve). For anyone still on Facebook, here is the event page, and as always, our website contains our trailer and bios.

This will be just the third time a crowd has seen this movie, and here’s the scoop on the first two.

On May 5th, a bunch of folks at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago became the first audience to see SCRAPS. I’ll start by saying this was generally an amazing day, and I was ultimately happy with how it went. I’ll now continue by describing all of the less ideal parts that challenged my resolve.

- Maybe 1/3 of those who RSVP’ed either reached out to cancel at the last minute or no-showed. While this was understandable and probably should have been expected, I was already anxious about sharing this movie for the first time, so I didn’t feel great about slowly learning that we were going to have a noticeably smaller house than anticipated.

- Some of our cast members got stuck in traffic on the way over, so we ended up starting 30 minutes late, which meant that some of our earliest guests sat through six full loops of our 10-minute slideshow of behind the scenes photos. If any of you are reading this, I hope you have forgiven me, and I hope you have somehow managed to get Crazy Town’s “Butterfly” out of your head.

- I watched this movie so many times throughout post and got so numb to it that I had become fully convinced there would be long stretches without laughs. Accordingly, I was on edge as I tried to brace myself for those.

Here’s where I’ll transition back into the positives: I was wrong, and I’ve never been more relieved to stand corrected.

The laughs were frequent, and all the moments that were intended to be dramatic and/or surprising seemed to have their desired effect as well. Initially, I didn’t trust or believe these ideal responses, but then I remembered that this audience was viewing the film with much fresher eyes than I ever had. From that point on, I was able to relax and enjoy their enjoyment, which was incredibly rewarding.

It was also a treat to be reunited with the cast and to give them a chance to be celebrated for their wonderful performances. I love these people very much and hope I get to work them all again.

One week after that, on May 12th, we somehow managed to pack the screening room at Videology in Brooklyn. Again, we had a few late-comers and no-shows who made me worry. I also had started to wonder if the Chicago audience had only been supportive because they were the hometown crowd, so I was fairly nervous for this showing too.

Thankfully, the laughs were once again frequent, and the dramatic/surprising moments seemed to retain their impact. One thing that did confuse me was the way each crowd seemed more partial to different characters and moments. Certain jokes that got huge laughs in Chicago didn’t hit as hard in NYC, and vice versa.

This left me feeling like I didn’t have a firm grasp on what people like about this movie, but ultimately, both cities seemed to enjoy it overall, so I’m happy about that and trying to just view it in more of a positive light (i.e. there’s something for everyone) instead of a negative one (i.e. I failed to execute things in a way that would make them undeniable).

I immediately wanted to do another screening to try to get a more definitive sense of what viewers will go for in this movie, but we found that we still had some very minor issues to address with our sound mix. So, the last few months have been dedicated to working on those, with most of the delays due to the lack of studio availability during the summer at Columbia College Chicago (where one of our sound editors is still enrolled and the other just graduated).

For starters, here is our trailer!

I first began naively hoping and thinking we would be ready to release that probably a year ago, but it took a while to get all the post-production elements finalized. Once it was done, we ended up waiting a few additional months because we didn’t want to release it until we knew when and where people could start seeing the movie itself. Good news: we know those details now!

We are officially set to have our world premiere in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Saturday May 5th at 12 p.m.

We'll be following that up with a screening in New York City at Videology Bar & Cinema on Saturday May 12th at 2 p.m.

Screenings in Los Angeles and potentially other cities are still TBD.

Both of the screenings set up so far are totally FREE to attend, but they're not free to put on, so no pressure, but if you feel like chipping in any amount of money to help cover the rental fees, that would be lovely. Here's my PayPal, and my Venmo is @DanielShar.

If you and/or anyone you know would like to attend either screening, please use the following RSVP forms so we know who to expect (but also please understand that admission/seats at both venues are first come first serve).

RSVP for Chicago

RSVP for NYC

Our website contains bios for our cast and crew, as well as some additional screening info. For anyone still on Facebook, here are the events for Chicago and NYC. You are more than welcome to share any/all of the above with everyone you know. If you have questions or anything, or if you would like to be among the first to see this movie whenever it becomes widely available, please email [email protected]. We promise not to bother you unless we have something worth sharing.

Of the 2.5 years that I’ve been working on this thing, the last year has been the hardest. I've never been a particularly patient person, and this entire experience has been a grueling reminder of that, but this most recent stretch has been especially tough, since it often felt like I was seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and getting very close to exiting that tunnel, only to learn that the tunnel had been extended by a perpetually indeterminable amount of miles.

So, suffice it to say I am thrilled to report that things have picked up considerably in the last few weeks, and we have finally made some huge strides towards actually finishing SCRAPS!

On January 21, we finalized color correction on our trailer, thanks to the generosity of a wonderfully talented post-production renaissance man named Cristian Barreto, who I lucked out and found on Craigslist. This dude did a wonderful job of matching the look our lead colorist had created and applied to the movie itself, and he was super easy to talk to and work with, so I would highly recommend him to anyone who needs a colorist (or an editor, or a dancer -- for real, click his name to see for yourself).

On January 23, I flew from LA to Chicago, partly to see old friends, but mostly to have studio sessions with our new sound editing duo, BriElle Achterhof and Kyara Bolaños, who I had previously only interacted with via email.

They first came on board to take over the sound edit and mix in early September, but before they could really dive in, they needed to finish some other projects. They were also juggling their jobs and lives as full-time students at Columbia College Chicago, so things understandably took a while.

Before our first meeting, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but our 4-hour session on Wednesday January 24 made me happier than I’ve been in a long time.

These two (and their friend Christian Starr, who helped them out) were so kind and thorough and enthusiastic about the project, and I can’t possibly recommend them highly enough to anyone with any sound needs. In addition to being very knowledgeable and skilled, they were truly delightful to be around, and I’m now on a mission to get them hired as frequently as possible. On January 25, I met with our absolute saint of an editor Matt Kitchen, who has been so clutch throughout the entire post-production process and who also has my eternal endorsement. After several months of us having all but one batch of scenes color corrected, Matt took the reigns and was able to find the right look for those, thus enabling us to finally declare color correction totally finished.

On January 27, I had another 5-hour studio session with BriElle and Kyara. It went well, but we weren’t able to get through the whole movie before time ran out. I was originally scheduled to fly back on the 29th, but the space we were using was going to be closed on the 28th. Luckily, an airline voucher had made my round-trip ticket 100% free, so I decided it would be worth it to just buy a later return flight and stick around for another meeting.

I still wanted to try to find somewhere else to work on the 28th though, so I woke up early Sunday, made 22 phone calls, sent 7 emails, and texted or had someone else text a few other people on our behalf. Some people/companies provided momentary glimpses of hope, but they all either didn’t have the 5.1 surround sound setup we needed for mixing purposes, or they were too costly.

So, by the early afternoon, I confirmed another session for 1/30, then went ahead and booked a new return flight for 1/31 (exactly two years from the day we wrapped production).

When the 30th rolled around, we met in a fancier studio in a different building down the street from the one where we had been meeting. Here is a hastily taken photograph of that, which features a version of the movie that had not yet been properly color corrected, so please don’t judge what you see -- I promise our movie never looks this blown out/grainy/etc.

While I was excited to see the physical sound board and larger projection screen, we ended up battling some technical difficulties for an hour before calling an audible and relocating to our original space. By the time we got there and sorted out a new set of computer glitches, another hour had passed.

We still had enough time to make it all the way through the end of the movie, but there were a handful of issues left unresolved. Thankfully, the ever-amazing Nicole Bishop was there to work her producer magic, and she calmly formulated a plan for getting everything finished up (for both the movie and the trailer) in the weeks ahead, despite me being back in LA.

So, beyond waiting for those final tweaks to be made, what’s next?

Well, I’ve been exploring/considering an overwhelming number of distribution/release options since late 2016, and there are a variety of ways this could all play out, so I don’t want to speculate too specifically on what our next moves will be.

Here’s what I will say, though: I’m determined to make sure that - one way or another - people in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City get a chance to see this movie in a communal setting of some sort this spring/summer. 

Beyond that, we are also determined to find a way to make the movie available to people everywhere on some sort of streaming platform/the internet.

If you live in any other city and feel strongly about wanting to see SCRAPS in a communal setting, please get in touch with me and let’s figure something out.

Either way, if you would like to be among the first to see the trailer and movie when they become available, please email [email protected]. We promise not to bother you until we have significant news to share.