I woke up very early and didn't get up at first, because I didn't want to disturb Dad, it turned out he couldn't sleep because of his pain. I got up and began writing at the desk in the corner. I wanted to hit my word count before the event, if at all possible. Initially, I had hoped to go into the city early and see some things. With the lack of funds, I chose one thing I really wanted to see, which was the Museum of the Motion Picture - also the venue for the event. Unfortunately, I had overlooked that they are closed on Mondays, a fact that my friend Ken informed me of.
I managed to get my word count for the day - a healthy 3,800 words. Dad watched some Star Trek: The Next Generation in the meanwhile. Then we got ready to go to the event. We decided to go into town a few hours early, to find our parking and some good pizza! We noticed a place while circling the area looking for a good place to park and decided to try it. It was a pizza chain called Uno that I never had tried before.
Once I had figured out how to pay for our parking space (I definitely couldn't afford to be towed) we went to get our pizza. I was terribly hungry by this point. We met some other Thomas fans there, as a number of people had gathered there to await the event. (Great minds think alike!) There were even people from Los Angeles here for the movie, which is very exciting. This is huge!
After a quick run back to the car, it was time to get ready for the event and we were all lined up outside the venue, waiting for the doors to open. There were at least 200 of us in line! (It was a sold out event!) Once we were in, we got a few photos on the blue carpet and then were seated. It was the perfect venue for it, with all the blue in the theater. As an executive producer (a fancy way of saying I made a contribution and wanted my name in the credits) there were seats for us in the reserved section at the front, which was exciting.
Then it was time for the main event! Josh, one of the producers and an old friend of mine, introduced the director, Brannon Carty and he in turn introduced our surprise guests - none other than Rick Siggelkow (creator of Shining Time Station) and Britt Allcroft (creator of Thomas & Friends) following which, we watched the film! Without giving too much away, (as I want you all to watch it when it becomes available), the film was amazing! I was absolutely blown away.
I never doubted for a moment that it was going to be amazing, but it somehow managed to be even better than I had imagined. The interviews were edited to perfection, blended almost seamlessly into a cohesive narrative that kept the film moving forward. The musical score was absolutely breathtaking as well, perfectly highlighting all the right moments with emotion. I'm also quite fond of the title sequence and credits as well! All in all, a fantastic film and I can't wait for my copy and to be able to show it to the rest of my family.
After the screening, there were additional surprises as we discovered one of the models used in Thomas & Friends was still intact and in the possession of a fan who put it on display for the event! We got a fantastic Q&A session with key people behind the documentary and then another amazing Q&A with our special guests and the fan whose interview was central to the film. (I really wish I'd have recorded these.) I finally got to meet Ken and Dylan in person and we got pics together! Got pics with some of the talent behind the film as well (Carty, Josh, Ahmad, John, Matt).
I also swung by the autograph table and said a few words to Britt Allcroft (I was so excited I got a bit choked up and was speechless afterwards) Unfortunately, I can't remember what I said to Rick Siggelkow, but he was very nice and gave me an additional autograph on my new in package ERTL Thomas in the Shining Time packaging.
Also, I got to witness a proposal! Jadan proposed to his girlfriend Jacqueline, who funny enough is from Ohio as well! After all this excitement, we headed back to the hotel, and stopped by the food truck out front and then I crashed. It was such an amazing and exciting night!
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