We had two screenings in Spartanburg this weekend. Our aunt and uncle (Mary Ann and Danny Crout) live there and were anxious to share Saying Goodbye with their friends. Our grandmother Alma, who was the inspiration for the main character, was Mary Ann’s mother, so this film
has special meaning for her, too. They threw a Hollywood-themed party at their house to screen the film with fancy food, movie-themed decorations, and plenty of enthusiastic fans.
After the screening, we had a lively Q&A; and immediately after that, most of the crowd insisted on watching the movie again, which made us do a little happy dance. And you never know when you’re going to make a networking connection – it turns out one of the party goers went to high school with the director of a film festival. She emailed him right then from her phone to tell him about our film, and he contacted us the next day inviting us to submit Saying Goodbye for consideration and waiving the submission fee. We have our fingers crossed that he likes it as much as the Crouts' friends! And we can’t thank Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Danny enough for throwing us such a fun party.
Then on Monday, we had a screening at the North Spartanburg Rotary Club. Our uncle is one of the officers and told them about his super-duperly awesome niece and nephew, so they invited us to show Saying Goodbye at their lunch meeting. Brian had to go back to Columbia for work, so Jocelyn had to do the presentation herself with only Stuffy the Stand-in at her side. With knocking knees and a quavering voice, she got through the introduction and then showed the movie. After the enthusiastic response when it finished, she felt much more comfortable with the Q&A afterwards. Since the crowd was made up of business people, there were more questions about the finances and budget issues than usual, which made for an interesting twist. Thank you so much to the North Spartanburg Rotary Club – we appreciated the opportunity to share our film with the members.