The 2018 Seattle 48HFP Horror premiere screenings wrapped up last night.
This, the 6th Seattle horror event, is the 20th 48HFP event I've run. And it's taken me almost this long to wise up and recruit some help. Enter Kris Flink! She dipped her toes in the water when she played the role of my savior last year by diving into running the Horror awards event when I had to go to Montana to say goodbye to my mom and help my family deal with the grief and administrative nightmare that is the death of a parent.
She peaked a little further behind the curtain in the summer event and got even deeper in this horror event. Can't explain how thrilled to have her on board not as an assistant, but an active partner who is helping growing this event going forward. We're even starting the 48HFP in Missoula next year! Details to come later.
We had our 2nd biggest summer event this year with 76 teams and our biggest horror event this month with 48 teams. Long term goal... get to triple digits for the summer event. Horror is locked in at 48 teams, but we'll work to make it a bit more grandiose each year.
Whenever one of these events wrap up, I suffer a period of pretty severe anxiety and depression. I put a lot of myself into this event and my primary mission is to make sure that everyone has a good time making their films as well as having an amazing experience viewing their films on the big screen at The Uptown. For someone who is not a terribly extroverted personality (not a total introvert, but definitely lean more that way), being social with a wide variety of individuals is extremely taxing for me. I'm grateful when the events are over, but simultaneously depressed that it's over as well. It's a weird mix of emotions every time I wrap one of these up.
When it comes to announcing the awards, it starts with the judging. I select a panel of local industry professionals and go down the rules and priorities of the judging process. Story is king, but performance, production value and use of the required elements play into their considerations as well.
Bluntly, I am not a judge. I don't want to be a judge! Despite my insistence to myself that I could be completely impartial, it's in everyones' best interest that I do my duty as a facilitator to result in the best possible outcome.
The judges deliberate and then I meet with them either in person, on the phone or over the internet and facilitate the differing opinions to achieve consensus decisions that all the judges are happy with.
Do I always agree with them? No. Most of the time I do, but there have been more than a handful of decisions in 14 years and 20 events that I haven't agreed with, but I stick with and defend their decisions. They're the judges... I'm the facilitator and consensus builder.
Once the decisions have been made, I send out an email to the team leaders informing the winners that they have won an award, but not what they have won. I include the Audience Favorite results in this email as well.
I have a very mixed reaction when sending this email. I know I'm making a bunch of people very happy and excited and disappointing an even larger number of people. It's a very bittersweet pressing of the send button.
I then spend a day or so responding to both the grateful and disappointed emails as well as the inevitable, "Can I make a change to my film?" requests to which the answer is usually no because the theater already has the films and is making DCP files and gets really testy when I ask to make changes.
KEEP SIFF HAPPY! That is my MO. If SIFF is happy, it makes for a more enjoyable experience for everyone. This is not to imply that the fine folk at SIFF are testy or inflexible. Quite the opposite! They go out of their way to make this a great event and really bend over backwards to help and support me in that. I like to respect that by not inundating them with a lot of requests that make their already busy schedule a little more hectic. They really do do a lot over there! Thank you!
Anyway, yeah, SIFF AND THE UPTOWN STAFF RULE!
I know a lot of people are disappointed and some may very strongly disagree with the results. It's a very precarious emotional dance for me. I empathize. I sympathize. I get it and understand. It's my job though to uphold the rules and process to maintain the legitimacy and integrity of this event. I take a lot of pride in that despite it taking me way out of my emotional comfort zone. I do my best to walk the very delicate line of being a sympathetic ear and the keeper of the rules and processes.
It gets especially difficult when I see a film I really like or a group of friends go unrecognized by the judges, but the rules are the rules and the judges are the judges. This event's integrity is a huge reason it's grown to the 130 cities we're in and why it's so well respected. Adherence to the rules and processes. No favoritism. Egalitarianism.
Even with all of this discomfort I experience being so far out of my comfort zone for such large stretches of time, this is easily my favorite part of every year. I've seen teen students of mine grow into consummate working professionals.... that I can share a cold beer with now! I've seen complete strangers chat over a drink at Solo and become permanent creative partners. I get to encourage and promote the work of underrepresented populations. I get to encourage young people to embrace their creativity and explore the possibility that there might be a career in this field for them. I've had the bittersweet chance to see so many talented participants really come into their own and decide to roll the dice and move to Atlanta or LA to seriously pursue their dreams.
I've been able to help contribute to developing a more convivial community of filmmakers in this city that I love.
Also, I've made a lot of great friends as well as professional connections doing this. And I've seen more good short films than I can count!
This event has taken me to San Jose, Atlanta, Hollywood, Las Vegas, and PARIS! I had the great honor of Seattle being the host city for Filmapalooza 2017! Seeing all these 48HFP filmmakers from around the world in my home town was an indescribable experience! I have friends, and couches to sleep on all over the world! (Very important Oxford comma there!) Over 14 years, the HQ staff, and so many of my city producer counterparts have become a part of my extended friend family.
I can't see myself not running this event in the foreseeable future. At least not running it until I am consistently beating San Diego and Toronto in registration and I'm a ways off from that goal! I'm coming for you Steve Nash, Christopher Cherry, Robyn Schatz Sarvis and Duane Trammell! Even then, I'll probably continue doing this until I just can't anymore.
This thing really has become a major portion of how I see myself in the world. And you know what? I'm good with that. I'm proud of that.
Comments