New Award last night

Okay, too much wine and food last night, but it was a good evening.

I am in Houston on family business, and since I was here, I decided to attend the WorldFest Houston Intl Film Festival (Third oldest festival in the country - 41 years old). I had entered my script "The Christmas Closet" - and I was told it was up for an award.

So I got the Platinum Remi Award. - Family category.

Which is great, considering it was a first draft. The thing that pleased me the most was what happened at the end of the evening, after all the awards were handed out, and the desert was served. I was getting up to leave, and a gentleman tapped me on the shoulder.

"Congratulations on your award, it is a wonderful script," he said.

I thanked him, and asked him who he was. Turns out he was one of the judges, and was very impressed with the script. He really really liked it, and started mentioning how well I had written the relationship between the father and the son, the special twist, the ending scene. This guy was really familiar with the script - which surprised me because it had to have been over two months ago since he had read it - and it had to have been in a pile of other scripts as well.

I asked him if he was local to Houston, and he said "No - I'm from New York. I'm acutally a film distributor. I'm down here looking at the two foreign winners - and I was tapped to be a screenwriting judge for the festival last year. I really liked your script."

He handed me his card, and I said "So - you want to finance my film?" He laughed and said "We don't do financing, we do distribution - but I like your work. Call me if you have any projects."

Of course, that's a bit like a realtor telling an architect - "Hey, I like your plans - if you get it built, I'd be happy to represent it!" Everyone wants a piece of something when its finished - But it also represents a bit of 'buzz' I can take with me when I go LOOKING for financing - a validation that the story is strong and marketable.

That's what festivals are about. Contacts and networking.

I have a good feeling about this script

Yeah, I'm going to send him a query on monday about distributing my doc.

I have a meeting on Thursday to discuss financing options for another project with a producing partner I have here in Houston.

First I have to recover from too much wine this morning.

Jon,

No - I meant I am going to query the judge/distributor about distributing a documentary film I have already made. (It premiered at Breckenridge Festival of Film back in 2006, won some awards.) I googled his company and it's a small but legit distribution companies, and they also distribute Docs.

So - I'll follow up on Monday with a nice thank you for the comments, point him to my Doc website, ask if there's any interest in distributing that, and also ask him for development leads.

Meanwhile, I have a meeting here in Houston with my Producing partner on Thursday night. Its a meet-n-greet chat-n-chew for Filmmakers and the ANGEL NETWORK - connecting investors with filmmakers. This award will certainly come up as another arrow in the quiver.

Meanwhile, I just updated my INKTIP listing to reflect the reward, and I think I'll query CAA as they have already downloaded one of my other scripts in the last month - so this will give me an excuse to contact them.

Get out and push - that's my motto.

R

Just got back from the 'chat-n-chew' for filmmakers and investors. Got an interesting lead from a well-to-do society woman who would like a script written about a book she has optioned.

You never know what will turn up at these things.

Yeah, overall it has been a good week. Awards and accolades and inquiries are all great.

Just have to turn them into cash.

Meanwhile, back to the rewrite.