Dear Daniel

Dear Daniel,

I leave for the International Indie Gathering Film Festival & Convention this Thursday. On the trip with me will be two of the members of 3 Bitches Press will be with along with me for the ride, Missy Goodman, and maybe a fourth member will be added to that list Alicia Justice, our agent.

We are all there in order to kick ass and take names where our projects are concerned. This is the festival where if you want to build a filmmaking team from scratch you can do it.

Last year was my first year there and I went with my Aunt Sue. It was awesome. But it was different from the other types of events that I’ve been to in the past.

There is an elaborate screenwriting and filmmaking competition. The winners 1^st-4^th and Honorable Mentions are announced in advance of the actual festival. Then at the convention there are panels and a vendor room. Certain films are selected to screen. My short documentary Carla’s Halloween placed 3^rd and was picked to do so. My Christian Music Video Lord You’re Beautiful, song by Danny Jones won 1^st Place and will also screen.

There are also Acting, Stunt, and SFX (Make-up) competitions going on during the actual festival, where I will be a judge. We hope to find our cast there. Missy and I will be meeting with Jodi Beth and Richard McKee of RJ Productions. Missy feels a need to put her seal of approval on them as production partners and really we need to lay out each other’s functions in the filming of the movie.

I want to find financial backers for my film Letters to Daniel there. And that could mean many different things. It could mean screenwriting gigs. It could mean someone buying any one of our scripts. It could mean genuine excitement about Letters to Daniel. The script itself is receiving an Honorable Mention award there.

I’m sure Imaginarium will be awesome too. But right now I’m a mess over all of the Indie Gathering excitement. My mood took a shift last night. My money management hasn’t been the best. But the reality is this 10 awards and on top of all of this Missy and I received an offer to do an interview for television at the festival.

Missy has been fighting against this festival. In part because she’s not real big on meeting new people.

Wrong industry to be in if you don’t want to meet people. She loves having me as her ‘mouth piece’ at events. But that’s really a double edged sword. I will talk to anyone with a pulse.

I like what you said about us indie filmmakers. At our level it is still about art and passion, and don’t get me wrong there are movies in Hollywood that have these qualities. But for Letters to Daniel it’s about swinging for the fences on an issue that is so close to my heart that it’s hard to stay balanced it.

They say a film is made three times. The first time is when it’s written. The second when it’s filmed. And the third when it’s edited.

I have not really done serious editing. Not the kind that results in movies that people call to mind when they think movies. They think actors, they think actresses. They think writers, they think directors.

I think of movie theaters.

I dream of Oscars.

And here at Indie Gathering is where dream starts for Letters to Daniel. The feature film.

Sincerely,

Amy McCorkle