The Story Behind My Film Premiere In Houston, TX
We become what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit – Aristotle
It’s been two months since the first premiere of my short film, Blind Justice, in my hometown, the DMV. Even though it was quite successful, I couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t enough. Hence, the extreme feelings of boredom that was consuming my mind. After watching many YouTube episodes of 48 Hours, boredom is never a good thing.
I needed a new conquest, challenge, and/or goal to work toward. After the horrible run Blind Justice had in film festivals, I refused to let Blind Justice end in my hometown. The truth was, the DMV is mainly known for its corporate workforce. So, if I were to do something else with Blind Justice, it would have to be in an environment where film/entertainment is quite popular.
But where?
Right then, I decided to do a second film premiere for Blind Justice in TEXAS. The Lone Star State.
Breathe, Gia. Breathe.
Why Texas?
Well, I have quite a few connections there and I figured they could help me get the word out about the premiere. Next, I had to figure out which part of Texas I wanted to have the premiere in? Houston or Dallas?
As I began to do my research and call event spaces in both cities, Dallas was just too expensive forcing me to settle for Houston.
My first option for a location, I found on TikTok and they were running a discount (or so I thought). I immediately called them and they informed me the discount was no longer available and that their prices were actually going to increase. (Goodness!)
So, I moved onto my second option which was more than 50% less than my first option. I knew I had to see the venue in person because pictures can be deceiving. Being that we were going through a massive snowstorm in the DMV, warm weather was sounding pretty darn good. So, I booked a walkthrough reservation for the venue, flight, hotel, and I was off to Houston.
Houston was definitely warm when I landed. It felt like heaven. The next morning, I got up early for my reservation at 10am only to get a call from the venue manager asking if I was still coming in for the walkthrough. Huh? I’m confused. It was then that I realized that the timezone in my phone didn’t adjust itself to Central Standard Time (CST). (OMG).
I immediately assured the manager that I was on my way and luckily he was very kind and patient. Within twenty minutes I was at the venue. There were two spaces available for reserve – a large and a small. I obviously couldn’t afford the larger space so I asked to see the smaller one.
The smaller one perfect. It even had a Photo Booth. But, I was still worried that it may be a bit too big. However, I still took the leap and put the non-refundable 50% deposit down for May 30th date. (Now there’s really NO going back).
To congratulate myself, I went to the River Oaks District, got a gelato at Amorino, and enjoyed the sun as I watched Houstoners of many different ethnicities walk around in cowboy hats, boots, and bandanas.
Did I mention that the women in Houston can dress their butts off? I was definitely underdressed with my Jordan sneakers, leggings, and simple T-shirt.
To end my last night in Houston, I walked to the AMC Theatre to watch The Strangers – Chapter 3. (Great movie btw).
OPERATION “NO RUNNING WATER”
The next morning, as I flew back to the cold and freezing DMV, I couldn’t help but think that I still should’ve chosen Dallas. But that answer would have to wait because my apartment had no running water. My old, weak, and illegal pipes were frozen meaning that my unit was no longer inhabitable. (You’ve got to be kidding me!)
To make sure it wasn’t a building issue, I asked both my neighbors (above and below) if they were also experiencing frozen pipes. Only to find out from my neighbor below that my pipes actually bursted. She even showed me a video of the burst and it was as if a flood erupted into her apartment. I felt so bad.
Pissed off, I went back to my apartment, packed up as many clothes as I could fit in my big suitcase and headed to a relative’s house where I would end up staying for the next two months!
I refused to let my pipe issue send me into an acute depression. So, I returned my thoughts back on my premiere in Texas.
Date of Premiere – chosen. Location – booked. Now, there’s the challenge of actually getting the courage to post the announcement of the premiere on social media. Once the announcement is made online there’s no going back.
My mind was set on posting the announcement the next day (Monday), but I chickened out. I felt like I was about to vomit and my hands were always shaking when I attempted to make the post. But, by the time Saturday arrived, I finally posted the announcement on social media.
Surprisingly, the post got a lot of attention which meant the pressure was indeed all the way ON!
My next order of business was to find someone who could help me with social media. I went onto Thumbtack and hired a freelancer to help me run ads while I worked diligently to record videos, promote blog posts, partner with influencers, etc.
Within a week, the ads were up and running and tickets were officially available for sale. The ads were getting a lot of interaction (likes and shares) but sadly, tickets weren’t selling as fast as I anticipated. After three weeks of little to no ticket sales, I suggested to the social freelancer to switch up the content in the ads. But she assured me the teasers and trailers were working very well. So, I let it be.
She believed that the real issue was the ticket page and that it wasn’t captivating enough. So, I added the cast videos, linked the film’s website, the first premiere’s photo gallery, blog, and donation page. And am hour later, two VIP tickets were purchased. Yes!
I also kept in the back of my mind that it does take time for people to buy. Most likely, tickets would sell more closer to the premiere date. So, I kept to my plan and posted as much content as possible.
Ironically, a month into promoting the premiere, my chance to explore Dallas had finally come to fruition. One of my favorite YouTubers put out a request for applicants who’d be willing to be interviewed on his podcast about love and relationships. I knew it was a long shot, but I still applied.
Surprisingly, I got accepted. Wow. The podcast was took place on a Sunday, April 19th, making me use some of the very little vacation time I had left. I booked my flight, hotel, hair, makeup, and nail appointments, and submitted for one vacation day at my job. I was officially going to Dallas!
I landed in Dallas in the evening of Saturday, April 18th, and shockingly it was cold. Not freezing but cold. As soon I got to my hotel, I was met with a bit of nostalgia as I watched a bunch of high schoolers prepare for prom. I must say, high schoolers today are on a whole new level of prom luxury.
My high school prom was chaotic. I ended up getting into a petty argument with my prom date and had to find a last minute replacement. So, seeing the current class of high schoolers made me wish I could do my high school prom all over again.
With that, I checked into my hotel room, ordered Burger King, watched a bit of Netflix and slept. The next day, I slept in until it was time to get ready for my makeup appointment. Four hours later, my makeup was complete and felt camera ready!
After that, I was off to film the podcast, and it was such a surreal experience. In fact, it was a dream come true and I met some amazing women. Thank you, Tony Gaskins!
I ended the night with a trip to the movies to watch You, Me & Tuscany. Unfortunately, I had to leave midway through the movie because the chicken tenders took a toll on my body and I was started to fall asleep.
But overall, Rege and Halle were so cute!
The next day, I flew back to the DMV. By the time I got back home, more ticket sales had come through but there was still a long way to go. To further put myself in front of more audiences, I did an Instagram LIVE interview with an award-winning filmmaker and it worked. More ticket sales came in.
Next, I partnered with two Houston influencers and that led to more ticket sales.
Fast forward to three weeks before the premiere and I still needed to sell more tickets. I had to do something drastic. Then, I saw on Instagram that there was a big entrepreneurship event for black women taking place in Houston in a week.
I figured if people truly felt my energy in-person that would really help me. So, I bought a VIP ticket to the event, booked a flight, hotel and makeup appointment on a credit card and I was off to Houston!
At 7:20am on the morning of the event, I got a text that my makeup appointment was cancelled due to a family emergency. Are you serious?!!
I immediately scrambled through Instagram to hopefully find anyone makeup artist in Houston with a possible 8am availability. A needle in a haystack. A few frantic calls and texts later, I was able to find an available 24/7 makeup artist. Bless her heart. I took an uber to her address and she gave me a quick 45-minute soft glam makeup session.
Rushing and not paying attention, I ended up giving my uber driver the wrong address. A nearly 30-minute ride for nothing. But, the driver was very kind and drove me to the correct one. Thank goodness it wasn’t that far.
I gathered myself together and calmly walked into the event LATE. It was packed and luckily they started the program not too long before I got there. As the event soon came to an end, I knew I had to do something drastic to get myself noticed.
My wish would soon become answered. An opportunity came for a few women to introduce themselves to the room on a microphone and ask the core speaker a question. I pounced on that opportunity and grabbed the mic without a care in the world!
I was so glad I did it because I met some amazing women in the entertainment industry who ended up purchasing tickets to the premiere. (Yes! Mission Accomplished!)
OPERATION “NO DRESS”
The following Monday, as I was taking the metro rail to work, it dawned on me that I still didn’t have a dress for the premiere. I can’t believe I forgot! Then, surprisingly, I got a request to do an interview for The Defender Network, a very popular magazine in Houston. Wow!
But there was a problem. The magazine wanted to do the interview in-person in 48 hours. What? I just came back from Houston.
I just couldn’t financially afford to travel back to Houston right away. So, I asked the magazine if they’d be willing to do the interview 48 hours before the premiere date because I’d already be in Houston prepping for the premiere.
Thankfully, they agreed.
Now, I needed to order a dress as soon as possible because I only had six more days until I had to fly out to Houston. As I searched Instagram, miraculously, I stumbled across a beautiful light purple dress from Blini Boutique, and luckily it was a ready to ship dress. I purchased the dress right away with next day express shipping.
Fast forward to Wednesday, the day before my flight out Houston. The dress still hadn’t arrived. What is going on? Frantically, I called DHL Express and found out that my dress was still at the DHL shipping facility in DC. However, I couldn’t just walk in and pick it up. What? Why?
I literally begged the representative to let me pick it up and thankfully she did.
After work I caught an uber from my employer’s office in Virginia to the DHL Express office in DC. I waited for more than thirty minutes before they handed me my dress. I hugged the box so tight to my chest it made dents in my arms.
Then, I caught an uber to the nearest DC metro rail station and rode straight home full of euphoria.
The next day I caught my flight to Houston. It’s officially 48 hours before the premiere. When I landed in Houston, the scorching heat gave me whiplash. (My goodness!). It was beyond HOT!
I caught an uber to Enterprise to pick up my rental car and headed to my makeup appointment for my magazine interview. The interview passed by great!
MAY 30TH – “PREMIERE DAY”
I woke up with bags under my eyes due to the lack of sleep the night before. I was just too nervous to sleep. I actually wanted to breakdown and cry. But I couldn’t because the catering food needed to be picked up. So, I pushed past my feelings and drove for almost an hour to Suya on the Spot.
The freelancers (i.e., staging, venue, lighting, DJ, decor, etc.) were scheduled for a 2pm setup setup with showtime to start at 6pm.
The event coordinator met me at my airBnB and picked up the food, VIP bags, laptop, footage, drinks, etc. After that I headed to my makeup appointment.
My makeup appointment passed by smoothly. However, as I exited, I get a call that the setup of the venue wasn’t going well. I get to the venue and I wasn’t happy at all.
Primarily, because the videographer wasn’t there to capture the behind-the-scenes footage. Next, the stage was too big. Third, the venue’s long, low-hanging chandeliers ended up covering the screen and the venue couldn’t remove them.
Gosh, those dang chandeliers!
I made the engineer breakdown the stage to move the screen forward because it was too far back. Next, I made the DJ move his music system along with his two large speakers closer to the stage. I corrected the stage lighting. Lastly, I made sure the projection of film filled the entire screen.
But, what I failed to do was perform a mic check. (Gosh, I wish I didn’t forget that!)
I arrived back to my airBnB to put on my dress for the first time with the help of my college classmate who flew in from Pittsburgh. I must say, my dress showed a lot of skin which I didn’t know would happen.
We headed back to the venue and I was glad that everything was in its correct order. People slowly in. The film premiered. I answered many unexpected questions, and we enjoyed a powerful poetry reading from one of influencers.
Eventually, the premiere was over and yet people were still arriving and some even stayed past the closing time.
But, what really made my night was when one of the attendees asked me, “Gia, how did you manage to get this amount of people to attend your event on a Saturday in Houston?”
I looked at her confused. What did she mean?
Then she said, “Gia, you did swell. You really did well. You should be proud of yourself”.
VIEW THE PREMIERE GALLERY HERE
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