Editor’s Note: Mark Potts is the multimedia editor at The Oklahoma Daily. He also writes, directs and stars in his own feature films, the latest of which will be screened at deadCENTER Film Festival in June.

The rain falls in sheet on this cold night. A man cradles a baby tightly against his damp jacket, trying to shade its fresh face from the rain. He’s never been in this city before. Everyone ignores his pleas for help. Protecting this child is so important to him. But more importantly, my film is playing in a film festival.

“Simmons on Vinyl” is the second feature film of Singletree Productions, the company started by myself and OU graduate, Cole Selix.

I might be biased when I say it is fantastic, but aren’t we all a little biased? For example, you probably think what you’re wearing is nice. You’re biased, but that’s OK (I will say, those shoes are amazing!)

The film will screen June 11 in (Art Space) at Untitled as part of the deadCENTER Film Festival.

This is the festival’s 10th, and biggest, year. It goes from June 9 to 13 and features some of the best independent films you can find. It’s also a mecca for Oklahoma talent, featuring two screenings of Oklahoma short films and plenty of Oklahoma-made short films include “1 in 3,” an emotional film about domestic abuse directed by Lagueria Davis and “The Rounder Comes to Town,” an Oklahoma gothic film about deception, lust and greed, directed by Adam Davis Beatty.

And then there is “Simmons on Vinyl,” a tale of love, women, babies, and kidnapping. Zeek is in love. With the help of his friends, he goes on search for a vinyl record that takes him on a wild chase all across town, running into mean high school punks, troubled bosses, kidnappings and even a very difficult dance off challenge — all in hopes that the record will nab the heart of his dream girl.

“Simmons” was shot in the fall of 2008 in three weeks and completed April 2009. I wish I could tell you how much we spent on it, but we don’t want to brag. We received funds from some pretty important people, and I do not want to sound conceited.

I’m just kidding. It cost $300, which was about $300 more than we could afford to spend. But it is a good lesson in what is more important about filmmaking: the story. It does not matter what equipment you use, what you edit on, or how many explosions you have (thought more explosions often equals more awesome [but awesome doesn’t mean better, does it? {not really, look at Michael Bay films (wait now hold on, Bay’s films are amazing! [but are they good? {oh damn, good point}])}]).

The film stars Selix, OU journalism student — and Daily multimedia reporter — Brand Rackley (he is the good looking one. And yes, I say that knowing I very much look like George Clooney) and myself. We decided to make this film because we loved our experience shooting The Stanton Family Grave Robbery, our first feature film, which was recently named one of Oklahoma’s top-10 feature films of the last decade by the Oklahoma Gazette. We spent nearly nine months preparing to shoot that film. We spent two weeks on Simmons.

It was frightening to not have that time to prepare, to rehearse, or to iron out important details. But I think that helped. It’s a frantic film, moving quickly from one place to another. We would rehearse before we shot, but this often meant finding different ways to say lines. To be honest, if you compared the script to what is on the screen, you’d find a lot of variation (and a lot less nudity in the script.)

But when it was all said and done, we came away with a project that we really liked and were proud of. And if I could give one piece of advice to other filmmakers, it’s to just go with the flow when creating a film. Let your creativity and others’ take you to new ideas, new ways of doing things, and to an ultimately better product. You don’t need a lot of money and you don’t need the fanciest cameras. All you need is a good story and people with passion.

And that’s what is great about most film festivals. If you have a love for cinema, a love for storytelling and a love for the art of filmmaking, festivals are where you need to be. It is truly an honor to be a part of this amazing Oklahoma film festival.