Blogger Prom 2010

VFF got to play with the cool kids. And by VFF, I mean me. There are several of us who maintain the VFF blog, Tweet, update the Facebook page, etc, but, let's be honest, I do it most often. (Right, James? :-) ) That, coupled with knowing a member of the Blogger Prom Committee, Happy Go Marni, got me an invite to Blogger Prom 2010! YES!

I'm a few weeks late in giving Blogger Prom 2010 a shout-out, but I wanted to be sure I did so that the committee, sponsors, and attendees knew how much fun I had, and how much I appreciated being included in this community.

The theme was Hollywood Confidential (just my 1940's style), was generously hosted by Yamashiro in the Hollywood Hills, and benefited Operation Frontline, a national organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger. 

Photo: Heather Kincaid

The accoutrements made this fete different from others...a giant Tweetdeck display (powered by Verizon) served as the official Blogger Prom stream. From there, you could read all the @ mentions and find out if you won one of several amazing prizes. Sex Cheese (or was it Cheese Sex?) from The Cheese Impresario was all the rage -- an orgasmic blend of cheddar cheese and peanut brittle. Who knew?! The Dalmore (scotch) tastings, CoolHaus ice cream (love you guys!) and Chef Brock's wasabi guacamole, were just a few of the many exquisite eats I enjoyed while conversing with fellow bloggers. WOW!
 
My parting gift was a vintage-inspired, Micky Mouse swag bag overflowing with love: coupons for free or discounted treats from 7-Eleven, Border Grill, Hugo's, Lovin' Scoopful ice-cream, Manila Machine, Oroweat Sandwich Thins, and Pinkberry. American Cinematheque and The Grammy Museum provided free admission tickets. Also included were product samples from Degree (body mist & deodorant), dermalogica (including a gift certificate for a skin treatment), MetroMint, O.N.E. Cocount Water, Pinky Vodka, proactiv oil blotter sheets, UNITE shampoo & conditioner, and World Market Chili & Lime chocolate. The enchantment of the evening will linger as I redeem each coupon and gift certificate.

One of the very best features of the evening was the presence of Y Drive LA, a designated driver service that drives you home in your very own car. Y Drive LA drivers pack their no leak scooter in your trunk, so they can return to base camp, after getting you home safe & sound. I'm usually the designated driver in my crowd, but I can tell you a lot of people leave home without a DD or plan in place. Now I can share Y Drive LA with them! Unfortunately, I didn't test out their service, because I thought ahead and took a cab to Blogger Prom 2010!


The Valley Film Festival blog got its first post back in August 2007, and then I forgot about it. Literally, I forgot VFF had a blog for two long years. There that post sat, all alone, until I rediscovered & resurrected it in 2009. While I'm far from being The Liquid Muse, Confessions of a Fat Girl, Caroline On Crack, or Happy Go Marni, I am obsessed with checking Google Analytics at the stroke of midnight (no joke), inspired by reading other blogs, and am constantly looking for tools and connections to learn more. Thanks to Blogger Prom 2010, I've got a few more tricks (& friends) tucked in my vintage glove.

Video Symphony's Career Preview Day & Open House ~ Saturday, October 23

From our fabulous friends who bring you Pizza & Post every month comes a very special day to explore potential career paths in entertainment and talk with experts about your goals.

Here are the details straight from Video Symphony:

If you are interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry but aren't sure where to start, or you've worked in Hollywood and now you want to take your career to the next level, join Video Symphony on October 23rd to learn about careers in Film & TV Editing, New Media, Animation, and Motion Graphics.

The day is dedicated to helping you learn more about careers in the entertainment industry. Our award-winning instructors will present on the different aspects of digital film making and our career planners and jobs placement agents will be available to discuss your career goals.

Please note that this is not a career fair, you do not need to bring a resume and there will be no employers on-site. 

Space is limited so please RSVP today to reserve your spot.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

10am & 12/Noon start times

Video Symphony

266 E. Magnolia Blvd.

Burbank, CA 91502

Follow VS on Twitter @vsopenhouse

The Haunting of VFF Filmmaker Ron Rogge

Ron Rogge first came to VFF in 2007 with the short film, The Haunting of Seaside, returned in 2009 with Bricks & Ashes, and will be screening Monster's Lament at VFF10. Over the years, Ron has introduced other filmmakers and supporters to The Valley Film Festival, and today we wanted to share the love.

In addition to being a filmmaker, Ron is a working actor with an impressive 91 titles to his credit, but we're not here to blog about his cinema skills. We're here to pimp Ron out as the proprietor of Old Town Haunt, a haunted attraction in Pasadena that consistently gets rave reviews and kudos for reinventing itself with ghouls, effects, mazes, and other bad-ass scary things.

Spooky Little Girl just referred to Old Town Haunt as "...one of the very best haunts in southern California..." and we think she's right! So, before you head out to The Valley to see Monster's Lament at VFF10, head on out to Pasadena to let Ron Rogge haunt you! 

Hauntings take place now through the end of October in Pasadena, but continue all year on Twitter and Facebook.

Old Town Haunt

20 North Raymond (@ Colorado Blvd.)

Pasadena, CA 91103

http://www.oldtownhaunt.com/

Beth Einhorn on Working in Comedy

Beth Einhorn & friend

We contacted Beth Einhorn recently to ask about her experiences working as a writer, producer, and director in TV comedy. She’s worked on The Chris Rock Show, HBO’s George Carlin specials, and Saturday Night Live, to name a few. Beth is currently a writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She’s also written and directed independent films that screened at the VFF (Simple Roasted Chicken in 2009 and A 3 1/2 Foot Perspective in 2007). This year we’re screening 500 Days of Zankou. Here’s some of what she told us:

“I’ve always loved comedy. When I was young, I saw a lot of Woody Allen and Mel Brooks films, and would stay up late watching Johnny Carson. I never thought that someday I’d actually be a writer on The Tonight Show. That definitely wasn’t something I thought I would do when I first got out of college (Boston University) and moved back to the San Fernando Valley. I’m an 818 girl – I know it’s not cool to say that, but I don’t care.

“Shortly after graduating college, life was great, but I decided to move to New York where I didn’t know anyone. In those days before Facebook, I developed connections the old fashioned way, which led to a job at the Apollo Theater with a woman who, it turned out, worked on Saturday Night Live. Through her, I then got a job on SNL. And that’s kinda how my career has gone ever since. No rhyme or reason, just what sounded interesting and a lot of long hours and hard work.

“Some people do very well in life by getting a job and staying there until they retire or the show ends. I sort of had a different path. I was mostly a free lance person – going from show to show. I’ve been fortunate to meet and work with so many amazingly talented people. If I had stayed with one show, I probably wouldn’t have done so much, like directing 10 cameras in Japan, working with George Burns in Paris, or traveling the country on a tour bus with Genesis.

“I have been really lucky to work with the likes of George Carlin, Betty White, Paul McCartney, and Chris Rock. Actually, Chris Rock taught me most everything I know about directing, producing, and writing remotes. He also taught me that nothing becomes funnier after midnight. That is, you don’t have to work on a TV show twenty hours a day for it to be good; more hours don’t make a better show.

“People bring up, ‘What’s it like to be a woman in comedy production.’ Right now, I’m the only woman writer on The Tonight Show. It is odd sometimes, when I look around the room and there are nineteen men and me. But I got used to that a long time ago. I was the only woman director my season on The Man Show and I guess it was good that I was the only girl in my Hebrew school class for two years—it prepared me for show business.

“My first remote I directed on The Man Show was called ‘Jimmy and Adam Go to the Sperm Bank.’ I had just started and didn’t know Jimmy Kimmel or Adam Carolla at all. The piece was them at a fertility clinic to check their sperm count and mobility of the sperm. Of course, with them there was a twist – they wanted first to see who could masturbate the fastest to get the specimen to analyze. Ok, so I set it up like a race: they had to run down the hall and they each go into different rooms – it would have been gross if they were in the same room -- and do their thing. Trying to be professional, I told them, “Okay – Adam you’re going to go into that room and Jimmy you are going into that room and do your thing.” Adam kept teasing me—“Beth, exactly what are we doing?”—and I was like, “you know very well what you’re doing.” And he kept asking me. Well, they did do their thing and, for the record, Adam was faster, but Jimmy had the better sperm count. I went on to work on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Too Late with Adam Carolla.

“I’ve had a lot of amazing experiences working in television, but one of my favorite professional experiences was in film. That’s when I got to see my short film, A 3 ½ Foot Perspective, shown at the Valley Film Festival. It was a passion project of mine, something I feel proud of. Going out and shooting something that you love, seeing it up on the big screen, and then having people come up to talk about it was all wonderful. I love working in the industry, but sometimes it’s also great to go out and do your own thing.

Edited by James Latham

Countdown to VFF10...T-Minus 39 Days

In the last 48 hours, The Valley Film Festival has:

• Added film profiles to the VFF website.
• Realized that we don't have RED as an option under formats in the film profile, or DISTRIBUTOR as an option in the filmmaker profile. But somehow managed to get our programmer to add a Twitter handle option before being instructed to email one big list of updates for the website vs. the individual, annoying emails we sent this weekend.
• Remembered that we bought an expo pass to BlogWorld Expo in Vegas for OCT 15 & 16 & quickly started planning our weekend escape.
• Met with one of our two publicists, who is really excited with the programming this year.
• Tried to log into our Tix.com account to set up ticket sales & couldn't.
• Worked on updating the VFF YouTube channel & then reached out to Ester Brym, director of VFF10's Butterflies, for help seeing as she's the resident YouTube expert.
• Had an exhausting email exchange with all of the techs working VFF10 & everything is going to look fabulous!
• Remembered that we bought a booth at the Sherman Oaks Street Fair for OCT 17 just before booking our Vegas hotel rooms. Weekend escape foiled, but we're all looking forward to going post-festival to relax.
• After remembering said street fair commitment, contacted our friends at Dances With Films to borrow street fair stuff (canopy, table, chairs...y'know, the basics).
• Said adieu to our Facebook "Group" and started a "Page".
• Informed the VFF10 filmmakers of our schedule, addressed tech issues, and hopefully answered some FAQ's. 

What did you do in the last 48 hours? We want to know!