2001 AUTEUR CHAMPIONS

SPECIALEVENTS

OK LT. GOVERNOR CITATION | UNFORGETTABLE | SCHMIDT'S FILMMAKING | KREVOLIN'S SCREENWRITING | TRAILBLAZER SALUTES | N-D-NEWS
UNFORGETTABLE

MASTER OF CEREMONIES
ACTOR/COMEDIAN-LARRY SELLERS

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OSCAR RAY & ShIRON BUTTERFLY
FESTIVAL FOUNDERS

Notes from the fest:
Well, the festival is over, everyone is back at home, getting some much needed sleep in between getting back to the business of making and marketing motion pictures.

As the director, you have to take some criticism along with the slaps on the back, the handshakes and the cudos. Thus, I understand the much used saying, "The buck stops here".
All during this year's festival, I was able to attach situations to familiar sayings, such as "If it ain't one thing, it's another". "Anything that can go wrong, will." "Don't count your chickens before they hatch". "Opinions are like elbows, everyone has one."

All in all, the quality of this year's festival far exceeded expectations. Plans for next year's festival are already underway.

PEOPLE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT:

Rick Schmidt ("Feature Filmmaking At Used Car Prices") shooting footage at every opportunity using Dogma methodology (I've got to read up on this)a variety of actors and locations. His seminar was a real hit as was his ease at being in the spotlight every moment.

Richard Krevolin ("Screenwriting From The Soul") will long be remembered holding his arms in the air and saying "let it go", just let it go" to those of us who try to hold on to projects that need revising.

Larry Sellers (Actor/Comedian) Master of Ceremonies for the Awards Show was quite a hit with the audience as he exhibited his quick wit and humor.

Oscar & Shiron Butterfly Ray were both stunned (hope we got a picture of their faces) when greeted with a standing ovation by the crowd.

Billy Franks (Songwriter, Singer and Lead Actor in "Track 16") from London, England (www.billyfranks.com)will long be remembered for his untiring performances throughout the festival, following their movie premiere and as the final act of the festival.

Jessica Sharzer (Screenwriter "Story of Eve") from Brooklyn, NY and her visits to the local high school drama classes to discuss moviemaking and to promote her staged reading ("The Story of Eve") The biggest surprise was her discovery that filmmaker Juan E. Martinez,Jr. ("Rules") lives near her and that she had to travel half way across the U.S. to meet someone from her neighborhood who shares her interests.

Adele D'Man & Peter Goldberg ("Only Life") of New York and how full of energy Adele was throughout the event. I don't think anyone could believe how bountiful her hair really is. Visit her website: www.bfgfproductions.com

The various media covering the festival: Oklahoma Hollywood Magazine, OETA, New Day TV Show, Indie Slate, Oklahoma Eagle Newspaper, Muskogee Daily Phoenix, KBIX radio, KTFX radio, Young Guns Film Team (Darkwood Film Arts Institute).

Maureen Herzog and Dave Walker (Editors & Publishers of Indie Slate) were also honored as Bare Bones TrailBlazers. They accompanied the "Shoot 'N OK" Locations Tour on Friday to various destinations that included the 5 Tribes Museum, The Castle of Muskogee (Torture Chamber Tour), Wagoner's Historical Musuem of Clothing, Tahlequah's Restaurant of the Cherokees (Heart of Cherokee Nation) and Fort Gibson's Old Fort Days with Living History Re-Enactors.

The filmmakers and screenwriters who attended the festival in 1890's attire: Lee Newton ("Black Marshall: The Hunt for Dozier") and Victor Read of Read Ranch in Chandler OK came in their costumes from the feature movie, which is in it's final stages of production. We all started to sing "I've got spurs that jingle jangle jingle".

Renee Weygandt & LaDonna Payton ("Soiled Doves" staged reading) came in their saloon hall day-wear outfits. We were surprised that they weren't more flashy, but research shows that Hollywood made revisions that does not reflect reality. (are we surprised? no.) They are now in development and hope to start production later this year in Bartlesville, OK.

The youngest actor participating in the staged readings, 6 year old Emmalea Hall who read the part of Wendy in "The Story of Eve" and afterwards gave a riveting performance of her yodeling/singing abilities.

One of the most hiliarious scenes was when Screenwriter Kevin Campbell ("Out of Dodge" staged reading) from Englewood, CO was taping his guest spot on the New Day TV Show (focusing on Possibilities and Positivity) with host Penny Kampf. Kevin kept saying the words "Ass" and "Asshole" in various contexts and was told that he couldn't say these words on the show. The words just kept coming out until co-guest Richard Krevolin had to leave the set.

The biggest downer of the festival was the fact that the audience could not eat nor drink in the big auditorium while watching the movies. This will be rectified next year, as everyone knows, advertisers and marketers have spent billions teaching us to eat popcorn and drink soft drinks while watching movies. It feels so unnatural to refrain from doing so.