Tamia Dow, Me, Del Weston, Marneen Fields
Me and Marneen Opening Night
Me doing my best Bond girl lol
Dear Daniel Craig,
We’ve come a long way baby. To think you don’t even know me, yet your work has played such a pivotal role in my climb back with mental illness, and as an inspiration in my career. Now I find myself on the cusp of everything I’ve ever wanted.
Last Friday my first feature film, Letters to Daniel, got it’s theatrical release in Las Vegas. It was at the Galaxy Theaters in the Boulevard Mall. I wore a sparkly purple evening gown and pretty shoes which butchered my feet by the end of the evening.
My mentor, Del Weston, was there and some AOFers who were dying to see my film, plus a friend of theirs. In the lobby was a twenty foot digital image of the Letters to Daniel poster rotating with other showing films and movie ads. Then next to the theater was another digital image of the poster.
Then there was the HUGE No Time To Die, Daniel Craig promotional standee. I did my best Bond girl pose with my leg showing through the slit.
Then we all shuffled back to the theater for the main event. Five people including me took a seat, being sure to social distance. I hate to say this but I had flown in from Kentucky that morning and had to take the mask off so that I could beat the claustrophobia.
Man, it was like a waking dream. There was my film, sixty feet tall, seen the way I intended it to be seen, sounding like it was suppose to sound.
Even though the crowd was intimate it made for an incredible experience. Everyone loved and related to my movie. From the reverence for the musical score (Valyo Gennoff), the gushing of approval over Megan Jones’ performance as me in the lead role, and to the way everyone fell in love with the end credits song, “Here With Me,” by Stephanie Ray. Adding to the excitement of the wins and nominations was the fact Warner Music BR had just submitted, “Here With Me,” to the Academy Awards for Best Original Song in a motion picture.
Sometimes I feel unappreciated and disrespected as a director locally. Daniel, on Friday September 25, 2020, in that theater, surrounded by my mentors and AOF family, in Las Vegas, NV I felt like I had arrived. Knowing that my manager had sent the private link to Letters to Daniel to your representatives to possibly pass on to you, I that sausagefest which had frustrated me over the last four years disappeared from my mind. I had recently appeared on the front page of the paper with my cast and crew.
I had four avenues of distribution, including a limited theatrical release. Always working towards more. I knew that sausage festival couldn’t hold a candle to the work I had put into Letters to Daniel. As of now, Letters to Daniel is on Reel Women’s Network, Amazon Prime Direct, ParablesTV and a Las Vegas-Louisville-Cleveland run so far.
As the music played and I watched this film that my magnificent team of cast, crew, and post-production people put together unfold. It was apparent that everyone’s hard work had paid off.
When it was over everyone clapped and cheered for me. I was able to do a Q&A.
I got to go to the Venetian and eat at the Grand Lux with Del Weston and Marneen Fields. The food was fantastic, the drinks delicious, the conversation important, and the company was first rate.
The icing on the cake was the fact, shortly before I left the hotel for all the excitement, I received an email from Newsfest telling me I was receiving a special award. Last year I received a special award from AOF for my body of work, The Founder’s Award, which was the Conquering Disabilities w/Film International Film Festival.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the film, but it is the twenty-first anniversary of my diagnosis. Bipolar disorder, if you are not vigilant and tireless, will run you. The truth is it will run you sometimes in spite of your best efforts. But for the last three years, after a rough 2015 and 2016 and the start of 2017, I regained my stability and sanity.
Truthfully the lightning bolt change moment came at the 2016 Action On Film Megafest. The healing transformation began there. Life changing transformation comes at price. People fall away, and those you thought were your friends you find out want you for a check, or maybe were only supposed to pass through your life for a certain season.
As hard as it is to accept these things, when you do clear away the old, and let go of the toxic, it’s like rocket fuel to your true self. Enabling you to break free and scale the heights of which you never dreamed.
A kindly spirit once said, Amy, you have found your tribe. John Spalding live broadcasting genius said, “Thank you for putting together this dream team.”
Letters to Daniel was a long journey from blog to film, with a couple of stops along the way in book and documentary forms. As I pushed through my recovery, and fought for stability, Every blog I wrote, every novel I created, every screenplay I penned, even if mental illness was not at the heart of the story, elements of life with serious mental illness made it into the story.
This is my fifth memoir. My second memoir/how to.
I see people making low budget horror films. I think it takes a certain knack to set yourself apart in any genre, horror, scifi, and fantasy are films that have delicious stories within them, but are often, in independent film, cookie cutter, or cheap attempts at remaking someone has done better.
What advice do I have in this first chapter? Don’t do what I’ve done. What I mean is, don’t punch down and expect because you have the best film, awards and screenings will happen for you.
Film Festival exist, for the most part, to separate you from your money. The trick is, to find the right home for your work. And know, the ultimate name of the game is for your film to be seen. And not every festival is a right fit for every film.
And while I support submitting to film festivals, don’t punch down. There are that many opportunities there, if any. I’ve punched down twice recently, and the results have come in and I got exactly what I thought I would.
Film festivals in the age of covid have sent many festivals online. Many top tier festivals screwed their filmmakers out of a lot of money. Leaving them with “online premieres” where maybe one or two people are in the screening room at the same time.
It flat out sucks.
I’m glad AOF didn’t go that route, I’m glad we’re doing a hybrid festival next year. With award shows and screenings for the writers and filmmakers of 2020 and award shows and screenings for the 2021 creatives.
Just a little secret, AOF Megafest is not punching down. Neither is Indie Gathering. It was with these festivals I put together my Letters to Daniel team. There was a filmmaker I met at another convention and he introduced me to who would become my leading ladies of Letters to Daniel.
The truth is every festival is what you make of it. My particular superpower is networking. I’m always looking for great collaborative partners. And Indie Gathering and AOF are filled with them.
Del Weston is the kind of guy that gets shit done. He is very charismatic, low bullshit threshold, with a huge heart. He a creator’s creator and has cheered on and mentored countless filmmakers and screenwriters. I should say he isn’t just mentor, or friend. Del and his immediate family are my family.
So to have him present at my moment of triumph. The moment where I could say to everyone whoever doubted me they were wrong, but not care about it. To have my strongest champion in the industry, say, I’ve seen this film three times already and loved it. But this screen changed everything. (He meant it in a good way).
To hear everyone tell I was a great director after watching the hellfire that me and Missy and walked through to get to that point was an emotional and heady experience indeed.
You can do it to. Mental illness is not a death sentence and it doesn’t define you. It’s a part of you. It’s like Diabetes or any other chronic illness that brings stigma and discrimination. I’m going to help you find your passion, embrace recovery, and achieve things you only ever dreamed of.
Sincerely,
Amy McCorkle
