redrock red carpet

Jason Ramsey said:
Barry Green was there. Everyone knows what he looks like. He mentioned that no one came up to him and pitched a story idea or anything...

This is an add'l point that is not part of the ongoing discussion as to where certain people may or may not have been sitting and/or how accessible they were/were not.

It's Barry Green though... Emmy Award winning producer, and not one person had a script they wanted to pitch to him or anything of the sort? He was quite accessible during the screening, and probably the most approachable of any "big wigs" that might have been there. I didn't go to network though. That really wasnt' something that ever seemed the focus of the event to me. I went to meet some of you guys and hang out and enjoy the evening. Plain and simple.

Later,
Jason
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This is true. And I went for the same reason you did, as I said before. I introduced myself to Barry and we had a chat and took a picture together. I didn't pitch him a script because I was talking to him as a friend not as someone who I could use to get money. Maybe that is a bad way of putting it, but to some extent it was true. I was there to talk to people and have a good time, not toss my scripts at everyone and see if I can get some cash. I guess I was on the thought process that if someone wanted to hear a pitch they would have asked. Maybe that was failed thinking, I don't know.

At any rate, I think this post seems like I am arguing with you Jason, but that is not the case. I am agreeing and explaining why I didn't pitch anything to Barry who, might I add, is one of the most kind and generous people I have ever had the pleasure to meet in my life. :)
 
ConspiracyPenguin said:
...I guess I was on the thought process that if someone wanted to hear a pitch they would have asked....
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No. Doesn't work that way.

That would be kind of like a supermodel announcing at a singles bar that she's interested in being hit on.

Anyone that you'd want to pitch to has no need to ask people to pitch them.

I'm tired / been editing all day, but I think that metaphor makes sense.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
No. Doesn't work that way.

That would be kind of like a supermodel announcing at a singles bar that she's interested in being hit on.

Anyone that you'd want to pitch to has no need to ask people to pitch them.

I'm tired / been editing all day, but I think that metaphor makes sense.
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It does, and that's why I said it was failed logic (or something like that). I guess what I was trying to get it is that is how I thought it SHOULD be. Scratch that. I guess what I really meant was, I didn't feel like it was the right time to throw around ideas. I think if I were someone like Barry and I went to a party and everyone was only interested in trying to get a person of my status to hear their idea, I would get kind of pissed after a while. Now I can't speak for Barry or any other professional, that's just MY opinion.

Could I have pulled out that paper with the hotel letter head that had the first oage to a script scribbled on it from the night before? Yes, but I was at a party and I felt others were there to talk and meet people not do business. Maybe again, like I said before, I am wrong. It wouldn't be the first time, and if that's the case and Barry really DOES want people to pitch ideas to him, then next time I will do it. Now I don't know if that made sense at all, trying to get my point out there with brevity is hard sometimes. Ask for clarification if you need it.

--- EDIT: SUMMARIZED VERSION BELOW ---

Here, to use to super model metaohore: if a super model goes to a bar, maybe she just wants to have a good time. Maybe she is not interested in being "hit on." You know? Maybe Barry and the others just wanted to talk to people and have fun, not discuss everyone's brilliant idea for the next Summer Blockbuster.

I hope that helped.
 
Jason Ramsey said:
Barry Green was there. Everyone knows what he looks like. He mentioned that no one came up to him and pitched a story idea or anything...

This is an add'l point that is not part of the ongoing discussion as to where certain people may or may not have been sitting and/or how accessible they were/were not.

It's Barry Green though... Emmy Award winning producer, and not one person had a script they wanted to pitch to him or anything of the sort? He was quite accessible during the screening, and probably the most approachable of any "big wigs" that might have been there. I didn't go to network though. That really wasnt' something that ever seemed the focus of the event to me. I went to meet some of you guys and hang out and enjoy the evening. Plain and simple.

Later,
Jason
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My personal highlight of the evening (besides later freaking out Sarah Silverman), was my two talks with Barry (before and after the event). We talked of quite a few things and I really appreciated that he knew who I was, mentioned specific aspects of my movie and gave me some great words of encouragement.

Through all this I had no idea Barry was in a position to receive script pitches or desired it in the slightest bit, or he surely would have heard my brand new "$5 mil scifi" pitch :). Actually, I dont even know what Barry does for a living beyond various odd gigs here and there, he never chimed in on my 'day job' thread :).
 
I'm certainly not saying Barry wants everyone and their mother coming up and pitching something to him with their hand out :)

I wouldn't exactly recommend that method with anyone unless it were a pre-arranged meeting specifically for that purpose...

Anywho... That's a part of the biz I've never been good at. But, it's a part of the biz that is very important. It is a business after all. As an actor, I always had a hard time "pimping" myself out and networking, etc. I tried to just let my work speak for itself. No telling how many opportunities I missed out on though for someone to see my work as a result. Good at the art part of it. Terrible at the business end.

later,
jason
 
Wait, I'm confused. Is Barry Green a supermodel?! I wish I would have known this. I totally would have gotten my picture taken with him had I known.
 
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First, let me say that I hope your comments, Mark J, about "whoever arranges the next event" are because you expect to be busy with production work and not as a result of this thread.

The evening as a whole, in my opinion, was a success. Did we learn things to take with us into planning the next event? I absolutely hope so ... and that is regardless of the success level of the event. Rather, just like our films, each one should lead to improvements on the next. Let us be always pleased, but never satisfied.

This event was billed as an screening event for the TimeFest finalists, first and foremost. That there were industry pro's of any caliber, was a bonus feature.

There were a lot of people there so it would not be possible to meet them all. But there was also a lot of people meeting/greeting all night long. I heard conversation the entire evening, even during the screenings, so it was not an impossibility.

I did not get to mingle as much as I would have liked, but that was a function of our learning since it was our first event. Next time I'll be better prepared and know what to expect and what I can do differently.

Regarding the discussion of not knowing whether or not the person is interested in hearing your pitch or would rather just hang out ... it is an industry event, discussing business is an expected part of such a function. If a person does not want to be pitched they can either not fully represent who they are when you introduce yourself (if you don't know they are a producer you won't pitch them) or they can, knowing the nature of the event, tell you they are not taking pitches at this time.

Regarding the comment of not knowing what Barry G does ... that surprises me with as much information as he provides on a daily basis. But that said, knowing you want to network and knowing that many of our members are industry pro's themselves then it would be worth your time to ask him, or whoever you're talking to, what they do.

But talking business at an industry event is expected behavior, much like as in Jack's analogy, going to a singles bar includes being approached by interested singles. If they don't want to be hassled, they have the option to not go...we certainly aren't the only game in town.

I think the event went extremely well, especially considering how quickly it was put together. And, I wholeheartedly look forward to the next one.
 
Man, if Larry's up at 3:30 in the morning (1:30 his time), you know it's important :)

Don't you have to wake up in like 2.5 hours?

later,
Jason
 
Jason Ramsey said:
Man, if Larry's up at 3:30 in the morning (1:30 his time), you know it's important :)

Don't you have to wake up in like 2.5 hours?
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Yes, I believe this is important. I've been following the decline of this thread. While I agree that we need to talk about what we can do better next time, I don't get that from this thread.

Instead it feels like a lot of complaining and accusing FM of hiding the "Industry Folks" from the rest of us.

If you are going to the event for the express purpose of networking based on information that there will be "pro's" there, then it would behoove you to find out who they are/where they are. Especially if you invested a lot of money and travelled a fair distance.

I asked Barry Green who of his contacts were coming, I also asked Luis who the VIPs were. If I'd gotten out to work the room more I would have gotten more details from them, as well as, Mark J and Tim.

I've been to a lot of business networking events, not film related but the same concept, and never had the "royalty" run out in front of us. It is always your responsibility to market yourself and that includes walking up to people cold and saying, "Hi my name is ______ and I do _______" to which you'll get a reciprocal answer and you work from that information.

If I had any complaint, it was that there wasn't a lot of mingle time midway through the night, yet I heard a fair amount of mingling going on anyway.

If we do this again my one request would be one extra hour on the schedule to allow periodic breaks amidst the screenings. But it will still be each person's own responsibility to work the room to find out who's there and tell them why they should care they just met you.
 
I agree larry. I did exactly what you said and asked both barry and mj who they thought they could get there. barry said he had nothing to do with who was invited. mj said he was on the case. and I know he was. but he wasn't able to give a solid list at that point. which of course is how it always goes.

so I went not really expecting any industry. just because I know you can never tell who will come who won't and I decided to go anyway.

it was only after the event that fm said they had pockets full of businesscards and meetings with producers that I think everyone started to wonder...huh? and it then further turns out that these people fm met were prob people they already knew...according to jack above.

so I think that's why some people are expressing frustration. after the event it sounded like there were all these industry there that everyone else just was too dumb to find.

but at the end of the day my film was up and I gave a speech so people knew who to look for if they liked it. and the stunt guy did come to me. also tim abell came up to me and introduced himself.

so I'm not complaining about it but like I said the perception put out after the fest was that one group of filmmakers got all these offers and business cards and everyone else was like wha?????

but fm has always been extremely generous with everything they have and do. so thanks again guys.

as for pitching barry...yeah he scares me.
 
Larry R said:
Yes, I believe this is important. I've been following the decline of this thread. While I agree that we need to talk about what we can do better next time, I don't get that from this thread.

Instead it feels like a lot of complaigning and accusing FM of hiding the "Industry Folks" from the rest of us.

If you are going to the event for the express purpose of networking based on information that there will be "pro's" there, then it would behoove you to find out who they are/where they are. Especially if you invested a lot of money and travelled a fair distance.

I asked Barry Green who of his contacts were coming, I also asked Luis who the VIPs were. If I'd gotten out to work the room more I would have gotten more details from them, as well as, Mark J and Tim.

I've been to a lot of business networking events, not film related but the same concept, and never had the "royalty" run out in front of us. It is always your responsibility to market yourself and that includes walking up to people cold and saying, "Hi my name is ______ and I do _______" to which you'll get a reciprocal answer and you work from that information.

If I had any complaint, it was that there wasn't a lot of mingle time midway through the night, yet I heard a fair amount of mingling going on anyway.

If we do this again my one request would be one extra hour on the schedule to allow periodic breaks amidst the screenings. But it will still be each person's own responsibility to work the room to find out who's there and tell them why they should care they just met you.
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Larry, you seem to be forgetting that such an hour of 'get up and mingle again' WAS scheduled...and never happened. It seemed that a big reason for this was all the "exhibition" films.
 
On the contrary, I know there was time scheduled. But I think it's important to again point out that this was our first event of this nature and on this scale. And it was pulled together in a relativel short amount of time (thanks to our legs on the ground, the FM crew). All that combined into some things maybe not going exactly as planned.

So, my commenting on the "mingle" time is to say, ok the way it went this time didn't allow for the mingle time we had anticipated so let's make some modifications for the next one.

There was also a fair amount of mingling going on before the screening began while we were feverishly trying to get the stream online and get things going.

That said, even being trapped behind the computer the bulk of the evening, I managed to talk briefly to a number of people.

I'm not saying we did everything right, but I'm also not willing to accept that we are responsible for missed networking opportunities.
 
There were a number of factors we had to deal with that weren't anticipated. We had made arrangements to use the entire front patio space as an area for people to congregate and converse. The plan was to mingle there both during the event and afterwards. When we got to the venue CINESPACE summarily told us that their DJ had taken over that entire area for his own birthday party. We had to adapt and suck it up since we had no leverage. Obviously, if FM ever hosts an event there again we will get in writing our rights with respect to the space.

We had intended to be there in the early afternoon but found ourselves going down to the wire burning the DVDs for the event (and, in fact, had to hook up an inverter to burn the final one in the car on the way over). This hassle was largely due to the fact that a number of submitting filmmakers did not provide their films to us per the timetable and instructions Tim gave and we were receiving files that very morning. Thus, we lost hours of time we had planned on using for setup.

In spite of the intrusion of Murphy's Law we were able to pull off an event that the Cinespace people said was the most impressive outside screening they've ever hosted. The reporter from the REEL Channel asked to be given advance notice if there is another one so that they can properly cover it and schedule interviews. The industry people I spoke to were blown away by the quality of the competing films and expressed enthusiasm for attending future events featuring DVXUSER filmmakers.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it sure seemed to me that this was a significant step forward for DVXUSER to gain awareness and credibility. Everybody in the room was made aware that a blue-ribbon panel that included one of the most successful producers in the industry was judging the films. That caused people to give serious respect to our community. So few of us get to ever see our work screened properly in front of a large attentive audience. I've been to MANY film festivals where a mere handful of seats are occupied by less than interested viewers. It was a great thrill to have a full house paying rapt attention to every film.

Perhaps the big picture isn't as evident to other people as it is to me.
 
I think a great idea would be to have a dedicated thread specifically for the next event with schedules, notes, who's attending, what's going to go on, etc. It should be very very detailed.

I know there was one for this time around, but there weren't any specifics in the thread. There was a very rough schedule and that was it.
 
I keep using this analogy, because I think it fits... but the whole LA experience, including Fat Monster and the event... is like a mountain. Everybody gets a pair of skis and can do whatever they want to... nobody is going to force you to ski... and nobody is going to show you how if you don't ask them, and be friendly about it.

I was almost going to post a video on how to be cool in these situations, but really I'm not that cool and it sounds arrogant in my head... so here it is in a nutshell; smiling happy people are magnetic, but you still have to get magnets close and line up the polarity... in another words, go to an event like this with a psyched up attitude that you intend to have fun, and that you WANT to meet people... don't think that people want to meet you, no YOU want to meet them, because you are fun, and they will enjoy talking to you! Have some cards ready so that you can slip them one while the conversation is still a party! Don't grab somebody and force your entire pitch on them... give them a tease as part of a light conversation... so that what you're REALLY doing... is making an impression. THAT is what these events are about... you are there to make an impression and leave them with some extra means of remembering you when you follow up on this later. Those people didn't come to the event to work... even though it's always on... but they came to have a good time and be stimulated by what they're passionate about... if you came for the same reasons then show that. Be fun, be cool, be forward... and don't be afraid to make the first move... I'll bet that some of the people who think they had to shake 200 hands to get to "the one" didn't shake even 6 hands of people they didn't already know.

The event was killer... on so many levels... and most importantly, it was the litmus test for the future... I think this was a successful proof of concept. I would LOVE to help on the next event regardless of who puts it on... because I can't believe that the majority of you guys wouldn't agree that this really took DVXuser to the next level for you! Sure the bootcamps are a big deal, but this is what we're all here for... and I can see the evolution of this attitude... We all came to DVXuser hoping to somehow get from DVXuser... into "Hollywood"... but I don't think anybody ever considered that we could get Hollywood into DVXuser!

That event was KittyHawk... no doubt. I'm glad you all attended and I'm especially glad that Jared, Barry, and all the top dogs were there... in a few years we're going to look back on this as the second beginning.
 
Seeing as my name's come up a couple of times here, with people even asking what I do, let me clarify a few things: I'm not actively seeking new projects, heaven knows I've got enough on my plate, but if something phenomenal landed in my lap, I'd certainly look at taking it further. I'm doing my part to help some DVXUsers reach the next level; I'm currently producing THartley's documentary on Isara over in Thailand, and actively developing a multi-picture slate with JDS. I also started a DVD training business with David Jimerson, and I attempted to start another business with yet another DVXUser here, but that hasn't gotten off the ground yet... I'm also actively developing yet another business to allow one of our most talented DVXUser members to leave his day job and pursue his true skills and share his gifts with the world. And, finally*, I'm tapped to help produce two films for two other DVXUsers who are both attempting to get the money on their own.

Only one of these projects have come about because I was "pitched" though. Normally I sit back and watch, and when someone rises to the top and piques my interest, I then ask them what their plans are and if they'd like to work together. I don't necessarily pick projects so much as I pick people that I believe in and want to assist to hit the next level, in whatever way I can.

So, no -- please don't fill my PM box with project pitches. But yes, go out and win the DVXFest, or place at the top in a screenwriting contest or film festival, and let us know when that happens. Push forward no matter what, overcome all obstacles, and sooner or later someone is going to notice and try to help pave your way somehow or other.

(*besides all the normal day-job stuff of writing two more books, writing/producing another training DVD, teaching at the Wounded Marine Career Foundation, writing for three magazines, and helping run this forum, etc., etc., blah blah blah...)
 
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