SAGIndie

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.

Tribeca Films is having a NY theatrical run of all of their titles May 5th–18th at Tribeca Cinemas. As a member, you can purchase tickets at a 20% discount by using the code below.

Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Our Tribeca Film Festival Bowling Party was mentioned in this week’s print edition of People magazine. Check it out:

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.

People have always told me that no place on earth is better than NEW YORK CITY during the holidays. Now I know why.

Over Thanksgiving break I was in Manhattan taking in the glorious sights and sounds of a city buzzing with holiday cheer. For the short time I was there, I pushed myself hard — hustling to see everything I could while getting a cold and blistered feet in the process. I’m happy to report that the pain didn’t stop me from journeying down the endless streets of the Upper West Side, Lower East Side, Midtown, Chinatown, Little Italy, Brooklyn, Tribeca, Central Park – the list goes on and on. I didn’t even get to do everything I planned, but I aim to be back very soon.

Oh, and I guess there was work to be done (if you can even call it work). As is custom, SAGIndie once again sponsored the Gotham Awards. Located at 55 Wall Street in the Cipriani Building, we watched as some of 2009’s best independent films were honored. Guests of SAGIndie included Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad, Woke Up Dead), Ivan Sergei (Crossing Jordan, Once a Thief), Steve Schirripa (The Sopranos) and Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, Funny People). All of whom were extremely delightful and fun.

The Hurt Locker won Best Feature and Best Ensemble Cast. Food Inc. won Best Documentary. Robert Siegel won Breakthrough Director for his amazing work on Big Fan. Catalina Saavedra won Breakthrough Actor for her work in The Maid. And the award for Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You went to You Won’t Miss Me, directed by Ry Russo-Young.

All in all, it was an amazing trip and another successful event for SAGIndie.

We’re extremely excited to be presenting Precious: based on the novel ‘Push’ by Saphire as one of this year’s AFI Fest Gala Films. We had the great priviledge to see this amazing film when it debuted at Sundance (in fact, it was called PUSH back then) and were even fortunate enough to have the director, Lee Daniels, co-sponsor our Sundance Filmmaker Brunch.

It’s a truly remarkable film and we’re so stoked for the world to experience it. It screens at the AFI Fest on Sunday, November 1st at 7PM.

Eh, we’re here, just busy.  The world of SAGIndie is a never ending barrage of work.  When the rest of the [filmic] world seemed to be slowing down, we were still going strong – spreading the word of low budget contracts.  I like to think of us as KUNG FU, going from town-to-town, helping poor filmmakers make films.

Only I’m not grabbing any hot pot with my forearms.  It’s summer and I want to go sleeveless.  (kudos and Geritol for anyone who gets that reference).

I can’t speak for the rest of SAGIndie’s staff, but I have been BUSY!  Let’s just start with June.  Somehow, June was a crazy month for us.  We usually have about 4 sponsored festivals in June.  This year, we had 8!  We attended 7 of them!  Crazy.  Here are the highlights:

We went to the Producer’s Guild of America’s “Produced By” conference.  Pretty cool.  Too bad they couldn’t get any big names to appear.  Once James Cameron stopped extolling the bright future of 3-D, they still had little people like Kathleen Kennedy, Laura Schuler-Donner, Norman Lear and Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios) chatting up the crowds.  I’ve decided that Kevin Feige is my hero.  He’s got IRON MAN 2, THOR(!), and CAPTAIN AMERICA coming up, and a slate that extends for years.  I can’t wait for them, as they all look and sound incredibly cool.  Of course, MY Kevin won’t know of my obsession with him until he glances out his window some night at 3am and sees me camping in his bushes.  I’m sure he won’t mind once he sees that I’ve made S’Mores.

CineVegas was a blast, as always.  The SAGIndie Filmmakers Bowling Party was, of course, a great success.  Not only was there raucous bowling from midnight until nearly 4 am, but the blatant campaigning from filmmakers for the oh-so-prestigious bobble-head trophies was, frankly, embarrassing.  You know who you are.  I finally saw 500 DAYS OF SUMMER and was so pleasantly surprised that it’s one of my recommend films (and I don’t have many).

The day after I returned from Vegas, I loaded up and headed back to the airport for the Maui Film Festival.  Yep, it’s a hard knock life for me.  Well, Maui just sucks.  The weather is perfect, the ocean is beautiful, and the beaches are pristine.  Movies?  Oh yeah, and they had some interesting movies.  SAGIndie sponsored the screening of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER.  Zooey Deschanel was there and when my daughter (4) accosted her in the bathroom to tell her she liked her dress (“A” claims she didn’t know who she was, but I’ve seen her sneaking glances at InTouch magazine in the supermarket), Zooey (I call her Zooey) was extremely gracious.  The festival gave a tribute to her (so early in her career?) and to Willie Nelson.  Would have like to have been in the room while they were planning that one.

You would think that, after partying in Vegas and Hawaii, I’d be too tired to do anything else.  Well, you’re right, but I went to the Palm Springs Shortsfest anyhow.  I’m glad I did.  My partner in crime, Mark Friedlander (also known as SAG’s Guru of New Media) and I were on panels that were very well attended.  We saw a few shorts, met a bunch of really cool filmmakers, and stayed at the Uber-cool ACE Hotel.  Clearly where all the cool cats hang out (and occasionally they let people like Mark and me in).  I especially like the “adult snowcones” they offer poolside.  Not that I was poolside.  Not like I had one (or two).  That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.

So finally, June is behind me and July is, actually, half over.  Things are settling down to our usual two festivals a month.  And I’m not going to most of them.  So it’ll be up to the rest of SAGIndie’s staff to blog about their festivals.
And they will.  I haven’t fired anyone in a while and I’m starting to develop a tick.  Must. Fire. Someone.

This is a week or so overdue, considering SXSW was a while ago, but I do feel obligated to report on what was a successful festival for SAGIndie and the Screen Actors Guild.

First and foremost, our main responsibility while attending Austin’s renowned Film, Interactive and Music fest is to get the word out about SAG’s low budget contracts. To do this, we traditionally participate as an exhibitor at SXSW’s convention portion of the fest.

In coordination with SAG’s iActor casting service, we co-hosted a booth that had to be one of the most popular in the convention hall. While other exhibitors boasted flashy displays and expensive giveaways, we went with a more simplistic approach by luring passersby with a game of skill. We brought handmade, magnetic toys called “Throwies”, developed by the Graffiti Research Lab. They’re basically a small LED light that’s connected to a magnet and a small battery. On one of the booth walls, we hung a large piece of sheet metal that participants would toss the Throwies at for a chance to win a spiffy SAGIndie hat or an iActor t-shirt.

Feedback from this simple (union made) game was phenomenal and even garnered a little press in the LA Weekly. Even if people couldn’t win a fancy prize, they still walked away with a complimentary LED light and over the course of the week, we would spot these bright contraptions all over the place – at bars, on street signs, taxi cabs, etc.

As is tradition, the team always hits up some excellent Austin restaurants. My favorite goes to Iron Works, a BBQ joint with exceptional brisket and sausage links.

When our time at the convention center was over, I tried to get out to see some local attractions — mainly, the huge colony of urban bats that live under the Congress Bridge. Unfortunately, mid-March is still a bit early for them to be back from the warmer south so I didn’t get to see the millions and millions of bats that come billowing out at dusk. I did get to see a few, but I’m considering this a major Bat Fail.

The best film I saw at the fest was one I missed at Sundance, SIN NOMBRE. A truly remarkable accomplishment for first-time director Cary Fukunaga. The film is now in limited release and is a must see for independent film lovers.

We also hit up a ton of parties and networking events — the best of all had to be ours, which was co-hosted by the WGA and held on the upstairs patio of Lenai.

This was a great trip on so many levels. I’m really looking forward to what we put together for next year.