The Austin Film Festival conference is winding down. The awards have been won. The Conference Wrap Party was held last night 11:00 pm to 2:00 am. One more day of panels and presentations to go. Then the films continue on through Thursday.

Austin is a writer’s film festival. It bills itself that way and it is that way. Other industry events when you say you’re a writer, you cringe just a little wondering how far down the totem pole this conversation is going to make you feel. Here the response is always positive and affirming. Odds are at any table or in any row of chairs most of the people are writers. The programs address writers’ concerns. The awards are for the writing. It feels good to be here and be a writer.

I personally had a slow day with one very special highlight. One of the features of the AFF Conference is something called roundtables. It’s an opportunity to meet producers and people who work in the industry. There are also roundtables where you can meet writers. If you are a second rounder or finalist in the writing competitions you get your own special roundtables. For the rest of us it is one to a customer unless you are willing to stand in line and see if there are open seats.

The way it works is each roundtable of about 10 or 12 in the room is set up with one chair to be left empty. The industry people move from table to table spending about fifteen minutes with the seven or eight people at that table. It’s a very interesting and efficient way to give the conference participants some access. The producers and writers who do this are people who have been invited to Austin to be readers for the competition, so you could end up at the table with someone who has actually read your script though that’s not the intention.

That doesn’t mean you have a green light yet. The two producers who sat at the table I was at both made it very clear that they certainly don’t read scripts that might be sent to them, and they are not likely to read queries. In fact, both of them had “run out of business cards”; not that they couldn’t be found by using The Hollywood Creative Directory. They did listen and they did offer advice. One of them asked to hear each person’s pitch, which was quite interesting since most of the people at my table were very new and with one exception didn’t pitch as much as rambled. But it was a generous way for him to use the time and gave everyone a chance, and a few people got some added encouragement.

But the highlight for me was the very first person at our table. Megan O’Neill is V.P. of Acquisitions for atom films (atomfilms.com). When she said she was interested in ideas and writing for short films of 1 to 5 minutes in length every face around the table fell. Then Megan proceeded to graciously give everyone a lesson about how writing a short could be a career break-in. She was charming, energetic, and incredibly generous; and she put quite an offer on the table. It’s tough to buy enough readymade shorts to fit atom films’ target demographic of 18-34 year old men, so Megan is reaching out to writers and is ready to offer $5,000 to $20,000 and help finding direction and production for good 1 to 5 minute stories. By the time she was done everyone took her card and she had plenty of them. So bravo Megan O’Neill (e-mail: moneill@atom.com)! Personally, I may never write a short, but she made me think about it.
RW