Eh, we’re here, just busy. The world of SAGIndie is a never ending barrage of work. When the rest of the [filmic] world seemed to be slowing down, we were still going strong – spreading the word of low budget contracts. I like to think of us as KUNG FU, going from town-to-town, helping poor filmmakers make films.
Only I’m not grabbing any hot pot with my forearms. It’s summer and I want to go sleeveless. (kudos and Geritol for anyone who gets that reference).
I can’t speak for the rest of SAGIndie’s staff, but I have been BUSY! Let’s just start with June. Somehow, June was a crazy month for us. We usually have about 4 sponsored festivals in June. This year, we had 8! We attended 7 of them! Crazy. Here are the highlights:
We went to the Producer’s Guild of America’s “Produced By” conference. Pretty cool. Too bad they couldn’t get any big names to appear. Once James Cameron stopped extolling the bright future of 3-D, they still had little people like Kathleen Kennedy, Laura Schuler-Donner, Norman Lear and Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios) chatting up the crowds. I’ve decided that Kevin Feige is my hero. He’s got IRON MAN 2, THOR(!), and CAPTAIN AMERICA coming up, and a slate that extends for years. I can’t wait for them, as they all look and sound incredibly cool. Of course, MY Kevin won’t know of my obsession with him until he glances out his window some night at 3am and sees me camping in his bushes. I’m sure he won’t mind once he sees that I’ve made S’Mores.
CineVegas was a blast, as always. The SAGIndie Filmmakers Bowling Party was, of course, a great success. Not only was there raucous bowling from midnight until nearly 4 am, but the blatant campaigning from filmmakers for the oh-so-prestigious bobble-head trophies was, frankly, embarrassing. You know who you are. I finally saw 500 DAYS OF SUMMER and was so pleasantly surprised that it’s one of my recommend films (and I don’t have many).
The day after I returned from Vegas, I loaded up and headed back to the airport for the Maui Film Festival. Yep, it’s a hard knock life for me. Well, Maui just sucks. The weather is perfect, the ocean is beautiful, and the beaches are pristine. Movies? Oh yeah, and they had some interesting movies. SAGIndie sponsored the screening of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. Zooey Deschanel was there and when my daughter (4) accosted her in the bathroom to tell her she liked her dress (“A” claims she didn’t know who she was, but I’ve seen her sneaking glances at InTouch magazine in the supermarket), Zooey (I call her Zooey) was extremely gracious. The festival gave a tribute to her (so early in her career?) and to Willie Nelson. Would have like to have been in the room while they were planning that one.
You would think that, after partying in Vegas and Hawaii, I’d be too tired to do anything else. Well, you’re right, but I went to the Palm Springs Shortsfest anyhow. I’m glad I did. My partner in crime, Mark Friedlander (also known as SAG’s Guru of New Media) and I were on panels that were very well attended. We saw a few shorts, met a bunch of really cool filmmakers, and stayed at the Uber-cool ACE Hotel. Clearly where all the cool cats hang out (and occasionally they let people like Mark and me in). I especially like the “adult snowcones” they offer poolside. Not that I was poolside. Not like I had one (or two). That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.
So finally, June is behind me and July is, actually, half over. Things are settling down to our usual two festivals a month. And I’m not going to most of them. So it’ll be up to the rest of SAGIndie’s staff to blog about their festivals.
And they will. I haven’t fired anyone in a while and I’m starting to develop a tick. Must. Fire. Someone.
