AFF09 Daily Dispatch: Day Three

This is the stair-iest festival. My knees are killing me.  I seem destined to be climbing lots of stairs, to the point my poor knees can't take. or close to it.  Stairs at the Driskill. Stairs at the Ritz. Stairs at all the party venues.  Owwie.  I may have to put in a worker's comp claim (just kidding, Jette). 

I missed the morning panels, because not having alarms set meant I woke up when I was good and ready, and that was far too late for panels before lunch. So I was very envious when Rich Vázquez tweeted about a very personal panel up on the Capital lawn with Tom Skerritt and some teachers (aka the "Teaching Storytelling Through Screenwriting" panel).

It also meant I missed the An Education screening, which has caused an uproar among some because it was booked at a small venue.  I'm rather surprised, because at least one badge holder I know got there less than a half hour before it was scheduled to start, and there was even room for me.  Remember folks, the TBAs are locked into specific time slots and venues, and the festival has to accommodate certain restrictions and demands when playing films, too many to name here. This is a festival and conference, emphasis on the conference in the first few days. Having films that early in the day is relatively new for the fest.  And the film is opening in Austin in less than three weeks. And the two TBAs filling the Paramount slots are bigger films.

To me, it's a non-issue. Of the things to be frustrated with, a wide-release film coming out in a few weeks is very low. Besides, the emphasis needed to be on the Awards luncheon, which, of course, I missed.  While I'm a little sad my friend and fellow Austinite Patrick Sullivan did not win in his category, he beat out nearly 4,000 people to get to the finalist round.  And from what I've seen on twitter today, Sitcom Teleplay winner Benjamin Healy is an Austinite. 

I did make it to two panels in the afternoon, the first being the Script to Screen: Caprica panel with director Jeffrey Reiner and actor Esai Morales, who is clearly comfortable with talking to audiences.  I hadn't gotten around to buying the Caprica DVD or watching it on demand, so I decided to attend this panel and the screening later in the evening.  The same material was covered in both the panel and the screening Q&A, but it was good to hear it, and at the screening, we had Tim League moderating in a Chaos Reigns t-shirt. And hey, Reiner directed three seasons of Friday Night Lights, so there is an Austin connection worthy of the time. 

While I wasn't overwhelmed with the Caprica pilot, it's certainly intriguing. It's jam-packed with story arc seedlings, and with leads like Morales and Eric Stoltz, I'm really looking forward to seeing how it plays out.  And I'm also amused at seeing some SyFy tweets today about Eric Stoltz directing the episode currently being filmed.

The Script-to-Screen with Roberto Orci and Steven Puri was interesting, with some insightful strategies pointed out. I was most impressed the the emphasis on subjectivity and localized stories: the more subjective, and the more locally-focused, the more engaging a story and character are.  Between that and the analogy that distributors view film as products like soap ("autumnal soap") was very entertaining. That panel was taped, so maybe the highlights will be available.

I also made it to Shorts #2, which started out with two local shorts, including The Ballad of Friday and June, and Greatest Weakness.  I think the latter should play at Launchpad Job Club, or any career development office, but that might just be me.  The former personified a human/pet relationship with the creative use of an emoting hand puppet.

I also caught the Herpes Boy screening, which was another sold-out show.  Jette and I, and the Austinist crew nearly didn't get in, but Beth Grant just happened to come down the stairs and see the lines, and exclaim that they needed to book another screening, and that she'd be willing to give up her seat.  She also made the day of the guy in line ahead of me by exclaiming she doubted his commitment to Sparkle Motion. 

She almost always plays a repressed and cranky character, but despite the fact she usually gets typecast, she comes across very warm and open in person.  Apparently in "real life" shes' much more hippy, such as the character she plays in Herpes Boy. When she came down the stairs for the Q&A she shouted Hook 'em Horns with the appropriate gesture (and then we knew how many locals were in the audience).  During the Q&A (pictured at left), Grant was effusive about the cast and crew, as well as about her daughter, who has a small part in the film (and is currently filming a pilot for Disney according to her proud momma).

Herpes Boy is about a young man with a crazy family, a wine stain birthmark, and a fetish for emoting in online videos. It has a bit of a Napoleon Dynamite feel, but without the same level of ridiculousness.  Grant's character is a very new age mom, who believes in angels and auras, and her costumes were actually selected out of her own closet on this micro-budget film. 

After all this, I ended up going to the Belmont for the last party of the day, but it was too packed and way too loud. I'm just not into club noise, whether it's from the DJ or a crowd that practically has to scream at each other to hear anyone.  I don't know if I'm going to make it to  the Hair of the Dog brunch tomorrow (this morning?!!), but I'm going to try.  I'm not taking any bets, though.