Long story short (too late!)... The first deadline for the Fringe was creeping up on us. Well, not creeping so much as looming thuggishly. OK, fine, it was standing right there the whole time looking perfectly normal, not saying a thing, it was we who chose to ignore it until it was (almost) too late. By June 1 we had to have a bunch of paperwork done (easy), some descriptions of our show written (harder, but not impossible), and a show image. What? A photo? How were going to get a photo that represents this show in three days?
I called Dan, the guy who did our lights back in January. He'd had a friend come to the final dress to take pictures of the other show, Cramped, and we had asked him to please shoot our final dress, too. Only we never got the CD. Anyway, I managed to contact Dan and he graciously offered to come to my office and drop off the disc. I figured maybe there would be a good photo from the rehearsal that we could use. Meantime I also called a photog acquaintance to see if he could do a cheap last-minute shoot for us on Sunday if things didn't pan out.
They didn't. Kelly and I picked out several photos from the CD that we really liked, but Dave and Gretchen, our PR gurus, poo-pooed them all. Too blurry, not clear enough action, just not good enough. Dave strongly encouraged us to take the time to set up a good shot with no motion blur, lots of expression and focus on our faces... you know, an actual PR shot? I wasn't convinced, but we said we'd think about it.
Then, at the last minute, we ended up hosting a small party at our house on Memorial Day, the day before the deadline. So instead of having the whole day to work on Fringe stuff, including a photo, we were cleaning the house and getting ready for a party. Then we were hosting and drinking and eating and time got away from us, and before you know it, it's 10:30, 11:00 and all of a sudden we're like, "Hey, guys, want to help us do a PR photo shoot... right now?" Luckily all our friends were totally game for it. Kelly got some poofy shirts from my stuff-I-bought-when-I-was-in-college-and-only-keep-for-costume-purposes stash, we grabbed some swords, had Sarah and Andy hold up a black blanket behind us, and voila! PR photos!
After forwarding the best of the shoot to Dave and Gretchen, we agreed on one and I did some basic Photoshop work, saved it and sent it on to the Fringe. I was not convinced. I thought it would be largely ignored. Then I got the latest Fringe Producers' Newsletter in my email today. It says, and I quote, *ahem*:
The June 1 deadline has passed and assorted press outlets have already started using the information you provided. In fact, congratulations to Joshua Brown and Kelly Elliot for being the first show of the 2010 festival to have a photo run by a press outlet—and in City Pages, no less! Take a look:
http://blogs.citypages.com/dressingroom/2010/06/love_at_a_knife.php
How amazing is that?!?! Not only did our photo turn out great, but we were the first show chosen for a photo! I'm gobsmacked. And I guess City Pages is a big deal? I wouldn't know, I don't live in Minneapolis. But I intend to find out.
