4AM – Force myself to get out of bed after going to bed at 1 AM. Shower. Check and double check that I packed everything (of course, I didn't).
5:15 AM – Leave for Burbank Airport.
5:45 AM – Check in for flight, pick up breakfast…
7:15 AM – Board plane…
Take off for Austin!
7:15-8:15 AM – Do some work for Kory while in the air to Vegas. Finish work while on the tarmac at Vegas.
8:15 AM – 1:35 (Austin time) PM – Finish Kory work. Break down "The Wraith" script so I can budget it…
Read "Strange Adventures of Rangergirl" so I can begin working on the adaptation now that I have a non-exclusive option on it.
1:35 PM – Get off in Austin!
Call Toni and am told to go to the curb and wait for one of the Famecast vans to pick me up. See a tall, thin, tattooed woman with partially shaved and multi-colored hair, figured she was with Famecast. She was. Clare. English. Beyond cool. Wait only a short time for the shuttle and get on to go to the hotel.
Back of our driver's head:
2:00 PM – Get to the hotel – Doubletree Suites Hotel. Check in. Receive a warm cookie upon check in.
Go to my room.
Discover it's a suite. See the tour below.
Time to shower and change and enjoy the privacy and the peace and quiet for a little bit. Figure out what to take with me to the event. Practice in my head what I'm going to say about the film (none of which I actually did say).
3:30 PM – Go the lobby and wait for shuttle to event. Meet Tony Villalobos, director of "Beautiful Day." He's already started drinking. Meet the band, Recorder, as they try to figure out how to get on the shuttle. They decide to walk the eight blocks to the venue – in their costumes. (More about them later).
4:00 PM – Arrive at Stubbs BBQ.
Sign in.
Greeted by the incredibly lovely Famecast staff who treated all of us like royalty.
I is an artist, my badge says so.
Discover the craft service table. Meet Andrea Ou, director of "The Tricycle" who just flew in from Taiwan Tuesday. She and her brother were great. Hung out with them a lot. Cool people.
This is me, Tony and Andrea:
Watch Tony drink some more. Run into Clare again, meet the rest of the band – Martin Bregville Sputnik (formerly Sigue Sigue Sputnik in the '80s). Meet a ton of incredibly talented artists in Dance and Electronic top 5.
6:00 PM – Run through what we're doing for the show. Watch Tony drink more. Discover it's an open bar. Eat some really wonderful Texas BBQ. Get interviewed by the documentary crew who are filming the whole thing. Forgive me, those of you whose names I did not mention, because I'm still not used to being interviewed.
6:00 PM – 6:40 PM – Pace a lot while the first two filmmakers go up and talk about their films. I hung around outside because I just couldn't go in. Too much in my own head. Again, the Famecast crew could not have been nicer about being encouraging and supportive. Really great bunch.
6:40 PM – Go up on stage and introduce "The Change-Up." Discover to my horror (and my lesson) that I did not check the output, assuming it was the same as the output I have been using. Wrong. A couple of big fuck-ups from Final Cut Pro. Try not to throw up. Get back up on stage and take the critique from the judges, who were very forgiving about the technical problems. The experts were a woman from Richard Linkletter's company, Alex Smith (writer of "The Slaughter Rule), and John Merriman, programmer of the Austin Film Festival. They all had pretty valid things to say – they loved the cast, particularly the girls. Liked the relationships. Liked the chemistry, which apparently was all from the actors, nothing from me, as Alex basically stopped short of saying he didn't like me as a director. After all, the actors brought everything to the film, I apparently did nothing to assist that. Fuck him. Two of the experts thought the script was not clear enough about what was going on. I've gotten this a couple of times so it's a valid comment to consider. Merriman got the piece totally and really liked it. All three thought that there was so much more there to be explored, again, another comment I've gotten several times. So many people want to know who these women are, what got them there and how they got out of it. That's a big compliment, I think, because people want to see what else happens. They all said they'd like to see the bigger project and see what we could do with the script without the limitations imposed by the 48 hour format. Overall, not bad comments. They were equally critical about all the films, doing their jobs, I guess.
6:55 PM – Get off stage and walk right into the documentary crew, who followed me as I ran into Tony, with another drink his hand, and we chatted about what I thought about the judges critique. Tried not to be aware of the crew. Finally let out the breath I'd been holding and went to the open bar and got a Jamesons.
6:55 PM – 11 PM – Watched the other performers, hang out with the filmmakers, Andrea and Tony. Avoid Tony's very drunken, very sloppy attempts at come-ons to me (hey, I'm into older women – yeah, that's gonna work on me). The other performers were so absolutely incredible. It was almost humbling to be in this company. The dancers were amazing, everything from hip-hip to modern to ariel.
Great electronic music as well. This is Clare:
I could do a whole blog about Recorder but check out their video on Famecast. You'll dig it very much.
The crowd at Stubb's.
Met some of my fans! Several people came up and told me how much they enjoyed "The Change-Up" and that I could count on their vote in the next round (December 15).
11 PM – Try to figure out how to get to the after-party, as this was the last night of the showcase. A guy just appeared and took Andrea, her brother and I to the club, Pure.
Escorted upstairs by the staff to a closed, very hip club open just for us. Open bar, chicken wings and a very celebratory sensibility. The crew finally got to unwind and have a drink with us. Actually spent a very long time talking with Roy Nowlin, the DP on "Elevator Music." Really cool guy lives in New York, just a bit younger than me. He left a job of 14 years as a crane operator in New York a year or so ago to pursue his dream of being a DP. Didn't manage to get another drink because we talked so much.
1:30 AM – Realize I'm no longer listening to Roy, who was interesting, and decided it was time to go back to the hotel. Said my good-byes to everyone. Walk out to the street and promptly throw an artist hissy-fit because there isn't a shuttle waiting for me. Then laugh. The doorman hails me a cab and I get in, realizing I don't know where the hotel is. We finally figure out that it's across from the Chili Pepper (see if you know that reference) and, $4.85 later, I get out. Who do I run into in the lobby? The very drunk Tony, who is still trying to get me to come to his room, apparently because no one else would. Almost thought I was gonna have to call security on him if he followed me to my door. Get into my jammies, find a wi-fi signal and do my mini-blog.
3:00 AM – Finally drift off to sleep.
8:00 AM – Alarm goes off. Alarm gets re-set to 9 AM.
9:00 AM – Alarm goes off. Pack. Double-check everything. Head to the lobby. Hang out with Roy while waiting for the shuttle.
9:30 AM – Get shuttled to airport. Almost get bumped from my flight. End up on the same flight with Clare. Join her on the Vegas/Burbank leg and have a great conversation.
2:00 PM (LA time) – get picked up from Burbank. Glad to be home.
That's the Readers Digest version. Happy to share more when I see you. All in all, an amazing, ridiculously pleasurable trip.
