DECEMBER 2002 Well, the film finally Premiered at the Indianapolis Underground Film Festival.  I tried to get some press there for it, but to no avail.  Actually I was away during the pre-weeks of the fest so I couldn't really follow up like I like to.  Oh well.  Anyway, lord knows how it went over.  Nobody from the fest got back to me on how it went.  This always surprises me, especially from smaller fests.  It's not that difficult to repsond to an email with "it went good."  I dunno.  Ben, who did the music, got us a nice write up in the Aquarian Weekly.  It's a NY/NJ music paper.  The guy who wrote the article had some great things to say about the film.  He  made a comparison that, for some odd reason, never crossed my mind.  He compared it to a Keystone Kops film.  The Keystone Kops were these silent shorts back in film's heydey that this guy Mack Sennett produced.  Basically they were cops chasing after crooks.  It's a good way to describe our film, I think, along with the car chase parody element that we've been using.  I mean, after all, that's where people got the ideas for those car chases we always see in movies today.  You can trace them all directly back to the Keystone Kops - more or less.  As for the Park City madness, it doesn't look like we'll be making the trek.  As much as I'd like to - I still don't know if we got in anything.  My old "pal" Doug who used to run the Troma event has since split and started his own.  I'm pretty sure he's gonna screen the film, but all these other fests have yet to announce their sked.  I mean, No Dance is accepting films up until Dec. 20th!  When do they expect to tell people and allow them time to make plans to attend?  It makes no sense.  I don't remember it being that bad last time we went.  Maybe it was and I just forgot, who knows?  But it's for that very reason I'm gonna skip it.  Sucks cause this year I was looking forward to actually enjoying it a little more than last time.  Last time I spent every minute working/promoting the film.  I never got to just go and check out some films or sit down and just relax and have a beer.  Oh, well - I'll miss it but there's more important things to do - like making calls to LA, so...syanora sundance.

JANUARY 2003 There's a little bit of a glum feeling about the film in the producing ranks.  I think a lot of it coincides with the fact that we didn't make the cut of Slamdance, NoDance, or Slamdunk in Park City.  Troma is gonna screen it as is Doug at Backseat Film Festival.  Perhaps in some minds that isn't all too impressive.  Of course it would've been great to get into one of those other fests, which might attract larger audiences - and in Slamdance's case - some "Hollywood" contacts.  But to me, a screening is a screening.  I think we have put more pressure - undeserved pressure - on this film to have a bigger impact than "H.R." did.  But looking back, this film is, at least, on the same track as "H.R."  When all is said and done, I think this film will have a good run at festivals, just as "H.R." did.  I don't think we're making films that are gonna do it on their own, so to say.  We'll need to make people aware of the film.  It's not gonna play at some huge film festival and we can sit back and reap the benefits.  We're gonna have to do a lot  of legwork to spread the word.  I've already started that.  Trash City wrote a really positive review that actually called the film "superior" to "H.R."  Also I got IFilm checking into hosting the film on their site, so you can watch it online.  We've started making contact calls to various producers in LA and NYC.  So far we're doing pretty good.  Maybe 30 or so wanna see the film.  Hopefully that'll lead to some meetings.  And on top of all that, we got word the film was accepted into the Tambay Film Festival in Tampa.  I think that was the boost everyone needed to reassure us that the film is good and fun.  It's just one of those things when dealing with a comedy - everyone finds different things funny.  If we don't make the cut at a festival, we just have to assume they don't have our sense of humor.  That's all.  Oh, and that they're unfeeling bastards.

FEBRUARY 2003 It feels like things are already slowing down for the film, which is weird cause to this day "H.R." is still getting screening dates.  We do have some set for April at Tambay Film Festival and Sick Puppy in San Francisco.  Also Filmstock in England is going to screen it this June.  I was gonna try going to the Tambay Festival.  I don't travel to a lot of these; I wish I could cause they can be fun.  But airfare to Florida in April is sky-high.  So I'll have to pass.  Oh, well.  We're keeping at our calls to producers.  We've gotten the film to about 40 now.  Getting them the film is one thing, getting them to watch it is another.  They take their time.  It's a matter of calling every other week and checking in.  Leaving a lot of messages, etc.  If we get 5 of the 40 to look at one of our feature scripts, in my book, that's a success.  Another thing that's put a damper on the film's run has been one or two bad reviews.  I dunno, bad reviews are par for the course, but some of the people reviewing it just don't seem to "get it."  I mean, not everyone's gonna dig this type of comedy.  Like I've said, we all laugh at different things.  But I think some people watch it and believe we're pretentious enough to think there's more to "Bum Runner."  Cause we're not.  We know it's nothing but  a living "Tom & Jerry" cartoon.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  There's no statement being made in it.  It's a goof.  A silly little film that, hopefully, will put a smile on your face a couple times in the course of 9 minutes.  Ah, whatever.  Bad reviews usually bug me for a day or two and then I forget about them... I'm putting the final touches now on the Joint Partners "notsoSpecial Edition" DVD.  It's a compilation of the four films I've/we've made so far: "T. Fly", "H.R.", "Asburied", and "Bum."  It's got some bonus stuff on there: interviews, pencil tests from "T. Fly", deleted scenes...stuff like that.  When it's done I'm going to probably sell it through Buyindies.com.  I'm also going to try getting it into a few independent-minded video stores like Vidiots in Santa Monica or Kim's in NYC.  I should have a page set up soon on the site with all the info...