A shot from Idiots & Angels.

Yeah! Idiots and Angels was held over at the IFC by popular demand!

This is what I dreamed of. All those distributors who rejected “Idiots and Angels” now must realize that there is an audience for an adult animated film. People want to see mature and provocative ideas in cartoons.

A shot from Idiots & Angels.

I've narrowed my list of available NYC indie cinemas to 2: IFC Center and Cinema Village.  Both are quite good and have a history of showing animated films. Both theaters seemed interested in Idiots & Angels, so I sent each booker a screener of the film plus the great reviews it got from Variety and The Village Voice.  My plan, and I do have a plan, everybody should have a plan, is this…

A shot from Idiots & Angels.

Great news, we just got booked in Chicago's prestigious Music Box Cinema! It looks like it will be screening there the 1^st week of December.

A shot from Idiots & Angels

I'm now moving into Phase II of my brilliant military campaign to spread the word about my animated feature film premier in NY and LA.  This week, I've called up all my writer friends and press associates who have contacts with the media. 

Several weeks ago, I went to the Academy screening of all the eligible animated shorts – about 30 films. It's held at the N.Y. Academy screening room (The Lighthouse) and is attended by all or most of the Academy members living in the Northeast area. Members even come down from Canada.  It's one of my favorite events, because often I discover films I've never seen before and I always have a film that I'm trying to get nominated.

So I've decided to self distribute Idiots & Angels.  The biggest hurdle is finding a cinema in NYC.  There are a whole lot of films looking for cinemas and not a whole lot of cinemas, so the trick is the find one that suites my audience.  Animation fans.

A shot from Idiots & Angels.

The most important work for me is the awards season for my two qualifying films, The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger and of course Idiots and Angels. I feel very strongly that “I&A” is my best feature yet, and it has a good shot at winning some prizes this season. So I've decided to enter it in all the competitions: The Gotham Awards (it didn't get in), The Spirits, The Annies, The Golden Globes, and of course, the Oscars.

A shot from Idiots & Angels.

So now the craziness begins.  I've got 2 hard dates for Idiots & Angels:  Oct. 6^th at the IFC Center on 6^th Ave in NYC and Oct. 29^th at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in LA.  So like Patton I'm devising a 2-prong attack.  First, I'll invade NYC using low-cost but more personal forms of advertising:  Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Skype.  We can save a few bucks and then I'll turn my forces onto LA.

In the third of my trifecta of “Idiots and Angels” theatrical release appearances, I made a trip to Chicago, where it played at the wonderful Music Box Cinema.  Three years ago, Gabe Levinson brought me to the Music Box to run a rough cut of the work in progress to help me make the final cut.  It was wonderfully helpful and important.

Bill Plympton's Team Idiots volunteer marketing force.

Monday night we had our first meeting with our hardcore student volunteers, who are hopefully blanketing NYC with posters and postcards, announcing the October 6^th opening of Idiots and Angels.

Now, whether posters and postcards all over the city will drive huge numbers to the theatre, that's a different and interesting question - We hope so, because without the money for a full-out publicity blitz, I'm forced to use more street guerilla tactics. Eager student volunteers seem to be the most efficient way.