The OC

In our fastest trip to the west coast ever, we just spent the weekend in California for the Newport Beach Film Festival. Our hotel was on Fashion Island, an unusual name for a piece of land surrounded by more land. Everything was very upscale, which played in perfectly for our hopes for a typical Orange County weekend.




We handed out postcards at Edwards Island, where our movie was playing, and met Jack - a local twister who offered to help. These women were traveling to countries affected by the Tsunami and wanted to learn how to do balloons for the kids.



We also got a lot of help from a newbie twister and Naomi's cousin, Lee!

Later, after accidentally trespassing on a private golf course, we decided to do something novel at a film festival - watch a movie. We went to see Parker Posey's "Broken English" - but that's not important. What is important is that one of the festival organizers saw us, complimented us on all of our marketing, and offered us two tickets to the John Wayne Centennial Gala. We'd heard about the gala earlier, but had no intentions of going because it was $100 a pop. However, those of you who know Sara are aware that there are few things in life that make her happier than scoring an entrance to exclusive affairs where she really has no reason being. We put on our fancy duds and headed over to the party, which celebrated what would have been John Wayne's 100 birthday.

When we walked in the door, Naomi was very excited to see that there was free John Wayne swag (despite the fact that neither of us have ever seen a John Wayne movie). The giveaway was a giant mug, with a photo, quote and tiny sticker on the bottom, “WARNING: The materials used as colored decorations on the exterior of this product contain lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. This warning applies to the State of California only.” Luckily, we both live on the east coast, so the mugs should be 100% safe.

While Naomi admired the scene, Sara immediately made a beeline for someone to hand him a postcard with screening times. Naomi had no idea was Sara had picked this person to aggressively invite to the screening. But this mystery man was none other than relative extraordinaire Randy Spelling. He said he would try to check out the screening, and Sara was excited that the event was already paying off in C-list spades.

We got some food and admired the music of Jennifer Wayne. “God Bless John Wayne” was the song of choice, and we later also invited her to the screening. We thought we made another star spotting, Jason Bateman, but after further inspection (including staring at him and have a full-on conversation) we still weren’t sure. His brothers confirmed that he was not a Bateman, but we decided to not hold that against them.
While we were eating, a woman noticed our balloon bracelets and came over to talk to us. “You’re not from here? Let me show you the real Orange County. Those over there are fake.” She begins pointing around the room, “Those are fake, fake, fake, fake-fake-fake!” She also told us that 10 years of marriage is cause for a big celebration in Orange County, because it means, “Alimony forever!”

We spent the rest of the evening at an after party at the art museum, which included a live art component. One man volunteered to have his leg tattooed, with anything of the artists’ choosing, in front of the crowd




The next day, Larry came out from Arizona to twist for us! We met Larry a few years ago in Las Vegas, when he was working for Michele. We hadn't really kept in touch, but he heard about the film and made a huge road trip so he could see it!



We also made a VERY quick stop at the beach and met a few local teenagers who informed us that our balloons were, "really tight."














While handing out postcards, people seemed to be gathering around one person. He was some sort of local actor - some guy named Adam Sandler.



We gave him a balloon invited and him and his wife to the movie. They said they had to get home to their baby, but Adam seemed to get a kick out of the premise of our film.

A bunch of local friends, family, and even a few Wash U alums who we didn't know showed up and we got ready to screen. We had a nice turn out considering we didn't have much time in CA to get the word out, and the movie was followed by a good Q and A session. After the screening, one woman told us that she loved the film but was upset by the adult balloon twisting because her young son was in the audience. We always tell people there is some subject matter not intended for young audiences, so we were surprised to hear from her that we were listed in the program as a children's film! We apologized to her, as did the festival programmer - and it was very nice to hear that despite being upset by one section - she still really loved the film.
We also met Richard Kraft, a director who loved the film. He was extremely kind in his words about our film and we can't wait to see his documentary, "Kraftland"!

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with friends before Sara jumped on a red-eye home. Naomi had an extra day to enjoy before her flight which, despite previous trends for Naomi, was NOT cancelled!




The inaugual edition of celebrities** we've invited to our screening vs. celebrities who've attended:

Number of celebrities invited to screenings: 4
Number of celebrities who've attended screenings: 0

** Please note, for the purposes of this blog, the definition of "celebrities" will be loose enough to include everyone from Adam Sandler and Paul Rudd to Randy Spelling and Jennifer Wayne.