SAGIndie

For the fifth year in a row SAGIndie has programmed a panel at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA.

The AFM is one of the most important film markets in the world and I strongly recommend that every filmmaker try to attend. Even if you don’t have a product to sell, it’s a great opportunity to see how the process works, what’s being sold, and to whom.

Our panel was entitled “Indie Budget/Major Talent: SAG’s New Low Budget Contracts Help Bridge the Gap;” and included producers Matthew Greenfield (The Good Girl), Gina Kwon (Me and You and Everyone We Know), and actor/filmmakers Danica McKellar, Aisha Tyler, and Amber Benson, who discussed how the changes to the low budget agreements benefit both actors and filmmakers.

It was a great discussion and I am always impressed by how great a job the IFTA (the organization that produces the Market) promotes their events. Every year we’ve had a standing-room audience.

Oh, and for those of you who think actors are self-absorbed and rude, as I was driving to the AFM I realized I had to make a left turn across Ocean Avenue to get to the venue. Of course, none of the drivers in the opposite lanes would let me cross… until a Mercedes stopped and the driver let me make my turn.

Thanks, Eriq LaSalle!

I hit Chicago last weekend for a whirlwind 48 hour trip to the IFP Chicago’s Midwest Filmmakers Summit, and I came away mightily impressed by the city and it’s people.

Chicago is a town with an embarrassment of architectural riches, an excellent public transit system, and a wide selection of beers on tap.

In other words, I loved it.

After wandering around the Loop until late Friday evening, I spent Saturday morning at the Field Museum’s excellent Pompeii exhibit, then walked through a light sprinkle of rain to Columbia College, where the IFP Chicago was holding the Summit.

Elizabeth Donius and Molly Hansen of the IFP were kind enough to invite me to speak on one of the weekend’s panels, which was as much a learning experience for me as it was for the filmmakers in attendance (maybe more so). I was somewhat unfamiliar with the level of independent production in the Chicago area, and was pleased to find a thriving, ambitious film-making community, eager to leverage Chicago’s vast pool of acting talent and plenitude of photogenic locations into a higher indie profile for the Windy City.

Later that night, SAGIndie sponsored a BBQ and Southern Rock blowout at a loft in the magnificent Fine Arts Building. As the band played and the Stella flowed, a thunderstorm blew in. Undulating sheets of soaking rain washed over the streets as lighting flashed over Lake Michigan. Some brave souls opened the windows and crawled out onto the ledge, ten stories above Michigan Avenue, to watch the torrent.

I stood a safe distance away, sipping a beer, as the sweet sound of a pedal steel guitar washed over me, and the flickering light of candles played over the pressed-tin ceiling.

Before I got too much of a load on (I hate to fly with a hangover) I made a dash down rain-slick Wabash to my hotel, crawled into bed, and feel asleep to to the sound of the El rattling it’s way through the night.