I should be working on a monologue right now...but instead I'm updating this blog.
So, on to June.
Last Monday was a screening of a film I did a few months ago. I didn't go. Mostly because it was a horrible, horrible experience all around and I really had no desire to see the finish product and be reminded of the whole ordeal.
I was on the fence about going to a CD workshop on Saturday. It was someone who casts one of the shows that's on my target list. I usually wait until the last minute to sign up for these workshops because there's usually plenty of room and sometime they offer a discount when they're desperate for people. But on Friday I got an e-mail from a website I subscribe to about an industry event on Saturday. It was geared towards producers/directors/filmmakers/etc. but I thought it might be a good opportunity to go. It was at USC and it was a series of panels and you could choose 3 to go to. Let's see...I could either
1. pay $35 to meet ONE person, a CD.
Or
2. pay $40 and meet about 15 people who are producers, writers, directors, etc.
I opted for #2. A better deal all around! And that included lunch, a gift bag, a raffle, coffee, and more coffee (yes, the itinerary said "more coffee"). At the event I also found out that included muffins and danish in the morning and cocktails at night - I skipped both of those - danish and muffins are good but too fattening, and as much as I was craving a drink I was about to fall over from exhaustion by the time the event was over and had to drive home.
So I got up early and trekked down to USC to get there around 9:30 to check in. I shelled out $8 for parking because I was scared I wouldn't be able to feed the meter, and I felt better leaving my car in a secure parking garage on campus than on the street all day - even though I've parked on the street outside of USC plenty of times (even once with major police activity going on) and never had a problem. I checked in (alphabetical by first name, okay, that was confusing) and got my gift bag (filled with expensive skin care samples put in Academy Award gift bags, including a full bottle of moisturizer - score!) and made sure I got my coffee! At 10 there was a little opening seminar type thing where the people who run the organization sponsoring the event spoke a little bit. I really didn't read much about what the organization was, but it was something affiliated with USC and most of the guest speakers went to USC. I think most of the people there were either students or alumni of USC then a small amount of people not affiliated with the school. The organization was called Women of Cinematic Arts so the opening speakers did talk about women in film type issues (and I was happy they talked about women in FRONT of the camera!) but the panels didn't deal specifically with women.
The first panel I went to was about independent features and a group of indie producers spoke. It was really interesting. I was really happy when they brought up the topic of dealing with SAG and to file all the paperwork with SAG early. I really think there are a lot of inexperienced filmmakers who don't know how important that stuff is. I really liked that panel.
The next panel I went to was about TV and the Web. It was a variety of TV producers talking about how they use the internet for the shows they work on. They all seemed to agree that the internet was not going to replace TV. Wow. That was really surprising to hear because I've heard so many times how internet is going to be the new TV. Hmm. Interesting with the whole SAG contract thing going on right now. Can't even begin to get into it here. Another great panel with some interesting speakers.
I was undecided which panel to attend for my third one. One was about creating webisodes and the other one was about getting and working with an agent. The webisode one was what I wanted to go to and thought I would learn the most from. I didn't know how much the agent one would help me because it was mostly writers and directors and I'm not looking for a literary agent. But, there were some GREAT speakers on that panel - writers from hit shows, directors from films. A great networking opportunity. Hmm. What to do, what to do... I read the bios of the people again and saw that one on the webisode panel went to Emerson! Aha! That was the deciding factor. I was starting to feel a little odd being around USC students and graduates all day - I needed to hear someone speak who was one of my peeps! Yes, I managed to find the one person who went to the same college as me! A lot of stuff the speakers talked about was stuff I'd heard before - there's no money in webisodes, do it as passion project, make the best quality thing with what money you have, keep them short - but they did say some stuff that I hadn't really heard before such as things about marketing, and getting a distribution deal, and what to look for in a contract. Treat it like an indie film. They also said something interesting how this playground their in isn't going to last long. Hmm. Interesting. I'm not sure if they meant that it's going to go all corporate and studios are going to take over, or it will just play itself out and webisodes are a fad.
Afterwards I stuck around to say hi to the Emerson person. I even missed part of the raffle for this! I hope they didn't call my name - there were some great prizes worth a lot of $$$! But it was worth it to say hi and introduce myself.
The panel I seemed to enjoy the most was the indie film one - but maybe because it was the first one and by the time I got to the third one I had been sitting in seminars all day and was tired. I didn't even stick around for the free drinks. And they were good drinks too! Not just beer and wine but mixed drinks! But I was tired and had to go cat sit for someone and a drink would just make me more tired.
I spent Sunday and Monday trying to get contact info for the speakers so I could send out thank you notes. They didn't give out contact info so I had to do some research. I spent hours on IMDB Pro and even went and looked up stuff in the Hollywood Creative Directory. I had some luck, but a lot of these people weren't listed, or I wasn't sure if I had the best contact info. I wanted to get snail mail addresses but had to settle for e-mail for most of them. A lot of them had websites, and the only contact info I could find was through the website. There were two people in particular I really wanted to send thank you notes too. I found a website for one, but wasn't having much luck with the other. I did find an address, but it wasn't something I found easily on the web, and wasn't sure if it was a home or business address. That seemed a little too stalkerish. I did find a MySpace page for one of their films. Ugh, I guess that was how I would have to contact them. Then just for the hell of it I searched the film name on Facebook. Aha! There's a facebook page for the film and it has contact info! Voila! An e-mail address! Not as good as a snail mail address, but much better than contacting someone through MySpace!
I still have to write the thank you notes. Ugh! Why do I procrastinate on this so much? I think I want to make sure I'm saying the right thing, and what I want to say and I think about it way too much. I need to just do it.
Whew, almost caught up! One more post should do it!
Oh, I did try my free skin care products and LOVE them. Uh-oh, does this mean I'm going to be buying expensive moisturizer from now on?
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