John Hennegan and Skip Koepnick share a laugh about The First Saturday in May. Photo by Rich Copley.
Equine auteurs John and Brad Hennegan are at the main entrance to Churchill Downs hawking the DVD of their documentary, The First Saturday in May, which opened two weeks ago at the Kentucky Theatre.
"Documentaries don't have a long theatrical life," John Hennegan said. "So getting the DVD out is a way to pay back investors and get the word out."
He said they felt good about the opening weekend for the movie, two weeks ago, as it's per-screen average gross doubled that of Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden, which was much more widely released and advertised.
The Hennegans were doing brisk business, selling DVDs by the handful at some points and even meeting some notable characters.
Skip Koepnick, "the hat man," had a notable moment in the film that's also in the trailer -- it's the sex line -- and John Hennegan asked to have his picture taken with him, like just about everyone else in the Downs.
"I spend the whole day having my picture taken with people," said Koepnick, of Wyoming, Mich., whose battery-powered horse features two horses running in a circle.
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