Austin Film Festival, Oct. 24 - 31, 2024
Reflections on "THE" Festival and Conference for TV, Film, Web, and Stage Writers.
Today is a fraught day for many of us. So, like everyone else, I’m engaging in some distractions before this evening’s anxiety and possibly relocation-inducing election. Today’s distraction is in the form of a recap or processing of the recent Austin Film Festival.
For me, it all started with (some writing, a college degree, more dabbling in writing, some classes, networking, broadcast TV work, indie film work, more networking, more writing, more classes, a post-graduate professional program certificate, some rewrite classes and) a script and a contest entry. The script: STUDS turned New Eden turned Civilized. The contest: the Austin Film Festival 31 – TV Pilot, Drama.
READING & ENTERING: I’m not a conference-goer. They are expensive and to use a Corporate America term, I don’t see the ROI – return on investment. That said, the Austin Film Festival is “the” festival/conference for writers, and I wanted to give myself options and maybe another life experience, so I applied to read script entries for the AFF.
My reading journey started at the end of last year’s season and continued into this year’s. Whether you’re familiar with script reading, analysis, and coverage, I’m sure you’ll believe me when I tell you - it’s a lot – it takes A LOT of time. On average, it’s 3 hours to read a film script without taking notes simultaneously, 1.5 hours to read a drama pilot, and then add in note-taking to then be typed up into more professional notes or even extensive coverage, and you’re looking at a full day’s work for a feature script. Later in the reading process, I was promoted to a Second-Round reader. And, with so much time dedicated to reading and writing notes, I’m sure you can understand that this doesn’t leave much time for personal writing projects. What did I get for all of my reading? I earned a Weekend Badge and then switched to paid reading, which, ahem, isn’t really payment, and for which I am still yet to be paid.
Despite wanting to have completed rewrites in advance of entering, when the AFF deadline approached in April, I just hadn’t done them yet. So, I polished up my two pilot scripts – cleaned up any typos and looked for dialogue to tighten and trim – and entered it into the Austin Film Festival for consideration. Did I think I would make it to the semi-finals? No. Then why enter? I’ve been working on my concepts and scripts for awhile now, and it was time to see how they are received by people outside my writing bubble. And, I could always cross my fingers, wish for the best, and hope that someone of significance finds the work pure genius and wants to immediately produce it. Then, back here on Earth, when it came time to submit my entries, I only entered one. I just couldn’t stomach two entry fees. And there’s the ever-present imposter syndrome, so… The goal: to make it the second round. My results: Second Rounder, TV pilot – drama, Austin Film Festival 2024. Yay!
While not a semi-finalist, being a Second Rounder comes with its own level of respect. And privileges. As one person put it, it’s the cream rising to the top. To me, it shows that a person knows how to structure and format a story for the small screen, can tell a story from beginning to end, and can string coherent sentences in that story together. From a judge’s perspective, the writer has also created an interesting world with compelling or potentially compelling characters. I’ll take it!
Not long after receiving the notification that Civilized was a Second Rounder, complete with an initial information packet, I received a call from the festival asking if I had received the good news and if I’d be attending the festival. On one hand, I really couldn’t, but they emailed and called, so I guess I have to now. (And damn it, I knew I should have also submitted Arcana!)
Now what happens?
One of the cohortians from my UCLA writing group attended last year’s festival/conference. From her, I heard that she had a mostly good, even inspirational time. She went, and I also wanted to attend the UCLA Story Break Live! session hosted by one of our former instructors. Other than that, with a festival this big, it was a bit overwhelming to know where to start and even why to go.
FLIGHT AND ACCOMMODATIONS: After the festival called, I figured I’d better at least look into going. I found a refundable flight to Austin on Southwest and booked that getting a future companion pass in the process. I’d thought of possibly staying at friend’s house in Belton, about an hour or so away from Austin. But after considering the exhaustion of attending a packed conference and a long drive each way each day, I looked into the festival-supplied list of hotels. I found one of the hotels, two blocks from one of the conference’s main venues, for about $10 cheaper a night without using the festival code, so booked that, again making sure that it was refundable. Taxes and miscellaneous fees were sooooo high - more than one night’s stay - so that reduced the number of days I could attend. I earned a Weekend Badge from all of the scripts I read, which was upgraded to a Conference Badge, so there was nothing to purchase there. Lastly, I reached out to my friend in Belton to let her know I’d be in town and to “save the date.”
With it borderline financially irresponsible to attend, why go to the Austin Film Festival? That’s a good question. My placement in the festival entries is the farthest my writing has advanced anywhere. I also don’t submit much to be honest, as all contest submissions come complete with entry fees. And, I wasn’t sure if as a Second Rounder, it would have been really stupid for me to not attend. The panels feature, after all, current industry people. But would there be a benefit for me?
PREPARING: The conference ran from Oct. 24 – 27, 2024 with films screening through Halloween. Each day had multiple panels, roundtables, workshops, and events to choose from. As a Second Rounder, I was supplied with a tentative schedule tailored to my status, with the AFF making sure to highlight the parties. As a Second Rounder, I was invited to a special wine reception. As a reader for the festival, I was also invited to a Readers’ Happy Hour on the opening day. I wasn’t going to yet be in Texas, though, so couldn’t attend that. I had to reserve my space at a Second Rounder Roundtable, and was permitted to sit in on a Mock Writers’ Room.
Next, I put myself on the waitlist for the pitch competitions. Me, do something public, vulnerable, and seen in front of a large audience? I didn’t get to pitch, but I was going to try, maybe, possibly.
Then, I scoured the suggested itinerary and the list of events on the AFF website and slowly built a plan for how I would spend my time at the festival. More likely, what events I would pick and choose from in the moment other than the Second Rounder items I had to secure in advance.
The most active step, it seems, that can be taken at the Austin Film Festival Conference, though, is networking, although it’s with other people of the same status as you. When I talked with staffers, they confirmed that there would be no platform to share actual scripts or pitch decks at the festival – phew. That would be a lot of work.
Then I quickly and briefly looked into digital business cards. For my needs, I considered the offerings from HiHello https://www.hihello.com. I ultimately decided against digital business cards as I needed to trim every extraneous cost possible. And there’s my personal superstition against business cards – every time I’ve gotten one, I lost my job right after. Once at the AFF, though, no one presented me with a digital card. Contact exchanges consisted of typing info into each other’s phones or exchanging physical business cards.
Since I was hoping to pitch, I did massage and nuance my pitch for Civilized, the script that was placed in the Second Round. I had to be prepared to pitch should I be called upon, which again, I was not.
ATTENDING: With my upgraded Conference Badge, I was eligible to attend events open only to those holding a Conference or Producer Badge.
While waiting for my friend to arrive from Belton, I picked up my badge and some postcards and hit my first event – the Mock Writers’ Room with Sean Presant running the room and https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0696071/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4_tt_1_nm_7_in_0_q_Sean%2520Pr Lorien McKenna https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2937844/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_lorien playing the ‘bad writer’.
A writers’ room, as the name suggests, is where the writers of a show work brainstorming ideas, breaking the stories, and handing out the writing assignments. The purpose of this mock writers’ room? Since no one who isn’t staffed on a show is allowed in one, it was to show us potential up-and-comers how a room is run should we ever be staffed on a show. The mission of this panel was to break (think up and plot out) an episode of Schitt’s Creek. I went to both Mock Writers’ Rooms. And both fake episodes would have been pretty hysterical additions to the series.
My first night in Austin was more about spending time with my friend than to focus on the conference. We caught up on the lives of those we knew from our time in Germany, tried to see the Congress Bridge Bats – they weren’t feeling it that night, grabbed a bite to eat at Local Foods https://www.localfoodstexas.com, where the person at the counter sold each meal like we were at a multi-starred restaurant, and then took in the music, bars, and in-street spectacles of 6th Street en route to an AFF-related event at Speakeasy https://speakeasyaustin.com/hosted by Stage 32 - https://www.stage32.com/welcome, an online platform for creatives and professionals.



Saturday was panel, panel, panel, panel. My butt was pretty dead by the end of the day after all of that sitting. First, I went back to the Mock Writers’ Room where it was emphasized that in real life, no writers’ room would start at 9am. They are my people!
I next gathered some courage and attended the Personal Pitch Workshop, which turned out to less workshop and more opportunities to pitch your concept. I normally hide in a corner and try not to be seen, but after a couple of pitches, I started to get a bit aggressive trying to be chosen for my shot to pitch. Especially, since one of the panelists, Vanessa Johnston from Mandalay Entertainment, Head of Television Development said, “Come see me after the session,” to a couple of pitchers. Pick me, I want to see you after the session. Some of us attendees noticed a preference of the room manager to pick people bearing Y-chromosomes to pitch. After some grumbling pitchers did include women, but The Chosen were predominantly from one side of the room and under 35. One person who gave a great pitch, though, was a woman from Oakland! Go, Town!
Channeling my aggressive streak, I approached one of the panelists, Micah Cyrus, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4034581/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr3 producer on All American, to ask if there was a way for those us not randomly asked to pitch to be able to submit our pitch (90 seconds) for consideration. He said that was a good question and told me to talk with the room manager since she was providing the panelists with all of the contacts after the panel. She wasn’t too helpful, but did take my name and email information. I still haven’t heard anything from anyone, but maybe they too are catching up on life while trapped in an election-day doom spiral.
Next came the Sound Rounders Industry Roundtable where we met a literary agent, Parker Davis from Verve https://deadline.com/2024/02/verve-promotes-parker-davis-tyler-reynolds-partner-1235818038. He was nice and personable, and his agency seemed to be one I’d like, but also said he wouldn’t read our work since we aren’t connected or represented by one of his manager connections, and thereby we are unsolicited contacts. Another woman sitting near me and I had hit it off, so I said that she was my manager and now known to him, and thus, my work represented through her would not be unsolicited. Sadly, my logic spin didn’t work on him.
We then talked with Chris, a talent manager, and finally, Jeremy Konner, the producer of both the children’s show, Waffles and Mochi, and the ever popular, Drunk History. That’s an eclectic body of work. Also, the woman I chatted with at this Roundtable lives two miles from me! And we met in Texas!
Then came the Wine Reception and UCLA Storybreak Live! run by one of my former certificate program instructors, Jill Goldsmith, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0326086/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1. I approached her! And she remembered me!
And during all of this, I discovered that a fellow high school alumnus – I know of him, but know his friends – stars in a film that premiered at the festival. What fun! Everyone check out Operation Taco Gary’s https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19393076/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cred_c_2


Sunday, I attended the What Managers Want, which felt like a very informative and helpful panel I found Glenn (with two-n’s) Cockburn of Meridien Artists https://www.meridianartists.com/divisions/directors particularly informative and perhaps someone I’d turn to for representation. And, with this election, that he has offices in Canada is not a bad thing. Glenn, Nichole (with an h) is looking at you.
The final panel and thought from the festival was the What Now? panel with Meg LeFauve https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0498834/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_6_nm_2_in_0_q_Meg%2520Lefa and her husband Jon Forte https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2147635/?ref_=fn_al_nm_3
This panel was more a warm fuzzy hang-in-there panel than presenting any concrete suggestions or connections of what to do and who to contact next.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Was it worth it? Hmm, I suppose that depends on how you or I define worth. I made some fellow writer contacts but didn’t get to pitch, get a manager or agent, or secure any fellowship/mentorship. It was an experience I’ve never had in a place I’ve never been to. That has some value.
So, what is next? I reached out to the people I met at the AFF to say “hey” and “keep writing”. I reoutlined a rewrite of Civilized a bit ago, so I need to write the next draft. I need to reoutline Arcana and The Island. And, I don’t know if it’s premature since the scripts aren’t rewritten yet, but I should reach out to Glenn and friends.
Is there an AFF 32 in my future? Perhaps, maybe.