Dear Beloved Filmmaker Friends Who Are Waiting to Hear From Sundance:

Some who I know well, others I just know because I love your films, or because we are “in the trenches together,” albeit only in spirit.

You are about to hear whether or not your film got into Sundance. Or maybe you already know, which in most cases means you are head-to-toe thrilled adrenaline (and now, REALLY finishing the barely-locked film), and to you, many congrats! To the rest who are waiting, or have already heard news they did not want, let me Facebook hug you. While I have had the fortune of having 2 films at Sundance, I’ve also experienced the great normalcy of many more films rejected by Sundance. And frankly, when I got “the good call” it has never made sense to me..It was never the one everyone told me was “a shoe in”, never the one with the most years of work or biggest budget. Of the many staff at Sundance I know, I can honestly say they are truly great individuals who care deeply about filmmakers… who dread having to make cuts, who are not looking forward to breaking the news to the talented MANY.

 So I say to my teammates, even more important than saying that your FILM is awesome regardless of where it plays, YOU are awesome no matter who rejects your work. Do not read into it as a declaration of your own failure. Your investors, your producers, may suddenly turn on you on the sheer news of your film’s Sundance rejection. Maybe it seems you have less friends. Yesterday you were a brilliant auteur, but now you messed up. Do not let it ruin your spirit. Do not let one festival— or the whole world of them—define you and what you have made your life about. Yes, there are wars and disasters and more important things in the world than your independent film (aimed at stopping natural disasters), but that does not help you this week. You sacrificed any number of things, maybe people have invested in you their talent, money, faith. Just know you have done something most people only talk about drunkenly. You put words into action. As our field becomes saturated with Sundance talk, the next 10 weeks might become unbearable at times. But just know you are not alone, lick your wounds and carry on. And try not to drink too much.

Xoxoo!!