🎉When The Bell Rings - 10 year Anniversary 🎉

It was 10 years ago in November that we released the award winning documentary "When The Bell Rings" on a streaming distribution deal. To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the release I will be streaming the full film on youtube free for the entire month of November. The film is also available on Amazon Prime Streaming but if you haven't seen it yet, now is a great time to catch it for free. 

Watch the film here - https://youtu.be/fizHyVqn9og

When The Bell Rings shaped my style and vision as a filmmaker in so many ways and was a huge catalyst in so many ways for my film career. It was a rough, rowdy and grueling production that at many times felt like it would never actually come to a climax and be a fulfilled story. I went into making the film with naive visions of grandeur- top film festivals, awards, distribution and a future as a bonafide studio filmmaker. I was in the trenches day in and day out and it was an era of my life when I was 100 percent fully consumed by the creative pursuit. I was figuring out how to make a film in the moment and I was making mistakes and learning lessons at a rapid pace. The film has a linear arc and I feel like when you watch it you can see the technical filmmaking elements coming to fruition right along with Dino's physical and emotional transformation.

Nothing about making this film was easy. Every damn part was a struggle. The endless delays, setbacks, and misfortunes for my guy Dino. Anytime things were going bad for him it was also making the film potentially better but even more so potentially unfinished. That is the crazy dichotomy of making a documentary like this. The rollercoaster of filming someone's life dramatic ups and downs while hoping that in the end things play out in the favor of the story. (There were too many times to count when I was completely defeated and thought it was all a waste of time.)

Once the mini-miracle of him completing his mission was achieved it was on to editing 400 hours of messy footage for over a year in an Ohio basement. The film festival process was another year of rejections and letdowns before we finally landed at the New Orleans Film Festival. We peaked that weekend as we came in as the underdogs but took home the best documentary film award. Following that momentary high was the compromised and misinformed distribution deal we ended up with. At the time it seemed great but like many things in this digital era it didn't pan out like we thought it would. By the time the smoke cleared and the film was released a toll had been taken on my health in all aspects. I didn't wrap things up looking forward to the next one but wondering if I ever wanted to pursue something like that again? 

Since then I have put my focus on small projects with simple goals and healthy outcomes. Creatively I still attack every project with that same fervor from the WTBR era. Only now I dont bring the project home with me. I leave it "on set" so to speak ;-) My goals have become more personal and less superficial. If I ever do step back in the arena and make a film on this level this will be the way to approach it. The 30 year old me was coming at things from an entirely different angle. That was who I was back then and I have no regrets.

I hope you can find some time to watch this film and I hope it can have an impact on you in some way. That's really what it's all about anyways. And that will always make "making it" worthwhile. 

When The Bell Rings Official Trailer