Killing Room Premiere

This was quite an experience!

We set the film Killing Room before a live audience at 10.00am on Sunday 17th June with around 100 invited and a total 130 seats in the auditorium. I arrived just before half nine and checked out the theatre with less than six people in the foyer, passing the ticket checking doors to the cinema screen at the end of the dark red corridor. I expected to be nervous but after 16 years on stage, I fell into that mindset when you produce your own play.

You’re there to entertain a crowd, so get on with it.

The emotions caught me by surprise: I wasn’t excited or fearful at all. My hands were calm, my head professional, the mentality just “let’s do this” with a touch of enjoyment. I love socializing and hosting parties as a matter of course; the day before I’d had 9 plus my family (14 souls in all) to feed and entertain for the night and in that forum I’m in my element. If you’re a friend you are invited in, and my wife and I enjoy an “open door” policy. The first time you come you’re a guest; the second time you’re expected to knock and enter, kick your shoes off and put the kettle on if that’s what you want to do.

Not that I’m saying we had an audience of unshod brew drinking types in the cinema today, but you know what I mean: my plan was nothing short of welcome the audience, set them at ease with a warm up address, and show the film.

One speech later to rousing applause, the lights faded and the story began…

It’s funny watching your own work. Some people hate it. Some like it. How many of us balk at seeing ourselves on family home movies and think “does my voice sound that deep?”

Showing the film today was no different than any artist showing their work. I could have been a painter, a musician, a chef inviting people to appreciate my latest masterpiece. In this case it was a film and these were my friends and the friends and relatives of the film crew and cast we were entertaining so the pressure, if I recall feeling any, was different. I could show the film to someone I didn’t know and be entirely neutral about it. Showing it to people who cared about me, who wanted to see this work for no other reason than their friend wrote it, was quite awe-inspiring. It also keeps you professional.

And, like any artist, you’re never happy with the finished product. Some scenes I thought “…we could have done that better” but in so many others the energy flew, the performances were sharp, and the audience reaction tangible. I was sat at the very front so couldn’t gauge what people thought but my daughter at the back said people’s faces at the film’s halfway mark (is it the culmination? No, it’s only part way through) were nothing short of wide eyed uncertain shock.

Good reaction, I thought.

At the end credits the audience applauded when the lights came on and for a moment, just a brief moment, I allowed myself a smile. I never approach these things with arrogance or modesty but instead take the more pragmatic, realistic view of “If just one person likes and understands it, I’ve done a good job, and if people give me constructive criticism, I’ve done even better”.

And the feedback? Universal. Pretty much everyone independently said the same things. Killing Room is a section of a much larger story and even though the short film tells a complete story arc in its own right and there is more that happens, a lot more, after the credits closed. In writing the project I had my actors put such subtle nuance into performances that actually referenced things in the full length version and didn’t appear in the short film at all, but by their inclusion created a rounded story and formed the foundation on which the feedback originated, namely:

1- They wanted more!!! The film was too short, they didn’t want it to end, and more than half a few said “it can’t possibly end there!!!! What happens next???”

2- The background was hinted at, alluded to in passing reference, sometimes by passing lines, sometimes by a look in a character’s eyes, and it raised the common feedback “what events have happened to bring these three characters to this point in their lives?

The audience, in just 25 minutes, began to care about the characters and the situation they were in, drawn into this tale of betrayal, redemption and murder.

All in all, this was a great morning. I made a few contacts, received requests to write to order, and finished the event completely happy and slightly exhausted!

And the best thing?

More than just one person enjoyed it, appreciated it, and everyone I spoke to fully embraced the story and the character dynamics within.

I’d say that was a good morning!