Today is a special day. A year ago on April 1st ( besides being April Fools Day), ERZULIE was greenlit.

Funny story, Payten Brewer, my co-producer, and I made April 1st the absolute latest date we could possibly wait for our Erzulie funding to come through. If we did not reach our funding goal of $150K by this date, we would have to postpone our shoot dates indefinitely. If you listen to our Get Reelisms Season 3 ERZULIE podcast series, you’ll witness the mental hell we went through.

After three long rollercoaster months of fundraising, which involved a false green light, investors pulling out at the last minute, hours upon hours of pitching (aka begging)… on April 1st, all of our funding miraculously fell into place.

Now one year later, I am writing to tell the world that our baby due date is set. She is coming out into this world to VOD on June 14, 2022 and we are so ready and excited. It is going to be a huge party of all parties and you are ALL INVITED.

I am terrified. Everyone has ugly baby glasses and I’m about to send my baby into the world to thrive. Like any parent, you hope that your parenting has given your child the tools it needs to succeed in the scary world beyond your walls. For a full year, I have planned my little heart out and spent sun up to sun down scrutinizing edit after edit - balancing all of it while still being a full-time 1st AD. I remember wrapping on sets and going back to my hotel to edit. Or handling some set problem while getting texted by distributors about deliverables. It has been nuts.

You’d think after going to plenty of screenings for my other films, that this feeling of nervousness would lessen with experience and time. Honestly, I think it’s gotten worse. I care infinitely more than I did 10 years ago when I started. I wonder if this will be the end of my career. Maybe this will be the last film I will ever get to make again. Irrational fears, maybe, but fears nevertheless. What if I don’t make all the money back? Will people ever invest in me again? The list goes on.

I feel naked. I don’t know what to expect. I just know that I literally just watched Erzulie again, just to be sure that I’m happy with it. And I am. So I guess what it boils down to is… that’s all that matters.

So please for the love of all that is holy, come watch Erzulie. The best way to support my career, me as a friend, or the entire team of Erzulie, is to come out to a theatrical screening and/or watch it when it comes out on June 14th. Show Erzulie some love.

Check out our list of upcoming events (updated in real-time) at erzuliefilm.com

Erzulie and the Significance of April 1st