With the documentary on the Monarch Theatre (Your Cinema Needs You) finally wrapped, it's now all about working out the details for a premiere and the much anticipated release. This story appeared in the Medicine Hat News today following the official announcement on the film's completion just a few days ago online. Full article here.
It has been one year and seven months to the day - 577 days to be exact - since I made an announcement about the Monarch Theatre, a signed production agreement, and the new feature-length documentary I had going into production at the start of 2022.
What can I say though? I do love movies and the places that show them.
It's honestly been a dream to explore, document, interview, contextualize, and uncover artifacts in connection to a cinematic landmark that (let's be honest) the vast majority of Canadians have understandably never heard of before. There's something exciting about knowing you've found your hook though, a point that only became reinforced when just a month into production the announcement about my little movie was picked up and spread nationally by the Toronto Star.
And, oh yeah, was the Monarch ever going to reopen again? This news hung over the production for over a year while plans shifted, promises changed, and I continued to pretend that I knew what the conclusion to my movie would eventually be. As the Calgary Herald so fittingly put it in their feature about the documentary, "true stories rarely have tidy endings".
So, here we are. After all of the teasers, updates, sneak peeks, rumours, changes, and behind the scenes snapshots, I guess it's finally time that I break the long-awaited news (and yes, I thought I'd make a meal out of this update too) the documentary is actually done. Scored, previewed, revised, rendered, cut, locked, and now awaiting release.
Your Cinema Needs You is finally, officially complete.
My thanks to Chat TV for the feature on "Your Cinema Needs You".
This is where the Monarch documentary gets a lot more fun for me again. First looks, behind the scenes, and a few more promos as we work out delivery and the eventual release date. We're getting so close to completing this thing! Read the story here.
Somehow we've found ourselves halfway through 2023 already.
If I'm honest, I've mostly been consumed by the ongoing post-production of my Monarch documentary this year, but there have been a few stand out shoots amidst the filmmaking. California and Nevada travel shoots took place this spring, a return of the hot air balloon festival saw some really strong engagement, and new highlights released from Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC all received their own features.
When I'm so consumed with a singular project I like to remind myself that there has been more going on than I realize. It helps to give my mind a rest. As the documentary closes in on completion this summer it will be interesting to rediscover my routine this fall and hopeful find time for a break. I can't complain though, it's always a plus to be busy and to be producing the content you want to be making. I sometimes just wish I could space it out a bit better.
When post-production on the Monarch Theatre documentary kicked off last year, it was difficult to describe what condensing a 110 year story actually looked like. I had 400+ pages of production notes outlining dates, archival references, transcripts, visual cues, etc. all in addition to the script I wrote and was working from.
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That's when we had the idea to line the aisle of the Monarch Theatre with the notes I had on hand. This is what editing a feature-length documentary actually looks like (about 30% of it anyway).
The reason I'm posting this now is because for months and months, it has felt like an unending battle to work my way through these notes. Some weeks I was a machine, some weeks I was lucky to shave off a couple pages. I became the living embodiment of the Titanic meme "it's been 84 years ..." lol. But at the moment of posting this, the number of pages that stand between me and the completion of Your Cinema Needs You? ... 9.
Just 9 pages to go.
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The thing about storytelling is that you can't help but get swept up in the poetry of coincidence. There's been a lot of it over the course of producing this documentary about the Monarch Theatre, some of which resulted in major plot points.
I like to think about the spaghetti bowl of timelines that result in certain things lining up, even when they're inconsequential. Like how one day during production, waiting between interviews, I realized that one of the old local newspapers I'd found had the same date as the day I was shooting just from 78 years earlier.
Imagine the odds that would lead to me finding the paper in the first place, then sitting behind the movie screen of this very cinema and reading the movie listings on the exact same date one lifetime later. It was just a coincidence, but it's exactly the kind of thing that hooks you.
Post-production on my Monarch Theatre documentary has been through numerous stops and starts in 2023 in anticipation of the expected news about this historic cinema's reopening. A feature in the Calgary Herald in February highlighted this predicament and my "search for an ending" amidst the changing timelines I'd been experiencing in trying to wrap the project.
If this already complicated timeline stretching back to 2021 has demonstrated anything, it's that a lot can change quickly. When production first started we were still in lockdowns, for example.
For what it's worth, this has been exhausting for everyone involved. I feel like I've been teasing this documentary for so long and disappointing people with the continued uncertainty about when they can actually watch it and what we can share. Point being, it's time to wrap this up.
I've come to realize that I need to end this story while it's still fresh in my mind and there isn't much point in waiting any longer. Whether an announcement is made a week from now or months from now, my biggest concern is in telling a good story. So, how do I strike a balance and end this documentary properly?
I'm happy to share that I have worked out an ending that I think will satisfy both the story and my increasing anxiety. I won't spoil anything here, but this does mean that completing the final stages of Your Cinema Needs You is currently my top priority.
I have to remind myself sometimes that I've already wrestled with just how much there was to fit into a single movie, already revised numerous times, and that a lot is going to continue to change surrounding the Monarch Theatre regardless of my efforts. Who's to say that there isn't room for a follow-up to this doc anyway? Here's to a story worth the 112 year wait.
I want to thank Tourism Medicine Hat for their article on my upcoming documentary on the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta titled Your Cinema Needs You. Read here.
You never know what you may find hidden in the basement of a century+ old movie theatre. And if you believe this ... might I suggest, for your consideration ... Your Cinema Needs You.
Ok, ok, we're getting way ahead of ourselves here.
A few interesting tidbits from the upcoming documentary though:
1) If you were standing in this portion of the Monarch Theatre back when it opened in 1911, you 'technically' wouldn't have been inside the Monarch.
For those inquiring, the Monarch documentary entered another round of previews this week bringing the project another step closer to completion. Just over 80 minutes of runtime has now been locked as work on the fine cut continues to progress.
The final section of the documentary is now the focus (representing at least another 30 minutes in the 3rd act) - and about that ending, it does seem like the stars may be aligning for some news to break about the future of the cinema very soon. While nothing is official yet, it does seem like we're on track for completion leading into this summer.
Editing progress continues to be slow and steady, but we're getting there!
Yesterday I posed a question to my audience about whether they'd show up to a premiere for my new documentary "Your Cinema Needs You" if we held it in the historic Monarch Theatre. As the theatre is at the centre of the documentary, naturally the expectation was that the responses would be favourable, but I was blown away by the support and engagement that this question elicited on Facebook and Instagram.
As we're still awaiting news on the outcome of the Monarch Theatre's purchase and reopening, further encouraged by my feature in the Calgary Herald this month, there are still quite a few details to iron out as this documentary officially wraps up and 'finds its ending'. All that said, I'm excited to finally see all the pieces coming together for the eventual release of this movie. It's been a long, drawn out process and I can't wait for everyone to finally see it.
Here we're some of the top responses on the post:
A full page write-up appeared in today's Calgary Herald about the story surrounding my upcoming documentary on the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat titled "Your Cinema Needs You".
My thanks to Eric Volmers and the Calgary Herald for this generous feature, particularly as the documentary still has a few final hurdles to overcome towards completion. Everything is still pretty hush hush surrounding what might happen at the Monarch, but there's potential I may still get the ending I've been holding out for before this documentary truly wraps.
Link to the Monarch Theatre documentary story in the Calgary Herald here.
This month post-production has entered its final stages as we move into completing the fine cut of the documentary. This is where we trim, tighten, refine, and generally stitch together all of the final details of the finished film. It's been a process, but it's looking good.
Since the trailer for the Monarch Theatre documentary was released in late December it feels like everything has been moving non-stop. January was full of some early promo work and media interviews about "Your Cinema Needs You", as well as some newly revised schedules about what may be happening at the Monarch Theatre in the near future. I don't want to make any predictions, but this is the first time in months where I feel like I'm finally on top of things.
On the travel photography side, lots has been on hold, however there are some new shoots on the horizon this spring. In the meantime, the @editingluke Instagram has been nailing down some high-profile features in 2023 so far from Oahu, Detroit, New York, Calgary, and Banff. On the hometown front, there are also a few new prints that have already sold and are waiting to go up in a new location. A reveal should be coming very soon.
So, that's a brief overview. My apologies that social posts will continue to be limited until the documentary is completed, but there's lots on the go again. As the documentary continues to take shape and we get closer to locking down a release date, be sure to follow along at @editingluke for exclusive updates and behind the scenes content.
One year ago I announced that my new documentary about the Monarch Theatre had been greenlit - a largely unknown (outside of my hometown of Medicine Hat, Alberta) historic cinema with a really unique backstory.
No surprises, it's come to define a lot of my 2022.
Production updates, exploration, title reveals, behind the scenes, media releases, etc. It's been fun to share parts of this process (if for no other reason) because uncovering the history of a century old cinema, its origins and evolution, etc. lead me down a few rabbit holes that I needed help climbing out of (so to speak).
In an alternate timeline I'd be celebrating the completion of "Your Cinema Needs You", my latest feature length documentary, this one about the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta. In production since the beginning of 2022, the project entered post-production this summer and had originally been scheduled for completion by the end of August. Well, that didn't happen.
The newly revised timeline will still see the documentary completed this year, but there's still a lot to do and a lot of uncertainty about what may actually happen to the Monarch Theatre in this time. Everyone is still being pretty hush-hush about what may "officially" happen to this old cinema. That said, as things continue to be refined and take shape I'm only getting more excited to reveal the incredible amount of effort that's gone into producing this story.
"Your Cinema Needs You" is going to be amazing! With any luck we'll be able to debut it at the Monarch Theatre upon its completion. Please stay tuned for further updates.
Early into production of "Your Cinema Needs You" it was clear that existing archival material was going to be an issue, and so I went in search of an artist to commission original drawings exclusively for the documentary.
Cue, Leanne Stock. I don't want to give too much away yet, but here are some of the original drawings (of just the Monarch) that she completed for the production. What makes a lot of the shots additionally impressive is that I asked that they all be drawn from the same perspective even though a lot of the archival images were not from that angle. She nailed it!
Just one of numerous details that has made this project such a collaborative undertaking. Thanks again, Leanne, for the incredible illustrations!
