Independent filmmakers have a problem — how do you attract an audience to view the product of your imagination, your artistic vision, your expenditure of heart and soul (and time and money)? If you’re Naomi McDougall Jones, writer and star of Bite Me, you create a nationwide roadshow in which you spend three months in an RV, traveling from town to town to interact with local moviegoers while introducing your movie in dozens of theaters. Oh, and holding Joyful Vampire Shindigs and/or Joyful Vampire Balls in every town.
So what is the film that’s receiving this, shall we say, unusual marketing strategy? As noted above, the film is called Bite Me. It involves the Internal Revenue Service and blood-sucking; unexpectedly, perhaps, those two phrases aren’t redundant. The movie’s tagline fleshes out the subject of the film:
A subversive romantic comedy about a real-life vampire and the IRS agent who audits her
That’s an accurate description, but it doesn’t cover the humorous scenes (both in the vampire community and at the IRS offices), nor the underlying themes of diversity and acceptance, of the uncertainties inherent in developing any human-to-human relationship. Even (especially?) when those humans are a self-identified (non-supernatural) vampire and a reclusive government worker.
Oh, did I mention that Bite Me is woman-directed, woman-produced, and largely woman-financed?
After viewing the Bite Me trailer, please join me below to find out more about the film and the Joyful Vampire Tour of America.
The ideas behind Bite Me derive from McDougall Jones’s research into the real-life vampire subculture. The movie’s vampires have founded a church — also the residence of some of the group — which comes to the attention of the IRS due to its claimed 501(c)(3) status. The relationship between vampire and IRS agent, and the different subcultures they inhabit, is the crux of the movie.
Some members of the cast may be familiar to you from their other acting credits. In addition to Naomi McDougall Jones as the vampire half of the romantic couple, Christian Coulson (Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) is the IRS agent. Another agent in the IRS office is played by Annie Golden, who appeared as Norma Romano in Orange Is The New Black. And Naomi Grossman, who was Pepper in the FX series American Horror Story, is one of the vampires.
On the road for three months (early May through early August), the Joyful Vampire Tour of America will accompany screenings of Bite Me in cities and towns across the nation. Here’s an explanation of the Tour, straight from Naomi McDougall Jones and producer Sarah Wharton:
As of this writing, the itinerary includes 51 screenings in 40 cities during the Tour! When it comes to your area, you really ought to pick up a ticket to see the movie — for venues, dates, and times, check the screenings page. To whet your appetite, after the sold-out opener on May 6 at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, the next week will take the Tour to:
After another screening in Washington DC, they’re off to North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Ohio, upstate New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Whew!! There will be a Q&A with Naomi McDougall Jones (and occasionally other actors in the flick) after every screening, followed in most locales by a Joyful Vampire Ball or Joyful Vampire Shindig.
You’re likely wondering “what’s a Joyful Vampire Ball/Shindig?” Glad you asked — here’s how they’re described on the Bite Me website:
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WHAT IS A JOYFUL VAMPIRE BALL/SHINDIG AND WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO WEAR?
A Joyful Vampire Ball or Shindig is a chance to meet the filmmakers and team behind Bite Me, celebrate, laugh, and chat with your fellow audience members, but, most importantly, Joyful Vampire Balls/Shindigs are a chance for each and every person to celebrate whatever makes them feel most joyful.
Everyone is invited to wear a special outfit to their screening/vampire ball/shindig – it can be a vampire costume, of course, but it could also be a tiara, wings, a Viking dress, a Christmas sweater – really anything that makes you feel fabulous and joyful. That thing that you love but have thought, “but when the heck am I ever going to wear this?” Wear that. Now.
Part-party, part-event, part celebration, each Vampire Ball/Shindig is a space where everyone is welcome, nobody is judged, and every uniqueness, large and small, is given room to be expressed.
Come wearing whatever you like and get ready for the most joyful night you’ll have all month!
Like any self-respecting movie, Bite Me has a few tie-ins. You are, for instance, encouraged to savor a merlot or cabernet sauvignon from Vampire Vineyards, which will be doing some Bite Me-related email blasts. You can pre-order the movie from iTunes, and I believe it will eventually be available on Google Play, Amazon, and the crowd-funded streaming service Seed & Spark. Furthermore, at a big, critical moment in the film, we hear the indie-pop group Lucius:
Longtime participants in dKos may wonder why I’m the person who’s telling you about Bite Me and the Joyful Vampire Tour of America. After all, at age 68 I’m nowhere close to its target demographic. In the spirit of transparency, it’s because my partner has a stake in the film … and is also writer-star Naomi’s mother-in-law. So I’ve been peripherally involved in the project as it moved from script to shooting to post-production. I’ve seen it twice — at home on a preview DVD and on the big screen at the public premiere in early March during the Cinequest festival in San Jose — and I’m very impressed by it. Since its premiere, by the way, Bite Me won the Best Feature Award at the Victoria TX Indie Film Fest.
To summarize – go see Bite Me, whether during the Joyful Vampire Tour of America or via your favorite video download provider (or both!). You’ll be glad you did!
And don’t forget your fangs…