Podcasts about kansas city film festival

 They put in their cover letter, “Honestly, we're just gonna go up to Yellowstone around that time and we would love to swing by and show the movie.”Rudi Womack is the Director of the Wyoming International Film Festival and the creator of the YouTube channel The Film Festival Guide.In this conversation, Rudi talks about:* What watching thousands of film festival submissions has taught him about good storytelling* The biggest mistake filmmakers make when they submit to festivals* Why transparency matters and why he published all of the submission and acceptance stats for the Wyoming International Film Festival * The importance of a compelling poster and thumbnail* How to write a good description of your movie* The most important questions filmmakers must askHere is a link to Hiike, the new film festival submission platform that Rudi mentioned.If you enjoyed this episode please forward to a friend.Here is an AI-generated transcript of my interview with Rudi. Don't come for me.79. Film Festival Director Rudi WomackBEN: Hi everyone. This is Ben Guest and this is The Creativity Education and Leadership Podcast. My guest today is Rudy Womack, who is the director of the Wyoming International Film Festival, and also Rudy has a fantastic YouTube page called The Film Festival Guide. So for all my filmmakers out there who are interested in submitting to festivals in this interview and on Rudy's YouTube page, he breaks it down. Enjoy.Rudi, thank you so much for joining us.RUDI: Hey, it's my pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.BEN: So I always start off with a fun question, and we're entering the holiday season, so very important holiday question. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?RUDI: Absolutely. A hundred percent. Come on.BEN: I love it. So I, I told you this off Air, I found you through the Rate YouTube channel.You have the Film Festival Guide. Is that the right name? I wanna make sure I get the name right. Yeah. The filmRUDI: festival guide. Yep.BEN: On YouTube Film Festival Guide on YouTube. Please. Any filmmakers out there go and subscribe. The information is so helpful. What, why did you start the this YouTube page?RUDI: I, as a filmmaker have gone through the festival circuit several times and I made a lot of amateur mistakes. I didn't know what I was doing. Definitely fell on my face a couple of times, but I also had some successes. And as I did more film festivals, I started learning more about the circuit.I got invited by a film festival to become a programmer, and so I started reviewing a lot of films and seeing a lot of the submissions. And I think instantly that made me a better filmmaker just because I saw what was working, what wasn't working, and how other filmmakers really brought to, brought their stories to life on the screen.And it, it was truly inspirational. Very long story short, the Wyoming International Film Festival was started by a gentleman named Alan Oi, and he's a, he's a documentarian out of Wyoming, which is where I'm from. I'm from Wyoming. So Alan had the film festival and he had run it for some years and it was going great and everything.But then Alan retired and now he's retiring. He wants to move outta Wyoming and he doesn't wanna run a live event. ‘cause it is a lot of work in his words. And I quote, it's a young man's game. And at the same time, COVID hit and he didn't wanna do the whole online thing and it was just a big mess.So Alan was like, I'm done with the festival, it's done. I'm just gonna let it die. And I was begging him, no, Alan, you can't do it. It's so important for indie filmmakers. And at the time I'm just finding my feet in the festival circuit as well as both a filmmaker and now I'm a programmer.I'm begging him like don't let it die. It's important, maybe I can help out. And he was like, why don't you run it? And I was like, absolutely not, man. What are you talking about? That's crazy. No way. No way. And I was like, I'm going to be your director of programming. That's what I'm going to do.I'm gonna help you get films in so you don't have to do that work. Very long story short, I ended up running it. I ended up taking over the festival from Alan. I did so reluctantly. But when I started working with the festival, working with the community, working with my hometown filmmakers and my home state filmmakers, and just seeing how important a film festival can be for a local community to uplift indie filmmakers to help them along the way I fell in love with it and here I am now, I run the film festival.And your question was, how did I start the YouTube channel? Sorry, I'm getting there. But I got a lot of questions from filmmakers about festivals, like how to navigate ‘em. And there's just so much mystery behind film festivals ‘cause it's so opaque. There's not a lot of transparency from film festivals.Film festivals are sketchy about which films they do select and which they don't. And frankly, there's a lot of misinformation out there about festivals. So I started answering a lot of questions and I started repeatedly answering the same question again and again and again. And I had some friends who told me, you should write a book.But I was like, yeah, but books, there are books, like people have already written books, bluntly, frankly, people far more experienced and knowledgeable than myself have written books. And so if you're not reading those books, then you're probably not gonna read my book. So that's when I decided, you know what, the YouTube channel is a great way to just do very easy outreach.Take one single topic, break it down for 10 minutes, and hopefully help filmmakers along on their film festival journey.BEN: I love it. And you said something for all the filmmakers who are listening. I'm gonna come back to it. Don't worry. You said something about once you started programming and watching so many films, you got a good sense of what works and what doesn't.So I definitely wanna come back to that. I know the filmmakers listening want to hear that. But before that you mentioned 10 minute videos. You strike me as somebody who, does research and takes time to Yes. Before they do something. What did you discover about running a YouTube page?What things work, what things don't work?RUDI: I'm still very early on in my own YouTube development. I'm still trying to learn what does and doesn't work. So I'm probably the worst person on earth to give advice. Definitely that first 32nd hook is so important on YouTube, just like it is on a film that, that intro, how we come into the story, whatever, on YouTube, you can see a massive drop off and apparently it's that way on every channel.Again, I'm not a YouTube guru, so I don't give advice, but that first 32nd hook is a big deal, but also just my presence on camera. I come from the post world. I'm an editor, so I'm not just behind camera. I'm behind, behind the camera. So I'm very much not used to an on-camera presence, so I'm developing that and learning it as well.What kind of energy I can bring. How to make it engaging. But also I don't wanna be zany and too quirky or anything because I am trying to give good guidance to filmmakers, but I also don't want to lecture them and bore them to death. So it's finding that balance of information that's valuable, but also entertaining enough that people don't wanna click off.And it's actually quite a complex thing that I'm still unraveling one video at a time. But the best advice that I saw was some YouTube guru who is just focus on getting 1% better on every single video. So is that little bit better graphics or better delivery, or better audio, or better editing or whatever it is.And after a hundred videos, you're now a hundred percent better. So that's what I've been focusing on. Just very small baby steps.BEN: Yeah, that's such a great way to break it down, right? It just makes it bite-sized, get 1% better.RUDI: I think you can apply that to life in general. There's a lot of things in life just today be 1% better.That's it,BEN: so you mentioned once you start a programming scene, get enough feel for what works, what doesn't, especially with short films, both narrative and docs. What are you seeing that works and doesn't work?RUDI: In the shorts world I'm seeing a couple of things. One, a self-contained story, and this is something that I had a problem with because oftentimes I would go for more of a quote unquote scene instead of a full beginning, middle and in, in a story.So a self-contained story typically is gonna make your short film much more successful. This can be hard for some filmmakers because they're trying to make a proof of concept short film that they're gonna go and get financing for their future. So one of the things that they often do is they just take a scene outta their feature and then just shoot that, which has mixed results.And the problem is the films that have gotten financed and been made from shorts that have done that are the ones that you see. So it's actually a survivor bias, where it's like it, it works for those particular films and therefore everybody thinks it's gonna work for their film. But obviously the films that it doesn't work for, you're never going to see.So you don't understand, actually for the majority of films, it doesn't work. So if you have a proof of concept, I actually say, don't pull a scene outta your feature. I say write its own scene, or sorry, your own short film. That exists in the same world and universe with the same characters as what your feature film is.And I think that's gonna have much more success on the film festival circuit. And that will lean you or lead you to whatever your goal is, financing or distribution or whatever. So that's a big thing with short films that makes ‘em successful is make sure it is actually a self-contained story and it doesn't have any loose ends, so to speak.What doesn't work is something that I myself struggle with, ironically as an editor. And that's things being too long and you need to parse them down. Now a lot of people will say, shorter, the better, which is true, but I actually think that's a result of actually getting to the core of the problem.And that's make your film as concise as possible. Get the idea. The emotion, the story out as concise as you can. And what that does by happenstance is it makes your film shorter. So it's not that shorter is better. I know there's it almost sounds like I'm just splitting hairs here, but I've seen plenty of five minute films that didn't work.I've seen plenty of 10 minute films that board me to death. So shorter isn't necessarily better. It's more concise of your story is better. And sometimes that still manifests as a 20, 30, 40 minute film. But if it's a very interesting 20, 30, 40 minutes, that's not gonna matter.BEN: It's such a great point. And for me, when I get to a certain point in the edit, I like to just bring in a couple friends and have them watch it. And then I just sit there and watch them watch it and whatever feedback they're gonna provide afterwards. 95% of what I need, I can just tell from Body Language as they're watching the film.RUDI: Yep.BEN: You come fromRUDI: theBEN: Go ahead.RUDI: Oh I was just gonna piggyback off that and just say, audience feedback is worth its weight and goal.BEN: Yeah.RUDI: And every filmmaker when you hit that fine cut stage, like you said, get your friends and family together, buy everybody some burgers and fries or whatever.Get ‘em all together. Gather ‘em up in a room, watch them, watch your film. That's gonna tell you more than anything else. We'll be able to about the success of your film and where it's strong, where it's weak, where you can still fix things. And I always suggest do it in your fine cut stage because nothing's locked in and you can still move things around and adjust, or whatever it is you need.BEN: Love it. And I think earlier what you are really getting at is telling a good story. Yes. And I'm amazed at, not amazed, but maybe a little disappointed, especially in today's world, the technical side of filmmaking. Even for an amateur, even for an indie filmmaker that you can, things can be d done so well technically, but there's no story.RUDI: Yes. All the time. So when I get onto Reddit, ‘cause you mentioned Reddit earlier if I go onto our filmmakers, right? Yeah. I don't have to look far to see people just geeking out over the newest Camerons. It's, and it's always cameras. Everybody always talks about. This camera is so fancy and it has so many stops above and this lens can do this and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.It has this big bit rate, whatever. Everybody gets so excited about cameras and I always say to myself, man, if they got this excited about audio, I wouldn't have to reject half the films that we have to reject because the audio is just blah. So if we're gonna talk tech, if we're gonna talk about the quote unquote quality of the filmmaking, I think what filmmakers need to understand is there are so many films out there we're that is just the foundation.It is the base level, it is the bare minimum that the film looks good. It sounds good. It feels good. So for us, festival guys, we see so many of these films. You're super gorgeous cinematography, you're really fancy, VFX, whatever it is that you think really separates your film from the pack. I don't wanna discourage you, I don't wanna sound jaded or anything, but it's not as impressive to us as you might believe it is, simply because we see hundreds and sometimes thousands of films like that.So for us it constantly falls back to originality and the story. Is the story well done? Is it well told? Is it a new and interesting story that we've never seen before? Is it a story that we've seen before but told in a very unique way, from a specific point of view, that is what is going to move us as festival people.‘cause when I put it into the theater and my audience walks in and they pay a ticket. My audience is used to going down to the theater and seeing a hundred million dollar movies. So for them, quality is just a given. It's just assumed they're not going to be thinking about it for them. They go and watch a movie ‘cause they're interested in, and I think if more filmmakers really dialed in on their story, they're going to find more success.BEN: So many great points there and a hundred percent agree with what you were saying about people get excited about the camera. And so I did my MFA at USC and there were three different times where I was on a set that, that I felt was unsafe. Not that I felt it was unsafe, what they were doing. Geez. And I walked off and it was always to get the cool shot.Like no one's ever hanging off a balcony to get room tone. You know what I mean? It's just, it's always to get the cool shot that, again, if you're not telling a good story, it doesn't matter. And to your point, I've always felt good audio is more important than good video.RUDI: Good image.BEN: Yeah.RUDI: Look at the documentary. Look at the nonfiction world. We see verite stuff all the time. We see stuff people recorded on their phone or, security camera footage or whatever, like at the end of the day in the nonfiction world is a great example of the quality of the shot doesn't necessarily matter so much as the quality of the story and how it's being told and how it's being revealed to us.And the audio is always gonna be very clean, very top notch, even if it's quote unquote found footage or. Veritate footage or whatever, the audio is always peak. I saw that Netflix doc recently, it was super heartbreaking. The perfect neighbor. And most of it is police body cam footage, but the audio is clean so we're able to follow the story so no one sits back and thinks of themselves this isn't a good shot.Of course it's not, it's police potty cam footage. Like it doesn't look good and it's not meant to,BEN: but it sounds good. And so you can follow it.RUDI: Yes.BEN: What what are some tropes that you think you've gotten tired of seeing in, especially in short films?RUDI: So every year it's a little bit different.You would be surprised what things pop up and what don't. The one trope that kind of rubs me the wrong way, I, I don't know how to describe it any other way than filmmaker self therapy. Like they, they're definitely going through something at the moment and they're not focused on creating a good story.They're more focused on using their art form to emotionally process whatever it is they're going through, which fine, you are an artist that makes sense to do, but also I can't sell my audience on that. So while I don't wanna discourage someone from making a film that is very near and dear and personal to them, at the end of the day, it might not be a good fit for film festivals.And so I, I would really think twice about whether or not that is a story that an audience, frankly, needs to see. Filmmaker cell therapy is one that when I get it, I'm always eh I don't know what to do with it. I just, I don't know what to do. Some other tropes that we see very commonly are like.Obviously right now, tech and AI and stuff like that gives a lot of people anxiety. So there's a lot of like evil robot takes over or the big reveal at the end of the movie, they were a robot the whole time, or the whole thing was a simulation or whatever. That's being very well tread right now.For me, I'm I am not a political person and anytime some big thing is in the news, we see tons of films on it. So I understand politics do affect people's day to day and their lives, so I understand that manifest. But man, I probably have a hundred immigration films right now and that's a lot. And I'm not gonna screen that many, so I'm only gonna pick like one, maybe two, so that's a tough one to do.Anything that's like a hot button political issue. We always see a big wave of those come in. And then honestly, romance dramas get tough. It isn't evergreen. We do have an audience for it. We usually do have some kind of a selection of them. Romance dramas have existed since the beginning of time.It's always been a thing. But filmmaker broke up with his girlfriend, so now he has a character who breaks up with his girlfriend. It gets it, it doesn't get very original. I, it just it gets exhausted. So those are some of the kind of general tropes I would avoid. I have heard other festival directors talk about like cancer films and Alzheimer's films and stuff like that.This year I'm not seeing so much of those, but I have seen those in the past. So tho those are some other. Tread stories we'll see.BEN: One of the things that I appreciate about. Your series of videos is your transparency, and you have one video where you literally break down. Here are all the films the number of films, Wyoming International Film Festivals received. Here's how it breaks down, here's how many we, we accepted, et cetera, et cetera.You have another one where you literally show the viewer, this is what we see as a programmer on our film freeway portal. Here's the scoring sheet. I think it's a little bit different from the one you guys use internally, but basically here's what the scoring sheet on film freeway looks like. Why is transparency so important to you?RUDI: Because I'm a filmmaker, because I've been to so many festivals where I have no idea what the hell's going on. I've been to festivals where I think my film is gonna be a good fit. I think based on what I've been able to investigate on my own, digging through their website, digging through their archive.Seen what they've programmed before. I think I'm a good fit, but I don't actually know. And I've submitted to festivals where later on, I see what they programmed or I got rejected or even accepted and then gone to the festival itself and have been a little disappointed when was like I this festival didn't fit my goals the way that I thought it would, or, this festival wasn't going to do the things for me.Or this festival, like really promoted themselves very heavily as this big event. And then you get there and then it's not, and that's a little bothersome. So when I stepped into my role at the Wyoming International Film Festival, I made a whole bunch of changes. But one of the changes that I made was, we are going to be transparent.I don't ever want a filmmaker to submit to our festival, get in, get accepted to the festival, drive all the way out to Wyoming and be disappointed. I don't want them to do that. That's not good for them. It's not good for us. It's not good for the community. It's not good for indie film at large.What's better is if we just be what we are in Wyoming, we're straight shooters. We just say it as it is. So I'm going to tell you exactly how many films were submitted, which films we accepted, what the percentage rates are, how many shorts versus features, how many docs versus narratives, how many music videos, all of this stuff.And we've been releasing the data for the past couple of years. This year, like we went all out with the data it was much more thorough than what we've done in years past. And even me, the director of the festival, I sit back, I look at the data and I can see some weak spots in it. I can see where we need to improve as a festival, where we need to start, bringing in a certain type of film or where other films might be overrepresented or how we can give more of an experience to our filmmakers.Just by boiling it down to numbers and looking at it. I can start seeing some of our weak spots and I want to improve on that ‘cause I want to have a good festival. And I think if more festivals were to do that, I think the filmmaking community at large would be much more appreciative. And I think film festivals need to understand.That if you have fewer submissions, that's not a bad thing because the submissions that you are going to get are filmmakers that really want to be in your festival and that's good for the health of your festival, the community, the filmmakers, everything. So I, I think the only way we get there is by being transparent.And thankfully there are other festivals that are publishing their data, which is great. And that makes me very happy to see. And I hope that trend continues and I hope even more festivals start publishing more of their data and showing how they review films, what their scorecards look like, what they're looking for.‘cause ultimately I genuinely believe that just serves the filmmakers better and ultimately makes everybody have a better experience on the film festival circuit, including the festivals themselves.BEN: When you took over as directorWhat were the biggest challenges?RUDI: So our biggest challenge to this day is our venue.So there's only one movie theater in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is owned by a company outta Casper, Wyoming. They own pretty much a monopoly of movie theaters across the state, like most of them. And they don't allow anybody into their theaters at all. They don't allow her private screenings or corporate events or, in individuals who wanna screen their film or film festivals.I'm not the only film festival in Wyoming. I talk with other festival directors. They can't get in either. It's funny, the film commissioner of the state can't even get in. You would think the movie theater would at least want to partner with the state film Commission, but no. So for us, the challenge has been a venue and luckily our partners over at Laramie County Community College.Have graciously allowed us to use their facilities for the last couple years. They have a beautiful auditorium that we do some of our screenings in, but we also have screening rooms in a black box theater that they have as well as a conference room. And when I say conference room, most filmmakers like their heart drops a little bit.They're like, oh man, I'm just, I'm going into a conference room. It's not a proper movie theater. And that's fine. We publish that data on our film freeway page on hike. We are transparent about that. So when you submit, you might be in the conference room. But ironically, I think it has some of the best audio and it has some of the best projection.So even though it's the quote unquote least movie theater, like I actually think it has some of the best projection, best color. But venue is probably one of our biggest challenges and we continue to develop that. We continue to. Trying to innovate. We're trying to build our own screening room there on the campus.Like we're trying to use one of their big classrooms for it. And what we wanna do is we wanna turn it into a lounge. We wanna bring in like couches and sofas and comfy chairs where it's like much more of a chill environment in there. And that's the type of film we wanna screen in. There's some you can literally sit back, settle in and relax.So there's things that we're doing to create a better environment for our filmmakers and of course our audience, our guests at the festival.BEN: I love it. What's been the biggest reward?RUDI: The, I get to meet you. That's what the biggest reward is. I get to meet so many filmmakers. I get to hear their stories.I get to be inspired. I get to learn stuff. I was talking with a festival director a couple of days ago. Who asked me about how we do our audience award scores and how we process that and what they do. And I just like I lit up, I'm like, oh my God. It's such a better way, it's more efficient, it's easier on the staff.It's more representative of how the audience actually feels about the film, the way the scores are aggregated and counted. It's so great. I get to meet so many people in this world of film and every single day it's like a new, whole new world is opened up to me and I get to hear so many fantastic points of view.I get to see so many awesome films, like just how many great movies are out there is a cinephile. It's like the most rewarding thing in the world. I'm an addict. I'm totally addicted to it. It's so great.BEN: I love it. I remember I used to coach basketball in my first year as a head coach. I was like, yeah, everybody's gonna be pretty competitive, other coaches and so forth.And they were, and I was. But at the same time, when coaches would get together, it was just so supportive. And people are sharing, this is what I'm doing in practice. I'm looking at this offense, this defense. And I imagine it's the same with other film festival directors and programmers. Oh, yeah. Just a supportive environment comparing notes.RUDI: It is. And the more that I meet, the more I truly do understand. 99% of festival directors out there are programmers, people who work in it. They have some tie to cinema. Most of them are filmmakers. Those who aren't, have a deep passion and love for cinema and for storytelling, and.Everybody's a volunteer. Everybody has a day job. Nobody makes money on this. They do it from the love of their heart. They truly do. And the way that they serve their communities, the way that they serve their filmmakers, some of the cool ideas they come up with there's some really neat festivals out there with like very interesting hooks or events or whatever.And I think it is such an incredible ecosystem and I think I'm truly privileged to be part of it.BEN: What are some lesser known or maybe mid-tier festivals or local festivals that you love to attend?RUDI: Okay, so one of my favorite festivals I guess you said lesser known. This one is not lesser known, but Film Quest over in Provo, Utah, damn man, pe like festival people talk about building community. They're on a different level. They've built a family. Like everybody who goes to that festival is just so tight knit there. There's no other festival like Provo or sorry, film Quest in Provo. It is just, it's on another level. And how well they treat their filmmakers is fantastic.Some years ago I was invited to be a jury member at the Fair Film Festival, which is in Ferazi Kosovo. So that is in southeastern Europe. It's a landlocked country, just a little bit above Greece, a little bit north of Greece and north of Macedonia. And Fari is a small town. And I went to that festival and first off, wow.What a great festival. I strongly suggest you submit your film to fair film. It's so good. But the cool part of being in this European festival, and frankly a small European country, most of the films are international, obviously. And so there's filmmakers coming in from like Jordan and Spain and Germany and Slovakia and Slovenia and like all over the place, Greece, Turkey, you name it.And how interesting it is to have this incredible cross section of languages and cultures and peoples, but we're all united by this one singular thing. And that's our love for storytelling and our love for movies. It had to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life. And the next movie I make, taking it back to cosBEN: Fantastic.Just had a question. What was it? Oh okay. So with the huge caveat of besides making. A good film, a film that tells a story. Besides that, are there any tips or tricks, things on the margins that filmmakers can do when they're applying to festivals to be aware of? Sometimes festivals. Ask for a cover letter orRUDI: Yes.BEN: Press kit, things like that. Okay.RUDI: So with, sorry, my phone is loud. I should turn that down. So obviously with a huge caveat of make a good film or whatever, what's the easiest way to get it? All of the stuff on film Freeway, and I do have a video on this, on my YouTube page if you wanna check it out, where I give you a tour of film, freeway from the festival side of things like what the festival can see and how we see it and how we navigate it.On the festival end of things. We can see your cover letter, your screenings and awards your. Cast and crew information, your director's bio, your director's statement, your photographs, your EPK, that's your electronic press kit your trailer, all of that. All of that. As much of that as you can possibly make, you should make it.It's very important. And you never know which piece is gonna be more important to a particular film festival. For instance, here's something crazy. I was meeting with some of my programmers last night. They had a whole bunch of films that they wanted to recommend to go to the next level programming.And we require films. Tell us where in the world or where in the United States the film was made. And every single one of ‘em was California. California. California. California. California. Which fine, whatever. California has a big film industry. That's, it's a very big state, population wise. Makes sense, right?But I am sitting back thinking, okay. I don't want it just to be a bunch of California movies. We have a big country here. I would like to see something else. And something caught my attention. One of the filmmakers, their address was in Birmingham, Alabama, but the film was shot in California, so I am suspicious.I haven't dug into it myself. I'm suspicious either that filmmaker's from Alabama and they have moved to California, or that filmmaker lives in Alabama and they shot their film in California. So they're answering where it was shot correctly. But for me, I'm like, there you go. When everybody's from California.I want that unique perspective. I wanna see someone's from Alabama and what their perspective is now. I haven't watched the film yet. I don't know if it's what we're looking for. Obviously it's a good film if my programming team has recommended it, there's no doubt in my mind it's good film. Now there's other considerations we're gonna have, but.That alone was something, even my, like I myself did not know that I would be looking for. So filling out all of that data on film, freeway, all of your information that you possibly can, your cover letters your screenings, your awards, whatever it is, the more information you give us as a festival, the more we have to make our selections.And it only benefits you. It only helps you out. So filmmakers don't get lazy. Fill out all of that information. We need it. We use it. It's important. Just do it.BEN: You mentioned a meeting with your programmers last night. Take us inside that conversation. What does that look like? What do you discuss, et cetera.RUDI: So there's. There's a big programming team and it's divided up into two different groups. There's our kind of first round screeners and then there's our senior programmers and the senior programmers pretty much review the films that have gone through that first round of screening that are getting recommended to go onto the next one.So typically when I'm talking with my screeners and everything, it's a very different conversation on the bottom end of it where they're just sorting through all of the submissions versus a different conversation I have with the senior programmers who are on the top end of it. We're now trying to decide how to block films together, how we're gonna organize it, what's the schedule maybe look like, what's the overall tone and vibe of the festival going to be, okay.If we wanna have a sci-fi block, do we even have enough sci-fi films? If we don't. Where else can we find homes for ‘em? Stuff like that. So those conversations are a little bit more high end, if you will. And it tends to be less about the story of the film itself and more about how that film is going to fit into the festival.Whereas when I'm talking with the screeners, it's much more on the story end. Like what about the story did you like or you didn't like? Or what was the unique point of view? Or whatever. So depending on which group I'm talking to it, it's gonna be different. And then of course that divides out further on features and shorts and documentaries and narratives and music videos.So like obviously my conversation with the music video people are gonna be much different than my like short documentary people.BEN: Shout out to short documentary people as a documentarian primarily makes shorts I'll ask a question for us folks. In one of the videos, as I mentioned, you literally show here's what the scoring sheet looks like.Yes. And that was for narrative with, I think one of the categories was acting and so forth. So for a documentary or documentary shorts, what does that scoring sheet look like? What do those discussions entail?RUDI: Film freeway does not allow us to have more than one scoring sheet.So unfortunately, there's just this one scoring sheet that's for everything. What I tell my screening team, and we definitely double check everything, like there's multiple people who look at something. So it's not just one person's opinion. You have at least two, oftentimes three, pretty often four.So for something like documentary they skip over that. That's what they do. So if there's no acting in the film, they skip over that. They don't rate acting if there is no acting. But you'd be surprised. There are documentaries that have acting in ‘em. There are like docudramas or documentaries with recreation In the recreation is like actual scenes and performances and stuff like that.So in those cases, even though it's a nonfiction and a documentary, yeah, we'll still judge it for the acting ‘cause that's what it has. I get the question. I'm gonna hijack your question for a second, but it is applicable. I get the question, do we accept AI in our film festival, we do not have any official policy for or against ai, which scares some filmmakers.But we do rate AI on the same standards as we would anybody else. So when it comes to creativity and originality, guess what, you're getting a nothing. ‘cause AI didn't create it. AI is not original. AI just mashes together a bunch of information from other people. So that's no creativity and originality.Same thing for something like, I don't know, art design. If you have a AI character walking through a scene or whatever you're getting zero on your art design. Nobody built those sets. Nobody costumed that actor. Nobody was the makeup artist or the hair or whatever other art deck or, PD or anything on the set.So we will accept ai. We have accepted one single AI film so far because despite all of its quote unquote handicaps, and it was a music video. It still was successful in other categories that had a good enough score. We as a team sat down, said Yes, that it still is a good film. The audience is still gonna enjoy it.The filmmaker definitely had a vision with it. They wrote out a whole thing on like why they chose to use ai. ‘cause they're also an experimental filmmaker, so it made sense for them and everything. So we were like, you know what? That's legit. Let's put it in. But other AI submissions, like I got an AI children's animation the other day and I'm like they didn't animate it themselves.They didn't voice act it themselves. It's not getting good scores on any of these. So we'll see. We'll see. We'll see if it gets through or not, but already you're shooting yourself in the foot. So don't do ai.BEN: Okay. Couple little. I don't know, around the edges or micro questions. One of the things that you talked about in one of your recent videos was having a good poster and you talked about designing your poster for your film prudence.RUDI: Yeah.BEN: Talk, talk to me about,RUDI: I specifically gave my posters an example, not a great poster,BEN: But talk to me about that.For the no budget or low budget filmmaker that can't afford to hire a a designer to make a poster. Talk to me about poster design and how that impacts the presentation of the film for festivals.RUDI: So I strongly believe that a big part of filmmaking and marketing and packaging your film together, all of that is psychology.And as much as we want to sit back and say, Hey, don't judge a book by its, cover it, that literally goes against human psychology. People are not hardwired to do that. It, it is. In our DNA, it's not just a bad habit, it is literally a survival mechanism. So if you want to stand out, you do need to have everything put together.Your cover letter, your synopsis, your photographs, all of that, and of course all of your key art. That's your poster. That's any banners that you have, that's how you're going to be promoting the film. And you have to understand it's not just about making your film look pretty to get filmmakers to go, or sorry your programmers go, Ooh, and ah, it's a pretty film.We are looking at that as a mechanism for us to advertise the festival. You gotta understand if I have 150 films in the festival, I have to get an audience for those films. And the easiest way for me to do that is through your marketing materials. We don't have the capacity. To design marketing materials for 150 different films.We are relying on the filmmakers to do that so we can go out and promote the festival. So people show up to your screening, which I would presume is what you want if you're going to a film festival. So anything you're trailer, any photographs that you can provide, which some filmmakers only provide BTS photographs, BTS is fine.It's great. Give me some good key art I can also use, please. That's what newspapers, that's what the local news that's what podcasters, whatever, that's what they want to see. So that's what I can provide. And of course, your poster. Now, there are a lot of online tools to help in poster design, frankly, I don't have an excuse for making a bad poster like I did, which is one of the reasons I use it as an example is I am shaming myself being like, this could be better and it should be. But there's a lot of online resources that can help with poster design. And also for filmmakers who are a little bit strapped for cash, you would be surprised what people will do for in kind, service for service.So if you have a friend or if there's someone that you can find that's Hey, they'll design your poster if you can design whatever their website or whatever it is that your skills might be there, there's a lot of exchange that you can do on that part. So yeah your marketing, your packaging, all of that together is actually quite important.BEN: Such a great point. And I've written and published a memoir and through that, I've worked with other authors on, on. Both writing and marketing their books, editing and marketing their books. And I tell people the exact same thing. People judge a book by its cover all the time. And in this day and age, they judge it for listeners, I'm holding my thumb and forefinger part as a thumbnail on a computer screen.Yeah, that's the size. So even for a programmer or a festival director watching it on film freeway through their platform, they're not gonna see the poster like we see it in the movie theater. They're gonna see it as a thumbnail image. Yeah. So it has to work as a thumbnail image. And if you can't read the title as a thumbnail or can't make out what's on the image, what's on the poster as a thumbnail, then you've failed that part of the process.RUDI: One, one of the things that like really clued me into how important a poster is, I went to a film festival, I believe it was Kansas City Film Festival. Some years ago, and they had a bunch of posters of films out, but there was one that was like bright pink. It was like super bright pink and had like very eye popping design and everything on it.And it was like in a whole field of like dark drama posters that are all like gritty and everything. And I'm like that stands out. That really drew my eye to it. And I think that was like my big light bulb moment of like how important this stuff actually is. And one of the things that I've been saying for some years, I've said it on the channel, I think, I don't know, some, sometimes I record things and edit out.So I don't know what I've said on the channel sometimes but one of the things that I say is making a film is half of film making. The other half is marketing, the other half is getting butts in the seats. The other half is getting eyeballs on your movie. The other half is selling your film to an audience or a film festival or a distributor or a programmer or whatever you're trying to do with it.It's getting it out there. So making a film is half a filmmaking. The other half marketing, that's what it is.BEN: I'm just nodding along with everything you're saying and I've always felt both with films and with books, with art in general, you're trying to make an emotional connection from what's in your head and your heart to the audience.And if you don't do your job, getting your film out there and helping an audience come and see your film. Then you're not helping that connection. You're missing sort of the point of making this, unless it's just for yourself. It's for, it's to connect with other people and for other people to connect with your work.And that is marketing.RUDI: It's valid. If you're just making a film for yourself, that's absolutely valid. It's in art form. You can make a film for yourself, but if you're sending it to me at a film festival, you're not you're literally trying to find an audience. So these are the things you need to consider.BEN: I love it. I got two more just in the weeds detail questions.RUDI: Alright, let's do it.BEN: Let's talk description. And what I've seen ‘cause I'm in the middle of applying to festivals. And by the way just for. Listeners, this might interest you. So I discovered Rudi's YouTube page and I was like, this is so helpful.And then I went to the Wyoming International Film Festival page and all the transparency and statistics that, that Rudi puts out, that the festival puts out. And I realized, okay, so the short documentary I have is not a good fit for this festival. Exactly what Rudi's saying. So just for anybody listening, thank you for doing research.RUDI: Thank you. That's good. That's not a bad thing, right? That means it saves you time, it saves you money, it saves you heartbreak. It's so good. Do research before you submit. I'm sorry, but I, it's in, in almost every single one of my videos, I tell filmmakers, do your research before you submit. Find the festivals that gel with your film.And if it, if they don't screen the type of movie that you have, don't submit to ‘em. You're wasting your time, you're wasting your money. And the festival, like the programmer behind the screen, might love your film. They truly might love your film, but they're programming for a very specific audience and they know what that audience's taste is.So that's why they're driving specific films to that audience. So even if they love it, they might not include it, which is why you should always do your homework and do your research before you submit. I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's so importantBEN: And yes. And the flip side of that coin is now I also know what the Wyoming International Film Festival looks for.So in the future, if I have a doc or a film, I'm like, oh, this would be a great fit for this festival.RUDI: Yes.BEN: It helps both ways.RUDI: It does. And it helps you dial in. Which festivals you should target, which festivals are gonna help you with your specific goals. Whatever your goals are with the film it's gonna help you with your budgeting and your travel plans and your own personal calendar.It's gonna help with your mental health. It just, it helps on so many different aspects. And on the film festival side of things, I appreciate it when I hear from filmmakers say, Hey man, I looked into your festival looks good, but you don't have the kind of film that I have. And I'm like, not a problem man.Maybe I can point you in the right direction. Maybe I know some film festival programmers, I can make a recommendation, on your behalf too, that's not a bad thing. We love movies and we want to see them successful, but not every single fest or film and story is going to be successful in every single market.So it's very important to find your audience. And believe me, we are going to be cheering you the whole way.BEN: I want get back to my kind of in the weeds questions, but you've mentioned something that is big picture, that's so important. I feel like I've buried the lead here. And you mentioned this you've mentioned this multiple times in your videos.Is that a Phil, it's key. Maybe the most important part of this process is of the film festival submission process is a filmmaker needs to understand what are their goals in applying to a festival. Yes. So can you just talk a little bit about that?RUDI: So film festivals are a tool. And they can be a tool for many different things, but they are a tool.And just every single tool is not right for every single job, every film festival is not gonna be right for every film and vice versa. So before you go out to film festivals, you just need to ask yourself why? Why am I going out to film festivals? Why am I spending the money, the time, the energy, the effort?What do I want out of film festivals? And that's where you need to identify your goal. And the more specific you can be with the goal, the better it's going to be you going on your film festival journey. So for many filmmakers, a common reason they go out to film festivals is networking. So I'm gonna use that as an example.So let's say your goal is I want to network, I want to meet other. Filmmakers, I wanna meet, directors of photography and producers and other people that I can hire for my projects, or they're gonna hire me for their projects, and I want to build that network and I want to meet more filmmakers.Fantastic. Great. That's your goal. So the first thing that you need to do is you need to be looking at festivals that have networking events. And in this particular instance, you need to ask yourself two things. One, does it have networking? Is there in-person networking parties or networking events?And two, do the types of people that I want to meet actually attend those networking events. So us at the Wyoming International Film Festival, we have a pretty broad spectrum. We have filmmakers that are just beginning their journey. They're totally new, wet behind the ears. They're green they're just starting their journey.That's great. All the way up to every year we have multi Emmy award-winning filmmakers. Like people who do this professionally they're in unions or professional organizations, or they're a member of the academy, motion picture Arts and sciences or the TV Academy or sometimes like the Grammys and stuff like that.I, myself, I'm a professional editor, so there's people like me who professionally work, but they're like below the line. They're cinematographers editors, gaffers, what have you. So if your goal is to meet some like high-end producer that's gonna throw, a million dollars at your movie our festival is not the festival that's gonna help you with your goal.So you should skip over us because we don't have that kind of person in attendance. But if your goal is to meet other filmmakers at your level that you can collaborate with or get hired by or whatever. We're a great festival. We have tons of networking, and we bring in a ton of those filmmakers.We're a great event for you. So when you identify what your goal is and you're very specific about it, it's easier to identify which festivals you should start targeting. I take that one step further, and then once you've narrowed down which festivals are gonna help you with your goal, then you look into their history and see which of them have screened movies like yours in the past.So if you have a, you know I use the example, if you have a seven minute comedy coming of the age film, now you know which festivals have good networking, which festivals have the kinds of people you want to network with. Now you look at which ones have screened short coming of age comedy films in the past, and have a history of doing that.So that's gonna help you filter it even further. And by doing that, you're gonna really start to develop your film festival strategy. Now I do have some exciting news. There is something coming now, it's called Hike, H-I-I-K-E. It's hike with two I. And what Hy is doing, it's a submission platform similar to film Freeway, but among many of the tools that they're giving filmmakers, they're giving filmmakers customized festival strategies and they're scraping all of that data from film festivals, what they've programmed in the past.And when you as a filmmaker, join Hike, you take a little quiz, you tell them what your goals are, what your film is, you know how long it is, what the genre is, tell them about yourself. And they literally have. Data scientist who's built this like machine learning algorithm that pairs the data from the film festival to what the filmmaker provides.That literally gives you a compatibility score. So it's, it comes out and tells you, if you want to network with, professional filmmakers but not mega producers and you have a short comedy coming of age film Wyoming International Film Festival has that crowd screens those types of films and you would have a 90% compatibility.So it actually helps you develop your festival strategy for you.BEN: It's so needed. And Rudi has a great video on how to spot scam film festivals. Yes. That's something that is just prevalent these days. So for filmmakers who are getting ready to submit, I encourage you to watch that video. I'll link to it in the show.I'll link to everything that we're discussing in the show notes. The. So Rudi talked about one goal a filmmaker can have is to network other goals at various points in my, film festival my limited film festival career I've applied to festivals ‘cause I wanted to go to that city, new Orleans Fest, new Orleans Film Festival.TravelingRUDI: is totally legitimate reason to go.BEN: People apply because they want distribute, they wanna meet distributors or financiers for the next film. Although, that's what everybody wants. SoRUDI: you, you would be surprised. So in, in 2018, I had a feature film and my, my goal like most feature films was to land a distribution deal.But I was like, that's not specific enough. There are many steps to land a distribution deal. So what I need is I need good press on my film. So that was a goal. So I wanted to target festivals that had press. I wanted laurels. I wanted to win some awards with it, but I also knew my film was. Small and kind of small scale.So it wasn't gonna win laurels at big festivals. So I was like, okay, I need festivals with press. I need festivals that are legitimate and above board, but also small enough where I'm gonna be competitive. And then I wanted to actually meet distributors. And I know they only go to big festivals, so I actually had to target three different kinds of festivals.‘cause I had three, let's call ‘em conflicting goals with my own film. So that's what I did. I did a split strategy. I targeted festivals where I was gonna be this tiny little fish in a very big pond. And no one's really gonna notice me, but I'm just happy to be there. I targeted festivals where I know that I was going to get very good press and very good reviews on the film.And I targeted festivals that were small, still legitimate, but I was gonna be competitive and maybe bring home some trophies. And so that was my strategy and it worked, and I landed a distribution deal.BEN: That's so great. I, I'd love to do a part two at some point we can talk distribution deals and all of the, yeah.Things like that. But I think for people listening, the big takeaway is even with this multi-pronged goal, three different goals connected to each other. Once you identify what your goals are, then you work backwards and you create your strategy to Yes, to achieve those. Okay. Back to the two in the weeds.Two more in the weeds questions. Yeah. So description, and as I'm looking at other film descriptions, and I saw this at USC all the time as well, and we talked about earlier, filmmakers wanting to sit in emotion or sit in something traumatic and have the audience experience that I notice a lot of times in descriptions of short films.Can so and so come to terms with this? Can, and just as someone who has a little bit of experience marketing stories, where's the action? What's the active what's this person actively trying to accomplish, rather than can they just come to terms with something? Can you talk a little bit about film description, just three or four lines.What pops?RUDI: So just like your poster, just like your marketing and everything, a film description is your way to reach through the screen, grab the audience, grab the programmer, and pull them into your movie. Keep in mind, your whole entire goal is to get people to watch your film, get them excited about your film.And so if you just have a very drab, like description that's just yeah, has to face consequences for a decision they made or come to terms with something when I, that's a good V one, that's a good place to start, but that's not going to get an audience excited about your film.I saw film, I don't know if it was at my festival. It wasn't at my festival. We didn't screen it, but I'm saying, I don't know if it was submitted to my festival or if I saw it at another festival, but I remember one of the descriptions it was great. It was whatever the two character names were, John and Jane, I forget what the characters are, but like John and Jane are on a date, there's a bomb in the other room.I I hope the date goes well, or something like that. Let's hope the date goes well. And I'm like, what is this movie? That gets you really excited for it. You're. It, it creates so much mystery. And also just the cavalier way that it was written immediately tells me this is gonna be a comedy, or it's not taking itself too seriously.It's not some like gritty, dive into the underworld or whatever. Like just how blunt it was about the dis of the film and just that like small little description. I know I'm paraphrasing what it was, but it stuck with me for years at this point. ‘cause I'm like, that is how you write a description for a film.That is how you get someone excited to see what is this movie about? Let's jump in. Piggybacking off a description. Titles are another great way to do that. In, in my own repertoire of films I've had film called Prudence. Okay, fine, whatever. Prudence doesn't really tell you much about that film.I had a film that I'm very proud of. It's artsy, it's a little bit magical realism and it's called in this gray place, and it has that artsy mystique around it in this gray place. And I love that title. I did it, I did a film back in film school. It's terrible, but the title's great.It's called Back to Fort Russell. It was a Western and I, to this day, it's one of my favorite titles that I've ever had. But it tells you something. It clues you into what this film is going to be, what the journey of this movie is going to be. And some films do that better than others. And some films, yeah, it's not necessary.But I, I get more excited when I hear something like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre than I do something that's just like love. Or mom or something.BEN: I think this is the last question. So again, with all these little details, cover letter, talk to me about cover letters.RUDI: It's so interesting you asked me that question ‘cause hearing about four or five days, I'm posting a video on the YouTube channel about cover letters. It's short, it's only four or five minutes long, but cover letters are so important.Should absolutely write a cover letter. And a couple of days ago I was talking with programmers at dances with films, and if you don't know dances with films, look ‘em up. They are an incredible film festival. They are in the big leagues for sure. And I was talking with a couple of programmers and I asked them about covert letters and they said, it's so important it.How the filmmaker is going to put an audience in the theater is very important for their festival. How they're going to get people to attend is very important for them and they're like, a good indication in a cover letter is when they, the filmmaker indicates how they're going to market their film and they use the example of football.Let's say it's a movie about football. They're like, if it's a movie about football and you tell me in the cover letter that you're part of several like football organizations, or you're gonna be reaching out to sports organizations or youth organizations for sports or something like that, to attend the film.That's a very good indication for them in the cover letter. For me, I think a cover letter is very important in that it shows. You're going the extra mile to show the festival you care. You're not just submit and quit. We're not just one festival on a list of 50 that you're submitting to. There is a reason you want to screen with us, and that's a specific reason.Either you feel that your film is good fit for our audience, or there's something that you want to connect with. In Wyoming, I had one cover letter and we did accept this film and it was really funny. They put in their cover letter like their film was a comedy, so their cover letter was also very comedic, but they're like, honestly, we're just gonna go up to Yellowstone around that time and we would love to swing by and show the movie.And I laughed. I laughed so hard at that and I'm like. But that shows me they care. Like they want to be there. And the film was good and it was funny and we screamed it and they were there. So it's a way to show a film festival enthusiasm and it's way to inform the festival about yourself, about your film, and how that's gonna gel with their particular event and their audience.BEN: I love it. And that reminds me, I got one more, I got a bonus question. Yeah. Can you talk about applying early?RUDI: Yes. Statistically, when I look at our own data, statistically, it does seem to be that the earlier you apply, the better chance that you have. And so I don't want to give the impression that if you applied late.You have no chance. I think in the video where I literally broke down the data and the statistics, I think at our festival we had a one in five chance of getting in on the late deadline, which is about a 20% acceptance rate. But it was much higher the earlier it came in. So just with the raw data taking out my opinions, my emotions on it, whatever, just the data itself shows earlier is better.Now, here's where my opinions and my feelings towards it come from. I think it's a couple of things. One, when you get in early, you set the pace for the rest of the festival, you're telling us, okay, it's a drama. We're gonna compare your film against others. Like you have now become the benchmark that we're gonna compare other films to when it comes to like dramas or whatever.What it also does. It's something I'm going to discuss in my video and cover letters, but it also engages something, what's called mere exposure effect in psychology, which is essentially the more that you are exposed to something, the more preference you have towards it. Which means if you get in early, you are exposing yourself, your film, and your story to the programmers more often and more readily than late submissions are.So it's more likely that the programmers form some attachment to your film, and that's just human nature, that's just psychology. There's some practical reasons for it as well. Obviously, earlier submissions, earlier deadlines are cheaper, so it's better to get in. It's just gonna cost you less money to do and then lastly, there are many festivals that are developing their program as they go. So as films are coming in, they're shaping. We got a ton of dramas. Maybe we need two drama blocks, or, we, we don't have enough sci-fi for a sci-fi blocks, we gotta spread it out or whatever. So if you come in late, you're now trying to elbow some other film out of the way in order to find your screening slot.Which don't get me wrong, there are plenty of programmers that are absolutely gonna go to bat for you. They're gonna fight hard to get you in. Doesn't matter if you come in early or late or whatever, but the chances are just better. And the data shows that if you get in early. All that said, a couple of years ago, the very last film that came in with only two hours left in our deadline, we ended up programming it.So it, it is possible.BEN: Rudi, I cannot thank you enough. I can't tell you how helpful this has been. There's so much great information for filmmakers. Filmmakers submitted to festivals, people just interested in going to festivals. So thank you so much for taking the time.RUDI: Hey it's always a pleasure.I always love talking film festivals and for any filmmakers out there, head on over to YouTube hit up the Film Festival Guide. That's my YouTube page. I'm coming out with videos every two or three weeks. That's about what I put ‘em out there for. So if you need any guidance or any, I don't know, insight for film festivals that's where I am.BEN: Film Festival Guide. I'm a subscriber. I can't recommend it enough. Any other social media where people can find you?RUDI: Oh no, I'm terrible on social media. YouTube's enough for me right now.BEN: So Film Fest.RUDI: I will probably expand in the future and I'll probably make some announcement on the YouTube channel.Got it. But for right now, I'm just trying to get good information out there to as many filmmakers as possible.BEN: Thank you so much for doing that. It's such a huge benefit for film.RUDI: Thank you very much for the support and thank you very much for having me on. I enjoyed this. This was a lot of fun.BEN: Me too. This was great. Thank you. And that was my interview with Rudy Womack, director of the Wyoming International Film Festival and creator of the great YouTube page, the Film Festival Guide. Hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please forward it to one person. Thank you and have a great day. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com

Chico Bryant and Bill Hampton discussed their collaboration on the documentary "Unpunished," which explores the 2019 murder of Ronald Greene by the Louisiana State Police. The film, produced by Bryant's United Venture Productions, highlights the systemic corruption and cover-up involved. Hampton, who invested in the project, emphasized the need to address police immunity and qualified immunity. The documentary features interviews with Greene's family and the whistleblower, Carl Cavalier. They plan to screen the film at the Kansas City Film Festival on September 29. Bryant also shared his background in the music industry and his current role as a father and CEO. Timestamp Introduction and Podcast Format 0:02 Technical Setup and Introductions 1:42 Chico's Background and Career Journey 7:08 Bill Hampton's Business Ventures 10:08 Introduction to the Film Project 14:08 The Story of Ronald Green 25:30 Impact and Call to Action 32:16 Conclusion and Future Plans 34:40

Danny Manus is an in-demand script consultant, mentor, and CEO of No BullScript Consulting (www.nobullscript.net), and was ranked in the “Cream of the Crop” Script Consultants by Creative Screenwriting Magazine. He is the author of “No BS for Screenwriters: Advice from the Executive Perspective” and was named one of Screencraft's “25 People Screenwriters Should Follow on Twitter”.  His clients include finalists and winners of numerous prestigious contests including the ABC/Disney Fellowship, Austin Film Festival, PAGE Awards, Final Draft Big Break, Nashville Film Festival and Scriptapalooza. He has worked with over 2,000 writers and has consulted on produced projects including Strangerlands starring Nicole Kidman, I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart, Satanic Panic starring Rebecca Romijn, and In-Lawfully Yours (Netflix) starring Marilu Henner. In 2017, he was a Consulting Producer on the TV pilot Millennial Rules, starring Olivia D'Abo. Danny has taught seminars and workshops across the country at Austin Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Producer's Guild of America, NY Film Academy, LA Film School, Great American Pitchfest, Kansas City Film Festival, Screenwriting Expo, Florida Writer's Conference, The World Series of Comedy, Santa Fe Screenwriting Conference, Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Las Vegas Writers Conference, Oklahoma Film & Music Conference, The Writers Store, Central Coast Writers Conference, Vancouver Pitchmart, Scriptwriters Network, Sherwood Oaks College, LA Valley College, etc., and to groups in LA, NY, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Idaho, Iowa, Phoenix, Nebraska, Albuquerque, etc. He's also appeared as a guest on BBC Radio, Film Courage, and popular podcasts including Indie Film Hustle, Sell Your Script, Write Hot, and On the Page. Danny is also a screenwriter and was the Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions (A Cinderella Story) where he sold the family adventure project “To Oz” to United Artists, and was instrumental in developing numerous projects including Sydney White starring Amanda Bynes and Just Add Water, starring Dylan Walsh, Jonah Hill, Melissa McCarthy and Danny DeVito.     Danny was previously a Development Consultant for Eclectic Pictures (Lovelace), which had a deal with Millennium Films, and the Director of Development for Sandstorm Films, formerly run by writer/director J.S. Cardone, which had a first-look deal at Sony Screen Gems and a development deal with Top Cow Comics. He was instrumental in developing a number of films for the company including the #1 Box Office hit The Covenant, as well as 8MM2 and Sniper 3. Danny interned at Columbia Tri-Star in the Television Development department and at 20th Century Fox Casting. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannymanus/ https://twitter.com/DannyManus Find your host Kaia Alexander: https://entertainmentbusinessleague.com/ @ThisisKaia Produced by Stuart W. Volkow P.G.A.

Lets flip things upside down and watch the disaster movie that started it all, The Poseidon Adventure! In this episode Lolo shows Patrick another movie about a boat slowly sinking in the ocean, and she wonders why she doesn't like the idea of a cruse? They discuss what it is about this film that makes it so great, the struggles that went it to making the complex set pieces of this film, the differences between Hollywood in 1972 to today and listen to the end to hear Patrick and Lolo really get into it about modern film critique and so much more in this jam packed episode! New episodes of First Timers Movie Club come out every other Friday so click SUBSCRIBE and rate us five stars to make sure you don't miss our next episode!Buy tickets for ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Kansas City Film Festival: https://kcfilmfest.eventive.org/schedule/almost-sorta-maybe-623f4c0073f8600082c2741f?fbclid=IwAR1mR00JcYwDIgp9Q1WTpks342rMe72Mqf8uW90vghzayVK1d293eo-SfecCome see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Doc Sunback Film Festival: http://www.docsunbackfilmfest.com/home.htmlBecome a Patreon today for access to exclusive episodes here: www.patreon.com/ixfilmproductionsHave a favorite (or least favorite) famous movie that you think we should've seen? Reach out to IX Film Productions on Twitter, Instagram or email and we'll add it to our list!Follow IX Film Productions for podcast updates, stand up comedy, original web shorts and comedy feature films at:Facebook: www.facebook.com/ixfilmproductionsTwitter: www.twitter.com/ixproductionsInstagram: @IXProductionsYouTube: www.youtube.com/ixfp"First Timers Movie Club" is brought to you by IX Film Productions."Making the World a Funnier Place one Film at a Time"MusicThe Curtain Rises by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5007-the-curtain-risesLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

“I AM SPARTACUS!” we've all herd the famous line now Lolo see's the movie it came from for the first time! This week starts a mini series within our show of watching the films of Stanley Kubrick (don't worry we will throw so non-Kubrick films in the line up as well). In this episode we watch one of Kubrick's early films as well as his only film where he didn't have complete creative control. Learn the fun back story of the pre-production of this film, tons of great trivia about the auteur filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and how this film released 10 years after the blacklist is deeply connected to the “Hollywood 10”. New episodes of First Timers Movie Club come out every other Friday so click SUBSCRIBE and rate us five stars to make sure you don't miss our next episode!Come see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Kansas City Film Festival: https://kcfilmfest.eventive.org/schedule/almost-sorta-maybe-623f4c0073f8600082c2741f?fbclid=IwAR1mR00JcYwDIgp9Q1WTpks342rMe72Mqf8uW90vghzayVK1d293eo-SfecCome see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Doc Sunback Film Festival: http://www.docsunbackfilmfest.com/home.htmlBecome a Patreon today for access to exclusive episodes here: www.patreon.com/ixfilmproductionsHave a favorite (or least favorite) famous movie that you think we should've seen? Reach out to IX Film Productions on Twitter, Instagram or email and we'll add it to our list!Follow IX Film Productions for podcast updates, stand up comedy, original web shorts and comedy feature films at:Facebook: www.facebook.com/ixfilmproductionsTwitter: www.twitter.com/ixproductionsInstagram: @IXProductionsYouTube: www.youtube.com/ixfp"First Timers Movie Club" is brought to you by IX Film Productions."Making the World a Funnier Place one Film at a Time"MusicThe Curtain Rises by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5007-the-curtain-risesLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

After Nosferatu last episode we decided to do a complete 180 in the type of movie we watch next and what could be more different than a silent, horror film that's got a single color washed well a vibrant technicolor musical of course! This week Lolo shows Patrick the Audrey Hepburn classic, My Fair Lady for the first time! In this episode we find out how our resident thespian Patrick Poe has never seen this classic, the origin of this films story dating all the way back to 8AD, and we discuss is the film itself sexist/misogynistic? Find out all these things and more! New episodes of First Timers Movie Club come out every other Friday so click SUBSCRIBE and rate us five stars to make sure you don't miss our next episode!Come see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the First City Film Festival: https://filmfreeway.com/FirstCityFilmFestival/ticketsCome see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Kansas City Film Festival: https://kcfilmfest.org/Come see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Doc Sunback Film Festival: http://www.docsunbackfilmfest.com/home.htmlBecome a Patreon today for access to exclusive episodes here: www.patreon.com/ixfilmproductionsHave a favorite (or least favorite) famous movie that you think we should've seen? Reach out to IX Film Productions on Twitter, Instagram or email and we'll add it to our list!Follow IX Film Productions for podcast updates, stand up comedy, original web shorts and comedy feature films at:Facebook: www.facebook.com/ixfilmproductionsTwitter: www.twitter.com/ixproductionsInstagram: @IXProductionsYouTube: www.youtube.com/ixfp"First Timers Movie Club" is brought to you by IX Film Productions."Making the World a Funnier Place one Film at a Time"MusicThe Curtain Rises by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5007-the-curtain-risesLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Celebrate the 100 year anniversary of one of the first horror films ever made: Nosferatu! We watch the oldest film yet this week on First Timers Movie Club as Patrick shows Lolo the classic example of German Expressionism, Nosferatu. This episode gets real film nerdy so prepare to learn all about the history of the artform of cinema, how WW1 gave birth to the German Expressionist movement and how WW2 brought it to America shaping the future of film history and giving us style and techniques still used today!!! New episodes of First Timers Movie Club come out every other Friday so click SUBSCRIBE and rate us five stars to make sure you don't miss our next episode!Watch the trailer for ALMOST SORTA MAYBE: https://youtu.be/Y7j122FYyxQCome see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the First City Film Festival: https://filmfreeway.com/FirstCityFilmFestival/ticketsCome see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Kansas City Film Festival: https://kcfilmfest.org/Come see ALMOST SORTA MAYBE at the Doc Sunback Film Festival: http://www.docsunbackfilmfest.com/home.htmlBecome a Patreon today for access to exclusive episodes here: www.patreon.com/ixfilmproductionsHave a favorite (or least favorite) famous movie that you think we should've seen? Reach out to IX Film Productions on Twitter, Instagram or email and we'll add it to our list!Follow IX Film Productions for podcast updates, stand up comedy, original web shorts and comedy feature films at:Facebook: www.facebook.com/ixfilmproductionsTwitter: www.twitter.com/ixproductionsInstagram: @IXProductionsYouTube: www.youtube.com/ixfp"First Timers Movie Club" is brought to you by IX Film Productions."Making the World a Funnier Place one Film at a Time"MusicThe Curtain Rises by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5007-the-curtain-risesLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In today's episode, I welcome Sandy Woodson! Sandy is a filmmaker and photographer who recently quit her 9-5 to be a full-time documentarian. She discusses her experiences helping to share the stories of those whose voices have been historically silenced in Kansas City, including in the LBGTQ communities, and also about her passion for widening the audience for all artists in KC, whether they produce art for major companies or for their own small shows. (Fun fact: the cover image for this episode displays a tulip flag from Womontown, which you can read more about in the full episode notes.)   Get in touch with Sandy Woodson: sandywoodson12@gmail.com Enroll in Lindsey's dance and wellness courses: www.elevateart.thinkific.com  Support Artfully Told: www.paypal.me/elevateart Artfully Told links: www.facebook.com/artfullytold | www.artfullytold.podbean.com | elevateartskc@gmail.com Get a free audiobook through Audible!  http://www.audibletrial.com/ArtfullyTold Schedule your own interview as a featured guest with Artfully Told! https://calendly.com/artfullytold/podcast-interview   More about Sandy's project "Womontown:" In the late 1980s, Drea Nedelsky and Maryann Hopper had a vision.  They imagined a neighborhood where they could be themselves without fear,  a place where women could walk hand in hand down the street without the judgments and criticisms normally encountered in the straight world. Drea picked the Longfellow / Dutch Hill neighborhood from 30th to 27th, Harrison to Charlotte, because it was cheap. This was a neighborhood that had once housed Kansas City's elite but had fallen on hard times by the time the 80s rolled around.  Drea saw the economic benefits and security home ownership could provide and wanted to make that available for the people like them who were on the edges of society and faced countless discriminations not only because they were lesbians but because they were women.  In the late 80s and early 90s, a woman in Kansas City could not get a home loan on her own.  She needed a parent or husband to cosign. Being handy, Drea had no fear buying a house with no windows, electricity or plumbing even though it was next to an apartment building that housed drug dealers. Drea could see a future of like-minded women, buying these beat up, cheap houses and helping each other fix them up to make homes.  So Drea and Maryann put the word out and lesbians from all over the United States responded by coming to KC, buying houses and setting up a new community. As an organized effort, it lasted about 5 years, but the ripple it created is something that 30 years later can still be seen and felt.   Episode 73 - Sandy Woodson [00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome to Artfully Told, where we share true stories about meaningful encounters with art. [00:00:06] Krista: I think artists help people have different perspectives on every aspect of life. [00:00:12] Roman: All I can do is put my part in to the world. [00:00:15] Elizabeth: It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. It doesn't have to be perfect ever really. I mean, as long as you, and you're enjoying doing it and you're trying your best, that can be good enough. [00:00:23] Elna: Art is something that you can experience with your senses and that you just experiences as so beautiful. [00:00:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi friends, whether you are just getting started or you're a seasoned professional looking to up your game, I have an exciting opportunity for you. Did you know that I am actually the creator of 10 different courses online that range from ballet, jazz, tap. They also include a mindset detox course and two Stretch and Tone courses. So if you're looking to start a new hobby or get a little bit fitter, or you're looking to do a deep dive into your mindset, really perform a true detox, I have the course for you, and I would love to help you out with that. So if you go to elevateart.thinkific.com, you will see all of the different courses I've created. [00:01:26] You don't have to step in a classroom to take your first dance class. I teach a signature 20 Moves in 20 Days course that allows you to learn 20 steps in just 20 days. It's a lot of fun. We have a great time together. And I think you're going to absolutely love the different courses. And Artfully Told listeners get a little something from me. So if you go, you'll sign up and use the promo code "artfullytold," all one word, and when you do so you'll get 15% off the purchase of any and all your favorite courses. All right, listeners, enjoy that. Again, it's elevateart.thinkific.com. See you there. [00:02:11] Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Artfully Told. I am so excited to have as my guest today, Sandy Woodson. She is a documentarian, which I am so excited to hear all about how that journey came about. But thank you so much for being here, Sandy. I'm really excited to talk with you about art. [00:02:35] Sandy Woodson: I'm excited to be here. Thanks for the invite. [00:02:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course, absolutely. Well, Sandy, you know, you and I met through Kansas City Fringe Festival, which I have talked about many, many times on this podcast because I think it's such a special thing. But I would love if you wouldn't mind, maybe we could start there, sharing a little bit about how you've helped the festival over the years and even your own participation and then go from there. [00:03:01] Sandy Woodson: Okay. Yeah, it was somewhere around 2009 or 2010. We haven't really been able to remember between Cheryl and I, but early on, I was in a freelance mode. I was contracting with KCPT or KCPS. But I was just contracting and I had some open time and somehow or another, I think I first talked to Cheryl because I wanted to create an app that all the festivals in Kansas City could be listed on. I knew through the film festival, Kansas City Film Festival, introduced me to Cheryl to talk about that. And then as always, you know, if you talk to Cheryl, you become a volunteer pretty quickly for the Fringe Festival. So that's what happened. And at the time I had extra time, so I got involved with, you know, I jumped in with both feet and also, that was the first time I really started displaying photography. I've always been interested in it. I've always had it as a hobby. And I actually did some photography for Fringe that year. I believe it was that year. And I've pretty much done it every year since then. I haven't been as involved in the last couple of years, but in all the years leading up to that, I was pretty involved in the organization side of it. [00:04:17] Lindsey Dinneen: For sure. Yeah. And, oh my gosh, I know you, you know, basically once, well, even beforehand, but certainly once the festival starts, you're hitting the ground running like literally almost 24/7. [00:04:30] Sandy Woodson: Yeah. For a lot of years, it was like that. And then, like I say, the last couple of years, I kind of stepped back a little bit because my work started to get more intense. And so I didn't have as much time as I used to. [00:04:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, for sure. Well, are you planning to still, you know, participate in some ways and, and continue to exhibit your own work? [00:04:53] Sandy Woodson: Yeah, absolutely. And hoping to get now that I'm not nine to five, full-time somewhere. I'm hoping to get more involved with the festival next year, too. I'm happy that it looks like we're going to be able to meet in person again. That'll be awesome. [00:05:09] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, hallelujah. I'm so ready for that. Okay. Yeah. Well, yeah. Thank you for sharing a little bit about that. And then, you know, specifically with your artwork, do you want to share what you kind of focus on as far as your photography? [00:05:26] Sandy Woodson: Yeah. So early on, my big thing was kind of spawned by the fact that I've, you know, had the way I put it-- I went to one too many bad photography exhibits where it's nothing but naked women. And I was like, so where all the naked men, you know, so I kind of got started on that path and did that for quite a few years. I was helped by that with not only Fringe where I could literally post, you know, or hang whatever kind of photos I want to do. At the time April McInerney, who I love, had a gallery called Slap and Tickle Gallery. And so she really opened things up for me. There was one time where she let me take over the whole gallery space and I hung, I had probably four or five different themes or years of work that I hung up. And then I set up a little area with rope and stanchion and a TV and a recliner and a cooler. And I said, I had a sign that said the "North American Male in his Native Habitat." And I had different guys show up every half hour to sit in the chair and do whatever they wanted to do. I was like, I don't care what you do. We just kind of want to here's guys. And here's what they do because that kind of went with the theme of all the photography I'd been doing the years leading up to that. [00:06:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and that is an interesting thing. Again, native habitat. I like it. Yeah. And what a cool opportunity to get to take over that gallery, so to speak and that's awesome. [00:06:56] Sandy Woodson: Oh yeah, she was so awesome. I mean, she let the gallery go a few years ago. But you know, with Fringe, I was always able to do two sets of photography every year because they had a blue gallery or the gallery where the naked stuff went and so for Fringe, I'd always have something everybody could see and then something people not everybody could see. And April, her gallery, it was like whatever I wanted to put in there. Yeah, so it was an awesome time. And in the years since then, particularly in the last couple of years, I have been documenting LGBT history in Kansas City or what I'm hoping, you know, history in the making, things that are happening now that in the future, hopefully somebody will want to look back at and see, but so that's mostly what I've been doing with my photography since I haven't. Since Fringe has been virtual-- well I say that-- this last Fringe, I hung ballroom photos, and I can talk about that too. That's one of my documentary, documentary projects that I'm kind of working on. [00:08:04] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh yeah. I'd love to hear about that. [00:08:07] Sandy Woodson: Well, and when you hear ballroom, people think of men and women dancing in a kind of a formal way. This is more the African-American trans community ballroom. And like, if you ever saw the documentary, "Paris is Burning," from the eighties or what really kind of brought it all back up was the "Pose" series that was on FX, I think. And that's really how I got to know the people in Kansas City that are part of that community is I went to that screening. They were screening it at Tapcade, a weekly show for, I don't know, 6, 7, 8 weeks. And so I would go and, and I started to meet the people who do ballroom in Kansas City. And they've been very nice in letting me. There was a ball two years ago that they let me videotape and photograph. And for Fringe this last year is when I hung those ballroom photos. So that's been a big interest of mine over these last couple of years. [00:09:06] And I met Michael Robeson, who was co-creator of "Pose" because he's related in the ballroom community to a guy here in Kansas City named Xavier and Xavier is actually the Grandfather of Ballroom in Kansas City. So anyway, it's been an awesome experience. The people I've met are amazing and very kind and letting me poke my nose in their business. And now that COVID is getting better. I hope to get a couple of more. You know, recordings of balls that I know are coming up. [00:09:49] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. How exciting and what a cool opportunity. And it's great that you're keeping track of, of history there because, you know, we, we would want to be able to look back on that and really, you know, dive in. So yeah. Yeah. I definitely think so and well, and that's a perfect segue. I know you've had, you know, a really amazing career in a lot of different ways and venues and all sorts of fun stuff. But I know now you're kind of on a, on your own trajectory again, you know, as far as I know, not working for other, for a specific other person anymore or other company. And so, you mind sharing a little bit about your kind of dreams and plans for your future? [00:10:30] Sandy Woodson: There are so many right now. I'm just loving everything right now. So I worked at KCPBS off and on for the last 25 years or so. And there were two other times where I went freelance and contracted with the station and did some other things that I was working on at the time. So this time I, the station had approved me, given me the go-ahead to do a Womontown documentary. And I can explain that topic in a second. And so what I did is I got all of it, everything's shot and kept not being able to spend the time editing it because my full-time job was too crazy for me to be able to do that. So I was going to buy a house. I took some money out of my retirement account, the house didn't come through. And I was like, "Hey, I got enough money in there. I could live for a while off of that." So that's what I'm doing. And I have four documentary projects ahead of me. [00:11:29] Well, and, and if you don't mind, I'd like to explain. I mean, so a couple of years ago for Fringe, I was in San Francisco. I was walking down the street and in the sidewalk, I saw a heart with two men's names in it, and I thought, "Wow, I've never seen that before." And it got me started down a path of trying to document men who'd been together 20 years. And I did that as a photography project. I did audio- recorded interviews with these men as to how they met, their favorite things about each other. I was keeping it short and sweet because when you were at Union Station looking at the photos, you could scan a QR code and it would go to the site where you could listen to their interview. So when I was interviewing them, all of them had had met at the Cabaret Bar. And I started hearing about the Cabaret, which I'd never been to. When the Cabaret was around, I was, you know, living north of the river and having kids. So I didn't really know anything about it and got very interested in that. [00:12:33] And then somewhere down the line, I decided I wanted to talk about HIV aids in the eighties because I didn't, you know, I know people have done documentaries on that for other parts of the country, but not for here in Kansas City. So I got excited about doing that. And then I was talking to Rashaan Gilmore and he's like, "This is not just a history thing in my community. This is happening now." Because in the African-American community, if the rate continues as it is from what he told me, there will come a time where one out of every two African-American men will be HIV positive. So it became the history and the current state of HIV/AIDS in Kansas City. [00:13:16] So because I'm straight and I don't know anything or didn't know anything at that time, a couple of years ago when I first started this, I just started meeting people, talking to people. I'm talking about the Cabaret, talking about what it was like to be gay in Kansas City in the early days, what's it like now. I started documenting Drag Queens and female impersonators and that met the ballroom community, started documenting that. So it's just kind of taken off from there. And I think for me, I'm real passionate about this because I feel like the people in the LGBT community until somewhat recently, it wasn't safe for people to be coming out. So all of this history that's gone on for all of these decades, very little documenting has been done about it, particularly with video. And I started partnering with the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America with Stewart Heinz and just meeting tons of people. And so that's been, that's how all of that kind of got started. [00:14:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm so glad that you're choosing to tell stories that are, have traditionally not been told and, you know, historically have been sort of, like you said, kind of underground, hidden, whatever. You just didn't talk about it. So I think it's, it's cool that, that your endeavor is to, you know, meet these people and tell their stories. [00:14:43] Sandy Woodson: Well, and it's been really awesome for me. I mean, I'm glad that I was doing all of this on my own and, you know, outside of my full-time job and, you know, because of that, it has been a couple of years since I really began all of this, but you know, still in all it's, you know, there are still people who are afraid to talk about it. There are people who are afraid of talking about HIV/AIDS. There's, I mean, the thing that blew me away when I started thinking about it was every person I spoke to about the HIV/AIDS crisis and about those early days, they started to cry. I mean, it's, it's one of these things that no, it's almost been 40 years and nobody's really talked about it. You know? They, it's not a general topic of conversation and it's just kind of a, such a sad thing that it's not talked about as much. And I think it's, it's almost like opening a wound. And I've asked people when they've gotten teary, whether they regret having agreed to talk to me. And they said, "Actually, it's kind of therapeutic." So 'cause they hadn't thought about it or talked about it in almost 40. [00:15:58] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. Wow. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's, that's great that you're doing that and, and yeah, telling your personal story really does matter to someone who's willing to listen and not just listen, but like, ask questions, and "how was this experience for you and be empathic and that's, that's cool. So, awesome. Well so I'm, I'm curious then-- so going back, what got you involved in art and photography and all of those things, you know, at, at the beginning, what got, what sparked your interest? [00:16:32] Sandy Woodson: Well my dad does photography and so growing up, I was always looking at photography books and museums and artwork and reading. And my grandma, one of my grandmas painted. So there was always a lot of that for me when I was growing up and, but I got, I got pregnant and married very early at 18. And so-- well I was going to say things were put on hold, but they weren't. I got, I went right into theater at that point and got very involved in sets and props and doing tech backstage, sound and lights, and anything and everything really. I just loved being involved in theater and I love the process and the team effort that goes into it. And I just loved everything about it, but at one point 10 years later, I was going through a divorce and I thought, "Oh, I'll never make any money in theater. So I better stop that." [00:17:33] And I went into video and I started in corporate video. But all the things that I had learned in theater, some of those things translated, you know, these still need costumes, you still need props. You still need sets. You still need to organize how this all is going to come about and schedule people and crews and all of that. So that's how I became a video producer. And, but I didn't really do much except, you know, like I say, kind of playing around as a hobby with, with photography or writing or any of that until I got involved with Fringe, which was another 10, 20 years after that. And it's because, you know, as you know, Fringe is so accepting and they're all about, you know, we're not expecting everything to be perfect all the time. I started to understand what it means, what it means to go through the process. I mean, you have to get doing to grow and Fringe is so accepting of all of that, then it made me feel comfortable enough to start trying to do some things a little more seriously when it came to photography. [00:18:42] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. I'm, I'm such a big proponent of the Fringe Festival concept of, you know, these are unjuried, uncensored projects or shows that are being put forth. And so it is a very welcoming audience of, you know, it's, it doesn't have to be perfect the first time or, you know, you can experiment at Fringe and still have ,yeah, and still have such a great audience. And their feedback is so helpful, but you know, they're, they're there with you cheering you on, I would say. And so it's a really place to produce art. [00:19:24] Sandy Woodson: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And like you say, to experiment. I mean, I've seen people try a lot of different things that they wouldn't have any other place to do that. [00:19:35] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. I completely agree. Yeah. So I'm curious, I'm sure that there are many moments that might come to mind, but are there any specific stories that you can think of, of times of when either you were witnessing some artwork that really touched you or you witnessed someone witnessing your artwork and, and sort of a story of, of maybe those moments to remember, just because they're really special? [00:20:00] Sandy Woodson: Well, the most recent one that I can remember is, I went with a group of people to Italy and I'm a huge museum freak. I just love museums. I could spend all day in museums, not only because of the artwork, but they're just as a whole, they're very peaceful, beautiful places. So, but we went to-- gosh, what was the guy's name? It was some famous Italian guy, it was his villa. And I saw the Botticellis. They're like 10 foot tall by 10 foot or 20 feet wide. And it was "Spring Primavera," which I think I've always thought of as a Venus in a half shell or something. I saw that and another one and I was just like, "This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen." And, you know, I actually felt the same way one time when I was in Amsterdam and saw Van Gogh. There is --it's called "Apple Blossoms". I think it's "Apple Blossoms" and it was the first time I'd ever seen it. Now, since then, I see it all over the place in posters. I have an iPad that has a cover that has that artwork on it. [00:21:08] But I realized as much as I see this artwork in books, it is nothing to compare to when you get to actually see it in person. And the Van Gogh was one of the first-- well, my first and all of these happened in Europe. I know there are things in Kansas City that I've seen at the Nelson that every time I go, I have to go by and look at it. But the ones that made the biggest impact were the ones in Europe, because I had a whole series of books on art museums. And I would just go through those things over and over again. And to see these things in person just blew me away. So, oh gosh. And "Winged Victory." I love sculpture. "Winged Victory" at the Louvre just stopped me in my tracks to just-- things like that, that you just see them, it's like, "Oh my God. That's beautiful." [00:22:01] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. Yeah. I, I agree is it's like, I mean, I can definitely relate to what you're saying about, you know, artwork and seeing it in person and the originals and such versus a photo. And I feel that way about art in general is just, if you can experience it live, there's nothing like that. It's so much better than, you know, it incorporates your senses and you just have these special-- I think it's cool too, because you often have-- I mean, I have many times gone to an art museum by myself and wandered around and, you know, enjoyed it thoroughly. But I think some of my favorite moments are connecting with people with art. I think that's a really special moment, you know? [00:22:43] Sandy Woodson: Yeah. And a lot of that for me is more like when I'm going to a play or going to an art movie or something that, yeah, there's definitely-- you can't compare watching it at home on TV or listening to it by yourself at home then that communal... That's I always love Shakespeare in the Park here in Kansas City. I love that, you know, all of us sitting outside and usually dying of heat, but you know, I, I really liked those experiences too. [00:23:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has really been a lot of fun. I have a couple of questions that I like to ask my guests if you're okay with that. [00:23:24] Sandy Woodson: Sure. [00:23:25] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. So first of all, what is one change that you would like to see in the art world? Whether that is, you know, specifically through one of the mediums that you have enjoyed and, and worked on over the years or whether that's like, you know, art in general, just what's one change you'd really love to see? [00:23:48] Sandy Woodson: I don't think-- probably because my experience with Fringe, I get really tired of the fact that we in this community, we seem to focus on what is considered "high art." You know, it's not like I dislike any of these people or anything, but I'm just going to say it, you know, with the Ballet and Opera and Symphony, those people get enough support. I mean, I know they need to raise money every year, but when you're looking at these artists that are part of the Fringe Festival to me, that's real art, you know, and I don't think it gets enough attention and I think people poo poo it. And I think I've seen some of the most amazing things. [00:24:28] There was something I saw that Kyle Hatley did. I think it was called "Head" one of my first few years at Fringe. And I, I was so blown away by it. You see amazing things being done by high-end artists in Kansas City during Fringe, and they're just as amazing there as they are anywhere else. And they're helping to support their friend who's writing a play for the first time or somebody who's doing some choreography for the first time. And, and, and /or people like Kyle Hatley who wanted to experiment with a play idea that he had. So I just, to me, that's where the real art is, and I don't think it gets enough attention. [00:25:09] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Oh, I love that answer. And yeah, attention and funding, I think are our biggest complaints. [00:25:16] Sandy Woodson: One comes with the other. You get the attention first and then hopefully the funding. [00:25:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes, exactly. And then also, is there something arts related that you've wanted to try? Maybe another form of art, but you just haven't yet. Or, you know, it's kind of been intimidating to, to start. What's one other art thing that you'd love to do? [00:25:38] Sandy Woodson: Absolutely. When I saw-- well first I saw it here-- Nick Cave did it during open spaces using multiple projections. And then I saw it when I was in France. That was an experience with-- in fact, right now there's something going on in Kansas City with Van Gogh, that's doing multiple projections in a space. But the one in France was an old hollowed out quarry with 50 foot walls. And I don't even know how many projectors they had in there, but anyway, it was such an amazing-- that kind of an immersive experience. I love projections, Stephen Goldblatt, who does this stuff for quixotic. I love that. I think it adds so much to the performance when, when they use those projections. So video projection is probably something I would like to try at some point. [00:26:28] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that sounds awesome. I did see an ad for that Van Gogh experience and I was like, "Oh man, I, I, if I can get up there, I'm have to do it." [00:26:38] Sandy Woodson: Yes. [00:26:40] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. And then my final question is, at the end of your life, what's one art-related experience that you would want to experience again for the last time? [00:26:52] Sandy Woodson: Gosh, I mean, to me, I almost see art everywhere. I mean, I love architecture. I love fashion. I love jewelry design. There's so many things I love. Probably it would have to be going back to the Louvre, maybe? The last time I went, I dedicated two full days to going top to bottom. That was freaking stunning. So I'd probably try to go there one more time. [00:27:19] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. That's on my a definite bucket list. I haven't, I haven't made it there yet, but it's coming. [00:27:27] Sandy Woodson: You got to go to Napoleon's apartments. I also love furniture and decorative arts, and good lord, that stuff was amazing. [00:27:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Awesome. Yeah, no, I will definitely have to do that. Well, thank you so much for sharing your stories and know what you're up to and, and all these exciting things, I'm just, I'm so thrilled for you. I'm glad you're in a place where you can really follow these passions of telling people's stories that need to be told. So I think this is really cool and congratulations on this new adventure. And is there a way for people to stay in touch with you or if they have questions or anything like that, is there a way for them to connect with you? [00:28:08] Sandy Woodson: Sure. You can email me at Sandy Woodson, S A N D Y W O O D S O N12@gmail.com. [00:28:18] Lindsey Dinneen: Well, thank you so very much, Sandy, for everything that you have brought to the world. Thank you so much for continuing to explore art and to share people's stories and to be a voice for those that haven't had that opportunity. And thank you again so much for being here today. And to everyone who has listened to this episode, if you're feeling inspired by it, I'd love if you'd share this with a friend or two and we will catch you next time. [00:28:52] If you have a story to share with us, we would love that so much. And I hope your day has been Artfully Told. [00:29:01] Hi friends. I wanted to share with you another podcast that I think you're going to fall in love with just as I have. It's called Harlem with a View, and it is hosted by Harlem Lennox, who was a previous guest of mine on Artfully Told and a dear friend. Just because it looks easy doesn't mean it is. There is so much that goes into the work of your creative. She wants to know how the artists got into their line of work, what inspires them, but most importantly, what keeps them going? She'd asked them about how they make it through the blood, sweat, and tears. She wants to know what it's like to live this creative life: the good, the bad, the ugly, and even the magical. So she goes behind the scenes with creatives, from different genres and she explores their history, their take on life and talks about the business of art and the dedication of making art. She has a brilliant, brilliant platform. I think you will fall in love. I highly recommend that you search for Harlem with a View. Thanks!

Neil Haley will interview Nija Okoro of The Black Emperor of Broadway When celebrated playwright Eugene O'Neill cast Charles Gilpin as the lead in his new play “The Emperor Jones” in 1920, Broadway was changed forever. Vision Films and Egeli Productions are proud to present the incredible story of Charles Gilpin in The Black Emperor of Broadway. Directed by Arthur Egeli (Murder on the Cape) and starring Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space, The Mummy Returns), John Hensley (How To Get Away With Murder, Nip-Tuck), Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls, How To Get Away With Murder), Nick Moran (Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and Nija Okoro (Insecure, The Deuce), this stunning and timely film not only celebrates the career of one of the most celebrated stage actors of the 1920s, but also the history of African-American excellence in theatre. Following a successful festival run that included Greenwich International Film Festival, Brooklyn International Film Festival, Macon Film Festival, Harlem International Film Festival and Kansas City Film Festival (where it won Best Narrative Feature), The Black Emperor of Broadway will be available on September 15, 2020 on digital from platforms including iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Amazon, and FandangoNow, as well as cable affiliates everywhere, and October 6, 2020 on DVD from all major online retailers. Preorder The Black Emperor of Broadway: apple.co/3jqHgHV

A New documentary short playing at the Kansas City Film Festival sheds light on South Africa's first and only all female anti-poaching unit called the Black Mambas. Abbys asks founder Craig Spencer and member Goodness Mhlanga about standing on the front lines to help save rhinos from extinction.

Rudi Womack and Aleksander Ristic just premiered their newest feature film "In This Gray Place" at the Kansas City Film Festival. R.D. Womack II is a director from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Known for his gritty and artistic taste, Womack leans heavily on dramatic character pieces and dark comedy. A multi award-winning editor and actor’s director, Womack also employs a distinctive abstract style that is recognizable across his filmography. Originally from Ontario, Canada Aleksander Ristic has starred in numerous television series, features and new media projects. With credits ranging from TV’s Days of Our Lives, to his breakout role in Call of the Wolf, Aleks has shown a propensity for dynamic characters. While frequently seen on stage and on film, Ristic’s new media projects have garnered over ten million views and have won several awards. Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRcwClE9b3k Follow the film on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InThisGrayPlaceMovie/ "Indies on Indie" is brought to you by IX Productions "Making the World a Funnier Place one Film at a Time" Follow IX Film Productions for podcast updates, stand up comedy, original webseries and comedy feature films at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ixfilmproductions Twitter: www.twitter.com/ixproductions Instagram: @IXProductions YouTube: www.youtube.com/ixfp And support us and this podcast on Patreon: www.patreon.com/ixfilmproductions Music Track: "Riptide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Aired Thursday, 17 August 2017, 7:00 PM ET Horsemen of The Apocalypse - Global Warming, & The Energy Moguls who are Putting Profits Before the Truth with Dick Russell The science is overwhelming; the facts are in. The planet is heating up at an alarming rate and the results are everywhere to be seen. Yet, as time runs out, climate progress is blocked by the men who are profiting from the burning of the planet: energy moguls like the Koch brothers and Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Powerful politicians like Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Inhofe, who receive massive contributions from the oil and coal industries. Most of these men are too intelligent to truly believe that climate change is not a growing crisis. And yet they have put their profits and careers ahead of the health and welfare of the world’s population—and even their own children and grandchildren. How do they explain themselves to their offspring, to the next generations that must deal with the environmental havoc that these men have wreaked? This week, Dick Russell, author of Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Men Who Are Destroying Life on Earth – and What It Means for our Children joins Sandie to discuss: ~ The complex sordid web of lies and cover-ups of fossil fuel corporations and their henchmen ~ How the misuse of wealth and power is undermining democracy, threatening the health of the planet, and neglecting our moral responsibility to future generations.” ~ The rebellious descendants of the fossil fuel families who are trying to make a difference toward a more sustainable world ~ The alternative energy sources that are now more than cost competitive with fossil fuels About the Guest: Dick Russell Dick Russell is an environmental journalist and author of thirteen books on subjects ranging from natural history to the assassination of President Kennedy. His latest book, Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Men Who Are Destroying Life on Earth – And What It Means to Our Children, written before Trump came to power, and which is edited and introduced by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Russell, Russell reveals the sordid truth about the energy moguls most responsible for the climate disaster our civilization is facing. Russell’s book, The Man Who Knew Too Much, about a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, was hailed as “a masterpiece of historical reconstruction” by Publisher’s Weekly. An environmental activist and lecturer who has been a guest on many national TV and radio programs, Russell writes a regular blog on the Trump administration and the environment. His early years of traveling across Europe and Africa are the subject of a 2017 documentary, “Hitchhiking to the Edge of Sanity,” which premiered in April at the Kansas City Film Festival. His 2014 memoir, “My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism,” will appear in an updated paperback version in November. His website: www.dickrussell.org

Maria talks with Robin Prosini Chair of the Kansas City FIlm Festival, Cassie Pikarsky Community Development Coordinator with the National Museum of Toys/Miniature, and poets Iris Appelquist, Crista Siglin, and […] The post ARTSPEAK RADIO Live!! appeared first on KKFI.

Maria talks with Robin Prosini Chair of the Kansas City FIlm Festival, Cassie Pikarsky Community Development Coordinator with the National Museum of Toys/Miniature, and poets Iris Appelquist, Crista Siglin, and […] The post ARTSPEAK RADIO Live!! appeared first on KKFI.

INTERVIEW DANNY MANUS – NO BULLSCRIPT.NET Danny Manus parlayed his career as a development executive in Hollywood to becoming an in-demand script consultant and founder of No BullScript Consulting. The author of “No BS for Screenwriters: Advice from the Executive Perspective,” which is now in its 2nd Edition, Danny was ranked in the Top 15 “Cream of the Crop” Script Consultants by Creative Screenwriting Magazine and was named one of Screencraft’s “25 People Screenwriters Should Follow on Twitter”.Danny brings a new voice to the classroom and has taught seminars and workshops across the country at prestigious events and venues including Austin Film Festival, Great American Pitchfest, Kansas City Film Festival, Screenwriting Expo, ShowBiz Expo, Santa Fe Screenwriting Conference, Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Las Vegas Writers Conference, The Writers Store, Vancouver Pitchmart, Scriptwriters Network, Sherwood Oaks College, LA Valley College, The Great Canadian Pitchfest, etc., and to groups in LA, NYC, Chicago, Dallas, Idaho, Iowa, Florida, etc. He’s also appeared on BBC Radio, the Film Courage radio show, Triggerstreet’s Script Reporter podcast and the On the Page podcast.Previously, Danny was the Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions (A Cinderella Story) where he sold the family adventure project “To Oz” to United Artists, and was instrumental in developing numerous projects including Sydney White starring Amanda Bynes, and the dark comedy Just Add Water, starring Dylan Walsh, Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Melissa McCarthy and Danny DeVito. He continues to work with the company as a producer on several projects. Before launching No BullScript, Danny also worked as a script analyst for companies such as ScriptShark and Script Coach.Daniel was also a Development Consultant for Eclectic Pictures (Lovelace), which has a deal with Millennium Films, and the Director of Development for Sandstorm Films (The Forsaken), formerly run by writer/director J.S. Cardone, which had a first-look deal at Sony Screen Gems and a development deal with Top Cow Comics. He was instrumental in developing a number of films for the company includingThe Covenant, 8MM2, and Sniper 3. Danny also interned at Columbia Tri-Star in the Television Development department and at 20th Century Fox in Feature Casting.   Thank You for checking out Hollywood Breakthrough Show! This podcast main purpose is to serve up positive information without shade. There are thousands of great Films & TV shows with, Staff Writers, Editors, Cinematographer, Actors, Set Designers, and Make-up Artist just to name a few. Join us at Hollywood Breakthrough Show, as we interview some of the most talented people in the business, which names you may, or may not know! But you have seen their work! Whether they're well- established veterans of the business, or current up and comers, these are the people who are making a living in Hollywood. Screenwriters, directors, producers and entertainment industry professionals share inside perspective on writing, filmmaking, breaking into Hollywood and navigating SHOW BUSINESS, along with stories of their journey to success! HELP SPREAD THE WORD PLEASE! SCREENWRITERS, DIRECTORS, AUTHORS, we would love to help spread the word about your Film, Book, Crowdfunding, etc., Contact us! (EMAIL: Info@hollywoodbreakthrough.com ) See Videos of all interviews at Hollywood Breakthrough Please subscribe in iTunes and write us a review! Follow us on  Social Media Sites |  Twitter @TheBreakThur|  Facebook: facebook.com/HollywoodBreakthroughPodcast Please, Subscribe! Also, Please contact us for Interviews or Sponsorship of an episode!  Hollywood Breakthrough Show Website (EMAIL: Info@hollywoodbreakthrough.com ) View Apps Sponsor: Hollywood Hero Agent Fenix Hill Pro Scottie The Baby Dino  

Trevan and Trey return to the Alamo Drafthouse to talk about the Kansas City Film Festival, underway right now. Comedian Chris Cubas swings by to talk about The Movie Interruption and everything else going on at The Alamo this month, and then writer/director/producer Anthony Ladesich stops by to talk about The Icarus 1 and The Secret […]

In this special episode of The Projection Booth, we talk about the Aspen Film Festival, the Kansas City Film Festival, upcoming episodes, and conspiracy theories.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode of The Projection Booth, we talk about the Aspen Film Festival, the Kansas City Film Festival, upcoming episodes, and conspiracy theories.

Brea Grant is an actress and writer best known for her work on Heroes as Daphne Millbrook.  Born in Marshall, Texas, she holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in American Studies from the University of Texas.  She is currently shooting an arc for Showtime’s Dexter. Brea’s acting credits include episodes in Friday Night Lights, Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2, and a number of television shows. She recently completed filming the Southern action film, The Baytown Disco, starring Eva Longoria. Brea starred in two independent films last year – Homecoming, across from John Robinson and Colleen Camp, which won best feature at the Kansas City Film Festival, and Detour, an indie disaster film which will start hitting festivals later this year. Brea has also had success in the world of comics. Her first s