A bunch of friends showed up for the festival screening of STRING THEORY, some of them coming all the way from the San Francisco Bay Area. I was really touched by the show of support from all of them.

I was also pretty damn nervous. I wasn't sure whether people would like the film, but as soon as the film started and I heard the first wave of laughter, I immediately relaxed. The audience laughed all the way through to the end credits and gave the film a hearty round of applause. The Q&A session afterward, with all the filmmakers, went well also. The audience even laughed at some of my answers, especially when I told them about the real life stories that inspired the film.

One audience member asked all the filmmakers whether they make a living in the industry or whether they have day jobs. Pretty much everyone answered that they were “filmmakers”, “writers” or “directors”. With a straight face, I told the crowd that I work as a driving instructor. I told them that I risk my life everyday to teach sixteen year-olds how to drive. They laughed. They clearly appreciated my honesty.

It seemed to me that most of the other filmmakers dodged that question because they were trying to appear as “real” filmmakers. I don’t feel the need to appear like a “real” filmmaker. I am one. My day job has little to do with my identity or self-worth.

I received an email from LA Shorts Fest that began like this: “Congratulations! Your film ‘String Theory’ has been selected to be part of the 14th annual LA Shorts Fest, July 22 - 30, 2010.”

This was a pleasant little shock because I’d given up on the thought of STRING THEORY playing at any festival months ago.

My film is going to be on the big screen, in front of a paying audience, at the world’s biggest short film festival! I called my dad and closest friends to give them the good news.

The poster is complete and it looks great. The picture was taken on the set by my gaffer Alex Avila, and the poster itself was designed by Jon Reynolds.

I sent off DVD screeners to the LA Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, and LA Comedy Shorts Fest today. That’s eight festivals total now. It’s out of my hands now, though I do have a promising lead. I called Bob Arentz, founder and director of LA Shorts Fest, and asked him whether he would take a look at my film. He remembered how hard I worked for him at the last festival and gladly agreed. I’m confident the film is good enough to get into his festival based on its own merits but I want him to personally watch it. I don’t want to take any chances by sending it in as a regular submission and having some gatekeeper dismiss it.

I've “locked” the picture. It comes in at 4 minutes and 35 seconds. It took three months to get STRING THEORY made, from writing, to casting, to shooting, to edit and music. Bear in mind I had to share that time with two non-paying day jobs.

I wasn't able to get the license for "New Gold Dream" from the publishers, but I did receive an email from Derek Forbes, who watched the screener I sent him. He wrote "Matt, I laughed out loud. I like it. Well done." It's gratifying to get kudos from a guy who had a hand in writing and performing one of my favorite songs, "Don't You Forget About Me", for one of my favorite movies, THE BREAKFAST CLUB.

I made sure to pursue the song license until I got an absolute no, but in the end, I'm glad I didn't get it. Not only did I save money (the song would've cost at least as much as I spent on the whole film), but I also rose to the challenge of writing my most extensive musical score yet. I was worried that my usual style of dark, funky techno wouldn't fit the film and that I needed a song with pop vocals, but now that I'm done with the film I can't imagine any other piece of music taking its place. The track I recorded is called “Negative Space Bounce”.

I've already submitted the film to the following film festivals: Slamdance, San Francisco, Seattle, SXSW, and Tribeca.

The STRING THEORY poster is almost complete and it kicks ass. I’ll post it here in a few days.

I contacted EMI Music Publishing in order to license the Simple Minds song “New Gold Dream”. After telling one of their sales agents a little about my film and budget, he got back to me within 48 hours saying that the songwriters have refused to grant permission for the song. I was highly skeptical that this agent was able to contact all four songwriters and get a straight answer from them within that time period, especially since they hadn’t even seen a screener of the film. I asked him whether money was an issue and told him that I was willing to negotiate. He said “Money is not an issue. They don’t want the song in the film”.

Of course, I don’t take no for an answer that easily. Especially not from some bureaucratic asshole who tries to stand in my way. I decided to contact the songwriters/band members myself.

An online search revealed contact information for Derek Forbes, founding member of Simple Minds. I emailed him and he responded telling me that he has no problem with me using the song for my film, and that I could send a screener directly to him for approval. I promptly sent him a screener via email. Clearly, the guy at EMI Music had lied to me -- he hadn’t even bothered contacting anyone from Simple Minds.

I'm almost done with the edit and sound mix. I want to license the Simple Minds song "New Gold Dream" for the film so I've contacted the song's publisher. Hopefully it won't cost too much since it'll be for film festival screenings only. I shot the film with this song in mind and actually played it on location for the actors -- it matches the tone of the film perfectly. I'll try my best to get the film festival rights but if it doesn't work out I'll record my own music.

I had Alex photograph a specific image during the shoot that I want to use for the poster. It came out real well and my friend Jon, who is a graphic designer, is busy working on it.

It’s seven in the morning, I just got back from shooting STRING THEORY for twelve hours, and I can’t sleep. I scheduled the shoot until 6:00 AM and amazingly we got our last shot at 5:54 AM.

It all went very well. My gaffer Alex took a bunch of pictures -- I’ll post some here soon.

Today I held the third and last rehearsal session with my actors. Despite rehearsing only an hour each time, we covered a lot of ground. We went through each scene and I made sure everyone understood the characters, the story, and the intention behind each line. We also covered blocking. All this should save us a lot of time during the shoot and lead to a better movie. We’ll be shooting this Saturday, from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. I doubt we’ll need the whole twelve hours but I scheduled it just in case.

I visited Christina's condo to see whether it's suitable for the film. It looks fantastic. It's like a fancy little movie set and it will add tons of production value to the film. I told her that her condo was born for the role in STRING THEORY. I took my video camera with me and shot the location from different angles so I could review it at home and plan my shots. We also decided to rehearse at her condo, so it will be like rehearsing on the set.

I’ve cast Christina DeRosa, who has co-starred in TV shows such as ENTOURAGE, EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, and RENO 911. I liked her acting reel a lot, and when she came into the office and read for me, I was sold.

In terms of crew, I've hired a gaffer, boom operator, and location manager -- pretty minimal but it’ll be enough for the shoot.

I told Christina I was looking for an apartment to shoot the film in and she told me her condominium might fit the bill. I had her email me photos of her condo, and judging from the photos she sent, the location is perfect. It's very unique and colorful.

STRING THEORY will be a considerably “bigger” production than my previous short films, which had no crew and cost me around a few hundred dollars each. I’ve budgeted the film just under $1000. Since I work for free Monday through Friday, it’s going on my credit card. Patrick, the president of the production company I work for at Sony, is letting me use the office for auditions and meetings. There aren’t many other filmmakers in town who can claim to have an office at Sony Pictures.

I placed an ad on LA Casting and received about 400 submissions for the female lead. I sent my script to about forty of them; I'm sending it out in advance because I know the script is not for everyone. I don't want to schedule auditions only to have the actress show up and refuse to read the script due to its explicit content. Out of the forty I contacted, more than half didn't respond. A few emailed me, saying they that they would pass. I expected this. My ad clearly states “this project is not for inhibited or shy actors”, and that there is “no nudity”. Clearly, most actors don't read the whole ad, they just look at the $200 pay I'm offering and promptly submit their headshot and resume. They're wasting my time and theirs.