The National Media

The Bottom Line

When the national media hits, I hope it is more than a 20 second reference on the News.  I hope it isn’t just some broadcaster saying, in “National news, Rhode Island made prostitution illegal today.  They were the only state in the union that had decriminalized prostitution behind closed doors for the last 29 years.”  I hope they do at least a few minutes on the story.

First, lets look at the reason that prostitution became legal in RI.  In the projo article, you can read the history.  The article goes into how this “loophole” was created to clean up the streets.  The best thing about this article is the comments, majority of the people don’t want the law to change.  The results of the poll are the same, over 63% of the respondents say they do not want the law to change.  So why was it changed?

To help the victims of human trafficking you say?  The prostitution bill is not going to help any victim of trafficking, it will only hurt them.  Women who work with trafficking victims have asked that we do not pass the bill.  Women from the spas who, lets face it, are the whole reason they have been trying to change the law have also spoken out.  The National Organization of Women and Human Trafficking Experts have also spoken out against this new law.

Well, there is a bill to be voted on for human trafficking.  I supported that bill.  What I really liked in that bill was the training for the police.  I think the police need training, especially since just over 2 weeks ago Police found a 16 year old girl beaten and confused outside a strip club who had been kidnapped from Boston and sent her to the training school.  (For those of you not from RI, that is our prison for kids)  You can read that story on the projo.

Now the legislation has two separate bills before them, and a hell of a budget.  It all comes down to money, we all know that.  After throwing a 16 year old victim of trafficking into prison, I guess money training the police not to do that is too much to ask.

State Police Superintendent Col. Brendan P. Doherty said Tuesday before the Senate hearing that he was concerned that the training could be time-consuming and expensive. But the new version of the bill states that it’s up to law enforcement to determine the necessary training.

OK, you don’t want to spend your time or our money to help the victims?  But lets now change the prostitution law?!?  We have money for the additional impact on our prison, money for the impact on our legal system, and money for the “massages” undercover officers can get?  We have money to criminalize commercial sex but not to protect or help victims?  We don’t even have money for schools!!!

I heard someone at the state house said we are the laughing stock of the country.  I think it is true, but not for the same reason as he thinks.

Just one day until the big screen

I have had so much to blog about, but no time.  I also wanted to leave the last blog up so as many people could see it as possible.   I am a mixture of excited and nervous for tomorrow night.  It is not easy to put yourself  in front of so many people, to work on something for more than three years and put it out there for the world to see.

I did a showing at AS220 on Memorial Day weekend for about 40 people, and the response was great.  It was part of the Open Eye Film Series, and Donna Hughes was there.  We both debated our viewpoints on the situation in Providence, and then Donna Hughes sent out a letter to her listserv starting rumors about me.  “Hurley has been showing her film in sex industry venues (not human rights film festivals). ” This is just one of the many rumors that were started, and almost the funniest because Dr. Hughes saw the film as part of the Open Eye Film Series at AS220, part of a series of films that document social issues in Rhode Island.  But leave it to Dr. Hughes to make stuff up.

What is really surprising to me is when I started this film I had just been rejected from Grad school for Gender and Ethnic Studies.  In June of 2005 I was actually already taking classes towards the degree, I just had not applied.  I thought I wanted to be a professor, actually a woman studies professor like Dr. Hughes.  Wow, am I glad I got rejected.  Sometimes when a door closes it is in your best interest.  I know that it was in my case.

Tea Party

I went to the Tea Party today.  I didn’t get to see the news, so I don’t know how the turn out was in other cities, but it was pretty good in Providence.  When I was driving down I heard estimates of 2,200 people.

Like everyone else, I was there with my own agenda.  I wanted to promote my film.  I figured when else would I have tv cameras, press, and a whole bunch of people around in one area to read my signs?  I handed out stickers and a few postcards to people I thought would be interested in coming to the film.  I got a ton of questions about what my sign/shirt meant, so I got to talk to a bunch of people.  I hope I get to at least spark some conversations.  It surprised me how many people did know about RI’s prostitution law (or lack there of).  I guess it was the crowd.

The people were from all different backgrounds, varing from the “Family Values”,  pissed that tax dollars go to planned parent hood, to the “End the FED”  people who want to end the Federal Reserve, people against Socialism, people against Universal Health Care .  All these groups were protesting together, if you put them in a room and had them talk about any other political issue they all would disagree.  Today, on April 15, Tax Day, they all agree we are paying too much in taxes.  I guess the bottom line is that money makes the world go around.

New Posters and Promos

I met with my designer yesterday.  Adele Park is doing all the packaging for the DVD and posters.  It is great to have her creative input on the design, and a little overwhelming.  We met at Juliens in Providence yesterday where she gave me designs for posters and postcards.  I loved them all, there was one that was a simple design with only the title and a barber shop pole.  I liked that one, but I didn’t think people who saw it would understand the connection.  (In Korea, barber poles are the sign that sex workers are inside)  The two that are pictured (with my cell phone, so the picture doesn’t do any justice) are the two I am going with.  The color will be different, but the theme will be the same.

Today I went into the office and finished placing the audio commentary.  I am going to pick out the extended interviews next.  I showed some people the poster prints and asked what one they liked.  I showed my dad and he pointed to the one with the guy with out even looking, saying “That one”.  It annoys me that he has no interest in the film at all.  He hasn’t seen the film, and more likely than not will not even go to any of the showings.  I have put the last four years of my life into this film, and I don’t know if it is the subject matter or he just doesn’t care about what I do.  I know that his lack of interest just drives me to do better, it drives me to succeed.  I saw the same thing when my dad opened up his own business, his father said he would end up in a third floor flat, and my dad opened his business and was successful (with the help of my mom).  I have support from others in my family, my sister helped film, my brother did voice overs, and my mom can’t stop giving me ideas about publicity and promotion.  All that and I have a pretty awesome girl friend that not only helped film, she had to put up with me when I was stuck in neutral with the film and life.  Now I want everyone to enjoy the ride, there is no looking back now.

No money, mo’ problems

I know the song goes “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” and hopefully I will get to see that side of it someday.  Today I have just been dealing with no money and mo’ problems.  Nick and I have been working on the audio commentary section of the film.  We worked on that all last weekend and it took us about 3 hours to get the work flow even working.  After finally figuring out how we were going to do it (use garage band and import another audio track) we only got to comment on 20 minutes of the film.  We met up again today to try and finish the last hour of our audio commentary, and we walked into disaster.  There must have been a electrical problem in the building because the computer, terastation, and router were all powered off.  It took all morning (including a trip to Radio Shack to buy a new router) before I could get the computer back to running.

It is really scary to not have access to the external  hard drive.  Yes, we do have backups on tape and dvd, but the external hard drive has everything on it.  After finishing the audio commentary (hopefully tomorrow and Monday) I have to go through those clips and pick the extended interviews that are going on the dvd.

I think the audio commentary and extended interviews are the most important part about the dvd.  Many people who have seen the film say to me that they do not see my viewpoint in the film.  I thought the point of documentary films were to document real life and not my personal viewpoints, but ever since doc film directors like Micheal Moore, people want to be told what the filmmakers think.  Sooooooo, we are adding the commentary so people will get insight into the making of the film and our points of view.  The extended interviews are being chosen because you have to cut out so much when covering such a long period of time and such a deep topic.  These clips will give the viewers more insight into the people who are in the film.

Booking a Show

It is time to get the show on the road.  Or not on the road, bring it back home to where it all started, Providence RI.  I am booking a show the first weekend in June.  Friday June 5th and Saturday June 6th at the Columbus Theater.

If you are from Providence, you know the history of the Columbus Theater.   It is a beautiful theater.   It was known for showing “adult films” for a while, then cleaned up and now shows mostly indie films.  I would consider my documentary a mixture of the two, so I think this is a perfect fit.

It preparing for the show I have to revisit a few issues lingering in my head.  One is the people who are in the documentary, should I show them the film before it debuts?  When I started this film I was given advice from John Raben who did another documentary in RI about Federal Hill.  He told me to never show the film to anyone in it.  I have shown the film to one person, “Chris” and after you see the film you will understand why.

I respect everyone in the film.  Everyone had different viewpoints and opinions.  My own opinion is not in the film.  I do not want to be asked to change or edit anything, so I struggle with the decision to show it to the participants.  Just another part of It not being easy!

Giving away money I don’t have

I am getting everything ready to start selling DVDs.  I spent a large amount of money producing this film.  Mostly on translations and music, all in total I would say I spent about a years salary.  I know I will make that back, plus more.  It is not about the money.  I know when people say that, they are saying it is about the money, but in making this film I did see first hand how money truly is the root of all evil.

I would see how some of the women who were in the business would make a ton of money and blow it at casinos.  Some would buy things I thought were ridiculous, like $500 handbags.  Some were there and had goals, one was there for one month in the summer and paid her College tuition.  But more often I saw the old proverb “The body is cheap, the heart is priceless”.

I want to take the money I get from making the film and put it to good use.  I am going to set aside a portion of the profits to go towards two non-profits.  I haven’t found what two yet, but one will be a sex-workers rights group.  That is what the main character “Heather” would have wanted.  The other group I want to donate to is one set up to fight violence against women.  I think I will contact Day One RI.  They were involved with bringing translators into the massage parlors into the spas after I began the film.   Of all the people involved in the film, Day One was the only people who actuall asked to meet with me to ask me what I was finding out while I was filming.  They seemed genuinly conserned with the wellbeing of the women.  I don’t know their position on sex work or prostitution, but I know ultimately we shared the same concern for the women.

Stickers, Posters, and Shirts, oh my!

When we were at Cinekink we gave out stickers, posters, and t-shirts.  All were a hit.  The t-shirts said “Happy Endings?” on the front, and “You Can’t Clap with One Hand” on the back with our website.  It was cool having a bunch of people walking around the streets of New York as our live bill boards, but I must say my girl friend did get some sideways looks as we walked around Chinatown.  I will be posting more pictures when I can get them off my phone, but I liked this one.  Some people put the stickers all over the city.  I was standing outside a store and I saw a woman walk by this poster and laugh.  She pointed it out to a friend and said “Look Happy Endings” when she saw the bumper sticker over the eyes.

and we’re back

We are back from our first festival.  We won honorable mention in the Documentary category.  Graphic Sexual Horror won for Audience Choice.  I didn’t feel bad that we didn’t win.  I actually now know how people aren’t lying when they say they were excited to be nominated.  I was excited to see the film on the big screen.  It was cool to get audience feed back and hear questions.  When we were in NY my laptop died.  I would have loved to blog about every moment, because we had some crazy ones.  I am going to post some pictures and stories about the festival in the coming days.  For now, please check out this review at THE PLOT HOLE.  Angela Mac, a writer for The Plot Hole, contacted me about “Happy Endings?” back before Christmas.  Yesterday, when I was driving back from NY to RI, I got an email that she reviewed the film on the website.  I have to say I was shocked about how dead on she was  with the review, and  I am not just saying that because she says I have a brain and heart.

We are in NEW YORK!!!

40 C

We got into NYC last night at 7:00 and into the hotel.  We went over to 40C for a party for Graphic Sexual Horror, another documentary playing at Cinekink.  It was great to talk to another director, hear all the similar struggles she had that I experienced while making my film.  What is familiar with all films is the editing process, you have to struggle to find out how to cut and trim out time.  We laughed together at how you get to the point in editing when you find 20 seconds to cut you feel elated, and it feels like that 20 seconds is 20 minutes.  April and I stayed at the party until midnight and then returned to the hotel where we grabbed some posters and went out and postered the city.  It was expensive to make the posters, but it is exciting to see the poster for my film hanging in NY right next to posters for huge films like Watchmen and TV shows and even toothpaste.  When we got back to the hotel I tried to get on my laptop, but of course my laptop refused to work.  For some reason my laptop will not work with the battery in it, and the battery was jammed inside.  I had to wait until I could get a butter knife to pry it out this afternoon to get my laptop to start working again.  As always, It’s Not Easy!