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Hi, MBers. I'm here at Expo and wondered if any of you are here.

Heather

Well, I haven't run into any moviebyters (Austin I guess will have to do), but ran into a few Seattle people. Lots of fun.

Well, I haven't run into any moviebyters (Austin I guess will have to do), but ran into a few Seattle people. Lots of fun.

Michelle Muldoon is there (speaking on a Chris Canole panel). Hope you're having a good time - let us know how it went!

I just got home. Less than 24 hours at Expo, but I had a great time.

Movieguide flew me down to be a panelist for a session on the Kairos prize. I had a great time and think I actually did a good job.

I only heard one speaker. Billy Mernitt. He was the one person I wanted to hear and happened to be talking during my only break. He was awesome.

I saw the hundreds of people waiting to pitch and was glad I wasn't doing it. Has anyone pitched there before? It looks really intimidating.

Being on a panel was great since the producers who were on the panel with me took a lot of time to talk with me and had great advice.

All in all lots of fun. I still prefer Austin by a long shot, but if I lived in LA I would def. go again.

Heather, Re the Kairos prize: Is a redemption story that gets fairly dark a potential entry? The guidelines are a bit puzzling.

Pasha, contest coordinator of Expo, posted this on DDP:

2009 Expo Winners

Grand Prize Winner

$20,000 Freud — Drama —Daniel Ragussis

Genre Prize Winners

$2,500 each

Premonition - Thriller —David Bousquet

The Phoenix Effect - Sci-Fi/Action —Margaret M. MacDonald

The Blue Planet - Sci-Fi — Svet Rouskov

Horror Comic — Thriller — Stephen Hoover

2009 Expo Runners Up Genre Prize

$250

Karmically Correct - Fantasy — Erin Donovan -

Wolves in the Winter - Horror — Sarah Del Collo

Roadside Assistance — Thriller - David J. Sakmyster

Running Boys - Sci-Fi — Peter Kennedy

Top 20 Winners (including ties)

Freud —Daniel Ragussis

Premonition - David Bousquet

Bang Bang Butterflies- Amy Rider

The Phoenix Effect - Margaret M. MacDonald

The Blue Planet -Svet Rouskov

Horror Comic — Stephen Hoover

Karmically Correct - Erin Donovan

Wolves in the Winter - Sarah Del Collo

Roadside Assistance — David J. Sakmyster

Running Boys -Peter Kennedy

Brooklynese -Troy Ransome

Ice Cold Feet-John Fein

Rye& Rice-Craig Rosenthal

Aza' zyel- Terrence Manns

Wither- Evette Vargas

When Harry tries to Marry- Nayan Padrai & Ralph Stein

Book of the Missing- Kate Douglas

Big Band Butterflies —Amy Rider

The Underground Castle — Jacqueline Stewart

Naked Lady Blues — James and Suzanne Cordingley

Borderland — J.R. Taylor

Blood Honor-William Berezansky

94 Maidens — Rhonda Fink-Whitman

Suzanne Prize Finalist $2,000

Love Letters - Riley LaShea

Strawberry Mansion - R. Scott Shields

A Severed Romance - Todd Rheingold

A Different Shade of Black - Dana Congdon

My Girl Daisy - Sue Yeats

Special Mention* Sophronia L. - Tim Bridwell*

* Sophronia was deemed by Suzanne's Prize contest readers to be the best pure script among the semifinalists for Suzanne's Prize, but it was ruled out because the love story was deemed not to have been at the center of the plot, as required.

Writers Bootcamp Fellowship Award Winners

Feature: Now you See Me-Beth Szyperski ''Now You See Me.''

Short Films: J.J. Hillard ''boing!''

Pilot: Chris Raymond "Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll"



Teleplay Winners

Hour Teleplay Prize (Drama)

$1,000 each

One Hour Teleplay Prize (Drama)

In Treatment - ''Episode 75 — MIA'' —Margaret Lepera

Half-Hour Teleplay Prize (Comedy)

Entourage - "Feng Shui'd" - Dmitry Sheynin.

The official list will be posted on our sometime next week.

Best,

Pasha

I was wondering the same thing re: Kairos. I watched a clip of their awards presentation from 2008 and it seemed very religious. Almost like a club.

I have a story that I was considering entering because of its message of hope and redemption, but it's not a religious story. And I keep my personal religious beliefs to myself, so I don't know if that disqualifies me or not. Any advice?

Keep in mind that I don't speak FOR them. I just won one.

The story should be one that makes the audience feel hopeful at the end. At least that would be my interpretation. If you keep in mind that it should be a G or PG rating you can see that it allows you to tell almost any story, but that you have to be creative.

Think of the animated movie about Moses (forgot what it's called). They show the killing of all the first born children, but it is in silhouette on a wall. We as grown-ups know what's being shown, but a little child would probably miss it.

The people who give the awards are Christians. They like movies that are either Judeo-Christian in content (without being preachy) or family fare that a Christian wouldn't feel bad about taking their child to see.

Don't know if that answers your questions. I'm going to enter again, so see you there.

In answer to the question about pitching: I think being on a panel would be much more intimidating. I pitched last year and at least I only embarrassed myself in front of one person at a time, rather than a whole audience!

I really found the best way to make pitching easier (aside from practice, which is also important) is to talk to the other pitchers. That gives you a feeling of "we're all in this together!" despite the fact that these people are the competition.

Most of the folks taking pitches were friendly. When talking to others about the few who were decidedly unfriendly (really just one who was rather awful), I found that it wasn't just me.

Unfortunately, pitching didn't lead to a sale. Out of twelve pitches, only one company ultimately read my screenplay and said it was too dark for them (at least they didn't say it sucked, but I guess Hollywood never does!) One other company asked me to send them any future loglines.

(And the Moses movie you're referring to is Prince of Egypt!)

Yes, Prince of Egypt, thank you!