Things are different now. We set out to shoot a feature film, and we did it. We really did it.   Even though things weren’t always smooth sailing, we came through the other side with smiles on our faces, eager to do it again. And do it again we will.

What’s up next?

• Phil & Jeremy = editing TILT as you read this. Far out.
• The 4 TILT shorts will be shot soon, with Jess lending a hand in the editing department.
• Teaser trailer + poster + big announcement are coming soon
• Marketing and promotion for TILT = full speed ahead
• New behind-the-scenes pics & videos available on the TILTtheMovie Facebook page daily
• A future Creative Jinx / King is a Fink collaboration? You’ll have to wait and see…

Jeremy Doyle & Phil Holbrook on the TILT set

Julie & Phil discuss a scene w/ cast

Producer huddle

Phil & Jess pull a "Gary King"

Phil & Jess

In the short time that Jess was on set, she put her unique, ultra-logical and organized stamp on the entire production. She set up our plan for make-up and costumes, ironed out some logistical issues, and won over each and every member of the cast and crew.

Jess + Dani / TILT Day #1

TILT pre-prod 'meeting' at the Last Turn Saloon

Jess + Wade / Day #2

She also just made me happy.

Jess LOVES motels

As the Kfink who stayed behind, I worked hard to make TILT the best it could be, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t affected by Jessica’s absence.

• Our beloved Bunkhouse wasn’t half as bunky.

Bunkhouse + sad Julie + massive under eye luggage

• The wild rice omelets at The Sawmill Cafe weren’t quite as tasty.

Sawmill Cafe + indifferent Julie

• The changing of the fall leaves wasn’t quite as breathtaking.

Sure, it's pretty, but whatevs...

• I made some rather heinous dietary decisions.

Don't judge.

• Even Paul Bunyan couldn’t cheer me up.

Paul Bunyan + sad Julie

Don’t get me wrong: TILT is going to be great! But I’ll tell you this: I am not filming another movie without Jessica King by my side. You heard it here first.

Julie + Jess / TILT Day #2

Get the scoop on what happened on the TILT shoot by:

• Snooping around on the TILT website
• ‘Liking’ the new TILT Facebook page, or
• Following the TILT Twitter feed

In case you missed it, here’s what happened on Day #1.  Here’s what happened on Day #2.

DAY THREE, SUNDAY, 2/21

Jessica was a lumberjack in a previous life

• Another morning in Brainerd. After the marathon movie viewing and subsequent excited conversing on Saturday, we slept like babies.  When we woke up on Sunday, we were happy and starving, which was perfect, because we had a breakfast meeting schedule with our TILT collaborators Phil Holbrook and Jeremy Doyle.  And, of course, we asked to go back to the Sawmill Cafe. Wild rice omelet, anyone?

Tilt Power Breakfast: Phil, Jeremy, Jessica

• Had our first official TILT team meeting.  We were a little nervous.  This was the first time Phil (TILT director/producer), Jeremy (cinematographer), Jessica (writer/producer), and I (Julie, writer) were gathering in person.  We’d clicked with Phil and Jeremy online and used email, Twitter, Skype, and GoogleWave to lay the groundwork and work out issues, but what was it going to be like face to face?  What if we didn’t get each others’ jokes?  What if they’d hated the first act of the TILT screenplay and wanted to break the news to us in person?  What if Jeremy and Julie wore the same hoodie?  (I shudder to think…)  Of course, everything went just fine. We had fun chatting about EgoFest, sharing stories about our families, and getting to know each others’ quirks.

• Sidenote: Phil has such an electrifying personality that he burnt out the heating device on the breakfast buffet just by looking at it.  The waitress might have been a bit miffed, but we were impressed.

Phil & Jessica talk TILT

Jeremy picks his vlog weapon

Phil pulls a Gary King.

• Filmed a vlog. We’ve been a little secretive about TILT so far, so we decided to do a video blog during EgoFest weekend to give our friends a little taste of what we’re up to, what TILT is about, who our audience is, and what our team dynamics are like. The vlog is scheduled to go up on our TILT website on Thursday, 2/25.

Scouting for TILT locations

Yeah, that's right.

It's so hard to say goodbye...to EgoFest

• Location scouting + lunch + goodbyes. After we were finished shooting the vlog, Jeremy left to reunite with his family, while Phil, Jessica, and I headed out to scout TILT locations and grab lunch.  With all of its great locations and friendly people, Brainerd seems like the perfect place to film a movie.  The downtown area is great, and the outlying areas are beautiful. To make it even better, Phil seems to know everyone.  We stopped by a bar that was closed for the day, and the owner opened the doors for us to let us take a look around.  Small town film shoots = where it’s at, folks.

Jess writing her EgoFest reviews

DAY ONE, FRIDAY, 2/19

Kfink Roadtrip Supplies

• Woke up bright and early; drove to Brainerd. Jessica made sure we had clean underpants and film festival swag.  I (Julie) made sure we had bottled water, fake vitamins, and fruit to pretend to eat on the road.  (Because everyone knows the only respectable road trip food includes Twizzlers, Doritos, and gas station coffee.  Duh.)

Brainerd's on Julie's radar, yo.

• As usual, I drove. Jessica printed out maps and directions, which I promptly ignored. We might have gotten a teensy bit lost before we got out of the city, but it was only because I was thinking a step ahead. The wrong step, but anyway…

• Sidenote: I might move to Wisconsin or Minnesota. Why? Because the highway speed limit in those states is often 75mph.  Flying AND legal.  Fun.

Brainerd!

• After 10 hours, 1 fight, and 0 stops for Wisconsin cheese (look at that will power!), we rolled into Brainerd.

Where we stayed...

• First thing we did in Brainerd: checked into our motel. Being city girls, we have to say we were a little freaked out by our accommodations.  It’s not that our room was bad – quite the contrary: it was clean, cozy, and even had wifi.  So what was our issue?  Well, it sort of had a Bates motel vibe.

Anybody work here?

• Now you’ll have to believe us when we say we’re not princesses. But there’s something about not having someone at the front desk that can make a couple of girls in a strange town in the middle of the frozen tundra a teensy bit nervous.  For a moment, we wondered if this internet-arranged meeting with Phil was a set-up…but we got over that pretty quick.

Jess documents our pet mosquito.

Our friend 'Squito

• Luckily, we had a friend in our room. Encased in one of the picture frames was a dead mosquito.  Jessica became quite fond of it.  We’re pretty sure Phil planted it in our room on purpose.  Why?  Two possible reasons.

Possibility #1: The mosquito (which was just pretending to be sleeping) was supposed to get samples of our blood so that Phil could create a King is a Fink-themed amusement park in Brainerd (opening Summer 2011).  “Keep your hands in the car, kids.”

Possibility #2: Because Phil wanted to remind us that Brainerd is nice and warm in the summer, not always as toe-freezingly cold as it was this weekend.  You had us at ‘Squito, Phil. You had us at ‘Squito.

The Blue Ox Bar of FARGO fame

Jess = a tad nervous

• Before the EgoFest pre-party, we had a little time to kill. It was the perfect opportunity to sight-see, grab coffee, and calm our nerves.  We’re not gonna lie: we were a little anxious about our first face-to-face meeting with Phil, so we took some deep breaths, reminded ourselves that everything was going to be okay, and practiced our firm, confident handshakes.

Phil = all smiles

• Of course, handshakes went out the window as soon as we walked into the EgoFest pre-party at E Squared Cafe. Big hugs all around.  For anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of meeting Phil, rest assured that he’s as funny, welcoming, and engaging in person as he is on Twitter. Or on Skype.  Or in the Film Snobbery Live Chat (every Tues night at 9pm EST).

Julie + Chip (from Honest Work)

• The pre-party was wonderful. The food was great.  But the best part?  We found out that everyone who’s anyone in Brainerd LOVES Phil Holbrook.  We met the best group of people, many of whom have worked with him on films or on EgoFest.  I was a little starstruck when I met some of the cast members from Honest Work.

On the right: Jeremy D. & his lovely wife

• One of the most important people that we met that night, besides Phil, was Jeremy Doyle. Jeremy has worked with Phil on several shorts, makes his own shorts (several of which showed at EgoFest), and is going to be the cinematographer for TILT.  Jeremy and Phil have a great rapport, and it’s easy to see why they make a great team.  More on Jeremy and his many talents tomorrow…

Secret Time!

• Within an hour or so, we were thick as thieves. But, eventually, we had to head back to the motel.  A full night’s rest was essential if we were going to survive the next day.  12 hours, 40 films, 30 filmmakers – EGOFEST!

On EgoFest Day #2, find out about the movies we saw, the filmmakers who attended, how Phil did as a festival organizer, and what Julie saw on a Brainerd menu that made her make this face:

What the what?

That being said, it wasn’t easy. Sitting in one spot for almost half a day? Yes, there are way worse things to do on a chilly Saturday, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have to plan ahead.  Here’s how we survived EgoFest:

Rule #1 – Stay hydrated and fed. You can’t concentrate on anything, not even awesome short films, for 12 hours if you’re hungry or thirsty.  As Bertolt Brecht (almost) said, “Food is the first thing, morals (and everything else) follow on.”  The concessions at EgoFest were great.  There was water, soda, coffee, and, of course, freshly popped popcorn.

Popcorn + Phil's Mom!

While we didn’t consume any popcorn, there were some audience members who ate 3 or 4 bags full.  (Hey, don’t judge, a 12 hour movie marathon warrants a lot of popcorn eating – each block ran the length of a feature film, a long one.)  Further, the food was catered by E Squared Cafe , and it was delicious.  Hot dogs (and NOT dogs) + vegetarian chili for lunch followed by pasta and asparagus for dinner. Brainerd food = yummy & nourishing. Yes, we might have had seconds.

Egofest: Now with more dinner!

Rule #2 – Don’t be a masochist: it’s okay to get up and move around when you need to. I know our teachers spent 12 years (or more) teaching us to stay in our seats, but at Egofest…that was impossible.  Neither one of us sat through every single film, though some audience members did.  Sometimes you have to get up, and that’s okay.  Go outside, get some fresh air, or do some stretching in the lobby.  Our bodies need to move so that our minds stay alert.  I even stood in the back to watch a few of the films because at some point I just didn’t want to miss anything.

Exploring the Franklin Arts Center

Rule #3 – Be open-minded. In a 12 hour movie marathon, you’re going to see some films that you would probably flip past if you were sitting in your living room or making a choice at the local cineplex.  However, actually sitting through everything (or almost everything) was delightful.  Even though I saw some films that, if I were in a critical mode, I might classify as outright bad or poorly done, every film has the capacity to be fascinating if you’re watching in the right way.  Every film is the expression of someone’s mind, of someone’s thoughts, neuroses, or point of view.  And often it is the most clumsy films that reveal this in the strongest way.  Film is fantasy and our fantasies reveal the deepest aspects of our psyches, of what it means to be human. So we’re happy we weren’t allowed to fast forward through anything.

For more on EgoFest, stay tuned. Don’t you want to know about some of the short films we saw (The Beekeeper, Car Wash, Ai, Speed Musings, and To Get to the Other Side)? Don’t you want to find out about The Power Couple of Brainerd? And don’t you want the skinny on fest organizer Phil Holbrook? Of course, you do. So come back soon.