O/T. My new film is out on DVD. It's called "Smile Pretty".

Hi All,

A film I directed in January 2006, and which I had to wait 9 months to edit because there was no compatible software with Canon's HDV "24F", has finally surfaced on DVD.

I received a great deal of help in adapting the Canon 24f proprietary system into an editable codec at the time ... a lot of it from people on this board who were tremendously generous with their time. In fact, Michael Horton made my discoveries a "tip of the month" which is the highest honor I have ever achieved and which, to quote Michael, made me famous.

It took a couple of years to get distribution because the film tells the true story of an Eastern European child who was adopted by an American man who brought her to the USA with the express intention of putting her into child pornography. This was very much in the news about 5 years ago. The girl was on Oprah and whatnot. It got a lot of coverage.

But not exactly the type of theme which gets the turnstiles clicking.

In any case, it was probably the first feature film to be shot on the XLH1 (it was shot in January 2006) and it's called "Smile Pretty". It was filmed under the title "Nasty", but the distributors asked me for a more "audience friendly" title(!).

Amazingly it got into Blockbuster, Netflix, Amazon, BestBuy and WalMart online ... plus many other stores, but those are the biggest.

I do hope that some of you might put it on your Netflix list since I want the film to actually be seen. And the picture is OK. It stars Scout Taylor-Compton in her best role to date, I think.

And, by the way, I don't get residual payments for Netflix rentals. Like all of us, I just want a few people to see my work, such as it is.

It's not a film for the faint hearted, by the way. And definitely not to be seen by young children.

Thank you.

Harry.

Harry Bromley-Davenport.

PS. You can see the trailer at:

wow, that's been a long wait.
congrats, harry,
a "difficult" subject, hope it does well.


nick

Congratulations, Harry!

The movie looked great on your HD monitor in 24 fps. I was amazed at the quality of the images, and the shot of the big windows and the light that looked so much like 35mm film was amazing.

By the way thanks for the very pleasant time my wife and I spent at your house in the Hollywood Hills.

Wishing you continued success!

Vic

Hey, Vic!

Smashing to hear from you.

And thanks for your enthusiasm and encouragement.

And also thanks Nick Meyers for your kind post, above.

The film was pirated this weekend and is now spewed all over those sites that are run by vermin. Maybe I should feel flattered? There doesn't seem to be any legal mechanism for stopping these people because I understand that the servers are largely in Eastern Europe and therefore in total outlaw territory.

In any case, the distributors have run out of copies. I know this because, when I called to ask for my 12 free copies per my contract, they said they had just re-ordered. I know that they aren't exactly what we would call a high class boutique outfit(!), but they do know how the hell to sell a film. They got it into WalMart, Blockbuster, BestBuy, Amazon, Netflix and gawd knows where else.

I have been running around town like a child taking pictures of the DVD displays. Pathetic, isn't it?

All the best to you and your wife.

Now I'd better stop using up Michael's bandwidth on this very O/T issue.

Harry