Back from Indie Gathering

Indie Gathering 2016 went out in a spectacular fashion, with a friend winning something like 11 trophies and plaques and myself coming home with a first place trophy.

Saw some great films, including a documentary and a short crime drama by a Polish filmmaker. We briefly discussed two of my favorite film directors, Andrjez Wajda and Krzysztof Kieslowski. Met some people I'd met last year and missed those who were there last year, but not this year.

While winning first place was certainly a highlight, it was participating in a cold reading, with actors reading a scene from my script before an audience that proved to be an interesting and educational experience. During the Q&A, the actors and audience members made suggestions, asked questions, and otherwise interacted. The critiques were positive and some of the suggestions I'd consider.

Anyway, I've entered Final Curtain in another contest and am working on a couple of screenplay ideas.

Indie Gathering

This past weekend, I attended Indie Gathering International Film Festival in Hudson, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. I went with two author friends, Amy and Missy, and we had a table in the vendor hall, so I took copies of the Reel Dark anthology to sell. I also had rack cards of Death Sword and Exterminating Angel, my two paranormal angel suspense stories. They were the reason I was at Indie Gathering. Both short novels had received an award each.

I'll admit, this is one of the best-run festivals I've been to. All events took place in the hotel, and there was plenty of networking as well as viewing films and attending panels. I went to the short thriller-suspense films and Missy attended the panel on crowd funding. Amy had a couple of short films also screening.

Which got me thinking, could I come up with a short film for submission for next year, plus another screenplay or two? Seeing how they show micro films, maybe it's a possibility that I can enter a project I'm currently playing around with.

Anyway, I have one more con to attend this year in Louisville, Kentucky: Imaginarium. It's a multi-genre writers' conference, with panels, a vendor hall, and a film festival, plus awards banquet.  I'll be sharing a table with Amy and Missy in the vendor hall, which is free to the public this year. Looking forward to meeting new people and seeing old friends again.