I had the honor of giving some brief welcoming remarks at a filmmaking competition launch party in New York City and decided to focus on positivity, self empowerment and the choice to move up the ladder together, as opposed to viewing the entertainment industry as a one-winner-takes-all, zero-sum game. Here are my remarks:
Hello everyone and welcome to the 2018 72 Hour Shootout filmmaking competition! If you can believe it, the Film Lab has now been running educational, networking and film and TV production projects for TWENTY YEARS and it’s pretty incredible to see how our members and filmmakers grow in quality and work ethic every year. The Shootout is designed to give everyone from newbies to professional filmmakers the opportunity to make a short film over 72 hours that could give them access to film festivals and TV networks they may not otherwise have access to. The Shootout provides a platform for faces, voices and stories that are often marginalized or silenced by mainstream media and we take it even further by hooking up our top filmmakers and actors with mentorships or screen tests at networks like ABC and NBC – opportunities rarely obtained for just 3 days of work on a 5 minute film.
I was actually in a room with one of our judges, Marci Phillips, the Executive Director of Casting for ABC, last weekend and she gave me a copy of her book ‘The Present Actor.’ In it, she talks, in part, about the negativity and competitiveness the entertainment industry can produce – for example, when we wish ill on others, resent their successes and treat the industry like a one-winner-takes-all game. As Marci noted in her book, this is a terrible and self-destructive way to view the profession.
At the Film Lab, we believe in collaboration and helping one another move up the ladder together, in supporting one another and respecting each other. Look around the room. You could view these people as competition or you could realize that everyone here is a potential colleague, a potential teammate, a potential collaborator. We believe the world is what you make it – quite literally in the sense of the Shootout. When you create your films, all the power is in your hands to create the stories you’ve always wanted to write and the characters you’ve always wanted to play. You don’t have to wait for someone else to do it for you. The Shootout empowers you to do it for yourself and then ensures your work is seen by judges as amazing as ABC’s Marci.
Obviously, if you make the top ten in this competition, you win big. You can get screened at AAIFF, televised across the country, and have the opportunity to be mentored by NBC executives, among other things. However, even if you don’t make the top ten, you still win. You win free access to networking and educational programming at the Film Lab. The Film Lab is like a gym membership – it only works if you use it. So, use it! Come to the events. Meet people. Create amazing works of art. Have fun. You’ll get out of it what you put into it. Now, it’s my pleasure to introduce the 2018 Shootout Coordinator and our own AAFL TV editor, Jatin Chhugani.
If you'd like to listen to all the opening remarks, click here
For the opening remarks PLUS the opening act off the night - a live musical performance by the amazing Kash - click here
Hello everyone and welcome to the 2018 72 Hour Shootout filmmaking competition! If you can believe it, the Film Lab has now been running educational, networking and film and TV production projects for TWENTY YEARS and it’s pretty incredible to see how our members and filmmakers grow in quality and work ethic every year. The Shootout is designed to give everyone from newbies to professional filmmakers the opportunity to make a short film over 72 hours that could give them access to film festivals and TV networks they may not otherwise have access to. The Shootout provides a platform for faces, voices and stories that are often marginalized or silenced by mainstream media and we take it even further by hooking up our top filmmakers and actors with mentorships or screen tests at networks like ABC and NBC – opportunities rarely obtained for just 3 days of work on a 5 minute film.
I was actually in a room with one of our judges, Marci Phillips, the Executive Director of Casting for ABC, last weekend and she gave me a copy of her book ‘The Present Actor.’ In it, she talks, in part, about the negativity and competitiveness the entertainment industry can produce – for example, when we wish ill on others, resent their successes and treat the industry like a one-winner-takes-all game. As Marci noted in her book, this is a terrible and self-destructive way to view the profession.
At the Film Lab, we believe in collaboration and helping one another move up the ladder together, in supporting one another and respecting each other. Look around the room. You could view these people as competition or you could realize that everyone here is a potential colleague, a potential teammate, a potential collaborator. We believe the world is what you make it – quite literally in the sense of the Shootout. When you create your films, all the power is in your hands to create the stories you’ve always wanted to write and the characters you’ve always wanted to play. You don’t have to wait for someone else to do it for you. The Shootout empowers you to do it for yourself and then ensures your work is seen by judges as amazing as ABC’s Marci.
Obviously, if you make the top ten in this competition, you win big. You can get screened at AAIFF, televised across the country, and have the opportunity to be mentored by NBC executives, among other things. However, even if you don’t make the top ten, you still win. You win free access to networking and educational programming at the Film Lab. The Film Lab is like a gym membership – it only works if you use it. So, use it! Come to the events. Meet people. Create amazing works of art. Have fun. You’ll get out of it what you put into it. Now, it’s my pleasure to introduce the 2018 Shootout Coordinator and our own AAFL TV editor, Jatin Chhugani.
If you'd like to listen to all the opening remarks, click here
For the opening remarks PLUS the opening act off the night - a live musical performance by the amazing Kash - click here
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