Getting "Steamed!", Part 8

The horror/comedy film, STEAMED!, co-written by Beverly Bonner and Dan Fiorella, is making the rounds on the film festival circuit.  How did it come together?

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The film was in the digital can.  Beverly was very excited about how it turned out.  It was time for a public viewing!...

Here's the thing (as I mention a few posts back), Beverly loved clip art.  I rarely got a message or invite from her that wasn't loaded with clip art, including news about the movie.  And now she was going to start sending things out to the general public!  And I was embarrassed about this.  As it so happens, my daughter is a graphic designer, quite a successful one, designing book covers.  In fact, she's designed the covers for all my books (available on Kindle!) not that that's the reason she's successful. So, I got to thinking...how different is a book cover from a movie poster?  Right?  Since I gave her life, I figured she owes me a couple of favors.

Now this is why I'm weird...did I run this idea by Beverly first?  No, I did not. I went into full passive-aggressive mode. I just saw myself as a magical catcher in the rye that would just appear with a fully finished poster for her and assume she'd loved it.  

I had an idea of what I was looking to do.  I pulled up some art that kinda represented what I was shooting for and let her combine them.  Then, to get the whole movie poster effect, I needed to list the cast and crew.  That's when I had to ask Beverly for that info...including who directed it, which is when I first realized she was the director, officially.  Whoops.  After a few emails, she started getting curious about why I needed this information.  I told her it was a "surprise."  That seem to work. 

​Anyway, I presented her with the poster...

She loved it!  Then started giving me notes.  I had to remove Henenlotter's name (after first featuring it in the second version, because...shy?)  There were some other odds and ends before I got final approval.  And that's how I saved "Steamed!"  I mean, seriously, that clip art would have killed us!  So I got it out to her and it became the visual for the premiere, the visual for all the festivals it was entered in, the image you saw when you found it online.

That Christmas I ordered up a t-shirt with the design on it and sent it to Beverly as a surprise gift.

She wore it to the NEPA Horror Festival in October 2020, which was held in Scranton, PA, close enough for her to safely attend during the pandemic.  It would be her last public appearance.   When she got the shirt, she figured we should consider making T-shirts to sell at other festivals and online, and, as a sign of the times, face masks.  My daughter put together another couple of designs and Beverly was in contact with a t-shirt guy not long before she passed away.

I don't know if the shirts actually got made.  Except for mine.  Just before Halloween 2020, I ordered a shirt for myself.  I wore it for Trick or Treating.  I haven't really worn it since.  I'm not entirely sure why.  sigh.  But if you want one, drop we a line and maybe we can work something out.