Granted, the audience was stacked with friends, family, cast, and crew. Granted, the theater was 80% full. Granted the preview trailer for the non-film "Spitwater" set the audience up for the right state of movie-watching mind. 
But still, the reaction to the preview screening - hosted by the Flicks on Sept. 8 to an invite-only crowd - was more than expected.
A forgiving audience? You betcha'. Sitting there I cringed as my mental count of things I'd like to fix in the film neared the century mark. But still, the audience obviously liked the movie, reacting in all the right spots... and a few unexpected ones. Case in point: during a poker-playing scene, "Keith" (played by Jerry L. Snodgrass) elaborates on an anecdote that, in a long set-up and reveal, ultimately garnered a huge laugh, due to the nature of the fictional scandal and the "timely" occurrence of the Sen. Larry Craig scandal of this summer. Now, having wrote that scene, I thought it was a humorous gag and all, but nothing could have prepared me for the audience reaction to it. Thank you Larry Craig for, "trying to pick up a piece of paper" in that airport bathroom.
Post-preview discussion lasted well into the night; my favorite quotes came from Thomas Lewis who mentioned that Guns... was, "too good of a script to only spend six days on," and that Guns... could definitely play the festival circuit. Why do I care what Mr. Lewis says? Probably 'cuz he's got experience in this sort of thing - much more than either Ellis or I have. So... next stop: The Rotterdam Film Festival... web site. Hey, we haven't even applied yet.
But it looks like we're gonna. Stay tuned for more news about the surprise hit of the Boise underground film market.
Boise Filmmakers. No Tourists.
