VALLEY GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
LOCATION: Hampshire College's Franklin Patterson Hall
TIME: 5:00 - 9:00 p.m (Feature film: 8:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.)
COST: $10 for adults; $5 for children under 12; students with ID can come for free
FOOD: Order box dinner online by March 11 for $5 (see details below)
Many of these professionals will be on hand from 5 - 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23 at Hampshire College's Franklin Patterson Hall to help you connect with work in the film industry from your home or small office without even stepping onto Hollywood and Vine.
A HIDDEN-TECH program with backing from Hampshire College, the National Writer's Union, The Northampton Film Festival and Amherst Center for Stage and Screen, "Valley Goes to Hollywood" will allow you to not only mingle with all sorts of talented film-industry professionals, but sample their work. There will be break-out sessions where you can query the presenters, a time to view a wide assortment of their clips and even watch a feature film - Mystic Pizza - if you want.
6:00 - 6:45 p.m.: Larry Jackson, a former Hollywood producer and now independent film producer/director offers an overview of the film industry in presents on ways to get work in the film industry, starts at 6 p.m. in the main lecture hall. All presenters will be introduced.
6:45 - 7:45 p.m.: Break-out sessions based on industry niche will be held in one of eight classrooms, lecture halls or the main lobby. Participants will query the professionals about work opportunities. And they will be able to pick up a snack (if they purchased a box dinner in advance), munchies and a drink to bring to the sessions.
7:45 - 9:00 p.m.: All classrooms and lecture halls will be open for viewing clips from local/regional industry professionals.
8:30 p.m.: Jackson will air Mystic Pizza in the main lecture hall.
Box dinners will be available. Order online by March 11 for $5 per box. Sandwich choices include turkey, ham, roast beef, chicken salad, tuna, egg salad, seafood salad or humus with sprouts. The box dinner also includes a granola bar, cookies, fresh fruit, potato chips and assorted sodas or bottled water.
Please be prepared to pay at the door. Only those with advanced reservations will be issued a box dinner.
Steve Alves: He's been running Hometown Productions in the Valley since 1987. Since then he has produced and directed numerous award-winning films. His latest production, "Talking to the Wall: The Story of an American Bargain," is currently playing at the Greenfield Garden Cinemas until March 18th; March 19-24 it will show at the Northampton Academy of Music.
Steve and Raf Anzovin: This Amherst-based animation team has work coming out on the upcoming Fox/Blue Sky animated feature, "Robots" among soon-to-be released works;
Mike Levine: President and founder of Pileated Pictures in Shelburne Falls, a company specializing in interactive entertainment, character animation, stories and much else. Levine worked with George Lucas' gaming and software division before moving here.
Rikk Desgres: Desgres, who owns Pinehurst Pictures & Sound in Northampton, is a veteran editor of 11 Florentine Film documentaries including the Emmy winning, Ken Burns production "Baseball". He is also editor of "Wild By Law", nominated for an Academy Award in 1995.
Carlyn Saltman: Founder and director of Your Story Matters in Montague, Saltman's international work led her to an unexpected destination: home. Her first two films made in West Africa were purchased for the collection of the Smithsonian Institution and subsequent documentaries made in sub-Saharan Africa and France won the Outstanding Social Documentary Award in the Boston Film/Video Festival and Awards for Excellence from the Society for Visual Anthropology.
Steve Adams: A Leverett-based screenwriter for the new, soon-to-be released Barry Levinson film "Envy."
Adam Campbell: Adam Campbell has written for Walt Disney television and numerous independent and studio-affiliated production companies. He is a two-time recipient of the Chesterfield screenwriting fellowship presented by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Frank LaLoggia, producer and director of the well-known ghost movie "Lady In White", is currently preparing to shoot a film from Mr. Campbell's screenplay, "Wind and Shadows".
Dan Giat: A Pelham-based screenwriter, Giat's "Path to War" was nominated for an Emmy Award after airing on HBO in 2002 and was the last film directed by the late John Frankenheimer. He is currently working on "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee".
David Shepherd: Nationally known improvisation and video expert, Shepherd introduced the first professional improv theater in America, The Chicago COMPASS which evolved into Second City. Recently he was presented with lifetime achievement awards by Canadian Improv Games and Chicago Improv Fest for his pioneering contributions. In his new book, "That Movie in Your Head: Guide to Improvising Stories on Video", Shepherd tells how to make movies using many of the improv techniques he invented.
Tom Adams: Director/owner of Reelife Documentary Productions in Montague, Mass., Adams is developer of regional and national documentary films with clients ranging from the Northeast Cheesemaking Supply Company to Affordable Autoglass TV commercials and Amherst College's Mead Art Gallery Lecture Series.
Mike Schena: A videographer based in Northfield, Mass. with specialities in theater and dance who has contributed to PBS and NBC affiliates, Schena is currently working on a feature-length DV movie that will begin production this March and be ready for the festival circuit by 2005. It is a character driven slice-of-life in a small New England town.
* Hope O'Shaughnessy: A BMI-affiliated song writer/singer whose song "Up Against the Sky" appears on the soundtrack for the new indie film "Billy Todd's War", produced and directed by D.R. Farquaharson (American Rhino Films). John Gage: Director of Boston-based Grasshopper Records who has recorded Ms. O'Shaughnessy's CD "Pink Sky Blue" and did the audio for "Billy Todd's War" and other film and video productions.
* Hope O'Shaughnessy and John Gage will not participate in the Sound break-out session. However, the song-writer and producer will be showing a film clip during the film presentation portion of the evening and will be available during that time to chat about their project.
Once on the Hampshire College grounds, turn left at the guard booth where the access road splits. Follow the road around past the National Yiddish Book Center and see signs for Franklin Patterson Hall on the right. The building is due left from the parking lot when facing towards the cluster of buildings directly in front of the lot.
- The main campus bus circle
- The Arts Village/Prescott Faculty Staff lot
A security officer will be there to guide you.