Well, here we are! Owen, our faithful intern, and I are in Austin at the hotel. I’m putting together digital press kits and arranging last minute travel details for Josh & Samantha, and Owen is braving the hotel printer in the business suite trying to get a map printed out for his walking route tomorrow to put up posters.

We had our first Texas BBQ. That was fun

I flew out way too early this morning, so only got four hours sleep. Tonight I’m going to hit the bed like a log, and then tomorrow, we hit the ground running for our last day of prep before the festival opens on Friday!

For Austin-ites (Austonians?), I have heard that individual tickets can be purchased day of, subject to availability. But if you’re here for the week, then get a pass to the whole festival and see everything! ‘Night all. – Ben

Hi there.

I’m totally blown away by the interest in the movie!  Since we debuted the trailer less than 48 hours ago, we’re already up to over 1,000 friends on Facebook and about 3,000 views of the trailer on youtube.

And that’s only one of four places it’s available! So thanks to all of you for checking it out.

There has been a flood of questions, so let me try to answer a few of them the best I can – click “more” to read! (more…)

And… the trailer. Click fullscreen and 720p for the best experience…

Good morning internet!

Lots of goodies for you today…

First, our main poster! (Gary Irwin w/ GI Creative went through an exhaustive process, ultimately ending up with *4* different designs! This one took the prize.).

Hello all. Sleepy after a long day, but wanted to get some news out there for anyone who was curious.

Finished the trailer today. That, our poster (s – there’s more than one design!) and production stills will finally be coming out this week with the help of our newly-hired publicist, David Magdael.

I’m really happy with the trailer. Hope you all enjoy it. We’ll get it up here in the next few days.

Also, we now have a facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/lebanonpa So stop by and friend us up!

After getting out press materials this week, we’ll do some more planning for the big premiere. It’s going to be awesome. Looks like all the cast will be there with the exception of Mary Beth Hurt, who’s opening a play at Lincoln Center in NYC…

Ok, have to get some sleep – then back at it tomorrow! – Ben

Hello Interweb!

So after a marathon day, Cody and I finished the new sound mix. This may not sound like a big deal, but we did more than just tweak a few things. We went through every moment of the movie and made it better! This new mix has really made me more confident about our Premiere. We went from having a technically consistent and sound (heh) mix to one where we approached it as artists – focusing in on what was important to heighten the emotional ride of the audience. I really think it is a great improvement, and Cody should be proud of all the extra work we put into it. He’s actually probably still at the studio “bouncing” out different versions for DIVE… the full mix, just music & effects, etc…

Cody is awesome. Milkboy is awesome. And for you Matt Pond fans out there, this new mix highlights the music even more!

With this new mix, the film is really feeling finally “done” to me.

Up late editing the trailer so we can get it in before the SXSW deadline… It’s *so* different than editing the movie, obviously. Completely different pace… and priority. I’m building it on a Matt Pond song that is from an earlier album… to save the new stuff for when you see the movie itself. I think I’ve finally cracked the egg… it’s getting into decent shape now. *After* a full day’s work… But it’s still only very rough. Have to get it done this week.

The poster and production stills, however, are all but complete.

You may be wondering what’s going on with the movie at the moment… as I broke my tri-daily promise. (Slaps self). There’s actually a lot, but it’s all happening behind the proverbial OZ curtain. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

Mostly it’s a lot of talking. Talking to sales agents. Talking to publicists. Getting ready to talk to journalists. Apparently a lot of people have heard of this SXSW thing …I’ve hardly slept in the last week since we announced. And we’re just getting started.

We’re getting a lot of stuff together that will be out to you very soon… Gary E. Irwin from GI Creative has almost finished work on an awesome poster. You’ve seen the new website design, I take it. We’ll be releasing publicity stills soon… and down the road – a trailer! So keep checking back. Each new thing will likely be given to a website or other media outlet first, but will all be right here soon after!

Also behind the curtain: Cody & I are almost finished the sound mix. It takes the film to the next level and I’m so glad we’ll have it in time for SXSW… as part of that, we looped Josh in LA yesterday (re-recorded his dialogue for one scene). Wish I had asked him take a pic of himself in the booth for you. See – I *do* need a publicist!!

No, no… I’m not going to show you dailies, not when there’s a full film to be seen so soon! I was just being “clever.”

The next thing y’all will see is the poster. And that’s coming very soon…

I called this “dailies,” b/c I’m going to try to write pretty much daily from this point until the Premiere… or maybe semi-daily… tri-daily??? (more…)

Oooh, it was tough sitting on this one…

Lebanon, Pa. will have its World Premiere in March at the SXSW film festival in Austin, TX !!!!

For a long time we felt SX would be an awesome fit for the film, and we were beyond pleased as it all came together in the last few weeks…

We’ll need everyone’s help to get the word out. Much more coming over the next days and weeks (including the debut of our new poster!).

I cannot wait to finally share our film with, well, everyone. – Ben

Check out the official SXSW site – We’re in the “Spotlight Premieres”section…