On Saturday, April 18, 2009, Twitchy Dolphin Flix premiered its second feature film, FUNNY BOOKS, at the Harbor Playhouse in Corpus Christi, Texas and we can’t thank the entire city enough for such a tremendous experience.

Water Street, the mall, Texas A&M, a radio show, the freakin’ Blue Angels! Who knows where to start with this?

BEFORE THE SHOW

Arriving first on Thursday, writer/director James Christopher, along with creative director and director of photography Chris Copple, soundman and photographer extraordinaire Ricky Velour, and musician Tim Daniel headed straight to Padre-Staples Mall to hand out flyers and meet new fans. Then it was on to the bayside campus of Texas A&M Corpus Christi, home of the Islanders, to pass out more flyers.

The next day we awoke to find a small write-up for the premiere in the local paper, and then more cast and crew began arriving in town. After a thorough tech-check and run-through at the Playhouse with their outstanding technician Marc and creative director Joel, we grabbed lunch at the Executive Surf Club to check out the digs for the after-party. Andy was awesome, basically holding the whole place open an extra hour AND giving up free drinks with premiere tickets for our fans. Then it was back out to A&M for another round of handing out flyers to a new group of students.

While we were there, we got our own private performance from the Blue Angels when they decided to do a practice run for their big weekend show right over our heads. It was exhilarating to say the least.

We followed up the aerobatics with a trip to Port Aransas to check out the beginnings of what would become amazing sand sculptures at the Texas SandFest. Then we met up with some new cast and crew arrivals back in Corpus for dinner and a late night stroll up and down the Water Street entertainment district with more flyers.

BROADCAST BABY!

Saturday started great and never let up. James did a fantastic in-depth interview with Corpus Christi Film Society founder and local radio host Joe Hilliard. Everything from the plot of FUNNY BOOKS to the cameras used in shooting it was discussed and we are so very thankful to Joe for all his help in getting the word out for us.

Jim actually gave the interview from the parking lot at Collector’s Planet comic shop while the rest of us stood around another car nearby with every door and window open and the radio blaring. It was hugely exciting, but as soon as it was over we headed inside the shop to set up for our cast autograph session. David and his staff and customers were fun to spend the afternoon with and we had an enthusiastic turnout. From there it was back to the Surf Club again for another excellent lunch to help support the sponsors.

PREMIERE NIGHT

As people began arriving at the Playhouse the place was buzzing with excitement. We were able to greet over 100 attendees from all over the area before the show and then invited them into the theater for a pre-show that included videos from our new music division Twitchy Dolphin Echoes. Tim Daniel’s “Shallow Grave” written for STRIKE TEAM ARCHANGEL, gave the audience a sneak peak at our recently shot third feature. Look for the video and more about STRIKE TEAM ARCHANGEL on the Web soon.

Trailers for previous and upcoming Twitchy Dolphin releases led into the debut of a hilarious new short called THE CUCKOLD that was written and directed by Will Casto; who also stars as “Flannel Man” in FUNNY BOOKS.

The audience loved the film and kept Jim and Chris on stage for over half an hour with numerous questions about what inspired various aspects of the film and how it came together technically. Then we raffled off a huge premiere poster, autographed by the entire cast, along with a couple of exclusive advance Blu-Ray copies of the DVD. The rest of us have to wait til later this summer…

Many capped off the night with us back at the Executive Surf Club one last time for a late-night dinner, free drink, and an after-hours live performance by Tim Daniel playing many of the songs featured in FUNNY BOOKS.

The entire weekend could not have gone better and we are so grateful to all our new friends and fans in Corpus for making it all so great. We can’t wait to come back again soon…perhaps a DVD release party???