I've finalized my cast and now feel comfortable listing the full cast for my new short film, Stella Buio!
First, we have Lance Flint playing the character of Frederick, one of Julie's brothers.
Constant readers with long memories might remember the next two names from earlier Kimyoo Films productions. Chris Cline, who played the Priest in my film A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema and A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: and be at rest, will be playing the lead zombie, Philip. This script came about because he wanted to work on a giallo-style script with me and while this film isn't technically giallo, and he had little to do with the plot of this one, I still say he came up with the concept. Also, Shawn McBee, my cinematographer on Without/Within and a producer on Without/Within and A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema, will be making his formal acting bow as Victor, Julie's other brother.
Lastly, Laura D'Anieri will be playing Greta, the family matriarch (like I said in my announcement on the Stella Buio campaign page, I love that word...matriarch.)
They join the previously announced Melanie Robel as our lead protagonist Julie and Linnea Quigley as our lead antagonist, and title character, Stella Buio.
I'm so incredibly excited for this flick, you have no idea!
26 days!
Showing posts with label horror films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror films. Show all posts
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
A little bit about my new short film, Stella Buio.
I've started an IndieGoGo campaign for my new short film Stella Buio. It's a 70s Italian horror throwback about a medium who reconnects a family to their loved one quite literally as she brings him back from the dead to wreak havoc on them.
I didn't want to say too much about my cast just because I am superstitious about revealing names before I have their scenes in the can, but I feel like I can (and should) go ahead and post: I've cast my good friend Chris Cline as Philip, the deceased loved one. He played the Priest in my films A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema and A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: and be at rest. Shawn McBee, whom I've known since high school, will be one of Philip's family members. I've also cast Melanie Robel as the lead protagonist, Julie. She's an up and coming actress and came to me highly recommended; I'm so glad she agreed and I can't wait to work with her! Finally, the big news: legendary Scream Queen Linnea Quigley will be the title character, Stella Buio!
*Kermit flail*
Also joining me on this epic quest are Bonni Reid, who will be doing my poster art, Wheat, as my gaffer, and my brother Shawn Bowen will be handling the Fabio Frizzi-inspired score!
I didn't want to say too much about my cast just because I am superstitious about revealing names before I have their scenes in the can, but I feel like I can (and should) go ahead and post: I've cast my good friend Chris Cline as Philip, the deceased loved one. He played the Priest in my films A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema and A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: and be at rest. Shawn McBee, whom I've known since high school, will be one of Philip's family members. I've also cast Melanie Robel as the lead protagonist, Julie. She's an up and coming actress and came to me highly recommended; I'm so glad she agreed and I can't wait to work with her! Finally, the big news: legendary Scream Queen Linnea Quigley will be the title character, Stella Buio!
*Kermit flail*
Also joining me on this epic quest are Bonni Reid, who will be doing my poster art, Wheat, as my gaffer, and my brother Shawn Bowen will be handling the Fabio Frizzi-inspired score!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Days of the Dead; or Thank God This is About a Convention Because I’m Droppin’ Names!
While most people were getting ready to fire up their bar-be-ques, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and set fire to colourful explosives in celebration of America’s freedom from the tyranny of British rule, I and thousands of others descended on the Wyndham Indianapolis West in Indiana for the very first Days of the Dead convention which boasted one of the most impressive guest lists this side of a Weekend of Horrors with genre luminaries such as Reggie Bannister and his wife Gigi, FX guru John Carl Buechler, P.J. Soles, Linnea Quigley, and Heather Langenkamp.
I was there to see I Am Nancy with the fans for whom it was made. I’ve seen it by myself. I had the honour of co-presenting the West Coast premiere at BleedFest so I got to see it at a film festival, and I showed it to friends of mine who weren’t fans before (and they loved it), but there’s just nothing like the energy of watching it with other fans. I’m getting slightly ahead of myself, however.
I arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday, the day before the festival. The hotel is within walking distance of five other hotels...and nothing else. Well, almost nothing else. I was given a room on the first floor which I didn’t think anything of because I did a quick walkthrough and discovered that it was far enough away from the majority of the action to not be a bother. So then I realize that I hadn’t eaten since a granola bar that morning so I order room service. No answer. Huh. Okay, so I go to the restaurant. No one’s there. Apparently, one needs to be a semaphore to get food in this joint. I go back to my room and try to call room service one more time. No dice.
The Wi-Fi in my room was brilliant, though, so I was able to find a restaurant near by that received some pretty good reviews on Yelp. After some troubles with GPS, I found the proper directions to get to the restaurant, a car race-themed greasy spoon that I don’t want to name. The food was...okay. Very greasy, surprisingly enough (or not at all if you could hear the sarcastic voice in my head), and the chocolate shake wasn’t nearly chocolatey enough.
After an unsatisfying dinner, I went across the street to the gas station and bought some water and went back to my room where I almost promptly passed out and slept solidly until 8 the next morning.
Friday, the first day of the con. Doors didn’t open until 6, 5 o’clock for VIP pass holders (of which I was one of 100) and eventually, I discovered that you could pick up your VIP badge at 3 pm. I went to the restaurant for breakfast where I ordered Belgian waffles and orange juice. There was a buffet, but I’m not a big fan of communal food. The orange juice was so tart I thought my face was going to fall off (and I love tart / sour stuff!)
With HOURS of time to kill, I went back to my room and watched some Death Proof (but actually stopped before the best parts because I have this habit of picking up accents and didn’t want to pick up Zoe Bell’s accent in advance of meeting her...)
Finally, three o’clock rolled around and I got my VIP badge and swag bag, took them back to my room, and went into the lounge / bar thingie for lunch. I grabbed a corner seat and order fish and chips which, on the face of it, doesn’t sound like a great idea considering Indiana is, for all intents and purposes, landlocked, but whatever. I live on the edge.
I was joined soon thereafter by a nice, talkative gentleman named Jewell. It turns out I hijacked his spot, but we got on well and decided to hang out during the con. After a surprisingly delicious lunch and great conversation, I went back to my room to retrieve my bookbag and a surprise to show Heather Langenkamp and I met back up with Jewell and we headed into the convention.
Our first order of business was to walk around to see who all had arrived. Some folks were late due to weather or buggered up flights and the vendors were still setting up. Once the reconnaissance was done, I got ready to see Heather, but the line was a bit strange. For whatever reason, it was in front of Amanda Wyss and Thommy Hutson. I actually stood back because I didn’t get that that was where the line was, but I was able to help a few fellow fans out by taking photos of them with Heather.
Then, it was my turn! I got an I Am Nancy poster which I asked her to sign with her line, “I’m into survival!” and took out the surprise to show her: my St. Auggies’ sweater. Her face seeing it was priceless! She asked me if I wanted her to sign it, but I demurred because I actually wear it! I’m afraid of losing her signature in the wash! I know, I know...that’s supremely geeky of me. I embrace it. It’s a really comfy sweater!
After Jewell got to meet Heather, we went and got into line to see Reggie Bannister. I wanted to meet him because I got to see / ran a film he was in at my festival called Walking Distance (the film has since been picked up by Lionsgate and is now known as Psychic Experiment) and wanted to tell him how much I enjoyed his performance. We met a few more people like the lovely P.J. Soles and Ginger Lynn and then, when Jewell got into like for Roddy Piper, I went over and met the amazing Zoe Bell, a Kiwi stunt performer who doubled Lucy Lawless in Xena, Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill flicks, and herself in Death Proof among others.
I admire stunt people intensely. They’re willing to do the crazy things I and other writers dream up that most Stars are unwilling (or unable) to do. Stunties do NOT get paid enough and absolutely do not get enough recognition for their efforts (think I’m joking?)
/ soapbox
We had a nice, but quick, conversation and then I met up with Jewell again. He decided to get out of the Roddy Piper line because the other VIPs kept using their line cutting perk. He was a VIP, too, but neither he nor I took advantage of that particular perk during the weekend (actually, I think he did for Ace Frehley, but I can’t blame him for that...)
That night was the midwest premiere of I Am Nancy so we went in early (now that's a VIP perk I can get behind!) and grabbed seats in the second row from the front on the aisle. Superfan and Nancy cosplayer Diandra introduced the film and Heather, who sat in the chair in front of me to watch it with the rest of us.
It was so fantastic to see the film with the fans, with the people who understand. The energy was wonderful! At the end, we gave her a standing ovation, then she thanked us all for coming and headed out pretty quickly so she could personally thank everyone as they walked out.
If I didn’t already adore her before that, I certainly did after.
After the movie, Jewell and I headed over to Quincy’s (it’s a bar inside the hotel) for An Evening with Roddy Piper which was billed as a stand up act, but was really more like a stream-of-consciousness recitation of his early years in wrestling. Think of An Evening with Kevin Smith, but less scripted and well-rehearsed. You can’t fit all that on a poster so stand up act it is. I’m not a fan of wrestling, but when I was a kid, I did watch the show every once in a while. Plus, They Live is one of my favourite John Carpenter flicks.
It was HILARIOUS. I’m so glad I didn’t miss that! He was refreshingly up front in the stories he told and I think there were quite a few minds blown wide open by the stories he was telling. There were a few rude people in the audience who kept shouting names out to him, hoping for stories about these people and other than veering off the story he was currently telling, he handled that pretty well. If he were to release an autobiography, I’d most likely pick it up. Considering I have no interest in wrestling, I think that says a lot.
The party was over at that point so I went back to my room and went to sleep. Well, tried to, anyway. It turns out that Quincy’s backdoor was across the hall from my room. Yeah, I didn’t sleep very well that night. People kept running up and down the hall and shouting and all that great stuff. The next morning, Heather was kind enough to ask me how I slept and promptly admonished me for not getting a room higher up... I’ve learned my lesson, Heather!
The next day was the Big Day, the one most people show up for. Saturday. I got in line for Heather first, of course, adding a Just the Ten of Us photo to my increasingly excessive collection of autographs. My current count is now ten (two of which were not attained in person) including one I got from her on the last day of the con. But, but, but...Just the Ten of Us!
Anyway, I roamed a lot on Saturday and got more autographs than I normally have any interest in...says the girl with ten autographs from one person (but two don’t count!) I also walked the vendor room and thought about what I wanted to get, if anything. I had to keep in mind that I was flying home. Of course, I didn’t think about that when I bought the I Am Nancy poster. Thankfully, I was able to carry it onto the plane and home without damaging it, but it was dicy for a while as I thought about actually *gasp* folding it.
Saturday featured the panel I was super excited for: Scream Queens! With P.J. Soles, Linnea Quigley, Heather Langenkamp, and Mark Patton. I can hear the cliche record screech now. Mark Patton played Jesse in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, a role which would be, stereotypically, played by a girl. There are so many good ideas in Freddy’s Revenge that, for me, simply didn’t work in execution, not to mention how it simply doesn’t fit in the canon. The make-up and score, in particular, are fantastic. And the actors are better than the material they’re given. The film just didn’t work.
Anyway, the scream queen panel was fantastic! There were thoughtful questions asked and some really insightful answers from the panelists. YouTube has some video of the panel. (Just so you know, I’m the one who asked about the panelists’ favourite/least favourite practical effects.)
At the end of the panel, the participants were good sports and screamed for the crowd, even in spite of having just said to everyone that you really need to prepare your voice before doing the scream queen thing. By the time they did that, I was already on the way out. I had my VIP pass and was able to sit up front (and without a camera other than the one on my phone), it was time for those who didn’t have one to come up and get photos and stuff.
After an incredible lunch with a surprise guest, it was time for photo ops. Originally, I’d planned on using my VIP voucher for a free photo op with Tom Savini. I mean, he’s Tom Savini for crying out loud! My point n’ shoot had crapped out before I went to the con and I’ve since replaced it with a camera that has a viewfinder on the front as well so I didn’t get any photos with anyone at the tables. My next con or event, whenever that will be, I can take photos and not worry that most people really don’t know how to take pictures (not to mention that I’m pretty picky.) I found out for sure that Savini had to cancel due to car troubles which was a bummer...maybe the third time our paths cross will be a charm.
I used my photo voucher to get a picture with Heather Langenkamp. She’s one of the very few people I get really geeky over so it’s hard to walk that line between fan and filmmaker. However, I recently heard a quote from Guillermo del Toro from when he was at the San Diego Comic Con that makes me feel a little better about loving this genre and the people in it: “I don’t know how many years I’ll direct or be able to produce but I know one thing. The one thing I can finance is I’ll be a fan my whole fucking life.”
I love him.
The photo op line ran a bit long (which makes me incredibly happy for Heather! Her lines all weekend were really long which means a lot of work for her, but at the same time, how awesome is that?!) so I thought I’d missed the Return of the Living Dead announcement that was supposed to happen before a short film package that I wanted to see. Luckily, they hadn’t started yet and while I had guessed what the announcement was going to be about thanks to a few clues that were dropped, I was still incredibly excited to see the trailer.
Thommy Hutson and some of the crew behind the incredible Never Sleep Again documentary are putting together a retrospective on The Return of the Living Dead 1-3! The trailer they showed was amazing and I can’t WAIT to see it! The trailer’s been pulled from the official website, but definitely keep your eye on it for more information.
I stayed for the short film package and then roamed some more before heading back to my room to put my stuff down and then head to the VIP party. Luckily for me, I found a seat with Jewell and two awesome people he met that day, Nikki and Randall. There were a hundred VIP passes sold for the weekend and the majority of them were, for lack of a better term, camped out by the door. Plus, there were mountains of muscle men standing at the table behind me so I couldn’t see a bloody thing.
The VIP party seemlessly transitioned into the Girls and Corpses Beauty Pageant which was totally not my thing so I headed out of there around ten thirty or eleven to try and get some sleep.
Sunday was the most chill day. In fact, most of the guests arrived late or had left early and the vendors were packing up by four. I saw Heather Langenkamp again (big shock) and asked her to sign the photo op picture of us with "Be Nancy," the slogan from I Am Nancy. I'm a fairly introverted person and I've been working really hard on that because you can't be introverted and make movies, especially when you're the one doing everything and you have to prove yourself worthy the trust required to work with actors. I haven't had to pursue funds yet, it'll be fun when I go to get money for the feature. I always have to remind myself that if someone says no to a question or request, I'm no worse off than before I asked so I just have to jump in with both feet and hope I land without spraining something.
I also got to meet Mark Patton. I may not like Freddy’s Revenge, but I started to really admire him after seeing Never Sleep Again and I like him even more after the Scream Queen panel. I didn’t meet Amanda Wyss...she’d had shoulder surgery fairly recently and I didn’t want to bother her or make her sign anything. I thought it was incredibly awesome (and brave) of her to come anyway, but I just couldn’t put her in any more pain than a weekend of signing and photos and accidental brushings had already. I will meet her at some point! Besides, I have to tell her how awesome she was in CSI (as Donna Marks AND as Tina Vincent!)
Afterward, I went to the Fango Film Festival to see the film Dead Genesis. This was a flick that I’ve been waiting patiently for since I saw a clip which turned out to be the first five minutes of the film. The first five minutes were the best of the entire run. It was pretty good, not the game changer a lot of people seem to be touting it as, and it’s very clear that the director doesn’t understand found-footage or mockumentary-style filmmaking.
After the film, I went to the vendor room and was disappointed to see that the vendors were packing up so early, but I was able to buy a couple of prints from Chris Kuchta - a beautiful print of his painting of Bub from Romero’s Day of the Dead, a print of Hellraiser’s cenobites for my friend Rickey, and this amazing print of this Night of the Living Dead painting which I then had signed by John Russo (producer), Russell Streiner (he plays Johnny in the original film), and George Kosana (who plays the Sheriff in the original.)
With the convention winding down, I went to say good-bye to Heather, but she was already gone, and then I went to my room to relax for the rest of the night and came home the next day! A weekend later, I shot my short film JustUs, the trailer for which you can see here. The weekend after that was Viscera (which is two entries before this one...) Just trying to put everything in context since this post is so bloody late.
This was an amazing festival and, unless you knew beforehand that it was their first time out, you wouldn’t have been able to tell. They did a fantastic job and I hope that maybe I can return someday! The hotel was a little too isolated, I suppose, but if I do get to go back, I'll know that ahead of time!
I was there to see I Am Nancy with the fans for whom it was made. I’ve seen it by myself. I had the honour of co-presenting the West Coast premiere at BleedFest so I got to see it at a film festival, and I showed it to friends of mine who weren’t fans before (and they loved it), but there’s just nothing like the energy of watching it with other fans. I’m getting slightly ahead of myself, however.
I arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday, the day before the festival. The hotel is within walking distance of five other hotels...and nothing else. Well, almost nothing else. I was given a room on the first floor which I didn’t think anything of because I did a quick walkthrough and discovered that it was far enough away from the majority of the action to not be a bother. So then I realize that I hadn’t eaten since a granola bar that morning so I order room service. No answer. Huh. Okay, so I go to the restaurant. No one’s there. Apparently, one needs to be a semaphore to get food in this joint. I go back to my room and try to call room service one more time. No dice.
The Wi-Fi in my room was brilliant, though, so I was able to find a restaurant near by that received some pretty good reviews on Yelp. After some troubles with GPS, I found the proper directions to get to the restaurant, a car race-themed greasy spoon that I don’t want to name. The food was...okay. Very greasy, surprisingly enough (or not at all if you could hear the sarcastic voice in my head), and the chocolate shake wasn’t nearly chocolatey enough.
After an unsatisfying dinner, I went across the street to the gas station and bought some water and went back to my room where I almost promptly passed out and slept solidly until 8 the next morning.
Friday, the first day of the con. Doors didn’t open until 6, 5 o’clock for VIP pass holders (of which I was one of 100) and eventually, I discovered that you could pick up your VIP badge at 3 pm. I went to the restaurant for breakfast where I ordered Belgian waffles and orange juice. There was a buffet, but I’m not a big fan of communal food. The orange juice was so tart I thought my face was going to fall off (and I love tart / sour stuff!)
With HOURS of time to kill, I went back to my room and watched some Death Proof (but actually stopped before the best parts because I have this habit of picking up accents and didn’t want to pick up Zoe Bell’s accent in advance of meeting her...)
Finally, three o’clock rolled around and I got my VIP badge and swag bag, took them back to my room, and went into the lounge / bar thingie for lunch. I grabbed a corner seat and order fish and chips which, on the face of it, doesn’t sound like a great idea considering Indiana is, for all intents and purposes, landlocked, but whatever. I live on the edge.
I was joined soon thereafter by a nice, talkative gentleman named Jewell. It turns out I hijacked his spot, but we got on well and decided to hang out during the con. After a surprisingly delicious lunch and great conversation, I went back to my room to retrieve my bookbag and a surprise to show Heather Langenkamp and I met back up with Jewell and we headed into the convention.
Our first order of business was to walk around to see who all had arrived. Some folks were late due to weather or buggered up flights and the vendors were still setting up. Once the reconnaissance was done, I got ready to see Heather, but the line was a bit strange. For whatever reason, it was in front of Amanda Wyss and Thommy Hutson. I actually stood back because I didn’t get that that was where the line was, but I was able to help a few fellow fans out by taking photos of them with Heather.
Then, it was my turn! I got an I Am Nancy poster which I asked her to sign with her line, “I’m into survival!” and took out the surprise to show her: my St. Auggies’ sweater. Her face seeing it was priceless! She asked me if I wanted her to sign it, but I demurred because I actually wear it! I’m afraid of losing her signature in the wash! I know, I know...that’s supremely geeky of me. I embrace it. It’s a really comfy sweater!
After Jewell got to meet Heather, we went and got into line to see Reggie Bannister. I wanted to meet him because I got to see / ran a film he was in at my festival called Walking Distance (the film has since been picked up by Lionsgate and is now known as Psychic Experiment) and wanted to tell him how much I enjoyed his performance. We met a few more people like the lovely P.J. Soles and Ginger Lynn and then, when Jewell got into like for Roddy Piper, I went over and met the amazing Zoe Bell, a Kiwi stunt performer who doubled Lucy Lawless in Xena, Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill flicks, and herself in Death Proof among others.
I admire stunt people intensely. They’re willing to do the crazy things I and other writers dream up that most Stars are unwilling (or unable) to do. Stunties do NOT get paid enough and absolutely do not get enough recognition for their efforts (think I’m joking?)
/ soapbox
We had a nice, but quick, conversation and then I met up with Jewell again. He decided to get out of the Roddy Piper line because the other VIPs kept using their line cutting perk. He was a VIP, too, but neither he nor I took advantage of that particular perk during the weekend (actually, I think he did for Ace Frehley, but I can’t blame him for that...)
That night was the midwest premiere of I Am Nancy so we went in early (now that's a VIP perk I can get behind!) and grabbed seats in the second row from the front on the aisle. Superfan and Nancy cosplayer Diandra introduced the film and Heather, who sat in the chair in front of me to watch it with the rest of us.
It was so fantastic to see the film with the fans, with the people who understand. The energy was wonderful! At the end, we gave her a standing ovation, then she thanked us all for coming and headed out pretty quickly so she could personally thank everyone as they walked out.
If I didn’t already adore her before that, I certainly did after.
After the movie, Jewell and I headed over to Quincy’s (it’s a bar inside the hotel) for An Evening with Roddy Piper which was billed as a stand up act, but was really more like a stream-of-consciousness recitation of his early years in wrestling. Think of An Evening with Kevin Smith, but less scripted and well-rehearsed. You can’t fit all that on a poster so stand up act it is. I’m not a fan of wrestling, but when I was a kid, I did watch the show every once in a while. Plus, They Live is one of my favourite John Carpenter flicks.
It was HILARIOUS. I’m so glad I didn’t miss that! He was refreshingly up front in the stories he told and I think there were quite a few minds blown wide open by the stories he was telling. There were a few rude people in the audience who kept shouting names out to him, hoping for stories about these people and other than veering off the story he was currently telling, he handled that pretty well. If he were to release an autobiography, I’d most likely pick it up. Considering I have no interest in wrestling, I think that says a lot.
The party was over at that point so I went back to my room and went to sleep. Well, tried to, anyway. It turns out that Quincy’s backdoor was across the hall from my room. Yeah, I didn’t sleep very well that night. People kept running up and down the hall and shouting and all that great stuff. The next morning, Heather was kind enough to ask me how I slept and promptly admonished me for not getting a room higher up... I’ve learned my lesson, Heather!
The next day was the Big Day, the one most people show up for. Saturday. I got in line for Heather first, of course, adding a Just the Ten of Us photo to my increasingly excessive collection of autographs. My current count is now ten (two of which were not attained in person) including one I got from her on the last day of the con. But, but, but...Just the Ten of Us!
Anyway, I roamed a lot on Saturday and got more autographs than I normally have any interest in...says the girl with ten autographs from one person (but two don’t count!) I also walked the vendor room and thought about what I wanted to get, if anything. I had to keep in mind that I was flying home. Of course, I didn’t think about that when I bought the I Am Nancy poster. Thankfully, I was able to carry it onto the plane and home without damaging it, but it was dicy for a while as I thought about actually *gasp* folding it.
Saturday featured the panel I was super excited for: Scream Queens! With P.J. Soles, Linnea Quigley, Heather Langenkamp, and Mark Patton. I can hear the cliche record screech now. Mark Patton played Jesse in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, a role which would be, stereotypically, played by a girl. There are so many good ideas in Freddy’s Revenge that, for me, simply didn’t work in execution, not to mention how it simply doesn’t fit in the canon. The make-up and score, in particular, are fantastic. And the actors are better than the material they’re given. The film just didn’t work.
Anyway, the scream queen panel was fantastic! There were thoughtful questions asked and some really insightful answers from the panelists. YouTube has some video of the panel. (Just so you know, I’m the one who asked about the panelists’ favourite/least favourite practical effects.)
At the end of the panel, the participants were good sports and screamed for the crowd, even in spite of having just said to everyone that you really need to prepare your voice before doing the scream queen thing. By the time they did that, I was already on the way out. I had my VIP pass and was able to sit up front (and without a camera other than the one on my phone), it was time for those who didn’t have one to come up and get photos and stuff.
After an incredible lunch with a surprise guest, it was time for photo ops. Originally, I’d planned on using my VIP voucher for a free photo op with Tom Savini. I mean, he’s Tom Savini for crying out loud! My point n’ shoot had crapped out before I went to the con and I’ve since replaced it with a camera that has a viewfinder on the front as well so I didn’t get any photos with anyone at the tables. My next con or event, whenever that will be, I can take photos and not worry that most people really don’t know how to take pictures (not to mention that I’m pretty picky.) I found out for sure that Savini had to cancel due to car troubles which was a bummer...maybe the third time our paths cross will be a charm.
I used my photo voucher to get a picture with Heather Langenkamp. She’s one of the very few people I get really geeky over so it’s hard to walk that line between fan and filmmaker. However, I recently heard a quote from Guillermo del Toro from when he was at the San Diego Comic Con that makes me feel a little better about loving this genre and the people in it: “I don’t know how many years I’ll direct or be able to produce but I know one thing. The one thing I can finance is I’ll be a fan my whole fucking life.”
I love him.
The photo op line ran a bit long (which makes me incredibly happy for Heather! Her lines all weekend were really long which means a lot of work for her, but at the same time, how awesome is that?!) so I thought I’d missed the Return of the Living Dead announcement that was supposed to happen before a short film package that I wanted to see. Luckily, they hadn’t started yet and while I had guessed what the announcement was going to be about thanks to a few clues that were dropped, I was still incredibly excited to see the trailer.
Thommy Hutson and some of the crew behind the incredible Never Sleep Again documentary are putting together a retrospective on The Return of the Living Dead 1-3! The trailer they showed was amazing and I can’t WAIT to see it! The trailer’s been pulled from the official website, but definitely keep your eye on it for more information.
I stayed for the short film package and then roamed some more before heading back to my room to put my stuff down and then head to the VIP party. Luckily for me, I found a seat with Jewell and two awesome people he met that day, Nikki and Randall. There were a hundred VIP passes sold for the weekend and the majority of them were, for lack of a better term, camped out by the door. Plus, there were mountains of muscle men standing at the table behind me so I couldn’t see a bloody thing.
The VIP party seemlessly transitioned into the Girls and Corpses Beauty Pageant which was totally not my thing so I headed out of there around ten thirty or eleven to try and get some sleep.
Sunday was the most chill day. In fact, most of the guests arrived late or had left early and the vendors were packing up by four. I saw Heather Langenkamp again (big shock) and asked her to sign the photo op picture of us with "Be Nancy," the slogan from I Am Nancy. I'm a fairly introverted person and I've been working really hard on that because you can't be introverted and make movies, especially when you're the one doing everything and you have to prove yourself worthy the trust required to work with actors. I haven't had to pursue funds yet, it'll be fun when I go to get money for the feature. I always have to remind myself that if someone says no to a question or request, I'm no worse off than before I asked so I just have to jump in with both feet and hope I land without spraining something.
I also got to meet Mark Patton. I may not like Freddy’s Revenge, but I started to really admire him after seeing Never Sleep Again and I like him even more after the Scream Queen panel. I didn’t meet Amanda Wyss...she’d had shoulder surgery fairly recently and I didn’t want to bother her or make her sign anything. I thought it was incredibly awesome (and brave) of her to come anyway, but I just couldn’t put her in any more pain than a weekend of signing and photos and accidental brushings had already. I will meet her at some point! Besides, I have to tell her how awesome she was in CSI (as Donna Marks AND as Tina Vincent!)
Afterward, I went to the Fango Film Festival to see the film Dead Genesis. This was a flick that I’ve been waiting patiently for since I saw a clip which turned out to be the first five minutes of the film. The first five minutes were the best of the entire run. It was pretty good, not the game changer a lot of people seem to be touting it as, and it’s very clear that the director doesn’t understand found-footage or mockumentary-style filmmaking.
After the film, I went to the vendor room and was disappointed to see that the vendors were packing up so early, but I was able to buy a couple of prints from Chris Kuchta - a beautiful print of his painting of Bub from Romero’s Day of the Dead, a print of Hellraiser’s cenobites for my friend Rickey, and this amazing print of this Night of the Living Dead painting which I then had signed by John Russo (producer), Russell Streiner (he plays Johnny in the original film), and George Kosana (who plays the Sheriff in the original.)
With the convention winding down, I went to say good-bye to Heather, but she was already gone, and then I went to my room to relax for the rest of the night and came home the next day! A weekend later, I shot my short film JustUs, the trailer for which you can see here. The weekend after that was Viscera (which is two entries before this one...) Just trying to put everything in context since this post is so bloody late.
This was an amazing festival and, unless you knew beforehand that it was their first time out, you wouldn’t have been able to tell. They did a fantastic job and I hope that maybe I can return someday! The hotel was a little too isolated, I suppose, but if I do get to go back, I'll know that ahead of time!
Monday, April 25, 2011
L.A.: Trip the Second (April 2011)
L.A.: Trip the Second
I visited L.A. again over the first week of April for another edition of the ever-so-wonderful BleedFest! I didn’t have anything in the festival this time, but I was listed as co-presenter for a shorts package because they showed a few films that I recommended to them from my festival last year (they showed Lisa Hunter’s You’re So Undead, Ashley Maria’s Friday Night Fright, and Sage Hall’s Candy.) Plus, they were showing a rough cut of I Hate L.A. which let me know kind of what they were looking for in the content for I Hate L.A. Too in which I will be participating.
I only went for three days, but they were awesomely jam-packed! My first full day in L.A., I met up with a friend who took me sight seeing at Lake Balboa. She’s someone I’ve looked up to for a long time and it was great to walk around this beautiful man-made lake just outside the insanity of L.A. with her! Our conversation veered from industry talk to ducks and everywhere in between and I loved every single second of it! Afterward, we went to lunch at a nice little Japanese place called Hanabichi where we had teriyaki salmon and more wonderfully insightful talk. It was an absolutely lovely way to start my weekend in LA!
My friend had meetings and things she had to tend to so she dropped me back at my hotel. I had a meet and greet later in the day with the ladies of BleedFest, but I had hours to go so I decided to hop on the bus and spend some time at Universal Studios: Hollywood (I’m always daunted by public transportation in big cities I don’t know thing one about, but I like to try them out.) They have a few of the same attractions that we do at the Universal Studios in Orlando, however, Orlando certainly doesn’t have the same amazing views.
(A view of the Warner Brothers campus from Universal Studios.)
The great thing was that Universal was running a deal where you could buy a general admission pass and it would get you in like an annual pass for the rest of the year and it wasn’t just for SoCal residents so I have an annual (‘til December anyway) pass to US:H. :D This worked out because while I had hours to spend there, I didn’t get to do everything I wanted, but I’ll be back in June and July so yippee!!
The main reason I wanted to go to Universal was to see the King Kong attraction that Peter Jackson and weta dreamed up. What I didn’t know was that it was part of the studio tour ride so I wandered around like an idiot for a minute, then figured out what was up and got on the second to last tram. The tour is about an hour long and it takes you through their famous backlots and sound stages. Here, I totally got touristy...I mean, they were filming CSI whilst we rode past! I didn’t see any of the actors (it was a Saturday so it was probably B unit stuff), but still...CSI!
Here are the rest of the photos from Universal Studios: Hollywood:
The tram ride was pretty awesome at points and sucky at others (I don’t care about the Desperate Housewives and I’m STILL freakin’ sick of that stupid Earthquake ride and, up until that point, I hadn’t ridden it in years!) The King Kong attraction was pretty amazing, though I think one of the eyes was slightly out of phase or something.
If there’s one thing that the tram made me truly appreciate, it’s location shooting (well, being indie, really, but we’ll stick with location shooting.) How sucky it must be for these production companies that come in to shoot a scene and have to deal with the tourist bus...especially if you get some stupid people on board who won’t shut up when asked to (everyone on my trip was well behaved, though I did want to shout “I MISS BILLY PETERSEN!” toward the CSI crew...)
I still had some time before I wanted to head out to the BleedFest meet and greet so I hung out at CityWalk for a minute then hopped into a cab and went to Spot 5750. As is my habit and a countermeasure for persnickety LA traffic, I was very early. First one to arrive in point of fact.
Spot 5750 is a swanky, hip Hollywood pool hall on swank, hip Hollywood Boulevard filled with swank, hip Hollywood youngsters. I am neither swank or hip nor am I Hollywood, but soon the BleedFest ladies arrived and it was like we’d never parted company! Our hosts for the no-host meet and greet were the festival directors, the Fies sisters. Maude Michaud and her family flew in from Canada for the festival, which was running a retrospective of her amazing work. Director Katt Shea, Alisha Rayne from Bzzzline.com, actress Melanie Leanne Miller and a whole bunch of other women showed up for the event! It was so fantastic to be surrounded by all these strong horror folks, y’know? Very energizing!
After the meet and greet, I went back to my hotel and got some sleep! The next day was the festival after all!
I didn’t have any wardrobe malfunctions this time, but I decided to wear a t-shirt and jeans for a multitude of reasons. I’m not one of those people who put a lot of importance on what others wear and while I’m aware that appearances are important in Hollywood, I’ve been to a lot of festivals and most of them are “just be comfortable” affairs where you dress up for the awards part. I suppose I’m still sussing out my place in all of these festivals...
Anyway, I arrived at the venue early specifically to offer them some help if they wanted it so I put out postcards and candies and set up the awards and such. I really like the CAP Theatre in Sherman Oaks. It’s a really nice, intimate little venue. Soon, people started pouring in and the day started off with Maude’s incredible work, then we got to the shorts package which I introduced since I was already well acquainted with two of them (the third was give the screenwriting award and played just before the shorts package), we took a break where I got to talk to the ever awesome Heidi Honeycutt from FanGIRLtastic.com and the lovely Miss Tara Cardinal.
During the break before the shorts package, the fabulous Kristin Mellian (who was in my first short film Without/Within) and her husband Aaron showed up to the festival! I hadn’t seen her in a few years so it was great that she was able to come out and we could chat for a bit! (She’s a dream to work with, Casting People Who May Or May Not Be Reading This Right Now.)
After the shorts package, they showed partnership award winner Drew Daywalt’s work. If you keep up with indie horror, you know this guy’s name and even if you don’t, you should absolutely see his work. Fabulous stuff, y’all!
Afterwards was the screening of the rough cut of I Hate LA, an anthology of shorts linked together via a thread the Fies sisters created about a runner who has to go to various neighbourhoods in LA, neighbourhoods that are portrayed by the meat of the project which are the short films from directors like Barbara Stepansky, Maude Michaud, and Tyrrell Shaffner.
After the awards part, the festival ended and I went to dinner with the Fies sisters and Ray McDermott from Film Radar.com, then I went back to my hotel to get some rest before my early-ass flight home the next morning.
It was a fabulous weekend that I didn’t have time to write about until now because almost as soon as I stepped off the plane, I was consumed with projects! I love being so busy. I just need to make sure to not wait so long to blog about things! hahaha!
My next trip to LA is in June, again for BleedFest with a special surprise event that I don’t want to announce just yet. I have more news that I can’t wait to share, but I have to wait for the official announcements before I can squee about anything. :D Whew! I'm exhausted just from writing about all of this and thinking about everything that's coming up, but it's a good exhausted!
I visited L.A. again over the first week of April for another edition of the ever-so-wonderful BleedFest! I didn’t have anything in the festival this time, but I was listed as co-presenter for a shorts package because they showed a few films that I recommended to them from my festival last year (they showed Lisa Hunter’s You’re So Undead, Ashley Maria’s Friday Night Fright, and Sage Hall’s Candy.) Plus, they were showing a rough cut of I Hate L.A. which let me know kind of what they were looking for in the content for I Hate L.A. Too in which I will be participating.
I only went for three days, but they were awesomely jam-packed! My first full day in L.A., I met up with a friend who took me sight seeing at Lake Balboa. She’s someone I’ve looked up to for a long time and it was great to walk around this beautiful man-made lake just outside the insanity of L.A. with her! Our conversation veered from industry talk to ducks and everywhere in between and I loved every single second of it! Afterward, we went to lunch at a nice little Japanese place called Hanabichi where we had teriyaki salmon and more wonderfully insightful talk. It was an absolutely lovely way to start my weekend in LA!
My friend had meetings and things she had to tend to so she dropped me back at my hotel. I had a meet and greet later in the day with the ladies of BleedFest, but I had hours to go so I decided to hop on the bus and spend some time at Universal Studios: Hollywood (I’m always daunted by public transportation in big cities I don’t know thing one about, but I like to try them out.) They have a few of the same attractions that we do at the Universal Studios in Orlando, however, Orlando certainly doesn’t have the same amazing views.
(A view of the Warner Brothers campus from Universal Studios.)
The great thing was that Universal was running a deal where you could buy a general admission pass and it would get you in like an annual pass for the rest of the year and it wasn’t just for SoCal residents so I have an annual (‘til December anyway) pass to US:H. :D This worked out because while I had hours to spend there, I didn’t get to do everything I wanted, but I’ll be back in June and July so yippee!!
The main reason I wanted to go to Universal was to see the King Kong attraction that Peter Jackson and weta dreamed up. What I didn’t know was that it was part of the studio tour ride so I wandered around like an idiot for a minute, then figured out what was up and got on the second to last tram. The tour is about an hour long and it takes you through their famous backlots and sound stages. Here, I totally got touristy...I mean, they were filming CSI whilst we rode past! I didn’t see any of the actors (it was a Saturday so it was probably B unit stuff), but still...CSI!
Here are the rest of the photos from Universal Studios: Hollywood:
The tram ride was pretty awesome at points and sucky at others (I don’t care about the Desperate Housewives and I’m STILL freakin’ sick of that stupid Earthquake ride and, up until that point, I hadn’t ridden it in years!) The King Kong attraction was pretty amazing, though I think one of the eyes was slightly out of phase or something.
If there’s one thing that the tram made me truly appreciate, it’s location shooting (well, being indie, really, but we’ll stick with location shooting.) How sucky it must be for these production companies that come in to shoot a scene and have to deal with the tourist bus...especially if you get some stupid people on board who won’t shut up when asked to (everyone on my trip was well behaved, though I did want to shout “I MISS BILLY PETERSEN!” toward the CSI crew...)
I still had some time before I wanted to head out to the BleedFest meet and greet so I hung out at CityWalk for a minute then hopped into a cab and went to Spot 5750. As is my habit and a countermeasure for persnickety LA traffic, I was very early. First one to arrive in point of fact.
Spot 5750 is a swanky, hip Hollywood pool hall on swank, hip Hollywood Boulevard filled with swank, hip Hollywood youngsters. I am neither swank or hip nor am I Hollywood, but soon the BleedFest ladies arrived and it was like we’d never parted company! Our hosts for the no-host meet and greet were the festival directors, the Fies sisters. Maude Michaud and her family flew in from Canada for the festival, which was running a retrospective of her amazing work. Director Katt Shea, Alisha Rayne from Bzzzline.com, actress Melanie Leanne Miller and a whole bunch of other women showed up for the event! It was so fantastic to be surrounded by all these strong horror folks, y’know? Very energizing!
After the meet and greet, I went back to my hotel and got some sleep! The next day was the festival after all!
I didn’t have any wardrobe malfunctions this time, but I decided to wear a t-shirt and jeans for a multitude of reasons. I’m not one of those people who put a lot of importance on what others wear and while I’m aware that appearances are important in Hollywood, I’ve been to a lot of festivals and most of them are “just be comfortable” affairs where you dress up for the awards part. I suppose I’m still sussing out my place in all of these festivals...
Anyway, I arrived at the venue early specifically to offer them some help if they wanted it so I put out postcards and candies and set up the awards and such. I really like the CAP Theatre in Sherman Oaks. It’s a really nice, intimate little venue. Soon, people started pouring in and the day started off with Maude’s incredible work, then we got to the shorts package which I introduced since I was already well acquainted with two of them (the third was give the screenwriting award and played just before the shorts package), we took a break where I got to talk to the ever awesome Heidi Honeycutt from FanGIRLtastic.com and the lovely Miss Tara Cardinal.
During the break before the shorts package, the fabulous Kristin Mellian (who was in my first short film Without/Within) and her husband Aaron showed up to the festival! I hadn’t seen her in a few years so it was great that she was able to come out and we could chat for a bit! (She’s a dream to work with, Casting People Who May Or May Not Be Reading This Right Now.)
After the shorts package, they showed partnership award winner Drew Daywalt’s work. If you keep up with indie horror, you know this guy’s name and even if you don’t, you should absolutely see his work. Fabulous stuff, y’all!
Afterwards was the screening of the rough cut of I Hate LA, an anthology of shorts linked together via a thread the Fies sisters created about a runner who has to go to various neighbourhoods in LA, neighbourhoods that are portrayed by the meat of the project which are the short films from directors like Barbara Stepansky, Maude Michaud, and Tyrrell Shaffner.
After the awards part, the festival ended and I went to dinner with the Fies sisters and Ray McDermott from Film Radar.com, then I went back to my hotel to get some rest before my early-ass flight home the next morning.
It was a fabulous weekend that I didn’t have time to write about until now because almost as soon as I stepped off the plane, I was consumed with projects! I love being so busy. I just need to make sure to not wait so long to blog about things! hahaha!
My next trip to LA is in June, again for BleedFest with a special surprise event that I don’t want to announce just yet. I have more news that I can’t wait to share, but I have to wait for the official announcements before I can squee about anything. :D Whew! I'm exhausted just from writing about all of this and thinking about everything that's coming up, but it's a good exhausted!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
BleedFest April 2011!
Hey y'all!
I'll be back in L.A. in April for their Thrill Her line-up! I'm not in the festival, but three of the shorts from last year's Hallowscreen are! DGA-award winning filmmaker Ashley Maria's "Friday Night Fright," Lisa Hunter's "You Are So Undead," and Sage Hall's "Candy." are all playing in the afternoon shorts package LIs and Brenda Fies have programmed.
I really love this festival and the Fies sisters. I'd go every month, if I could!
If you have the money and the inclination, please join with me and support this festival which is doing so much to help further the message of women in genre film!
http://www.indiegogo.com/April-BleedFest-event-Thrillher-I-HATE-LA-premier-Maude-Michaud-Retrospective
I'll be back in L.A. in April for their Thrill Her line-up! I'm not in the festival, but three of the shorts from last year's Hallowscreen are! DGA-award winning filmmaker Ashley Maria's "Friday Night Fright," Lisa Hunter's "You Are So Undead," and Sage Hall's "Candy." are all playing in the afternoon shorts package LIs and Brenda Fies have programmed.
I really love this festival and the Fies sisters. I'd go every month, if I could!
If you have the money and the inclination, please join with me and support this festival which is doing so much to help further the message of women in genre film!
http://www.indiegogo.com/April-BleedFest-event-Thrillher-I-HATE-LA-premier-Maude-Michaud-Retrospective
Monday, December 20, 2010
An announcement about "Essenger" and aftershock
I received word just the other day that my very short zombie film aftershock and the music video I made for World Collision were accepted to Bleedfest for their February 6 edition! Bleedfest, which I've blathered on about before, is a female-centric genre film festival, but more than that, their horror edition is in February which is Women in Horror month! I'm so honoured and excited to be a part of this event! Hopefully, I'll be able to go! Thank you Elisabeth and Brenda Fies!
The festival takes place on the first Sunday of every month at CAP Theatres in Sherman Oaks, California, which is half an hour outside of Los Angeles (an hour in traffic, according to Google Maps.)
The festival takes place on the first Sunday of every month at CAP Theatres in Sherman Oaks, California, which is half an hour outside of Los Angeles (an hour in traffic, according to Google Maps.)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
More from the World Music and Independent Film Festival
I was interviewed recently by Laura Hartman of the World Music and Independent Film Festival where this past year, the music video I made for World Collision was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Alternative Rock Video. The interview can be found by clicking here.
I have something exciting to announce, too, that does tie in to my interview in a round about way. Hallowscreen was an amazing experience and I met some truly fantastic people because of it. Among those I met are Sage Hall and Jesse Kozel who made the short film Candy. They're making another short film next week and I've volunteered my services for pretty much whatever they need. It's been a long time since I was on someone else's set so I'm really looking forward to, well, everything! I volunteered to do whatever they need. I have no problem with going from the captain of the ship to being a deckhand. All positions are necessary and if I can help in anyway to make their dreams come true, then I'll be happy!
I believe in supporting the community, of helping each other when and if possible. I know that film is a business and that it's very competitive, but like they say in Second City: if the other guy looks good then everyone looks good. I heard that twice this week (once on the Ghostbusters commentary from Harold Ramis and once on a random interview with Bill Murray that was on TCM) and I really like that philosophy.
In other news, I finished the second draft of a new feature script the other day. This one is one I've been trying to write for years, but it just didn't want to come out. I'm very happy with it and want to start on the third draft, but I need to do this short film first since I plan on shooting it early next year. On that front, I re-started the storyboards last night. I was using a computer program to hand draw them (don't ask) and it was okay at first, but the program locked up on the fourth page and wouldn't let me erase or edit so I had to restart it. It's all good, I'm a terrible artist, but I think I prefer to be terrible on physical media anyway.
I may have more to announce soon, but I'll wait until I have confirmation. For now, keep screaming!
I have something exciting to announce, too, that does tie in to my interview in a round about way. Hallowscreen was an amazing experience and I met some truly fantastic people because of it. Among those I met are Sage Hall and Jesse Kozel who made the short film Candy. They're making another short film next week and I've volunteered my services for pretty much whatever they need. It's been a long time since I was on someone else's set so I'm really looking forward to, well, everything! I volunteered to do whatever they need. I have no problem with going from the captain of the ship to being a deckhand. All positions are necessary and if I can help in anyway to make their dreams come true, then I'll be happy!
I believe in supporting the community, of helping each other when and if possible. I know that film is a business and that it's very competitive, but like they say in Second City: if the other guy looks good then everyone looks good. I heard that twice this week (once on the Ghostbusters commentary from Harold Ramis and once on a random interview with Bill Murray that was on TCM) and I really like that philosophy.
In other news, I finished the second draft of a new feature script the other day. This one is one I've been trying to write for years, but it just didn't want to come out. I'm very happy with it and want to start on the third draft, but I need to do this short film first since I plan on shooting it early next year. On that front, I re-started the storyboards last night. I was using a computer program to hand draw them (don't ask) and it was okay at first, but the program locked up on the fourth page and wouldn't let me erase or edit so I had to restart it. It's all good, I'm a terrible artist, but I think I prefer to be terrible on physical media anyway.
I may have more to announce soon, but I'll wait until I have confirmation. For now, keep screaming!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Downloadable versions of the Hallowscreen Film Festival schedule.
In an effort to reduce how much paper is used at Hallowscreen, I've created two more ways of getting our schedule in addition to the physical, printed brochure and the web-based version of the schedule.
Click here to download our schedule as an epub document hosted by MediaFire.
Click here to download the inside of our brochure as a PDF, also hosted by MediaFire.
If I'd remembered about QR codes earlier, I would've put them on the posters...ah well, next year!!
Click here to download our schedule as an epub document hosted by MediaFire.
Click here to download the inside of our brochure as a PDF, also hosted by MediaFire.
If I'd remembered about QR codes earlier, I would've put them on the posters...ah well, next year!!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Hallowscreen Film Festival is looking for volunteers!
The Hallowscreen Film Festival is looking for responsible volunteers (read: no pay, except in gum and gratitude!) for our Halloween weekend event! The film festival is being put on in conjunction with the Sarasota Chalk Festival, an event to raise money (via donations) and awareness for the Avenida de Colores, a Sarasota-based 501(c)3. There is no charge for admission to either the film festival or the Chalk Festival. The festivals will take place in downtown Sarasota, in the area where South Pineapple Avenue and South Orange Avenue converge.
We request that all volunteers are 18 or older as this film festival shows mostly rated R films and as one of the functions of the volunteers will be to check IDs at the door, it doesn't seem right for the volunteer to not be able to see the movies they're carding for!
We need volunteers for the following days:
Friday, October 29, 2010, from 6pm-midnight. 6pm-9pm is the VIP party and 9 pm-midnight is the open to the public portion. The opening night film will be shown during both sections. The volunteer may be called upon to change discs as well as card attendees to verify that they are 17 or older for our films.
Saturday, October 30, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers. There is also an outdoor portion to this event, from 6:30 until 8, featuring local band World Collision playing a brand new, original score live to the silent film Nosferatu.
Sunday, October 31, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Again, switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers.
Other functions that may be asked of the volunteers: help tearing down / putting up A/V equipment if the tech crew so asks, go-fer / errand runner, sell t-shirts that help to raise money for the Chalk Festival / Avenida de Colores.
There are no paid positions on the Hallowscreen staff. In fact, the entire staff is one person.
To apply, please send your name, availability, and contact information to Hallowscreen@gmail.com . Please use: "Volunteer for Hallowscreen" in your subject so the email doesn't end up in Spam. Volunteers are responsible for getting themselves to and from the event, which is in downtown Sarasota. Finally, serious applicants only, please. Please don't volunteer your time only to not show up and not even let us know that you're not showing up.
To learn more about the Chalk Festival, please go to their website: www.chalkfestival.com .
To learn more about the Hallowscreen Film Festival, please visit our blog: hallowscreen.blogspot.com .
We request that all volunteers are 18 or older as this film festival shows mostly rated R films and as one of the functions of the volunteers will be to check IDs at the door, it doesn't seem right for the volunteer to not be able to see the movies they're carding for!
We need volunteers for the following days:
Friday, October 29, 2010, from 6pm-midnight. 6pm-9pm is the VIP party and 9 pm-midnight is the open to the public portion. The opening night film will be shown during both sections. The volunteer may be called upon to change discs as well as card attendees to verify that they are 17 or older for our films.
Saturday, October 30, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers. There is also an outdoor portion to this event, from 6:30 until 8, featuring local band World Collision playing a brand new, original score live to the silent film Nosferatu.
Sunday, October 31, 2010, from noon-midnight. Obviously, we don't expect volunteers to stay all twelve hours, but we're running films that entire time. Again, switching discs and checking IDs will be the main jobs for the volunteers.
Other functions that may be asked of the volunteers: help tearing down / putting up A/V equipment if the tech crew so asks, go-fer / errand runner, sell t-shirts that help to raise money for the Chalk Festival / Avenida de Colores.
There are no paid positions on the Hallowscreen staff. In fact, the entire staff is one person.
To apply, please send your name, availability, and contact information to Hallowscreen@gmail.com . Please use: "Volunteer for Hallowscreen" in your subject so the email doesn't end up in Spam. Volunteers are responsible for getting themselves to and from the event, which is in downtown Sarasota. Finally, serious applicants only, please. Please don't volunteer your time only to not show up and not even let us know that you're not showing up.
To learn more about the Chalk Festival, please go to their website: www.chalkfestival.com .
To learn more about the Hallowscreen Film Festival, please visit our blog: hallowscreen.blogspot.com .
Monday, October 11, 2010
Spooky Empire, Part the Second
I awoke and headed down to the hotel restaurant Augustine's for breakfast. I got overpriced silver dollar pancakes, pretty good potatoes, and to see one of the actors brought in for the weekend being a douche because he was running late and he ordered the wait staff around like little more than chattel. I won't say who he is because maybe he was having a bad day and perhaps doesn't deserve to have his name dragged through the mud, but still. Wheaton's Law must always be in effect: Don't be a dick.
After breakfast, I meandered over to the con and got in line for the first photo op: Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund. Since Robert Englund's solo op was first, I thought it would be prudent because the lines were a bit of a mess. I didn't care about being first (though that was cool because Mr. Englund and Ms. Langenkamp hadn't settled into a rhythm so I got to see a little behind the Con versions of themselves), I just wanted to make sure I got in there! I didn't know that Mr. Englund would have a glove...every picture I saw that he wore one, I just thought it was provided by the fan so I didn't have an appropriate pose in mind when I went in. Guess I'll have to take another one next time the two of them are in a con near me! Oh darn!
The photo op process is one that, by necessity, goes quick. The printing process takes about an hour or so so I went off to take in more of the con. I bought a couple of shirts: one is a composite of the posters for Nightmares 1-6 (although they used an Asian version of the Nightmare 1 poster, but at least Nancy's represented by the original Nightmare 3 art!) and the other is a shirt for Lucio Fulci's Zombie. :D I may have been there to meet Heather Langenkamp, but I'm still a fan of horror!
My next photo op was with Ms. Langenkamp solo and wasn't supposed to happen until 4:30 so I kill some more time walking around and taking in the environment, then I got into line around 3:45 / 4:00. Then I found out that they were going to smush the one-on-one photo ops for Ms. Wyss, Ms. Langenkamp, and Mr. Saxon into the same time frame as the trio photo op and they pushed it an hour. I figured that was to give more time to the John Carpenter photo op, but then I learned that I was the only one to buy the photo op time for Ms. Langenkamp. (Turns out there were two of us, but judging by this book's cover, I was the less scary one...) So, I went outside to chat with my mom until it was time to get into line for the photo op when two ambulances pulled up.
There are a lot of things that happen at cons. There was a table selling real metal Freddy claws (dulled down, I'm sure, but not collapsable and people are stupid.) People cosplay, some with real weapons as part of their ensemble. Some cosplay in outfits they really shouldn't be wearing and for a multitude of reasons. And some people are just jerks and bring these attitudes in with them. I'd been witness to some douchiness already, mind you, so I thought some stupid fan did something stupid. I found out the next day that the ambulances were for John Carpenter because he'd had a seizure.
Ho. Ly. Crap.
He's okay and when he showed up on Sunday for the Q&A, he looked fit as a fiddle, but that was shocking news, especially when I heard it from a source outside of the con. No one talked about it. A stupid fan does something stupid, you don't hear about it. When one of the fathers of modern horror suffers a seizure at the convention where you're conventioning, you'd think it would've been talked about, but no...weird...
Back to Saturday: I got into line for my solo photo op and got my photo taken with Ms. Langenkamp again. She took a moment to thank me (remembering my name!) and said I should stop back by so she could give me an I Am Nancy button (even though I was already wearing one.) I wasn't about to pass up another I Am Nancy button! I lost my first one in New York when I was there for a film festival and Arlene Marechal and the I Am Nancy crew were nice enough to send me more, but I plan on giving some of those away during Hallowscreen if I'm able to secure a special teaser clip to play. I wanted the movie, but Ms. Langenkamp told me they just submitted to Sundance. Sundance gives special attention and consideration to premieres and it wouldn't be a world premiere anymore if Hallowscreen got it. I hope they get in to Sundance!
Once the photo was printed out, I went in to the autograph room and got her to sign it. She couldn't believe that I didn't have a favourite quote, but liked it when I asked her to sign it with a lyric from the Just the Ten of Us theme, "Life is a race and I know I can win it." Uplifting. Wholesome. Not "screw your pass!" or "9, 10 Never Sleep Again!" or anything like that. Hahahaha! I thanked her again and left to go to the special effects panel hosted by Rick Rodriguez.
Rick isn't a very engaging host. He lost the interest of the once-packed house pretty early on and they all started talking amongst themselves which was very rude, but he seemed to be more focused on name dropping and the effects demonstrations than actually talking to us. To be more precise, it felt more like a long, slightly boring version of Universal's Horror Effects Make-Up Show with pauses to sell products that were made by some of his colleagues. Personally, I wondered why they didn't get Ms. Langenkamp's husband, David LeRoy Anderson, to come in and talk about effects. His work is top notch, but he's not local so maybe that's why the organizers didn't bother. Instead, this guy showed the KNB anniversary reel (he's not a part of KNB so I'm not sure why it was there), a clip from the original Day of the Dead (his army zombie ripped out Miguel's throat at the end of the film, but you don't see the zombie in the movie, you just see the rope latex effect of Miguel's throat), and a few effects clips from other movies.
After that, I went back to my room to give myself time away from people before I went to the VIP party. I got there just in time to see G. Tom Mac play "Cry Little Sister" and see a little kareoke, but a large group of people and alcohol do not a friendly mix make so I hung around for a little bit, then went to see She Wolf Rising at the Freak Show Horror Film Festival. The trailer makes it seem a little goofier than it actually is...it's more of a mindtrip fairy tale of sorts, but Tiffany Shepis was excellent. I talked to the associate producer, Glen, after the film was over about picking up a copy for my festival and he said that I could pick up the back up DVD from the festival organizer the next day so with that all worked out and the movie over, I went back to my room to get some sleep. Sunday was a big day after all!!
~~~~~
I got up early on Sunday and the first thing I noticed was that the world was spinning. Again, I don't drink and I don't do drugs so it could only mean one thing: my vertigo decided it wanted to dance. Yay. I was dizzy, depending on the position my head was in, from 9 am until I went to sleep around 10 pm, but I wasn't about to let it put a damper on the final day of the con!
The VIP badges are good for getting into the convention area early. Mainly, that applies to the dealer's room. I planned on going back to get one of the 3D Elm Street posters so I went in, but, alas, they were all sold out and there were several sprinkled throughout the dealer's room. They had a plethora of Friday the 13th 3D posters, but no Elm Street. Ah well. Instead, I found a WGON shirt, then I got into the VIP line for the first Q&A of the day: Return of the Living Dead!
I love RotLD, not enough to get autographs, but I'm so glad I went to the Q&A! They were all hilarious and warm and they were kind enough to pose for group photos after the show. When the Q&A was over, they asked the staff to lower the house lights and for the audience to illuminate our faces with our cell phones. I was the fastest on the draw with the flashlight app on my phone so they all pointed at me and took my picture. If I can find any, I'll come back and post them.
Immediately following them was the Q&A with John Carpenter! All the general admission schlubs had to get out, but us VIPs got to stay where we were. That's the kind of perk I can enjoy! ;D
That is actress Erin Gray next to him. I don't know why she was his handler, but I thought it was pretty cool regardless. He seemed to take the constant Halloween questions (and questions about the sequels that he has no part in) in stride, but when asked about his newest project, The Ward, he didn't really say much. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Halloween and Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China and Cigarette Burns and everything, but I really wanted to hear more about The Ward as it's a new project and he says it's old school horror probably coming out next year. Most importantly, though, it was good to see that he felt well enough to be there!
After that, they kicked everyone out, even VIP, to reset for the Elm Street panel...which was pointless because as soon as I got to the back of the VIP line, they ushered us back in. I lost my seat, though, and ended up a whole seat to the right. :D At first, they were saying it was going to be just Robert Englund, which would've been fun, sure, but I wanted to hear from the whole cast, not just him...then, at the very last second, they brought out more chairs! Yay! The whole cast was coming out!
You'll notice that some of the photos use the flash and some don't...this is the story for all of the photos I took during the Q&As. I didn't want to blind anyone because I wanted to take lots of pictures, but the lights on stage weren't quite good enough for flashless photos. Then, the light wasn't all that good to focus by, either. Ah well. I tried!
Anyway, the Q&A was great. Of course, the questions were focused on Mr. Englund, who does talk a lot, but he tried to involve the other cast members. I was able to ask my question before the end of the Q&A and it went something like this: "This is mainly for Ms. Langenkamp, but I'd love to hear Ms. Wyss weigh in as well. Freddy wouldn't be who he is without Nancy, you need to have the strong hero to balance the strong villain. Were you aware at the time that Nancy would be so important or was that something that dawned on you as the popularity in the film grew?"
I meant the question as more of a Feminist / Woman in Horror type question as opposed to a character centric question, but I really liked the response Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund gave which was that the two of them (mostly Mr. Englund) went for a Beauty and the Beast style energy not so much in the romantic sense (though that was there, too), but in the sense of these diametrically opposed beings struggling with each other and yet they're part of the same energy. Originally, Freddy really was just a dream, a part of Nancy's subconscious as a young girl burgeoning into womanhood. A real life pedophilia scandal in the area around the time Elm Street was being filmed made Wes Craven decide to tone down the pedophiliac aspects of the character, and then producer Bob Shaye wanted the possibility of sequels so he and Mr. Craven fought over the ending until we have what now ends the film.
My favourite thing about Nancy is that she defeats this demonic child murdering pedophile without the conceit of superpowers. Even the series' next strongest female character, Alice, has superpowers in the dream as the Dream Master (which really doesn't help her much at all, to be honest.) Nancy doesn't belong to any clique, she's beautiful in a very real way, she's very smart...she's a regular girl who's been thrown into this impossible circumstance and no one will believe her when she warns them about what's happening. The same thing goes for movie!Heather in Wes Craven's New Nightmare unless you want to call being a dedicated mother a superpower to which I would concede.
This very same thing is what I hate about remake!Nancy: they made her a freaky artist chick, said she knew what was going on when she had no flippin' idea until the Glen surrogate told her what was up, and made her little more than a plaything for Jackie Earle Haley's terrifying portrayal of remake!Freddy. Without that equality between the main characters, the whole story is lost.
And I'm babbling. But I won't delete it, so there. :P
After the Q&A, Ms. Langenkamp happened to pass by me out in the hall so I was able to thank her once more and she thanked me, too! By name! I suppose it's silly to be so giddy that she remembered my name, but I don't care. She remembered my name! :D
Still on a high, I wandered around a bit. The con was winding down and I watched actors pack up their wares to head back to their hotel rooms or catch the next flight out. I thanked Linnea Quigley for coming out (and soon after discovered that she was going to be at a film festival in Ybor which is about an hour north of me, but I'll be at a friend's Halloween party) then remembered that she had a presentation at 4:30 so I went to see that. She and this dude named Erik have put together a half hour comedy pilot about paranormal investigators. Funnily enough, Steve Gonzales from Ghosthunters was in the audience. The show needs work...all the jokes are too "hey, look at me, I'm funny! See? See how funny I am?!" There were a couple of funny bits, but they would've been better with a more subtle build up. At least, they would be in my opinion. I booked out of there kinda fast only because I needed to make sure I was able to pick up the back-up DVD for She Wolf Rising from the Freak Show Film Festival and I wanted to attend the awards ceremony. Ms. Quigley's thing was supposed to end within ten minutes of the ceremony starting, but either the presentation ran late or they started the awards early because I made it back in time only to hear the final award: Best Feature went to Kiss the Abyss.
I was able to get She Wolf Rising from Robert Massetti and then went to my room because the return bus was to leave at 5:15 in the morning. The vertigo went away while I watched something on my iPad before turning it off to go to sleep and other than a little bit of dizziness today, which might have just been tiredness, I've been vertigo-free since I woke up! Yay!
So...long story short (too late), I got to meet my heroine and she was absolutely lovely. I had a great time and I'm glad I was able to do the con at my own pace instead of trying to please a group of people because I was there just to meet Heather Langenkamp and I did a lot of waiting to make sure I got to meet her / see her. All of the other experiences were like the sprinkles on top. It was well worth the time, effort, and money to go to the con and I'm so glad I did it!
As I ate dinner last night, the last actor I saw before heading back to my room was Robert Englund...a nice, circular way to close out a fabulous weekend.
Not that she'll ever read this, but thank you again, Ms. Langenkamp! And thank you Spooky Empire for having her as a guest!
After breakfast, I meandered over to the con and got in line for the first photo op: Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund. Since Robert Englund's solo op was first, I thought it would be prudent because the lines were a bit of a mess. I didn't care about being first (though that was cool because Mr. Englund and Ms. Langenkamp hadn't settled into a rhythm so I got to see a little behind the Con versions of themselves), I just wanted to make sure I got in there! I didn't know that Mr. Englund would have a glove...every picture I saw that he wore one, I just thought it was provided by the fan so I didn't have an appropriate pose in mind when I went in. Guess I'll have to take another one next time the two of them are in a con near me! Oh darn!
The photo op process is one that, by necessity, goes quick. The printing process takes about an hour or so so I went off to take in more of the con. I bought a couple of shirts: one is a composite of the posters for Nightmares 1-6 (although they used an Asian version of the Nightmare 1 poster, but at least Nancy's represented by the original Nightmare 3 art!) and the other is a shirt for Lucio Fulci's Zombie. :D I may have been there to meet Heather Langenkamp, but I'm still a fan of horror!
My next photo op was with Ms. Langenkamp solo and wasn't supposed to happen until 4:30 so I kill some more time walking around and taking in the environment, then I got into line around 3:45 / 4:00. Then I found out that they were going to smush the one-on-one photo ops for Ms. Wyss, Ms. Langenkamp, and Mr. Saxon into the same time frame as the trio photo op and they pushed it an hour. I figured that was to give more time to the John Carpenter photo op, but then I learned that I was the only one to buy the photo op time for Ms. Langenkamp. (Turns out there were two of us, but judging by this book's cover, I was the less scary one...) So, I went outside to chat with my mom until it was time to get into line for the photo op when two ambulances pulled up.
There are a lot of things that happen at cons. There was a table selling real metal Freddy claws (dulled down, I'm sure, but not collapsable and people are stupid.) People cosplay, some with real weapons as part of their ensemble. Some cosplay in outfits they really shouldn't be wearing and for a multitude of reasons. And some people are just jerks and bring these attitudes in with them. I'd been witness to some douchiness already, mind you, so I thought some stupid fan did something stupid. I found out the next day that the ambulances were for John Carpenter because he'd had a seizure.
Ho. Ly. Crap.
He's okay and when he showed up on Sunday for the Q&A, he looked fit as a fiddle, but that was shocking news, especially when I heard it from a source outside of the con. No one talked about it. A stupid fan does something stupid, you don't hear about it. When one of the fathers of modern horror suffers a seizure at the convention where you're conventioning, you'd think it would've been talked about, but no...weird...
Back to Saturday: I got into line for my solo photo op and got my photo taken with Ms. Langenkamp again. She took a moment to thank me (remembering my name!) and said I should stop back by so she could give me an I Am Nancy button (even though I was already wearing one.) I wasn't about to pass up another I Am Nancy button! I lost my first one in New York when I was there for a film festival and Arlene Marechal and the I Am Nancy crew were nice enough to send me more, but I plan on giving some of those away during Hallowscreen if I'm able to secure a special teaser clip to play. I wanted the movie, but Ms. Langenkamp told me they just submitted to Sundance. Sundance gives special attention and consideration to premieres and it wouldn't be a world premiere anymore if Hallowscreen got it. I hope they get in to Sundance!
Once the photo was printed out, I went in to the autograph room and got her to sign it. She couldn't believe that I didn't have a favourite quote, but liked it when I asked her to sign it with a lyric from the Just the Ten of Us theme, "Life is a race and I know I can win it." Uplifting. Wholesome. Not "screw your pass!" or "9, 10 Never Sleep Again!" or anything like that. Hahahaha! I thanked her again and left to go to the special effects panel hosted by Rick Rodriguez.
Rick isn't a very engaging host. He lost the interest of the once-packed house pretty early on and they all started talking amongst themselves which was very rude, but he seemed to be more focused on name dropping and the effects demonstrations than actually talking to us. To be more precise, it felt more like a long, slightly boring version of Universal's Horror Effects Make-Up Show with pauses to sell products that were made by some of his colleagues. Personally, I wondered why they didn't get Ms. Langenkamp's husband, David LeRoy Anderson, to come in and talk about effects. His work is top notch, but he's not local so maybe that's why the organizers didn't bother. Instead, this guy showed the KNB anniversary reel (he's not a part of KNB so I'm not sure why it was there), a clip from the original Day of the Dead (his army zombie ripped out Miguel's throat at the end of the film, but you don't see the zombie in the movie, you just see the rope latex effect of Miguel's throat), and a few effects clips from other movies.
After that, I went back to my room to give myself time away from people before I went to the VIP party. I got there just in time to see G. Tom Mac play "Cry Little Sister" and see a little kareoke, but a large group of people and alcohol do not a friendly mix make so I hung around for a little bit, then went to see She Wolf Rising at the Freak Show Horror Film Festival. The trailer makes it seem a little goofier than it actually is...it's more of a mindtrip fairy tale of sorts, but Tiffany Shepis was excellent. I talked to the associate producer, Glen, after the film was over about picking up a copy for my festival and he said that I could pick up the back up DVD from the festival organizer the next day so with that all worked out and the movie over, I went back to my room to get some sleep. Sunday was a big day after all!!
~~~~~
I got up early on Sunday and the first thing I noticed was that the world was spinning. Again, I don't drink and I don't do drugs so it could only mean one thing: my vertigo decided it wanted to dance. Yay. I was dizzy, depending on the position my head was in, from 9 am until I went to sleep around 10 pm, but I wasn't about to let it put a damper on the final day of the con!
The VIP badges are good for getting into the convention area early. Mainly, that applies to the dealer's room. I planned on going back to get one of the 3D Elm Street posters so I went in, but, alas, they were all sold out and there were several sprinkled throughout the dealer's room. They had a plethora of Friday the 13th 3D posters, but no Elm Street. Ah well. Instead, I found a WGON shirt, then I got into the VIP line for the first Q&A of the day: Return of the Living Dead!
I love RotLD, not enough to get autographs, but I'm so glad I went to the Q&A! They were all hilarious and warm and they were kind enough to pose for group photos after the show. When the Q&A was over, they asked the staff to lower the house lights and for the audience to illuminate our faces with our cell phones. I was the fastest on the draw with the flashlight app on my phone so they all pointed at me and took my picture. If I can find any, I'll come back and post them.
Immediately following them was the Q&A with John Carpenter! All the general admission schlubs had to get out, but us VIPs got to stay where we were. That's the kind of perk I can enjoy! ;D
That is actress Erin Gray next to him. I don't know why she was his handler, but I thought it was pretty cool regardless. He seemed to take the constant Halloween questions (and questions about the sequels that he has no part in) in stride, but when asked about his newest project, The Ward, he didn't really say much. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Halloween and Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China and Cigarette Burns and everything, but I really wanted to hear more about The Ward as it's a new project and he says it's old school horror probably coming out next year. Most importantly, though, it was good to see that he felt well enough to be there!
After that, they kicked everyone out, even VIP, to reset for the Elm Street panel...which was pointless because as soon as I got to the back of the VIP line, they ushered us back in. I lost my seat, though, and ended up a whole seat to the right. :D At first, they were saying it was going to be just Robert Englund, which would've been fun, sure, but I wanted to hear from the whole cast, not just him...then, at the very last second, they brought out more chairs! Yay! The whole cast was coming out!
You'll notice that some of the photos use the flash and some don't...this is the story for all of the photos I took during the Q&As. I didn't want to blind anyone because I wanted to take lots of pictures, but the lights on stage weren't quite good enough for flashless photos. Then, the light wasn't all that good to focus by, either. Ah well. I tried!
Anyway, the Q&A was great. Of course, the questions were focused on Mr. Englund, who does talk a lot, but he tried to involve the other cast members. I was able to ask my question before the end of the Q&A and it went something like this: "This is mainly for Ms. Langenkamp, but I'd love to hear Ms. Wyss weigh in as well. Freddy wouldn't be who he is without Nancy, you need to have the strong hero to balance the strong villain. Were you aware at the time that Nancy would be so important or was that something that dawned on you as the popularity in the film grew?"
I meant the question as more of a Feminist / Woman in Horror type question as opposed to a character centric question, but I really liked the response Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund gave which was that the two of them (mostly Mr. Englund) went for a Beauty and the Beast style energy not so much in the romantic sense (though that was there, too), but in the sense of these diametrically opposed beings struggling with each other and yet they're part of the same energy. Originally, Freddy really was just a dream, a part of Nancy's subconscious as a young girl burgeoning into womanhood. A real life pedophilia scandal in the area around the time Elm Street was being filmed made Wes Craven decide to tone down the pedophiliac aspects of the character, and then producer Bob Shaye wanted the possibility of sequels so he and Mr. Craven fought over the ending until we have what now ends the film.
My favourite thing about Nancy is that she defeats this demonic child murdering pedophile without the conceit of superpowers. Even the series' next strongest female character, Alice, has superpowers in the dream as the Dream Master (which really doesn't help her much at all, to be honest.) Nancy doesn't belong to any clique, she's beautiful in a very real way, she's very smart...she's a regular girl who's been thrown into this impossible circumstance and no one will believe her when she warns them about what's happening. The same thing goes for movie!Heather in Wes Craven's New Nightmare unless you want to call being a dedicated mother a superpower to which I would concede.
This very same thing is what I hate about remake!Nancy: they made her a freaky artist chick, said she knew what was going on when she had no flippin' idea until the Glen surrogate told her what was up, and made her little more than a plaything for Jackie Earle Haley's terrifying portrayal of remake!Freddy. Without that equality between the main characters, the whole story is lost.
And I'm babbling. But I won't delete it, so there. :P
After the Q&A, Ms. Langenkamp happened to pass by me out in the hall so I was able to thank her once more and she thanked me, too! By name! I suppose it's silly to be so giddy that she remembered my name, but I don't care. She remembered my name! :D
Still on a high, I wandered around a bit. The con was winding down and I watched actors pack up their wares to head back to their hotel rooms or catch the next flight out. I thanked Linnea Quigley for coming out (and soon after discovered that she was going to be at a film festival in Ybor which is about an hour north of me, but I'll be at a friend's Halloween party) then remembered that she had a presentation at 4:30 so I went to see that. She and this dude named Erik have put together a half hour comedy pilot about paranormal investigators. Funnily enough, Steve Gonzales from Ghosthunters was in the audience. The show needs work...all the jokes are too "hey, look at me, I'm funny! See? See how funny I am?!" There were a couple of funny bits, but they would've been better with a more subtle build up. At least, they would be in my opinion. I booked out of there kinda fast only because I needed to make sure I was able to pick up the back-up DVD for She Wolf Rising from the Freak Show Film Festival and I wanted to attend the awards ceremony. Ms. Quigley's thing was supposed to end within ten minutes of the ceremony starting, but either the presentation ran late or they started the awards early because I made it back in time only to hear the final award: Best Feature went to Kiss the Abyss.
I was able to get She Wolf Rising from Robert Massetti and then went to my room because the return bus was to leave at 5:15 in the morning. The vertigo went away while I watched something on my iPad before turning it off to go to sleep and other than a little bit of dizziness today, which might have just been tiredness, I've been vertigo-free since I woke up! Yay!
So...long story short (too late), I got to meet my heroine and she was absolutely lovely. I had a great time and I'm glad I was able to do the con at my own pace instead of trying to please a group of people because I was there just to meet Heather Langenkamp and I did a lot of waiting to make sure I got to meet her / see her. All of the other experiences were like the sprinkles on top. It was well worth the time, effort, and money to go to the con and I'm so glad I did it!
As I ate dinner last night, the last actor I saw before heading back to my room was Robert Englund...a nice, circular way to close out a fabulous weekend.
Not that she'll ever read this, but thank you again, Ms. Langenkamp! And thank you Spooky Empire for having her as a guest!
Spooky Empire, Part the First
They say that you should never meet your heroes. After meeting one of mine this weekend, I can tell you that meeting one's heroes doesn't always end in tears of sadness.
This past weekend was Spooky Empire's Ultimate Horror Weekend. When they announced Heather Langenkamp, I kept my eye on their website almost every day to make sure they hadn't already started selling, and thus sold out of, the VIP tickets. I don't think of myself as a VIP and I'm not a partier, but I did want to get into those Q&As faster to get the good seats because my good camera has a nice zoom, but not back-of-the-room nice.
I'm also not an autograph hound, but my mom said I should get something signed and suggested the Just the Ten of Us crew shirt that producer / creator Steve Marshall gave to me years ago. At the last second, I decided to also bring my favourite poster which is an original Fango freebie of Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund as Nancy and Freddy all dressed up. Judging by the Freddy make-up (yes, I can place a Freddy picture by make-up), I'd say it was taken around the time they made Nightmare 3.
I went up on Thursday, catching the Greyhound at 6:30 in the morning (it was late, though...go figure), and went to Universal to partake of yummy, yummy butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and to take photos of some of my favourite things in the park with my good camera.
I went back to my hotel around 6 so I could get my VIP badge and on the way to Walgreens, I saw my first actor: Robert Englund. Well, to be more precise, I heard him before I saw him, mostly because his back was to me. As I was walking past, his handler (Mrs. Englund? I dunno...) gave me the greatest death glare ever! I wasn't going to bother him anyway. At most, I would have nodded and said, "Hello Mr. Englund," but that death glare warned me off ! Woe be to he or she who fucks with Robert Englund while that woman's around!
I saw my second actor when I was heading back across the street after Walgreens: Heather Langenkamp! She was too far away to extend a civilized greeting to and she was in the middle of a conversation with her handler (or patient friend) and I'm not that kind of fan. I kept going, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't squee a little in excitement and, of course, call my mom and text anyone who would've remotely cared. I didn't fansplode and I didn't, as I became fond of saying over the weekend, get any fan on her.
Later on, I went to the pool-side pre-party and watched Jaws 3D. There were quite a few actors there, people I like and all, but I'm not that kind of fan. It's enough that I got to see them, you know? I didn't even ask Stephen King for his autograph the last time I saw him, I just waved like an idiot and kept walking. Anyway, during the party, I saw Amanda Wyss (she played Tina in A Nightmare on Elm Street.) I kept looking around for John Saxon so I could complete my pre-con ANoES sighting set, but alas, I didn't see him there. The night was still young when Jaws 3D ended, and so am I, but I was tired so I broke rule number 2 of con-going and went back to my room where I watched Wes Craven's New Nightmare on my iPad then went to bed.
Side-note: New Nightmare is my favourite of the sequels. I hate the fifth claw and there are things that don't make much sense, but it's a solid, ahead-of-the-curve film and everyone, Ms. Langenkamp in particular, was so brave to do it. I love it and she's spectacular in it.
By the way...the con-going rules are as follows:
1.) Once you get your badge, you never leave your room without it. Even if you're going to a restaurant at 5 in the morning, you never leave your badge behind. This is a rule I follow at film festivals, too.
2.) Whatever you do...don't fall asleep! I learned this one when I missed the late Kevin Smith (Ares from Xena) being awesome in the hotel bar with all the Xenites when I attended a Xena con back in 1998. However, the idea of staying awake to see if any actors are hanging out at the bar has always seemed creepy to me, not the least of which because I don't drink. Or smoke. Or do drugs.
3.) Attend all of the events you can. You never know when, or if, you'll see anything like this again.
~~~~~
The next day was Friday, the first official day of the convention. The zombie walk they had planned, hosted by the Deadite Empire, wasn't scheduled to start until around 4 or 5 so I got up and decided to get some breakfast and go for a bit of a walk. Who should I see as I headed toward Perkins? Heather Langenkamp! I didn't need to abide by con rule 2! I was lucky enough to see her twice pre-con! She was having breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants; I just giggled to myself as I passed and continued on my way to Perkins.
After breakfast, and my walk down to Wonderworks, I had to leave the zombie walk pre-party to attend to some Hallowscreen business back at the hotel. It was then that I realized that I didn't have any sunblock on. At least my rosacea wouldn't be as pronounced in the photo ops with Ms. Langenkamp! By the time I got back to Uno's Chicago Grill (leave it to a restaurant to be ground zero for the zompocalypse), quite a few really amazing zombies and survivours had shown up and I just started taking pictures of every one! There were TONS of ghouls including Mr. Bill Hinzman, who played the first modern ghoul in cinema for George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and Mr. Mike Christopher who played the Hare Krishna ghoul in Dawn of the Dead! They were both in costume and joining in on the festivities! How awesome is that?!
The zombie walk lead everyone who participated to the host hotel where the con was already going. I'd never been to a con like this before so I had no idea what the signing schedule would be like. It turns out that the poor actors are cooped up in a large room signing almost the entire time! Granted, they're making upwards of $200 or $300 an hour signing things over and over, but still...I'd want to get up and check out the rest of the event. I guess that's just not feasible for people like Ms. Langenkamp and definitely not for Mr. Englund.
Anyway, I (again) heard Mr. Englund before I saw him and wandered into the big autograph room and then saw Ms. Langenkamp signing away so I squeaked, went back to my room to get my memorabilia, added a fourth rule to the con-goers list (never leave what you want signed in your room during normal con hours!), and returned and took my place in her line. Then I looked around to see who all was around her: The Return of the Living Dead cast was in the middle of the room. Mr. Saxon and Ms. Wyss were to Ms. Langenkamp's right. In front of Mr. Englund were Kim Myers and Mark Patton from Nightmare 2 and next to them was Ken Sagoes from Nightmares 3 and 4. Beyond that, I honestly couldn't tell you who was where. I was there specifically to meet Heather Langenkamp and was trying to think about what I was going to say when I got to her table.
Apparently, the VIP passes were also supposed to get someone to the front of the autograph line, but I don't remember that as part of the perks for getting the passes. As far as the autograph lines are concerned, I'm glad the Spooky Empire crew didn't honour that if it was a perk because it wouldn't have made that much of a difference: I saw a lot more VIP passes than I saw general admission wristbands.
The thing about the lines at a con is that they're long. That's not the bad part, though. The bad part is the attitude of most of the people in the line especially concerning the length of the line they're in. I was willing to wait for however long I had to in order to meet Ms. Langenkamp. I'd been waiting since I was eight or so, what was another thirty or forty minutes? Besides, it gave me time to calm my nerves. ;D
Finally, I got up to her table and we shook hands and I showed her the memorabilia and started rambling: she loved seeing the original poster because not too many people still have that. The shirt, and the fact that I know Steve Marshall, made her do a double take, and she was gracious when I wanted to give her a copy of my movie. She may not ever watch it, but at least I got the courage up to give it to her! I was also able to tell her nearly everything I wanted to, about her being my hero and how she's the reason why I'm in the business and how much I admire her and everything. I may have sounded a bit weird, but I don't care.
When it came time for her to sign something on the photos and the shirt, though...I was stymied for quotes. My favourite Nancy bits aren't really quotable, they're moments, like when she steps between Rod and Glen when Rod takes out his switchblade or when she confronts her mother after the nightmare at the Katja Institute. I left the decision up her to and on the poster she told me not to fall asleep (hahaha!)
Then we had to think of something for the t-shirt. I haven't seen an episode of Ten of Us in so long because Warner hasn't released it on DVD. I've been watching the Gag Reels (also sent to me by Steve back in the day) and I only really know quotes from that! Thankfully, the guy next to her, one of the people behind the wonderful Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again (get it...seriously) said that the only Marie quote he knew was the one used in the documentary where she says that it's "like A Nightmare on Elm Street up there!" (He got the quote wrong, it's actually "It's like something out of A Nightmare on Elm Street", but he can't be blamed because hell, I didn't get it right at the time either and she can't be blamed because Ten of Us was, what, 22 years ago?) I thought the quote was hilarious in my weird sense of humour way so she put that on the shirt. I thanked her and floated away so others could have their chance to talk to her, too. I went outside to call my mom and tell her that Heather Langenkamp is a sweetheart, then I posted the same to Facebook and Twitter.
I did have my point and shoot camera with me. No, I didn't ask her for a photo. She'd already given me so much of her time and the people behind me...well...I didn't want to get lynched. Besides, as a filmmaker who does her own cinematography, I wouldn't have been happy with what was taken. ;D I already planned on getting the photo ops so no need!
After I got off the phone, I bought my tickets for the photo ops the next day (one of myself with Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund, then one with just Ms. Langenkamp and myself) roamed the con a bit, then watched the ending of A NIghtmare on Elm Street 3 and stuck around for Ken Sagoes' Q&A. He's so cute and a really funny guy as well! I think he'd make a great Coach if they ever make a Left4Dead movie. Not Louis...Louis is a little whiney.
During the Q&A, Ken (he admonished me later for calling him "Mr. Sagoes") mentioned that he had written a screenovel (that's my term for it, it's a mix of a screenplay and a novel) and hoped that everyone would come back and get it. He said his villain is scarier than Freddy and Jason and Michael so I had to pick it up! Besides, I like to see what some of my favourite people do on the side, you know?
Since I'm not a fan of Repo: The Genetic Opera or Kiss, I went back to my room at the end of the night instead of hanging around for the midnight parties, and went to bed. Saturday was another day, after all!
This past weekend was Spooky Empire's Ultimate Horror Weekend. When they announced Heather Langenkamp, I kept my eye on their website almost every day to make sure they hadn't already started selling, and thus sold out of, the VIP tickets. I don't think of myself as a VIP and I'm not a partier, but I did want to get into those Q&As faster to get the good seats because my good camera has a nice zoom, but not back-of-the-room nice.
I'm also not an autograph hound, but my mom said I should get something signed and suggested the Just the Ten of Us crew shirt that producer / creator Steve Marshall gave to me years ago. At the last second, I decided to also bring my favourite poster which is an original Fango freebie of Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund as Nancy and Freddy all dressed up. Judging by the Freddy make-up (yes, I can place a Freddy picture by make-up), I'd say it was taken around the time they made Nightmare 3.
I went up on Thursday, catching the Greyhound at 6:30 in the morning (it was late, though...go figure), and went to Universal to partake of yummy, yummy butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and to take photos of some of my favourite things in the park with my good camera.
I went back to my hotel around 6 so I could get my VIP badge and on the way to Walgreens, I saw my first actor: Robert Englund. Well, to be more precise, I heard him before I saw him, mostly because his back was to me. As I was walking past, his handler (Mrs. Englund? I dunno...) gave me the greatest death glare ever! I wasn't going to bother him anyway. At most, I would have nodded and said, "Hello Mr. Englund," but that death glare warned me off ! Woe be to he or she who fucks with Robert Englund while that woman's around!
I saw my second actor when I was heading back across the street after Walgreens: Heather Langenkamp! She was too far away to extend a civilized greeting to and she was in the middle of a conversation with her handler (or patient friend) and I'm not that kind of fan. I kept going, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't squee a little in excitement and, of course, call my mom and text anyone who would've remotely cared. I didn't fansplode and I didn't, as I became fond of saying over the weekend, get any fan on her.
Later on, I went to the pool-side pre-party and watched Jaws 3D. There were quite a few actors there, people I like and all, but I'm not that kind of fan. It's enough that I got to see them, you know? I didn't even ask Stephen King for his autograph the last time I saw him, I just waved like an idiot and kept walking. Anyway, during the party, I saw Amanda Wyss (she played Tina in A Nightmare on Elm Street.) I kept looking around for John Saxon so I could complete my pre-con ANoES sighting set, but alas, I didn't see him there. The night was still young when Jaws 3D ended, and so am I, but I was tired so I broke rule number 2 of con-going and went back to my room where I watched Wes Craven's New Nightmare on my iPad then went to bed.
Side-note: New Nightmare is my favourite of the sequels. I hate the fifth claw and there are things that don't make much sense, but it's a solid, ahead-of-the-curve film and everyone, Ms. Langenkamp in particular, was so brave to do it. I love it and she's spectacular in it.
By the way...the con-going rules are as follows:
1.) Once you get your badge, you never leave your room without it. Even if you're going to a restaurant at 5 in the morning, you never leave your badge behind. This is a rule I follow at film festivals, too.
2.) Whatever you do...don't fall asleep! I learned this one when I missed the late Kevin Smith (Ares from Xena) being awesome in the hotel bar with all the Xenites when I attended a Xena con back in 1998. However, the idea of staying awake to see if any actors are hanging out at the bar has always seemed creepy to me, not the least of which because I don't drink. Or smoke. Or do drugs.
3.) Attend all of the events you can. You never know when, or if, you'll see anything like this again.
~~~~~
The next day was Friday, the first official day of the convention. The zombie walk they had planned, hosted by the Deadite Empire, wasn't scheduled to start until around 4 or 5 so I got up and decided to get some breakfast and go for a bit of a walk. Who should I see as I headed toward Perkins? Heather Langenkamp! I didn't need to abide by con rule 2! I was lucky enough to see her twice pre-con! She was having breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants; I just giggled to myself as I passed and continued on my way to Perkins.
After breakfast, and my walk down to Wonderworks, I had to leave the zombie walk pre-party to attend to some Hallowscreen business back at the hotel. It was then that I realized that I didn't have any sunblock on. At least my rosacea wouldn't be as pronounced in the photo ops with Ms. Langenkamp! By the time I got back to Uno's Chicago Grill (leave it to a restaurant to be ground zero for the zompocalypse), quite a few really amazing zombies and survivours had shown up and I just started taking pictures of every one! There were TONS of ghouls including Mr. Bill Hinzman, who played the first modern ghoul in cinema for George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and Mr. Mike Christopher who played the Hare Krishna ghoul in Dawn of the Dead! They were both in costume and joining in on the festivities! How awesome is that?!
The zombie walk lead everyone who participated to the host hotel where the con was already going. I'd never been to a con like this before so I had no idea what the signing schedule would be like. It turns out that the poor actors are cooped up in a large room signing almost the entire time! Granted, they're making upwards of $200 or $300 an hour signing things over and over, but still...I'd want to get up and check out the rest of the event. I guess that's just not feasible for people like Ms. Langenkamp and definitely not for Mr. Englund.
Anyway, I (again) heard Mr. Englund before I saw him and wandered into the big autograph room and then saw Ms. Langenkamp signing away so I squeaked, went back to my room to get my memorabilia, added a fourth rule to the con-goers list (never leave what you want signed in your room during normal con hours!), and returned and took my place in her line. Then I looked around to see who all was around her: The Return of the Living Dead cast was in the middle of the room. Mr. Saxon and Ms. Wyss were to Ms. Langenkamp's right. In front of Mr. Englund were Kim Myers and Mark Patton from Nightmare 2 and next to them was Ken Sagoes from Nightmares 3 and 4. Beyond that, I honestly couldn't tell you who was where. I was there specifically to meet Heather Langenkamp and was trying to think about what I was going to say when I got to her table.
Apparently, the VIP passes were also supposed to get someone to the front of the autograph line, but I don't remember that as part of the perks for getting the passes. As far as the autograph lines are concerned, I'm glad the Spooky Empire crew didn't honour that if it was a perk because it wouldn't have made that much of a difference: I saw a lot more VIP passes than I saw general admission wristbands.
The thing about the lines at a con is that they're long. That's not the bad part, though. The bad part is the attitude of most of the people in the line especially concerning the length of the line they're in. I was willing to wait for however long I had to in order to meet Ms. Langenkamp. I'd been waiting since I was eight or so, what was another thirty or forty minutes? Besides, it gave me time to calm my nerves. ;D
Finally, I got up to her table and we shook hands and I showed her the memorabilia and started rambling: she loved seeing the original poster because not too many people still have that. The shirt, and the fact that I know Steve Marshall, made her do a double take, and she was gracious when I wanted to give her a copy of my movie. She may not ever watch it, but at least I got the courage up to give it to her! I was also able to tell her nearly everything I wanted to, about her being my hero and how she's the reason why I'm in the business and how much I admire her and everything. I may have sounded a bit weird, but I don't care.
When it came time for her to sign something on the photos and the shirt, though...I was stymied for quotes. My favourite Nancy bits aren't really quotable, they're moments, like when she steps between Rod and Glen when Rod takes out his switchblade or when she confronts her mother after the nightmare at the Katja Institute. I left the decision up her to and on the poster she told me not to fall asleep (hahaha!)
Then we had to think of something for the t-shirt. I haven't seen an episode of Ten of Us in so long because Warner hasn't released it on DVD. I've been watching the Gag Reels (also sent to me by Steve back in the day) and I only really know quotes from that! Thankfully, the guy next to her, one of the people behind the wonderful Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again (get it...seriously) said that the only Marie quote he knew was the one used in the documentary where she says that it's "like A Nightmare on Elm Street up there!" (He got the quote wrong, it's actually "It's like something out of A Nightmare on Elm Street", but he can't be blamed because hell, I didn't get it right at the time either and she can't be blamed because Ten of Us was, what, 22 years ago?) I thought the quote was hilarious in my weird sense of humour way so she put that on the shirt. I thanked her and floated away so others could have their chance to talk to her, too. I went outside to call my mom and tell her that Heather Langenkamp is a sweetheart, then I posted the same to Facebook and Twitter.
I did have my point and shoot camera with me. No, I didn't ask her for a photo. She'd already given me so much of her time and the people behind me...well...I didn't want to get lynched. Besides, as a filmmaker who does her own cinematography, I wouldn't have been happy with what was taken. ;D I already planned on getting the photo ops so no need!
After I got off the phone, I bought my tickets for the photo ops the next day (one of myself with Ms. Langenkamp and Mr. Englund, then one with just Ms. Langenkamp and myself) roamed the con a bit, then watched the ending of A NIghtmare on Elm Street 3 and stuck around for Ken Sagoes' Q&A. He's so cute and a really funny guy as well! I think he'd make a great Coach if they ever make a Left4Dead movie. Not Louis...Louis is a little whiney.
During the Q&A, Ken (he admonished me later for calling him "Mr. Sagoes") mentioned that he had written a screenovel (that's my term for it, it's a mix of a screenplay and a novel) and hoped that everyone would come back and get it. He said his villain is scarier than Freddy and Jason and Michael so I had to pick it up! Besides, I like to see what some of my favourite people do on the side, you know?
Since I'm not a fan of Repo: The Genetic Opera or Kiss, I went back to my room at the end of the night instead of hanging around for the midnight parties, and went to bed. Saturday was another day, after all!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Hallowscreen presents: Sorority Babes at the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama!
Yes, you read that right! Thanks to the generous folks at Full Moon Features, I have been able to wrangle up Sorority Babes at the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama to show as a tribute to actress Brinke Stevens, our first Queen of Hallowscreen!
With a title like that, who can refuse seeing it?! Well, to be honest, me, up until a few years ago. I wish I hadn't waited so long! It's freakin' hilarious and fun, everything one would expect from a B-movie with such a title and where the director publicly admits to being sloshed pretty much the entire time.
Ms. Stevens, with whom I've kept contact after I met her at Shockerfest '08, was kind enough to provide me with three titles from her filmography that she's particularly proud of. After the event's over, I'll reveal the other titles and what happened (assuming I can't track them down), but even if this is all we get, I'm still happy with this much! And how awesome of Full Moon to let us show it!!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Sarasota Fringe Hallowscreen Film Festival presents: NOSFERATU (1922)
O hai guyz!
So, going along with my post about being the Program Director for the Fringe Hallowscreen this year, I'm finally able to announce one of the things I've planned for the festival. Feast your eyes upon the poster I made whilst I lay out the details. That way, when you're done feasting, you can read the rest of the post. See? I'm thinking ahead.
That's right! We're hosting a screening of F.W. Murnau's original, classic Nosferatu from 1922 with a new soundtrack performed LIVE by World Collision, my brother's band. Since this is my blog, I can be completely honest. I chose my brother's band for three reasons: (one) They really are freakin' good. I'm not just saying that as a sister, I'm saying that as a person with ears. (two) I don't know the local music scene any more. Once Neurotica hit back in the day, I no longer went to events. (three) Because I don't want to have to worry about the band. I know my brother will get it done, I know where he lives, I know how to track him down. I don't have to rely on a friend of a friend to get me information or anything like that.
I hope that Hallowscreen (or whatever they want to call it next year if I'm not involved - I like my wordplay) is a yearly festival and that they run a silent film every year scored by a local band. If no rock bands step up (right), maybe get the orchestra from a high school or something. Get more community involvement.
I'll have another sidebar-type event to announce soon, too! Something that's wonderfully goofy and that honours one of my favourite Scream Queens. OHNO! I've said too much... :D
Keep an eye on THIS SPACE RIGHT HERE for more announcements. :D
So, going along with my post about being the Program Director for the Fringe Hallowscreen this year, I'm finally able to announce one of the things I've planned for the festival. Feast your eyes upon the poster I made whilst I lay out the details. That way, when you're done feasting, you can read the rest of the post. See? I'm thinking ahead.
That's right! We're hosting a screening of F.W. Murnau's original, classic Nosferatu from 1922 with a new soundtrack performed LIVE by World Collision, my brother's band. Since this is my blog, I can be completely honest. I chose my brother's band for three reasons: (one) They really are freakin' good. I'm not just saying that as a sister, I'm saying that as a person with ears. (two) I don't know the local music scene any more. Once Neurotica hit back in the day, I no longer went to events. (three) Because I don't want to have to worry about the band. I know my brother will get it done, I know where he lives, I know how to track him down. I don't have to rely on a friend of a friend to get me information or anything like that.
I hope that Hallowscreen (or whatever they want to call it next year if I'm not involved - I like my wordplay) is a yearly festival and that they run a silent film every year scored by a local band. If no rock bands step up (right), maybe get the orchestra from a high school or something. Get more community involvement.
I'll have another sidebar-type event to announce soon, too! Something that's wonderfully goofy and that honours one of my favourite Scream Queens. OHNO! I've said too much... :D
Keep an eye on THIS SPACE RIGHT HERE for more announcements. :D
Thursday, July 29, 2010
The Sarasota Fringe Hallowscreen Film Festival!
If I thought I was busy before I left for New York, that idea pales in comparison to what's been happening lately. The most important thing I can currently announce is that I was made Program Director for the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival's first weekend-long mini-fest, which just so happens to be taking place over Halloween weekend this year!
I'm working on some exciting side-bar programming, but original content is, of course, of the highest priority so c'mon filmmakers! Give me your horrors! There's no entry fee and all entries are automatically in the Fringe festival's main event which will take place in April of next year!
As for the mini-fest itself, it's being put on in conjunction with the Avenida de Colores street art festival in beautiful, historic Burns Square in Sarasota, Florida. Right now, we're not planning on charging for either our outdoor venue, which will be PG-13 or under, or our indoor venue, for the more adult-oriented horror flicks. We've also partnered up with the New Orleans-based Vampire Film Festival to offer up some frightfully delicious content!
Mark it on your calendar! The film fun starts at 9 am on Saturday, October 30, and runs until midnight, then starts up again on Sunday at 9 am and goes until around 3 when we'll have an awards ceremony and closing party! We'll also have an opening night film on Friday starting around 6 or 6:30. So join us...and just keep telling yourself...it isn't REEL!
I'm working on some exciting side-bar programming, but original content is, of course, of the highest priority so c'mon filmmakers! Give me your horrors! There's no entry fee and all entries are automatically in the Fringe festival's main event which will take place in April of next year!
As for the mini-fest itself, it's being put on in conjunction with the Avenida de Colores street art festival in beautiful, historic Burns Square in Sarasota, Florida. Right now, we're not planning on charging for either our outdoor venue, which will be PG-13 or under, or our indoor venue, for the more adult-oriented horror flicks. We've also partnered up with the New Orleans-based Vampire Film Festival to offer up some frightfully delicious content!
Mark it on your calendar! The film fun starts at 9 am on Saturday, October 30, and runs until midnight, then starts up again on Sunday at 9 am and goes until around 3 when we'll have an awards ceremony and closing party! We'll also have an opening night film on Friday starting around 6 or 6:30. So join us...and just keep telling yourself...it isn't REEL!
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