Oy.
Well, the Austin Film Festival -- or, more properly, the Screenwriter's Conference portion of the AFF -- has again come and gone, and I am back at home on the real world.
The conference was, as it has always been, a bizarre and surprisingly affecting experience. I know some folks -- even some of my friends who were there and experiencing the very same moments -- will scrunch their eyebrows and wonder "what the hell is he on about THIS time...", but for me, the AFF conference truly is a miraculous ride. It's never so much about the technical learning as it is about the revelation and self-discovery and re-dedication that goes on during and as a result. To hear people whose work and career and dedication you respect and admire and envy and stand in slack-jawed awe for... and realize that they are nothing at all very different than you are, and that they have many of the very same demons and dreams as you do... is a wildly affirming and inspiring thing.
At least it is for me.
I'll not launch into an overlong review and babble-fest of all the arcane minutiae and miscellania of this year's conference -- that will come soon enough -- but I will say this: I love that event, and I will keep coming back so long as there is any possibility for me to make such happen.
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7 comments:
Amen!
Let me know when, exactly, you'll set down the minute details of said event. Having missed it for the first time since 1998, I find myself at a great loss.
Details...I'm looking for the details.
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If I wasn't already planning on it next year, this has helped me decide. Do take the time to give some details when you can, I'd like to get the insider's view before I go next year.
I've mentioned it before: I have a LOT of LA friends -- and I mean connected friends: people with access and deals and stuff going on -- who STILL make the pilgrimage to Austin every year just for the amazing networking opps and spiritual kick in the battery this event affords.
I have one friend who is a working writer with major credits you have heard of. I helped talk him to Austin this year, and as we hugged goodbye on Sunday he said "thanks for talking me into being here -- this is exactly what I needed."
It's that kind of event -- where your soul and spirit learn new things as often or more so than does your brain.
IOW, it's a rather cool place.
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I'd make a comment but I'm too bagged.
Signed,
Your Other L.A. Friend
Getting a group of screenwriters to agree on where to eat lunch is the big crisis our next president will face.
God help us.
And I want to point out that there's a HUGE difference between "leading" and simply "walking ahead of a large stupid slow-moving group."
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