John Bowker on The Evilmaker

I knew the day was coming. I thought I had plenty of time and suddenly it was here. The premiere of my movie. Reality set in three nights before when I was contacted by the newspaper saying they were going to have three representatives out there to see it. They plan on doing an article about it along with other moviemakers from Oregon. Then on Friday, the day before, I got a call from a TV station wanting to come out and do an interview. I'll tell you what, it is very surreal watching yourself and some scenes from your movie being broadcast on the 11:00 news. Wow.

I woke up early in the morning thinking I had plenty of time. Wrong. I was a mad dash all day long getting things ready. Finally it was time. The cast and crew rode in a white stretch limo (all of us in one limo) out to the premiere. I'll tell you what, if you have never been in a limo, it is quite an experience. I highly suggest it.

We arrived at the location and people started to come in and sit down. I saw a lot of faces I knew, and a lot I didn't. The nerves were setting in bad and the 30 minutes before the movie started seemed to go forever. Finally, it was time. I stood up in front of the audience and greeted everyone. I was hoping the speech classes I took in High School would come through for me, they didn't. As a matter of fact, one person from the audience yelled out "Breathe John!!" and everyone laughed. That broke the ice. I gave some statistics on the making of the movie (120 pre-production hours, 150 actual production hours, 130 postproduction hours, 536 camera set ups, 679 takes) and so on.

Finally, it was the moment and the lights dimmed and the movie started. I spent almost the entire thing in the back of the theater with my Director of Photography Joe Sherlock and SPFX man Rob Merickel, watching people's reactions. During the credits, people clapped and cheered as each person's name came up on screen. Now that was cool. I paced back and forth, sweating. My stomach felt like it was turning upside down. Man, I hope they like it. During the movie Joe would lean over to me and whisper.."man, this is so cool!" He made me feel better.

As I watched the audience, I had a hard time figuring out what they were thinking. 1 hour and 40 minuets later, it was over. I stood up in front of the audience again and they clapped and cheered. Man, what an incredible feeling. During the movie, what I had mistook as people being bored, was actually people being gripped and involved. They all liked it. A couple of people were even amazed we put out a movie like that. They were expecting something that looked like we did it in our backyard. There was nothing but praise and at that moment I was so proud of my cast and crew for pulling this off. They all deserve so much credit. I glowed when I announced that we had been picked up for foreign distribution by Brimstone Productions. Everyone so was so excited and so happy, it was like nothing I had ever experiencedbefore.

After the last person left, I got into my car and drove to the premiere party. We partied until the wee hours of the morning, sharing stories from the set and future plans. At one part during the party I stepped outside and sat down in the yard to take a few moments to myself. "I am so lucky" I thought to myself to have worked with such incredible people. I thank my lucky stars for every one of them.

I went back in and partied with these talented people until I couldn't keep my eyes open any more. I came home and drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.

I would like to thank the following people for all of their support during this process: First, the cast and crew. You all are gifted people. Kevin Lindemuth from Brimstone Productions, Allen Richards owner of the B-Film List, Benjamin Cooper (Writer and Director of The Omega Diary), Steve Sessions (Writer and Director of Cremains), Hugh Gallagher from Draculina Publishing and the countless friends and family who have supported me in this from the get go.

My website will take a little while to update, so if you are interested in purchasing The Evilmaker you can e-mail me at johnbowker@h... For all foreign orders, please contact Kevin Lindemuth from his webpage at www.lindenmuth.com Thank you.

Chase your dreams. They can happen.

John Bowker
Pipedreams Entertainmen