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PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE YOGA COMEDY GETS AGGRESSIVE AT IFP
I’m here with my script The Garden, a comedy about a Yoga studio that tries to turn into a commune. It’s sort of a new age disaster movie.
First day: I’m carrying around a McCafe coffee cup at the indie film conference. I realize I’m dressed like a Dad. My pen explodes trying to record a pithy statement from indie film father figure Ted Hope. You can find me easier now film networkers, I’m the one with the blue hand.
Second day: Industry hob-knobbing occurs, as advertised! Someone deserves a thank you. Where do I send the fruit basket? Maybe I’m supposed to be blasé about this, but it’s very nice of these guys to set up all these meetings and parties for us. If I send the fruit basket to the IFP office, will all the interns gobble it up before it gets to the people its supposed to go to?
I reconnected with Tyler Davidson from Strange Matter films. We were on the festival circuit together with Derek Seig’s Swedish Auto and my film Gretchen. He becomes the proud winner of The Garden script. Hot matchmaking action from the folks at IFP! I had a nice conversation with Adam Spielberg of Gigantic Pictures. Always nice talking to people whose work you’ve enjoyed. Gigantic produced Ramin Bahrani’s Goodbye Solo.
Reunions continue with grad-school buddy Susan Youseff here with her film Habibi Rasak Kharban. Brilliant DP Pj Raval is here with Krisy Gosney’s script Manhandled. Indie super-producer Jay Van Hoy and Gretchen producer and I got to catch up. He’s here with Dan Kern’s script Relapse. The conference is a strange thing: it’s a lot like a film festival, except no one has anything done. Feels like we didn’t quite finish our homework, but they’re throwing us a party anyway.
I have a strangely difficult time finding a bar to have a drink with Chris Ohlson and Gregory Collins (here with their film Melvin). With two smart phones and one dumb phone, we cannot locate a place to get a drink. After a healthy walk, we finally stumble upon a solution. Tipsy, we talk about balancing family/relationships with filmmaking. No one pitches anything and we leave refreshed.
Third Day: Everybody’s dragging a bit. Meetings start at 9, so people tend to be out and on their feet from 9A to late in the evening. Starting to feel like combat. Hope I don’t get trench foot. I went to college with someone who I heard developed a nap pod to help companies increase employee productivity. This would be useful in this kind of situation. I meet with Dan Berger of Oscilloscope. I’m a big fan of the company. My new film You Hurt my Feelings is about to go out to festivals, and I waft the scent of it in front his nose. This is a gross image, I immediately regret inventing it.
In an elevator earlier, I look around at my male peers. For a group of savagely independent people, we seem to all be wearing the same jeans and plaid shirt. Maybe we should hold next conference wherever it is we’re all shopping. From a fashion viewpoint, the indie ladies are winning. May my next film avoid the pitfalls of my outfit.
