Good news everyone!

My 2007 film, "An Error in Common," was picked up for Canadian television distribution by Ouat Media last fall, and I've just gotten notice that it will have its premiere airing on the Movieola cable channel on July 6th, 2009 at 7pm. If you are in Canada and your cable provider carries Movieola, check it out!

This is the first time that a film of mine has received "wide" distribution, so it's exciting, but it has also been a bit frustrating because by the time the film airs, it will have been nearly a year since Ouat Media first contacted me about distributing the film. I was beginning to worry that, since my contract with Ouat could potentially effect future/other distribution opportunities for the film (I am still shopping other rights to the film around), I was essentially putting the film in a holding pattern until the rights expired, with potentially no return (I had no idea when the film might air).

This delay, as I've learned since, is par for the course, especially for television distribution, and since Movieola programs a lot of short films and schedules so far in advance, their "wait time" is particularly long.

But I don't regret it at all, because it was Ouat who approached me about the film after it had exhausted its rather modest festival run. If it weren't for their interest in the film, it would be languishing on a shelf in my office and be seen only on my demo reel. They've given a second life to the film, and I've come to realize that it really has legs (as the director of it, you'd think I'd already know that), and I will continue to shop it to other distributors in hopes of even wider distribution. It's also changed my perspecitve on my filmmaking process for the better, and will hopefully help me in my future projects (stay tuned for more info).

From this experience, and from the research I've done in the interim, I've learned a lot about how short film distribution works, and will be well prepared for what to expect the next time around.