ROMEO 3000 (MAD ANGEL FILMS in association with WWJ PRODUCTIONS) had it’s premiere at two locations – at THE ROME CAPITAL THEATER in Rome, NY on Friday February 23, 2018 and at THE ARTS CENTER OF THE CAPITAL REGION in Troy, NY on Saturday February 24, 2018. Here’s my recap on those two days…
(2/23/2018)-This was the first of two premieres for the film “Romeo 3000” (Mad Angel Films in association with WWJ Productions). This has been a long ride and we’ve now reached this point. The first premiere was at The Rome Capital Theater in Rome, NY. I might be wrong, but I believe the last time I was here, I was on stage playing the role of “Ben” in a theater production of “Night of the Living Dead” (they thought they were getting “Dwayne Johnson” for this, but…(HA!) )-so it felt a tad strange being on that stage with members of the MAF council giving a short introduction before the start of the film. I was told there were 75 plus people and all but two of the “premiere-Edition” blu-rays made specifically for these premieres were sold-as well as a number of Romeo 3000 posters. On top of that, Jaime Morgan brought several home made Romeo 3000 shirts which were free. Hope you got one (I got mine) 🙂
It was great to see so many familiar faces here-as well as meeting new people. Many of them I hadn’t seen since filming finished in 2015. The response (that I heard) was overwhelmingly positive. There were even some kudos for the new song my band CAROLINE BLUE had playing during the end credits called “My Fingers” (Robo-Romeo Mix). I have to admit I toyed with calling it “Romero Creepy Perv Mix” based on the lyrics and delivery, but “Robo-Romeo” was an actual line I put in the film so…
Jason Emerson from THE CAZENOVIA REPUBLICAN was here to do interviews-a follow up from when he did that in 2015. A lot of photos were being taken-which I’m sure will start to surface in the coming days. Afterwards I joined some of the MAF council for a tradition after premiere meal at Dennys. Some interesting conversation for sure…
(2/24/2018)-The next night’s premiere was at The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, NY. I got there early-especially since I was told there would be another interview there. Unfortunately, all the parking for blocks near the building were taken. I finally found a parking garage, but the process took me 40 minutes (!) so by the time I got there, it was almost time to get things started. I did get to quickly chat with some cast who weren’t there last night as well as talking to some NoSS newbies who had, earlier that morning, had their NoSS “cherry” popped and the reaction was normal -“Keep that guy (me) away from me!” LOL. It never fails-even when I tell people how over the top NoSS is, people aren’t ready for it-or what I do in it. 🙂 But I digress……….
While we didn’t sell as many “premiere-edition” blu-rays of Romeo 3000, the seating was sold out so that’s awesome. Acoustics were also much better here than in Rome. Of course, we were in the hometown of the main stars John Mac Schnurr (Romeo) and Jennifer Lefsyk (Juliet) so we had them come up for some much deserved applause when we did our intro speech. It was great to hear all the positive reactions we received.
For me, the best part of the night (both nights actually) was to not only hear from Joe Public, but also hear from cast / crew who were seeing this for the first time. Following that, from a writer’s point of view, was reactions at certain points. Two of the biggest were towards the end with Juliet- as planned. I was told by one viewer afterwards that she was crying at certain points as well (Rome). There was also a lot more response to parts in the film in Troy-specifically with Berndele March (Mercutio) and Mark Joseph Peek (Lord Paris). Wish they were there to hear it…
I had a lot of goals in mind when I committed to this project. This was to a project of expansion-on several levels- for not only MAF, but for myself-and it’s still on that course. This film was different from the normal MAF film-in a number of ways- cause, even with an hour cut off, it’s still dialogue heavy-as planned 🙂 I have to admit to being a little apprehensive as to how that would go over with the core MAF fan base cause it’s a deviation from their norm per se (horror / action adventure), but this version went over quite well these past two nights. Romeo 3000 is still a work in progress, however, and there’s still quite a lot to do before getting the “official” blu-ray edition out. As I said during both intros these past nights, a huge thank you to all cast / crew involved. This couldn’t have been done to this level without all your talents. For those who have been there in support (in person and / or online), a huge thank you to you all as well-as well as much thanks for your patience (especially the Kickstarter Contributors-the perks are coming!). I also want to give a huge thanks to Mr. Matthew A. Peters-for not only entrusting me with as much as he has on this project, but for having to endure sooooooooooooo much of my suggestions and critiques. (I’m sure he’s showed some people-no wonder people keep deleting me off Facebook…) More are coming BTW Matt….:) For those of you who saw it, let us know what you think-good and bad. Why? As Tybalt might say, “I be of the belief that this be how the bar be raised, as well as honor preserved, forevermore….”
WAYNE W. JOHNSON 