SAGIndie

VisionFest 2010 is Filmmakers Alliances’ yearly celebration that brings together the best of L.A.’s independent filmmaking community.

When: Friday, August 27th, 8 p.m.
Where: The Downtown Independent Theater 251 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tickets: $25. Tickets are extremely limited this year, please go here to purchase: http://visionfest2010.eventbrite.com

The evening begins with the presentation of the NILSSON AWARD, curated and presented by the award’s namesake and inaugural recipient, ROB NILSSON. The award acknowledges and celebrates bold, direct, honest and aesthetically challenging filmmaking that is often unrecognized by the mainstream independent film community. This year’s Nilsson Award recipient is Armenian filmmaker Harutyun Khachatryan.

Next is the presentation of the VISION AWARD to an established filmmaker whose artistic ambition and consistent filmmaking excellence provides artistic inspiration to emerging filmmakers all around the world.  Past recipients include MIke Figgis, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Allison Anders, Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, Werner Herzog, Mark and Michael Polish, Kevin Smith, and visionary producer Ted Hope. This year’s Vision Award Recipient is Danish filmmaker NICOLAS WINDING REFN. The award will be presented by RYAN GOSLING. Known for the “Pusher” trilogy, Refn’s been making films for 15 years and his work is only now receiving the attention it deserves in this country. His work bares the signature of a true visionary – difficult to categorize, but singularly arresting, his films are not for the feint of heart – beautiful, often brutal and beyond compare.

This is all followed by a program of the best short films produced through Filmmakers Alliance in the previous year.The program is as follows:

Wait For Me by Dylan O’Brien and Holly Murdoch O’Brien
Native Time by Sean Morris
Beyond Silence by Vidyut Latay
Gonah Kardam Directed by Gabriela Tollman and Produced by Babak Shokrian
Aliens Vs. Predator Directed by Stephen Reedy and Produced by Megan Powers
David and Goliath by George Zaver
Quetzal Directed by Marc Levy and Produced by Amanda Sweikow

The evening finishes with a high-energy party on the rooftop of the Downtown Independent Theater and is catered by some of Los Angeles’ best restaurants.

Tickets are extremely limited this year, please go here to purchase: http://visionfest2010.eventbrite.com

NOTES:

EVENT WILL BE AT CAPACITY. PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY TO ENSURE SEATING. SEATS CANNOT BE GUARANTEED, NOR REFUNDS MADE IF YOU ARRIVE AFTER 7:45 P.M. ALLOW FOR PARKING. (instructions below).

Parking is not free. There are several parking structures near the theater. $9 parking is available right next door to the theater on the north side. However, $5 parking is available at the Los Angeles Times parking structure at 213 South Spring Street.

SAGIndie hosts a series of monthly workshops to assist filmmakers in using the SAG Low Budget Agreements, simplifying the process and helping filmmakers cast quality actors in their independent films.

SAG Theatrical Business Representatives will walk you through signing SAG Low Budget Agreements from start to finish.

Workshops are held the 2nd Thursday of every month from 6 to 8pm in Los Angeles and New York, and are FREE. Workshops fill up quickly so RSVP now! If you sign up for a workshop but can’t attend you must call to cancel your reservation no later than 48 hours before the workshop.

For more information, visit the Contract Workshops page.

In case you missed it, check out coverage on the Sundance Institute’s inagural short film workshop in Los Angeles. Overall, it was a big success,with special indie speakers like Miguel Arteta, Peter Sollett, Jay Duplass, and even SAGIndie Director Darrien Gipson.

Read it now: Sundance Schools Short Filmmakers at First Ever ShortsLab: L.A.

The article was written by our friend, Kim Adelman, for indieWIRE.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET YOUR FILM MADE AND SEEN – IN ONE BOX!

When:     August 1, 2010. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where:    The Downtown Independent Film Theater. 251 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

REGISTER NOW: http://famasterclass.eventbrite.com

Special discount code: SAGmember

Filmmakers Alliance’s INDEPENDENT FILM MASTER CLASS is the complete, all-in-one package – a definitive, step-by-step, one-day seminar for independent filmmakers offering all the information you need to get your film MADE and SEEN. The INDEPENDENT FILM MASTER CLASS is a clean, clear, concise and complete independent filmmaking blueprint for your film project that will allow you to sustain your life as a filmmaker!

• Concept, Story and Script Development – Developing ideas and concepts that work! Then, writing that script in a way that will get your film made without compromising your vision.
• Film Financing and Crowdfunding – Where to find the money and what you need to do to get it. Also, exploring new strategies in raising money for your film.
• Pre-production and Production – How to get the most filmmaking bang from your budget – creatively and cost-efficiently managing your project. Also, how best to work with actors, crew, locations, unions, guilds, crafts to ensure your film not only gets made, but looks exponentially more than its cost.
• Filmmaking Tech Tools and Online Filmmaking Support – Make your production easier to manage and giving yourself tighter control of your project by turning your computer into a portable production office (and saving the cost of overhead). There are amazing new tools online and beyond to help filmmakers – at every stage of the filmmaking process -manage the once overwhelming task of creating, shooting, finishing, promoting and distributing a film. Find out what they are and how best to use them.
• Post-Production – New technologies and methodologies are making it easier to high end work with a low end budget. Find out what they are and what you need to do give a stunning, world-class finish to your film and how to prepare for it long before you reach post.
• Festivals and Distribution – Understanding the festival circuit and how to use it to your film’s greatest advantage. And devising and executing a distribution plan that will give your film it’s best shot at success and sustain your filmmaking life!

Speakers include no-budget filmmaking specialist Mark Stolaroff, post-production expert, Michael Cioni, Colleen Nystedt founder of the innovative web tool MovieSet, self-distribution guru Marc Rosenbush, writer-director Sean Hood discussing concept/story development and screenwriting for Indie features, writer-director Liam Finn serving up war stories on his no-budget first feature “Rejouer“, filmmakers Diane Bell and Chris Byrne talking about financing and other issues putting together their award-winning Sundance favorite “Obselidia“, AND MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!!

REGISTER NOW: http://famasterclass.eventbrite.com

Special discount code: SAGmember

The seminar also includes filmmaker case-studies and open Q&A periods, so come prepared with your specific filmmaking questions – the ones that most have you stumped – so that we can take you to the next level.

SEMINAR SPECIAL – 10 filmmakers will be selected from the attendees for a FREE 6-session series of consultations. You MUST submit your project to masterclass@filmmakersalliance.org no later than June 30th for consideration. Please submit no longer than a single page synopsis, a filmmaking resume and links to any previous work. Please DO NOT send video files or full scripts.

THE SEMINAR WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A RECEPTION ON THE ROOF OF THE DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENT FILM THEATER!

REGISTER EARLY: http://famasterclass.eventbrite.com

Special discount code: SAGmember

Ticket Prices:

• $175* – Includes seminar fee plus one year of Filmmakers Alliance membership.
• $125* – General seminar fee only.
• $75* – Seminar fee for FA members only (with special discount code: SAGmember)
• $50 – Live Interactive Webcast. The URL to enroll in the Live Interactive Webcast is COMING SOON!

*Fee includes lunch and parking.

Get your tickets and start making your film NOW!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

All the best,

Filmmakers Alliance

Spend the weekend with Mark Cuban, Ted Turner, Laura Ziskin, Ridley Scott, Gale Anne Hurd, Bruce Cohen, Brian Grazer and over 100 of the industry’s greatest producers in film, tv and new media.

There will be extraordinary panels, one on one mentoring roundtables, workshops, exhibits and incomparable networking opportunities. Go HERE for a complete listing of speakers and sessions.

When: June 4-6, 2010
Where: 20th Century Fox
Price: SAG industry discount ($595)
Tickets available but going fast, so register now (code: SAG2010) at producedbyconference.com

What event would open with Candis Cayne and Wilson Cruz dancing to Lady Gaga’s Telephone?

It was the 2010 GLAAD Media Awards and Cayne and Cruz hosted the colorful event. I was in attendance that evening, as SAGIndie is a sponsor of the GLAAD Awards. The event featured a pre-event cocktail party with a silent auction, where everything from a spa weekend, to wine baskets, to a new car was available for bids. This was followed by a live auction. At the live auction trips to London went quickly as did personal redecorating sessions with a top designer. The raised funds went to GLAAD to help the organization continue spreading its message of equality and peace.

During the awards show, GLEE took best comedic series and the cast, including Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jane Lynch, and Kevin McHale were there to accept it. Outstanding film went to A Single Man and Outstanding Reality Program went to RuPaul’s Drag Race. The event had some serious moments, including a speech by Constance McMillen, the young teen whose high school cancelled prom after she asked to bring her girlfriend. She presented one of two special awards that evening.

The two special awards were handed out to honorees, Drew Barrymore and Wanda Sykes, who took home their awards for their success in entertainment, as well as their support and positive inclusive of the GLBT community in films, television and the media in general. The event ended with a spirited performance by American Idol winner Adam Lambert. Decked out in a leather studded jacket and blue streaked faux-hawk he performed a couple rock-heavy songs that got the audience on their feet. All in all, a successful evening.

Hi friends!

Independent Film Week is the oldest and largest forum in the U.S. for the discovery of new projects in development and new voices on the independent film scene. The Project Forum is a meetings-driven forum connecting filmmakers who have new narrative and documentary projects with key industry executives interested in identifying projects with which to become involved at the financing or distribution stage.

It is qualitatively and quantitatively the best opportunity for an independent filmmaker to connect with industry professionals – including producers, funders, distributors, broadcasters, sales agents and festival programmers. The Project Forum also furthers filmmaker and industry interaction with opportunities for networking at social events throughout the week.

Now accepting applications for all three sections: Emerging Narrative (for writers and writer/directors seeking producers and agents to develop, produce, represent and finance their scripts), No Borders (for U.S. and international producers with partial financing on new narrative projects seeking additional partners), Spotlight on Documentaries (for U.S. filmmakers with projects in production or post-production seeking financing partners, broadcast/distribution opportunities, and festival invitations.)

Deadlines vary by section – from April 23 (for Emerging Narrative) to May 21 (for No Borders and Spotlight on Documentaries). For deadline schedule, criteria for all sections, and online applications, go HERE.

–says John August as he moderates part 3 of the FIND Directors Series, a series of discussions between filmmakers, sound editors, actors, producers and more, hosted by Film Independent. I attended two of these events over the last few weeks. Each session had a focus; the first one’s topic was “working with actors” and the second focused on “sound in filmmaking.”

Panel One had crew members from The Blind Side, including Director John Lee Hancock and actress Kim Dickens, along with 2004’s the Alamo actor Jason Patric. What I remember most about that panel is Hancock’s admission that any good director isn’t afraid to say he doesn’t know the answer to a problem. He, Dickens and Hancock discussed problem days when certain scenes just wouldn’t work and how they problem-solved their issues. He suggested time, if you have it, to stop and go back to a particular scene. He also suggested opening a dialogue with the actor instead of trying to diagnose an issue and pick out problems when you don’t really know why something isn’t working. Basically, he believes that honesty can be the best policy when trying to get the right performances from actors.

The second panel I went to had Jeffrey Friedman, one of the two directors of HOWL, a Sundance 2010 film festival opener, and Lora Hirschberg from Skywalker Sound who was the sound editor for the film. Focusing on sound was refreshing since it seems to be one of the lesser discussed topics in filmmaking. One point that I wholeheartedly agreed with was stated by Hirschberg. She said that you should always try to get the cleanest takes while you’re on set. If sound tells you they need one more, you should get one more. The extra five minutes will pay off in the end when you aren’t stuck in a black box with your actors trying to record ADR and recapture that amazing moment that you saw materialize on set, five months later.

But my favorite quote was spoken by moderator John August, whose screenwriting credits include Go and Big Fish. It is also the title of this blog. He reminded me that making a film is a huge feat, but also, that having multiple project ideas in different genres is a good thing. Keep your options open and don’t be afraid to try a genre that you normally wouldn’t. The point is simple: get your work out there and get something made.

You can watch the videos by clicking here or by visiting Film Independent’s website.

Spend the weekend with an unprecedented gathering of over 100 A-List Producers at the PRODUCED BY CONFERENCE, hosted by the Producers Guild. SAG Members and friends of SAGIndie can take advantage of a discounted industry professional rate by choosing package “C” when registering.

Visit the Produced By Conference website or check out the one-sheet below for more details.

All the best,

SAGIndie

Despite my repeated insistance that I would not be seeing Borat this weekend, come Saturday night (back row center at the Vista) there I was. I hadn’t planned on seeing it, at least not before the death rattle could be heard, but the people who invited me are always very fun. Verdict? It was quite funny and entertaining, but not the sort of life-changing funny that people have been preaching on high. And it’s not that I dislike SBC, I loved his show and at one point I was eagerly anticipating the release of this film like everyone else, it’s just that I’m getting increasingly irritated with people that like him too much. It happens every time a character or plot so pathetic and awkward comes around, that we, as a nation, tend to start foaming at the mouth and hug it so hard we kill it. An in the tech-savvy age we live in, it’s become impossible not to be bombarded with hype.

Perhaps it’s not the media hype that I find so grating – perhaps it’s all because everyone thinks it is the most hilarous thing to incorporate Borat’s accent and mannerisms into their conversations. You can’t go anywhere without having to overhear some misguided and painfully unfunny soul botching an impression. Or someone talking about how Borat duped them. Or those wacky radio guys with their wacky morning radio show doing a wacky Borat bit every ten minutes. It’s a possibility that you’re wondering why I am so cranky. I’ve been thinking about that too, and I have come to the conclusion that my sense of humor has evolved into something much greater than anything I have access to, and until people catch up to me, I will have to remain irritated by middle America ruining everything.

(Or maybe I’m just jealous of the fact that my friend Chris H. and I were doing this years ago in college, and never capitalized on it. If you ever run into a guy named Jafky, just play along. I’ll just be over here binge drinking, dreaming about how much money/fame/exotic animals I could totally have by now.)