*gets dizzy from the chloroform, passes out, and wakes up in an open field in the middle of nowhere - penniless and confused*
WTF just happened to me?!?! DJ!!!!!!  
Anway, Dj, don't feel bad - if my dad was still alive, he would've told me it was the BIGGEST waste of time and money on the planet, period. Fathers seem to be a bit more harsh on their kids than moms, at least in my experience. Of course, my dad was a real hard-ass and a drunk to boot, but that doesn't change the fact he'd still think it was a ludacris idea.
I can hear him now.. "You're doing WHAT? What a monumental waste of time and money! That's just a stupid idea - you really think people will buy this?"  If only he was alive and I could say "well Dad, go take a look at Tempe's website, and you tell me - was it a mistake? How so? A project I was involved in is actually for sale and is available to more people than anything you've ever done in your life" :finger:
I think it boils down to the fact that most parents don't understand why we want to get involved in these things. Take my guitar playing for example. Dude, when I was learning how to play guitar - and even after I had been playing for over a decade and getting damn decent at it, my dad would hear me practicing in the basement and say "Goddammit! WTF is all that goddamn noise????" - to him, my guitar playing was noise and it was a waste of time for me to even bother learning how to play it.
Now, 27+ years later, I was in a touring band for 9 years, we wrote and recorded 2 albums worth of original material (and we even wrote a lot more than what ever got recorded), I've bought equipment to record on my computer for Deadlands, we plan (and have started already actually) to write all the music for DL2, we wrote some of the music for IAZM2 - so it's all good.
Parents don't see the "big picture" of what something like this can bring you. They just want you to "stay in school, go to college, and join the rat race with the rest of us" - well, f*ck that. Learning how to create your own film from scratch is something that allows your type of creativity to flow and come out of you. With me it's music. EVERYONE needs some kind of outlet for their creativity - it just so happens yours costs a bit more money than most. the real question is so flippin' what? If you can make back the money you put into it, who can bitch? Well, I know, parents can and will, but they have no leg to stand on, y'know what I mean?
Hey, screw it, if this works out and you 'make it' anywhere in this business, y'know what you can do? Tell all those people who dogged you about it "YOU WERE F*CKING WRONG!"
...and if you don't make it in the business? So F'in what? You did something that you have wanted to do since you were a kid - and something that most people could never do in their lifetime (or at least would never attempt, even if they knew how to). You wanted to make a movie - you set out with a few friends and made that sh*t happen. What more could anyone want?
Sometimes, you just need to tell everyone to STFU and follow your creative muse. You'd be amazed at how many people do this and end up making a good, great, and sometimes over-the-top living at it.
I see this is as a very positive thing. Consider this:
1) you made a movie without any prior knowledge as to how it's done. Sure, you've been on movie sets before, but 'watching' it be done and actually doing it - two different animals all together, as anyone in the filmmaking arena will tell you.
2) your life long dream was to make you own movie. Now you can say "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt! :finger:"
3) You have made a movie that not only allowed you to get your 'creative rocks' off , but also a movie that apparently many have taken notice of. Sure, it's not perfect, it's not the "best" per se, but the reviews on your movie are better than most first-time-low-budget independent films on the market. That should make you DAMN proud, and it's something the parental units should take note of. You didn't make a "sh*tty movie" you made a damn decent movie on $15,000 (well a bit less than that, but lets not split hairs.. lol). If they can't see that, they will NEVER understand, and from my experience, they usually don't. Hell, when I played in my band in clubs, I'd play on stage for 3 hours and walk home with $250 cash in my pocket - and my dad STILL thought it was a waste of time! That's more per-hour than he made being an electrical engineer!!!
4) Now that you know what you're doing, the next project you take on will be 1000 times better, 1000 times more refined, and will kick 1000 times more ass.
I'd say you accomplished one hell of a lot - sometimes, parents can be blind to that, regardless if you even pulled in six figures for DL:TR. They'd probably still say "whatever, that was a waste" - ya just can't win. It's annoying, but you can't ignore your "calling"
I mean, I love my parents (even my dad when he was around, albeit it he was a jerk to me most of the time because he was drunk 90% of the day) but sometimes, I think, telling them to piss off and following your heart is the way to go. If you don't, you'll never develop as an 'individual' - which is what we all want to be. A unique entitiy in this screwy friggin' thing caled life. 
I think in your case, it paid off very well. Now, in the immortal words of Jay, you just need to "get your motherf*ckin' movie check" - then you can show that to your parental units and say "bite me"
LC
PS - and Dj, you know as well as anyone, I'm the BIGGEST pessimistic person on the PLANET. Even *I* wasn't sure about what this movie would do - and I will happily admit that I was wrong on all fronts and that it has done one hell of a lot better than I think any of us could have asked for, even if it all came to a halt right now. 
Parents. Who needs 'em?
Oh yeah, we do! Without 'em we wouldn't exist! 
(am I the worst offender of going off topic or what?! )
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Originally Posted by DjfunkmasterG
Magic doesn't grow on trees ya know, it's crafted! Demand a nominal fee!
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