Doc events in LA past, present and future…
Last week I attended two stellar events in Los Angeles.
Wednesday night it was off to the Arclight for Audi’s presentation of $10,000 and a 2006 Audi A3 to the winner of their Step Ahead with Audi filmmaking competition. They screened all 3 of the nominated documentary films. All 3 were well-made. But my personal favorite Life As We Know It took the prize. Congrats to Kristina Robbins Higgins!
Thursday night I attended a negotiating seminar with world-renowned entertainment lawyer Michael Donaldson. He taught the ways of his Wish, Want, Walk process and why it works. I walked out of there feeling like I could negotiate everything from 2 for 1 tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market to making a great deal on a film sale. His new book will feature a DVD that was shot with “us†(IDA members) as the audience.
Also! Coming up this Thursday night (Aug 18) is the kick off party of IDA’s DocuWeek. Back to the Arclight! There are still tickets available for the party. They’ve got a ton of great films scheduled for their Theatrical Documentary Showcase (Aug 19-25). Every film screens once a day for the 7 day run, thus helping to qualify it for Academy Award status. This is a great way to see some docs you can’t see anywhere else. Plus you can’t beat the Arclight as a venue. The best sounds, the best projection, the best popcorn. This whole entry is starting to sound like a commercial. But! It’s important to remember that word of mouth is the best publicity. People don’t talk about the things they don’t like. Well…I do. But…that’s another story.