I feel like a rock star.

I know that X96 is just a local radio station, I know that a sizable portion of the audience must have been crew and actors, but people I didn’t know went out of their way to shake my hand, give me a hug and tell me what an awesome job I’d done on my short film called Coming Soon.

I just feel like a total rock star.

Let me back up a bit.

X96 is a Salt Lake City-based radio station. I went to their film festival with no expectations other than an opportunity for a night out. I think there were 23 films in total and the rules required that the films run no longer than five minutes, including credits.

The pre-show is over, all the theater seats are filled, the lights come down and the films start playing. Just three or four films into the festival, my film begins… And now my heart is pounding, I’m shaking in my seat, trying to control my breathing.

Is the audience gonna like it? Will they get it? Will they laugh in the right places?

The first joke comes along…

The audience roars.

I can’t believe it. Forget that I can’t believe it, I’ve never even heard such a large audience laugh to one of MY films! The film manages to offer perfect timing for the laughter to die off just before the next joke rolls around. The audience roars again.

This went on throughout the whole film. What a joy it was to hear so many people laugh! But once it was over, I could breathe normally again, I was no longer shaking and I could just enjoy the rest of the show.

So all the films are done and it’s time to announce the nominees. There were only six categories. Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Drama, Best Comedy and of course, Best Picture.

Ready?

We got nominated for Best Actor, Best Drama AND Best Comedy as well as Best Picture.

We won… Best Actor and Best Drama and shoulda won Best Comedy if you consider the audience’s reaction to our film compared to the contender (basically the other film’s cast and crew cheered louder than we did when the nominees were announced).

When Bijan got called up for Best Actor, I cheered like a maniac. I was so excited for him and he’d done such a terrific job. When I got called up for Best Drama, I hesitated, thinking they’d made a mistake… I don’t know what I sounded like up there on the stage, but I’m told I did fine. Even got a few more laughs.

And the suspense when they got around to announcing Best Picture was excruciating… I remember the auditorium fell silent, Bill Allred proclaimed, “And the winner is…………”. A loooong pause… Someone behind us yelled out “COMING SOON!!”

Sadly, the X96 film festival announced, big surprise, that the film called X96 (I believe the word to describe that title is “pandering”) would win for Best Picture…

To their credit, the film titled X96 was something to behold. Good photography and great effects.

I don’t feel cheated in the least and frankly, I feel like this is a huge win for me. Gauging by the audience’s reaction to my film while it was playing and even afterwards, given that we were nominated for so much…

Well…

I feel like a rock star.