Award Winner by Mort Laitner
Two of my favorite words are “Award Winner.”
So when I opened my email and read,
Dear Blake,
Congratulations!
Wallachia Int’l Film Festival has updated the Judging Status of your submission WE NEED RENT MONEY to Award Winner.
I smiled.
There in front of my eyes was the digital trophy, with the gold star on it, next to the words, Award Winner.
How sweet it is!
Not an acceptance into a festival, not a semi-finalist but a win.
WOW!
There it was on top of the list of films: We need rent money (USA) by Blake Laitner and Jeremy Ferguson Best Trailer
I was ecstatic for Blake, Jeremy and WE NEED RENT MONEY film team.
A Romanian film festival with three years under its belt, located in downtown Bucharest, only hundreds of meters away from Dracula’s former court in the Old Town! loved the trailer.
I wondered, “Did the ghost of Dracula watch Blake’s trailer in this open air film festival?”
As a ten year old, I remembered how frightened (scared-the-crap-out-of-me frightened) when I watched the classic version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi on the Million Dollar Movie.
You New Yorkers recall twisting the dial to the Million Dollar Movie on local station WOR channel 9.
You remember the opening credits, the City at night as “Tara’s Theme” played in the background.
Who can forget it.
A film with Vampires, the Carpathian Mountains, a Translyvanian castle, a crucifix, a wooden stake in the heart and the classic line, “I want to suck your blood.” made that film a winner.
So in the spirit of these two classics, I wish Blake, Ferguson and the “WNRM” team all the luck of the Dracula film and a Million Dollar movie on its release to the silver screen.
May the wins keep rolling in.
