THE BUSKER AND ROUGH CUT SCREENINGS

Last night I went to the tail end of a rough cut screening of Stephen Croke's THE BUSKER. Steve is a client of mine and I've seen two earlier cuts of the film and attended three fund raising events. He's trying to get completion money for this finely acted, beautifully shot (in Lowell, which has never looked better) about a young teenage street musician, whose father was killed in a racial incident. The earlier cuts showed some pacing problems, and, in spite of the fine acting. there was a little too much dialogue and too little music.

But Steve has been go9d in soliciting and taking feedback, and I helped him get one of Boston's finest editors, Loren Miller, to help in toward a fine cut. What little I saw is making a difference, and I should be able to see all of it within the next l0 days.

THE BUSKER, even with its low budget, and its quality, but no-name cast, does have a shot, probably at festivals, cable and DVD. He's also getting some interest. Those who've seen it, even in its earlier rough cut forms, genuinely like it.

I'm glad I'm still seeing rough cuts, in spite of the fact that I've gotten some negative comments on my having blogged them. Garth Donovan (FINGERNAILS AND FENCEPOSTS) has invited me to his March 4th screening in Dedham, and I received a great message of support "Keep on blogging" from those wonderful, talented and fun loving folks at the appropriately named Liquid Lunch Productions (NUMBER 2 PENCIL).