I’m thrilled that our very New York film will have its premiere at home in New York. If you live locally, please join us!

MAY 29, 2012 at 7:30PM
LANDMARK SUNSHINE CINEMA
143 EAST HOUSTON STREET, NY, NY

Tickets can be purchased through the NY Shorts Fest website and I will most certainly be in attendance. I hope to see you on the 29th!

And a big thanks to Matt Garland our Executive Producer (and my husband!) for a great site design. Thanks, Matt!

I learned a tremendous amount making this short, but many of the lessons are in hindsight and can only be applied to future projects. That’s where the next film comes in. And the film after that. And the film after that.

Since this was my first short, there was always the chance I could get to the end and be glad I tried directing, but ultimately found it wasn’t for me. I’m astounded by how completely sure I am that the opposite is true. I love adding the directing side to my writing, and how fulfilling it is to take the seed of a story and grow it all the way to a finished film.

I’m ready to turn right around and start again. I’m currently in rewrites on my next short film and hope to announce it soon (I just need to shore up a bit of casting first to be sure I can pull it off).

I’m so grateful to everyone who worked on this short with me and to all of those who gave feedback and encouragement along the way. There simply is no question that I could have done this without everyone of you. I hope the final film will make you proud to have joined in.

It’s a wonderful feeling to have the end of a project be the beginning of a career and I look forward to seeing many of you at film festivals very soon!

Last month, I volunteered to help run the pitching sessions at the Screenwriters World Conference 2012 in NYC. This was my first pitching event, and if these events are new to you, too, then the following is basically how this one worked.

Over 100 screenwriters came to pitch their work to film & TV execs and talent managers hoping to get a request to send in their script to be read. Since most top production and management companies will only read your work if you are referred to them by a trusted source, a pitching event is a chance to bypass the usual rules and get your ideas directly to those who can help get them produced.

The screenwriters pitched their projects to the reps one after the other, trying to connect with as many reps as they could over a period of four hours. It was without question an endurance challenge for those pitching, for those hearing pitches and even for us volunteers trying to keep it all running smoothly. In the end, I heard stories of varying amounts of success from both sides of the table, but no one I spoke to said their day hadn’t been well spent. Hail Mary passes were thrown that day and I hope some of them were caught and new careers were born.

Hats off to everyone who participated in the event, and as a volunteer, I learned a ton about pitching and it was definitely a cool way to spend a Saturday.

(addendum to the newsletter excerpt)

In a nutshell, what I learned about pitching:
For those who are planning to pitch someday, the key seemed to be preparation, mostly to achieve a very concise and very clear pitch. More than any other concern, those hearing pitches struggled most with pitches where they couldn’t detect the genre and were confused by story and character details. Keep the pitch short and very clear, focusing on your best hook or two, and then be prepared for follow up questions. A strong hook minus any confusing details seems to be a great way to start building your pitch.

And please “Like” our Facebook page, there’s lots more “Vivienne Again” news coming soon.

Last week, we wrapped on Vivienne Again (short film).  It was a 3-day shoot in a funeral home in the middle of Manhattan. We shot 22+ scenes on the RED camera working with 9 actors, 5 extras, a crew that numbered in the thousands (yet still, we needed more hands). We shot interiors, exteriors (including fire escapes), used a jib and a dolly, incorporated stunts and makeup FX, fought rain and one buzzkill of a neighbor (I’m still shaking my fist at you, old dude!)… and through it all, we kicked ass!

The cast and crew I worked with last weekend were extraordinary.  A HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who worked so hard to shoot this film — it took all of us to pull this off and I’m very grateful.

Next up, we’re going into post-production on the film and building a full website to showcase cast and crew bios, lots of pix and a screening schedule.  Until then, please keep checking our Facebook page for updates – we have productions stills up now – and watch out for a trailer we’re aiming to cut soon.  Rock on, film friends!

Please check out the page and “Like” it to stay in the loop. Our Facebook page will be the main source for the latest updates on the film and a full website with in-depth information will be coming soon.

Thanks for your support and I can’t wait to share more news about the film.

I received so many great responses that I decided to share them here. Thanks to everyone who chimed in!

Lists number of votes received if more than one:

And if someone had asked me the same question, I would have said The Others, The Sixth Sense, Poltergeist, The Shining and, of course, Ghostbusters (who ya gonna call?).

If you have other suggestions, please add them to the comments. Thanks!

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* Suggested by a couple of clowns. Yeah, you know who are you!

I met Rodney and actor Daryl Ray Carliles in Union Square ready to run around town and help Rodney shoot… well, actually, I had no idea what he was looking to shoot, but NYC at night with a camera sounded too fun to pass up.

When I arrived, I learned that Rodney wanted to shoot a 1-minute minisode for DOMINION, his upcoming webseries. The only problem was, while he had a script and an actor, he was short an actress. Yep, you see where this is heading – he asked this writer, soon-to-be director, to work on the other side of the camera.

My first thought was, “no way!” My second thought: Am I really such a wuss? My third thought: Damn, I wish I’d brought makeup.

In all of a minute, I decided to be brave and put the success of the shoot ahead of my fear of being on camera. I let down my hair, literally and figuratively, and took Rodney’s direction plus Daryl’s encouragement and went for it.

It ended up being a great night. We shot in Union Square Park, and then on a subway platform and in a subway car. It was all shot guerilla-style, just the three of us and a camera, and it was huge amounts of fun.

What I thought would be a lesson in acting turned out to be a lesson in what it means to be a filmmaker. Filmmaking is for the spontaneous and courageous, and when I was asked to leave my comfort zone for the benefit of the shoot, I’m proud I can look back and see that when I had to choose whether to step in front of that camera or not, my hunger for movie-making crushed my fear.

And now, without further ado, my acting debut:

(You can also download it for free on iTunes: Dominion series: Minisode 2.1: The Rise of the Shimmer Men, pt 1)