Tokyo Cowboys New Year Update (in case you didn't get the email)

Dear All,

Patrick and I would like to wish all of you a happy and prosperous New Year. It's been a while since we sent out an update, and there's a good reason. Patrick and I have been busy FINISHING the film. Well...almost.

What's the Score

Our composer, Simon Rogers, has been working hard to give us an incredibly beautiful score. It's been a pleasure and a great journey working with Simon who brings years of experience and loads of talent to the project. Patrick and I have both learned so much from him. Simon studied at the prestigious Royal College of Music and has been a success as both a Musician and Producer. You can see his CV and visit his profile on Wikipedia.

Clearances

What a palaver. This is where filmmaking gets really boring. We've got to clear every song sung in karaoke, every musical performance and every one of the TV shows we filmed. It adds up to about 30 individual clearances. We've been lucky, though. Three of the big songs will only be about £300 each to clear for festivals. The folks at Universal and Carlin Music have been very helpful, and we are making progress.

Other Bits

The remaining work on Tokyo Cowboys includes finishing the credits, grading and the sound mix. A mate is letting us use his online suite for the grade, so we have been very fortunate. The credits are going to be as long as the film, and the sound mix will be hairy. We've been listening on the mini speakers on our editing suite, but, when Patrick screened the film on Graham's home cinema system, he could hear every little finger tap on the camera. Loads to do here, but we've got some good leads on affordable sound mixers.

Festivals

So far, we've been sending off the Work-in-Progress to festivals. It is crucial to the success of the film to get a good run as festivals are where we can flog the film in various territories. This month is when we start to hear back, so please send us good vibrations. Also, a successful festival run often times depends on who you know. So, if any of you good folks out there have any connections to festivals for which Tokyo Cowboys qualifies, please do get in touch (Tokyo Cowboys is classified as a feature-length independent Documentary).

New Technologies

I have been following various blogs about emerging technologies in online film distribution. Online, we can find and exploit (in the best possible sense) audiences that may not be able to access Tokyo Cowboys elsewhere. I know there are some techies and marketing geniuses out there, and I would like to open a dialog about how we can get Tokyo Cowboys to the online market. Please email me if you'd like to participate.

That's it from TC headquarters. Patrick and I would like to thank all of you for your continuing support. We are almost there!

Hugs,

Daneeta