Dying to do Letterman Raises $8000 For Team Lucy
August 20, 2011Part of our goal with this movie has always been to give back where we can. So you can imagine how moved we were when we received this video from Team Lucy, and small group supporting a young girl with leukemia, about our Kickstarter Indie Oscar® Campaign:
Needless to say, we wanted to give back. So, as MSNBC reported, we put up a small screening in Lucy’s home town in hopes of raising some money for Lucy and her family.
We raised $8000!
Team Lucy sent us this wonderful note we just had to share:
Congrats to Team Lucy, and we’re so proud to have been such a big part of your big night!
Steve’s David Letterman Dream Comes to Chicago
June 10, 2011
Besides David Letterman…
People always ask me besides performing on the David Letterman show, “what are you Dying to do?”
Well, I have about 3000 things I’m dying to do, but I can tell you that one of the biggest is to share our documentary “Dying to do Letterman” with my fans, friends and family in Chicago. Of course I want everyone in the world to see the movie, but showing it in Chicago will be extra special.
Chicago, Here We Come!
Next week we will bring “Dying to do Letterman” to Chicago for the Just For Laughs Film Festival. We are showing twice at The Gene Siskel Film Center on June 17th and 30th.
We’ll also be squeezing in a suburb screening of this work-in-progress “Festival Cut” at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles on June 26th. Proceeds will go toward helping us finish the film and make an awards run in 2012.
Long Time Coming
As soon as we finished the movie, and truthfully throughout the editing, I’ve daydreamed about it showing in the Second City. For the first 18 years of my life I never saw a movie outside of Chicago or the suburbs. Every great movie-going experience was there. I wanted my movie to join that club.
Biagio’s Hometown Has Already Seen It
In April we took the film to Biagio’s hometown of Cleveland for the Cleveland International Film Festival. He and his wife Joke were married at the same hotel we stayed in for the festival. So for them, as the filmmakers, it was special to return and show off their movie. And to win a big award! I could see how excited and proud Biagio was to be sharing it with the city where he grew up. I wanted that same feeling.
Now I’m gonna get it!
“Dying to do Letterman” gets to join all those great memories of movies I remember seeing in Chicago as a kid. I can’t wait to “go…back to that same old place…sweet home Chicago.”
Documentarian Tim Hetherington Lived His Dream Every Day
April 20, 2011Documentarian and Oscar-nominated co-director of the film Restrepo Tim Hetherington died today in the city of Misrata. He was doing what he was born to do…documenting our world. This time, covering the conflict between Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and Libyan rebels.
An Inspiring Life
It will not be how Tim died, but how he lived, that is remembered.
Tim Lived His Dream
Tim Hetherington lived his life to the fullest, touching many along the way as he pursued his dream: documenting some of the most dangerous, difficult realities on planet earth.
For that dream Tim Hetherington put himself in harm’s way in the name of something he probably thought was bigger than him.
Truth.
In his much-too-short 40 years of life, he likely lived more than many of us ever will.
He’s gone much too soon, but he left us while doing what he loved. Chasing the truth, and living his dream.
His is a life to celebrate.
A Very Special Mom Talks About Dying to do Letterman
April 18, 2011At the Cleveland International Film Festival our documentary about Steve’s dream to perform on the David Letterman stage won the Audience-Voted Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition, a tribute to Greg Gund.
Greg’s friends and family described him as “intensely creative and talented, and wholly without pretension.” He lived by this Mahatma Gandhi quote inscribed in his passport: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Greg died at the age of 32 in a small plane crash off the Pacific Coast on July 16, 2005.
An Award with Meaning
Billed as the most special prize at the festival, this year’s competition included over forty films. When we were named as the winners, we were ecstatic, and could only hope that Greg’s family would feel Dying to do Letterman was a worthy tribute to his memory.
Today, we received this video from Greg’s mom, Theo, who sent it after watching Dying to do Letterman. We are deeply moved.
Cleveland Sells Out, Stands Up for Dying to do Letterman
April 1, 2011Sold out our first screening in Cleveland, at 2:30pm today. This was the audience reaction:
Thank you Cleveland.
Magic Dying to do Letterman Buttons
March 31, 2011To help promote DYING TO DO LETTERMAN, we’re handing out dream buttons…they say “I”m dying to…” and then we fill in the dream with a sharpie.
Lara Klaber over at The Cleveland International Film Festival was kind enough to post about our antics, buttons and all, in this funny post at the CIFF blog.
Not only does she discuss the fun we’ve been having with our buttons, but also talks about where you can see Steve perform comedy here in Cleveland, so definitely check her post out.
Magic Buttons?
Well, today someone wrote their dream on a button, and that dream came true…kind of! Regardless, it made her day. Watch to find out why…
An Academy Award Story: It’s not how much time you have…
February 23, 2011So excited to share this story.
I’ve made a lot of good friends in comedy. And heard a lot of cancer stories since starting my Dying to do Letterman project six plus years ago. Those two facets collided last week when my good friend Howard Cooperstein, who I met at an open mic in San Francisco 10 years ago, told me he was visiting L.A. to help his sister care for her husband.
Howard shared the story of his brother-in-law, Jim, who has been fighting brain cancer since 2008. Between the cancer, the radiation, and chemo, Jim sways from being unaware and completely without his facilities and needing constant attention, to brief flashes of his former self. Unfortunately, recently Jim has been more and more in the unaware state. That is why my friend Howard came to help his sister care for him.
Amidst this, something amazing took place. Something that showed a lot of life in the face of death. It blew me away and right away I asked Howard and his sister if I could share it here and they agreed.
Jim’s Story
Jim was living an incredibly successful life when he was diagnosed in 2008. His full name is Jim Rodnunsky and he is the inventor of the “Cable-Cam.” The cable camera is that camera you see flying around at football and basketball games, giving you those amazing shots. As you can imagine it’s revolutionized moviemaking as well.
And that’s where this story gets so inspiring. Howard told me that Jim was attending an early session of the Academy Awards but he wasn’t sure how that’d all turn out. The next day Howard e-mailed me the following:
“Thought you guys would want to see this.
I’m so happy for and proud of my Brother in Law, James. He can’t remember what happened 2 seconds ago. Is in an absolute state of confusion and delusion. I didn’t think he was going to be able to even go to the awards or if it did he’d have to remain at his table, but he pulled it together for this award and was able to give an acceptance speech. His children were watching seeing him get this honor.
That’s Marisa Tomei presenting.”
Jim takes the stage at around the 1:50 mark and unbelievably steps up to the mic at 4:50 or so to speak. I know this is the age of 2 minute videos but this one will make your day (and more) if you watch the entire thing.
This just proves it again. It’s not how much time you have…it’s what you do with it.
Congrats, Jim.
-S
The End is Just The Beginning
January 14, 2011
I’m here in the bay, personally editing the final, final cut (yeah, right!) of our movie Dying to do Letterman.
After six years, hundreds of hours of footage, countless cans of Pepsi Max, 60 pounds gained, then 60 pounds lost (thank goodness) we’re finally nearing…the beginning?
Finishing the Movie is Just the Beginning
Anyone who’s put in the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to actually finish a movie (and kudos to anyone who does) probably feels the right to catch their breath and celebrate.
But, that’s not how it works.
In today’s indie film landscape, finishing a movie is just part one of a very, very long journey to bring your film to the world.
So, if you’re going to spend six years making a movie, it better be something you’re passionate about…a story you want to tell more than anything.
We Want to Share Steve’s Story More than Anything
Maybe Steve’s story seems simple: a man learns he only has so long to live, and so dedicates his life to living his dream.
But I believe the world would be a far better place if everyone, regardless of their health or other circumstances decided their dreams were worth pursuing. That’s why we wanted to make this movie.
We believe dreams are important. So does Steve.
That’s why he said, “I will live my dream, or die trying.”
Where Are You in Your Dream Quest?
Maybe you’re actively chasing your dream. Maybe not. Perhaps you think your dream has passed you by? Maybe you think your dream has come to an end?
Well, remember…the end is just the beginning. Here’s to your new start, wherever you are.
Make A Wish
January 13, 2011Wishes Coming True
I think everyone knows about all the great work the Make-A-Wish Foundation does for kids diagnosed with cancer. But there is a similar, wider reaching, unfounded group that does similar work for anyone who finds themselves in tough times. It’s called humanity.
People Can Be Very Giving
When I decided to dedicate whatever time I had left to getting on Letterman, my first step was sharing that dream. At first I told friends and family. Then anyone who would listen. I can’t tell you how many people came out of the woodwork to lend a hand. Some put me in touch with the right people, others helped me hone my act, and others contacted The Late Show to tell them they thought I was good enough.
Incredibly, I didn’t know a lot of these people that were helping me.
Just by putting my dream out there, by not keeping it to myself anymore, I took leaps and bounds towards it. It was a great lesson in humanity: People want to help. As soon as you let people know how they can help, they do.
Put It Out There
I got an e-mail this week from a fan-friend Damien who has had an awful couple years. He’s facing foreclosure and mounting medical bills. Like most of us, Damien’s great at helping, but terrible at asking for help. He wrote me:
“We’ve been donating, volunteering and fund raising for charities for over 20 years… never, in that time, thinking that we would need help ourselves.”
When things got really bad, and Damien didn’t know where to turn he agreed to take part in this newspaper article about high foreclosure rates and families losing their homes.
By sharing his story, Damien let others know how to help.
“We humbled ourselves and asked strangers for help. Well, we got help. We got a lot of help for us and for hundreds of other people, too.”
The World’s Not All Bad
It’s easy to look around and point out all the things wrong with the world. But if you look closer, you can see all the things that are right. Some great things happen when you’re not afraid to share your dreams with others.
So if you need some help, ask for it. If you have a dream, shout it. And if you have a Wish? Make it!
Touching Story of Beating the Odds
January 6, 2011
As crazy as it might sound…
I’m not happy I got diagnosed with cancer. But I will admit that the perspective I now have is a welcome one.
I’m not going to tell you I live everyday like it’s my last. I don’t. If I did, I’d probably be flat broke, 400lbs, and in jail (I have a crazy last day planned). But I do appreciate how important any time I have is.
Another bonus is hearing incredible stories of other people who were diagnosed with cancer. How they responded. How they lived from that point on. Or hearing stories from people who were close to someone who got diagnosed. Unfortunately, unlike the Kevin Bacon game, only one degree of separation is needed for most people to get to someone they know who had/has cancer.
A lot of people hear about me…
my story, or the film and send me their experiences with cancer. It’s bittersweet. There’s something comforting in knowing I’m not alone. But It’s sad to know how much company there is.
This week a comic I worked with when I started comedy, Kat Simmons, sent me an e-mail:
Hey Steve,
So sorry to hear about your health, but so happy you are spinning it into gold, and manifesting your dream.
Steve, cancer has been all around me for the last few years. It took my Mom two years ago this month. Often times I feel like one of those ducks that get shot at in that carnival game. I had a boyfriend with stage four pancreatic cancer, they gave him 3-6 months, That was over three years ago.
He took the opposite route that the docs told him too…They say he is now cancer free. We learned some really valuable things along the way, and a site we lived on was called curezone.com, where thousands of like minded people support and educate people.
I look forward to following your story, and the clip was awesome.
Best to you and your dreams and health.
Kat
I love hearing these stories…
and I’m going to try to share as many as possible here on the Dying to do Letterman film site. The stories, the information, the resources. Whatever I can share with others who find themsleves or their loved ones in similar circumstances I’m going to showcase.
I hope it helps or comforts someone else as much as it has me.
Thanks Kat and everyone else,
Steve
Do you have a story to share about you or someone you know? Leave us a note in the comments, and we’ll interview you for a post here at the site.