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| A Note From Steve Taylor Hello to my Cornerstone Festival friends! I hope this finds you well. Cornerstone has held a special place in my heart (and the ankle that I broke there on stage in 1984), throughout my career. As you know, Cornerstone is a special and unique place that has always valued critical thinking as a part of a passionate expression of faith. I'd like to think that you're exactly the kind of audience that will "get" the movie I directed, Blue Like Jazz, and that you would rise to the challenge of showing people that there is an audience for this kind of film. Let me explain. I love our distributor, Roadside Attractions. They've released Oscar nominated films like Winter's Bone, Margin Call and Biutiful. They were the first distributor we screened for, they've got a reputation for both honesty and good taste, and they're genuine fans of Blue Like Jazz. But at our L.A. screening last week at the Pasadena Arclight, the co-president of our distributor made a telling comment afterwards—something to the effect of, "Wow, Steve. I have to admit I was a bit surprised at the crowd. This was a youthful-looking, hip audience with intelligent questions during the Q&A. This is a lot like the audience for our other movies." While I appreciated his candor, it underscored both the joy and frustration of bringing "Blue Like Jazz" to the screen. We've been trying to tell people for six years that you exist. That there's an audience for an intelligent, well-crafted movie made by Christians that takes issues of faith seriously. No, we are by no means the first. But neither is it overstating the case to say that this weekend, April 13th, is a defining moment, as the success or failure of Blue LIke Jazz at the box office can determine for years to come whether or not like-minded projects get funded. I have friends in Hollywood who love the movie. But they're trying to prep me for disappointment. Our PR team has done a superb job. But they can't get coverage from key press outlets, because the national press simply doesn't believe Blue Like Jazz will register more than a blip at the box office. And then, of course, there's the Christian Movie Establsihment, who may well be literally praying that you don't exist. Do you exist? We know we've got a record-breaking 4500 Kickstarter backers. We know we've got a record-breaking 1500 Civil Disobedience Street Teamers. We know we've had full houses at sneak previews from coast to coast. But can we sell tickets this weekend - the weekend of April 13th? We've had an historic series of events leading up to this moment. But there's only one way to finish this story. This is the week we need all our friends to join us in a nationwide "get out the vote" campaign. The theater list is finalized and posted on our website (we'll be expanding to other cities the following weekend) and Fandango is selling advance tickets. And we need you to use all your communication tools to help Blue Like Jazz have an historic opening weekend at the box office. These are exciting days as we count down to Friday. Thanks to my Cornerstone family. Steve |
