Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP - Archives

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: May 10, 2003
Latest Update: May 10, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Sorry, I need these seats

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, May 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

This essay was prompted by an article in the Los Angeles Times on May 10, 2003, in the Calendar Section at p. E1: Young festival and filmmakers find their way By Paul Lieberman. "Without a clear niche yet, the Tribeca event focuses on making New York happy. That includes aspiring auteur Jennifer Elster." Backup.

Twenty-nine-year-old Jennifer Elster wanted to make films. She hung out with the Sundance crowd and struggled to build a network of acquaintances and friends that would be able to open the necessary doors. The Tribeca Film Festival , started off by Robert De Niro because after The World Trade Center attack, Tribeca needed "something" to boost its morale and energy, offered Jennifer a chance to have her work seen. She produced a film Particles of Truth, in which she acted, directed, and produced, and awaited anxiously her debut.

But then, there were no tickets. The Festival had sold them all at discount prices, and when she needed tickets for family and friends there, well, there were none. Paul Lieberman tells her story in "Young festival and filmmakers find their way." It reminded me of the wails I hear each Spring as graduation approaches in the Forum. Not enough tickets for family and friends. Slowly the wails turn into the whisper of deals being made, and eventually at the Forum none of us can find each other anyway.

I liked the way Jennifer put it:

"They're all gone! It's sold out!" Elster exclaimed three days before the debut of her film in a 440-seat theater in the upper reaches of the multiplex.

Never mind any potential distributors she or her agent might line up at the parties here. "I can't get all my family in, some of my friends, four of the lead cast. "There's an incredible amount of strategy with your world premiere," she said, "and I can't get anyone in."

"Strategy," yes. She wrote her film, acted in it, directed it, produced it, and couldn't "get anyone in" for lack of a ticket strategy. Don't despair. It turned out OK. They bought back tickets. And her film will be shown twice next month at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

As you struggle for ticket deals to get your family and friends to graduation, remember Jennifer Elster, and recognize that you're not alone in this crazy world.