Last night, I headed down to Anthology Film Archive in New York City to see the premiere of Kevin Slack's short film Every Word Handwritten, presented by The Gaslight Anthem. The film is based on The Gaslight Anthem's music video "Handwritten," which Kevin also directed. The house was packed, so packed in fact that I almost had to sit in the front row until two Gaslight Anthem fans let me squeeze in between them somewhere near the middle. For those of you who weren't in attendance with me, Rolling Stone has it streaming. You can also take a look at the "Handwritten" music video below.
Here is Kevin on how the music video and the short film relate to each other:
The film is an extension of the "Handwritten" music video I directed for the band. Their drummer, Benny Horowitz, and I developed the script together once we realized we could make the music video into something more. Luckily the label, management and the rest of the band was completely on board with the idea. It was definitely a challenge though in terms of figuring out how to shoot each scene to accommodate both the music video and the film. I wanted the pacing to be more gentle and organic in the film and that wouldn't necessarily work for the music video since it's an upbeat rock song. So figuring out a balance was difficult but I think in the end it worked out great. I think they are good companion pieces and the main difference being the lack of attractive rockstars in the short film.
And for a bit more proof that I was indeed in attendence, I'm in the top right corner of this photo of the audience looking very handsome:
