Comments on: Summer Sundance, part two

By: MARK11

MARK11 — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:46:16 +0000

JULY 14

Good stuff about Sundance. Even greater stuff about you going to Africa. And what you're doing there.

At the same time I got accepted to grad film school at UCLA, I was also accepted into the Peace Corp.

Had to flip a coin...

...tails I hit Africa and teach English, and help build homes and work on my first novel...or...

...heads...I go to L.A. and grad film school?

Screenplays and films...or fiction and novels?

Can't tell you how many times I really wished I should've taken Africa.

I'll get soon enough though.

I'm writing short fiction again, while I'm submitting my current scripts to film festival - script contests, and some new production companies requesting my work.

Good luck in Africa.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:34:34 +0000

On the subject of Dasani water, Coco Cola no longer sell that in the UK after a high profile launch, illegal levels of Bromate were found to be contained in the water. It was then revealed that Coca Cola just used tap water! They said it was filtered. But, due to the loss of confidence in the product, it just disappeared.

Just a little tidbit of useless water information from across the pond.

By: Alphabet

Alphabet — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:51:54 +0000

@akaison

Reading the bios of this yeat's attendees (JA links to a .pdf in an earlier blog entry) it seems to me that everyone who gets in to either lab has a strong and demonstrable background of achievement, as well as a strong project that they want to work on.

So prize-winning MFA graduates, people whose plays have been produced professionally, people whose shorts have impressed on the festival circuit, that sort of thing. From the industry point of view, even the indie industry, complete unknowns. From the point of view of the people they've worked with or who know them, complete stars.

It seems to me that the old advice given in other fields applies in film too: excel at what's in front of you, as well as thinking about the big picture. A record of real achievementis just as important as a gerat script in getting people to buy into your career.

By: YeahHi

YeahHi — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:42:30 +0000

Where do you get the confidence to share your work, be its own best advocate and still deal with the awkward silences and averted gazes of those who clearly didn't like it? Or worse, you imagine that even in an avalanche of praise.

Anyone? No? Me, sole freak on planet?

By: Philipp

Philipp — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:18:17 +0000

Richard (#9): Armenia is not really in Europe, at least not politically. It's a former republic of the Soviet Union and located in the Southern Caucasus, sharing borders with Turkey, Iran, Gergia and Azerbaijan. So for a Central European like myself (from Germany) it's waaaaay east. Technically you're right, though, because it's a transcontinental country located at the juncture of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

Sorry for being so off-topic.

By: akaison

akaison — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:21:34 +0000

How many are total unknowns in the program versus referals and/or individuals with previous buzz from other festivals or by other means such as being famous playwrights?

By: John August

John August — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:24:58 +0000

Andreas (#6): People here at the lab seemed to like The Nines. I got a lot of good questions afterwards. (Walter Mosley can explain the movie better than I can.) And the people who evidently didn't dig it avoided me for an appropriate period of time.

Chris (#8): Thanks. Glad you dug the movie.

Richard (#9): Armenia as in Europe. Thanks for the clarification.

By: richard rapp

richard rapp — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:19:11 +0000

Armenia as in Europe? or as in Colombia? Last time mom sent a package it made a trip all over Europe before getting down here. Oh, and you definitely want to drink bottled where I live…

By: Chris Ciompi

Chris Ciompi — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:08:34 +0000

I saw THE NINES yesterday at a press screening in NYC. Bravo. Beautiful work, and you obviously have great talent for pulling grounded performances out of actors. Ryan, Melissa and Hope were superior. I almost forgot how hot Ryan is, even after he lost his belly button. Awesome.

By: Joshua James

Joshua James — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:20:26 +0000

Des Moines water, oh my (Iowa native here) - it wasn't pretty, back in the day.

My grandpa had a natural spring well on his farm and to this day I remember how good that water tasted. And it was free, too.

By: Andreas Climent

Andreas Climent — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:56:38 +0000

How was the response to The Nines?