Gregory Lamberson's Blog, page 4
March 1, 2015
KILLER RACK T-Shirt Support Fund
So I'm running a KILLER RACK T-shirt crowd funding campaign through TeeSmile. In a nutshell, we're selling T-shirts with Kelly Forbes's teaser poster design on them. The shirts are grey, to match the design, and we chose the most expensive shirt to ensure a quality product, even though it means we'll make less on each sale. The shirt costs $24 plus $3.95 s&h for the first shirt, and only .55 to ship each additional shirt. Unlike a traditional crowdfunder, the bulk of the money from sales does not goe to us; it goes to the cost of the shirt, and then the T-shirt company gets a chunk, and we get what's left; there's also a sliding scale whereby the more shirts we sell, the less expensive they become. We've already sold 19 shirts in our first weekend, and the TessSmile website shows we've raised $466; but only a fraction of that goes to us. We need to sell 50 shirts to see any real money, and 100 to make the $1200, close to our goal. It would be nice if we sold more than that, but I just don't have time to hawk T-shirts all day - I've got a film to finish and a novel to finish.
So why do a T-shirt campaign if we only sell a small piece of each sale? First, we need the money. Second, this is less time consuming than running another IndieGoGo campaign (my next resort). Third, T-shirts are great promotion - every time someone wears that shirt, they'll be supporting our film. Just 23 days remain in our campaign - can we sell 81 T-shirts in that amount of time? Feeel free to support us by ordering an uber cool shirt. This campaignis the only time we'll be selling a shirt with thi sdesign (Kelly is free to sell shirts with his design though). Once the film catches on, everyone will want one, and then it will be too late.
ORDER: https://teesmile.com/KillerRack
We're looking into adding a women's cut design ometime this week.
February 5, 2015
Publishers Weekly Reviews HUMAN MONSTERS
Publishers Weekly has reviewed my novel HUMAN MONSTERS, the sixth and (sadly) final book in The Jake Helman Files series. I've been very fortunate with PW, and while not a rave, the review is positive. It's also filled with spoilers, so I'm only posting this excerpt:
"As Jake rejoins many battles he thought he had long since won, the story inevitably retreads old ground, but with plenty of strong moments of action and horror. There is less urgency than the sense of a fond farewell. The confident conclusion will satisfy both new and longtime readers."
HUMAN MONSTERS will be published March 15th.
If you don't mind spoilers, here is the complete review:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/9781605427300
Thank you, PW!
January 17, 2015
KILLER RACK Post Production Report
Editor Phil Gallo completed his cut of the film back in December, and we've spent much of our time whittling down the running time. Phil cuts tightly, and our first cut came in at 105 mins, a little long for my taste. We looked for any pause and any repetitious dialoge we could lose, and cut one 6 minutescene down to about 2 minutes. In the end, our running time should be 100 minutes with titles and credits. Once the footage from today's reshoot, a couple of establishing shots, and one visual effect effect go into the cut next week, picture will be locked. At that point, Cosgrave will do his visual effects; we'll arrange some dubbing we need, and record some sound effects; and Armand Petri - producer/engineer for many rock albums and CDs, including work for the GooGoo Dolls and 10,00 Maniacs - will do a score which promises to be audacious, to say the least. We have hit a bit of a road block financing-wise, and need to raise some final funds to finish the picture, fulfill IndieGoGo rewards, and submit the finished film to festivals. I plan to submit it to a lot of festivals, as I think it's going to be a real "audience picture" and anticipate strong word of mouth.
Kudos to everyone involved, I think it's turned out fantastic, so as a filmmaker I'm more than pleased, and I can't wait for the world to see it. Our hope is to premiere it at a major festival, which will probably mean sitting on it for most of the summer, and we don't plan to seek distribution until we've screened on the circuit.
On another note, this is my last micro-budget film. It's time to move from "no budget" to at least "low budget" productions, and I'm hard at work trying to set up other projects. Look forward to the website for The Rack, followed by our first trailer.
December 31, 2014
RIP 2014
After numerous delays, THE JULIAN YEAR, the world's first TREEbook with seamless story branching technology, was released to ipad owners. We got some great coverage in Rue Morgue and on Dread Media; otherwise, not one single review appeared. Not one. Even my regular reviewers passed on reading it. Writing it was a great challenge, and I feel TJY is my best novel, with my best characters, but I cannot hide my disappointment with its recepton. Still, this is a brand new technology, and the marketing for the TREEbook line is just beginning. It's exciting to be part of something so groundbreaking. Maybe my publisher will publish my preferred branches as a traditional print novel one day, or maybe the book will take off when the TREEbook line expands to other platforms, or maybe this will become my "lost" novel. Who knows? But... Moving on.
I was invited to submit an essay to THE BATTLE ROYALE SLAM BOOK by co-editor Nick Mamatas. That was a bit of an honor, fun to write, and the book is dandy, with several big names in the TOC. I enjoy writing film essays. I was also invited to submit a short story to a theme collection. I don't write short stories, I don't particularly enjoy reading them, but this was also a bit of an honor. The book itself has not been published, and may never be published, so I can cross this off my bucket list, but don't think I'll be writing any more short stories. I received a third invitation, this one to write, produce and direct a segment for he horror anthology film CREEPERS. The anthology consists of adaptations of existing horror short stories, and as noted above I don't write those, so I used this as an opportunity to work with my buddy Jeff Strand, who adapted his short story GAVE UP THE GHOST. Jeff and Lynne Hansen even came to the shoot in my house. The short was fun to make, turned out well, and screened at a few festivals (and won four awards), and CREEPERS is already available as a Limited Edition Blu-ray (my first). Thanks to exec producer Mike T. Lyddon for making it happen.
This year I wrote and completed edits for THE FRENZY WOLVES, the last back in my werewolf saga The Frenzy Cycle, and HUMAN MONSTERS, the last book in The Jake Helman Files. WOLVES was published in October and received several excellent reviews. MONSTERS will be published in March. I'm pleased with how both turned out. I'm sorry this is the end of the Helman Files - real sorry. I didn't start writing novels because I wanted to be the next Stephen King (no danger there!), but becaus I wanted to write continuing Helman adventures. I'm grateful Medallion Press published the series, and allowed me to tell the entire six-book tale I had in mind, but I really wanted to write more. The publication will be bittersweet for me.
My big achievement for this year isn't finished: I directed and co-prodced KILLER RACK,a comedy horror feature written by my friend Paul McGinis. We shot it two months later than planned because GAVE UP THE GHOST came along. I've blogged about it extensively, so I'll just say it's my most ambitious film, with 40 characters, and I got to work with an army of new people in addition to my friends. We're 90% finished with editing, and I'm uber confident this film will find an audience. You can read all about it in an article I wrote for GOREZONE #33, now available.
DRY BONES, which I wrote and co-directed on a $15,000 budget, was released on DVD and POP Cinema placed it in Family Video. A digital release is coming in February.
SLIME CITY celebrated its 25th anniversary with a special screening at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, and became available for digital download on Amazon Instant. The soundtrack will be released on DVD early in 2015, and we're screening in Iowa City next month. This one keeps chugging along.
SLIME CITY MASSACRE is now OOP, the victim of whatever the hell is going on over at Media Blasters. It will be mine again... it will be mine.
This was the second year of Buffalo Dreams Fantastic FIlm Festival, and the fifth year overall I co-directed a film festival, and it was our best year yet. My partner Chris Scioli and I will continue building it forward. It was also a lot of work: both of us wound up in the ER in the days leading up to the fest, a suresign that I'm going to _try_ to slow down in 2015.
At the end of last year, I set a goal for myself: to get my novels into the hands of Hollywood powers. Craig Sheffer optioned CARNAGE ROAD and I wrote several drafts of a screenplay and TV pilot cript to his satisfaction, and he and his manager did get it read around town. Reactions to the script were positive, but nothing transpired; there are too many zombie projects out there. An old college friend with LA connections circulated the Helman FIles books, which were read by numerous development execs. Some feedback was positive, some was surreal, but again, nothing has transpired. Neither project is dead, but... Moving on.
On the family front, Kaelin continues to develop into an amazing human being, and Tamar and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. Both of them worked on GAVE UP THE GHOST and KILLER RACK. We had a great time at FanExpo Canada in Toronto with our Medallion friends, and have some big plans for the coming year.
So, what's up for 2015?
We're going to finish KILLER RACK and take it on the film festival circuit, and I have high expectations for it. As noted, HUMAN MOINSTERS will be published in March. I'm writing a stand alone horror novel, BLACK CREEK, which won't be published until February 2016. I've set some lofty goals for myself with this one, and It could well be the last novel I write. As I write this, I'm pitching a film project which has a high chance of being produced. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Happy New Year, everyone!
November 17, 2014
Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival 2014 Wrap Up
The second edition of Buffalo Dreams fantastic FIlm Festival - following three years of Buffao Screams Horror Film Festivals - ran from Friday, Nov. 7th - Thursday, Nov. 13th at the Eastern Hills Cinema in the Eastern Hills Mall in Williamsville. Thechange in venue was a last minute switch at the request of Dipson Theatres, but didn't seem to have a negative effect on atendance. In fac, this was our most successful festival yet, even with my partner Chris Scioli and I each checking into the ER in the days leading upto the event, and Chris missing the last day for necessary surgery. After five years of grueling work, this seemed to be our turnaround year.
Our premiere of the locally produced film THE ROMANS was a key part of that success, and not just because it sold out and required us to schedule a second festival at the end of the week. Many loals consider Buffalo Dreams a rebranded Buffalo Screams; it's not. It's an entirely new venture, with a different partnership. Buffalo Screams is dead, long live Buffalo Dreams. Because of this misperception, a lot of people assume we're "just a horror festival." We're not. THE ROMANS is a crime drama, and we also screened a spaghetti western, 6 BULETS TO HELL, a drama, SCOPE OF PRACTICE, a romantic comedy, FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS DATE FRIENDS, a comed drama, B.O.Y.D., a revenge thriller, JULIA, the science fiction flavored CHANNELING. The highpoint was a screening of the Mexican SF thriller EL INCIDENTE from filmmaker Isaac Ezban. ARMY OF FRANKENSTEINS was a fantasy/adventure. We still showed some great horror films, and wll cotinue to do so: THE DROWNSMAN, ATHENA and THE SHOWER are prime examples.
Our expanded program led to an unprecedented amount of coverage in our local daily newspaper, As always, we supported local films and local filmmakers, and this year we saw a bit of a sea change in that front as well: some of the local filmmakers actually turned out to watch eaxch others' films, and those of our visiting filmmakers. Culturally speaking, this was important to us. Our visiting filmmakers always provide the spine of the festival, bringing real spirit and deotion to the proceedings, and it was great to see some of the local filmmakers beyond or die hard suppoters taking advantage of the chance to iteract with filmmakers who are clearly on the move. Attendance for the local films was solid, especially for Ken Cosentino's zombie feature WITHIN. We value the importance of filmmaker Q&As and are grateful to every filmmaker who attended the fest, be it from out of town or right down to the road. And jusdging by the response we received from filmmakers who have been traveling around the country (and the world), we're doing something right. Our submissions for this year nearly doubled from last year, and the number of original screenplays we received quadrupled.
Every year, we face a new challenge atour awards presentation. This time, it was discovering way too late that the front of the theater was so dark our presenters needed phones/flashlight to read the names of nominees and winners! We presented special awards to City of Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown (Local Service), J. Garrett Vorreuter (Local Hero), Isaac Ezban (George Pal Visionary Award), Aceifer Genovese (Indie Genre Spirit Award), and Lynne Hansen and Hope Muehlbauer (Filmmakers to Watch). Mayor Brown also attended the premiere of THE ROMANS, and asked questions at he Q&A.
Special thanks to Buffalo-Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark, Bufalo-Niagara Film Office Director of Operations Rich Wall, John Discillo of WBBZ/Off Beat Cinema, Paige Davis from Alternative Cinema, Kim Piazza, Dave and Buster's, Mike Clement and Bryan Spokane at Dispon Theatres, the staff of the Eastern Hills Cinema, and all our volunteers for pulling together to make this all work on a tight budget. We now have a solid foundation to make next year's festival even better! Submissions for 2015 will open soon, and we encourage filmmakers to take advantage of our Early Bird Deadline.
Some choice comments I heard:
"Jon Cesar may have given the best performance I've ever seen from a Buffalo actor" (for THE ROMANS)
"(ELIZABETH BATHORY) was the first local horror film I've seen that could go on to be something somewhere else."
"THE DROWNSMAN was one of the best horror films you've ever shown."
"THAT was a MOVIE!" (EL INCIDENTE)
"I'm really impressed by the programming."
"CHANNELING made my Ten Best list."
November 3, 2014
BUFFALO DREAMS TO HONOR MAYOR BYRON W. BROWN, J. GARRETT VORREUTER
"Our festival supports the current growth of film production in the region," says Gregory Lamberson, who co-directs Buffalo Dreams with Chris Scioli. "Mayor Brown voted in favor of the film production tax incentive as a state senator, and as mayor has worked with Tim Clark and Rich Wall to help facilitate film productions in the area. Garrett came to Buffalo to study medicine but became inspired by the possibility of a real film industry here, and has dedicated himself to helping develop that industry."
Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival has a two-fold mission: to bring the finest independent films from around the world to Buffalo, and to spotlight the work of local filmmakers. This year's event kicks off with the Buffalo premiere of The Romans, a contemporary urban take on the story of Julius Caesar, directed by Korey Green and executive produced by Larry Quinn, shot entirely in Buffalo.
In total, 70 films will screen over the course of the week, 19 of them features, including the spaghetti western 6 Bullets to Hell, starring and co-directed by Tanner Beard, and El Incidente/The Incident, a thriller from Mexico, written and directed by Isaac Ezban. Beard and Ezban will be among fifteen filmmakers traveling to Buffalo to screen their work for the festival. For a complete schedule, visit wwww.buffalodreamsfilmfest.com. For advance tickets, visit www.dipsontheatres.com.
October 30, 2014
NYS Film Tax Credit Brings Production to WNY, Republican Rob Astorino Pledges to Take It Away
We have a small Film Commission here - a two-man operation (that used to be a one- man operation). I've worked closely with them on some projects, and I've done other projects that didn't require their support, but I've always supported them and their efforts to bring productions here, while some in our little community have been critical (usually because they don't understand what film commissions do - it's not their job to raise money, or to help provide locations for films with no insurance).
During the last five years, there's been a lively debate over how we can build a real film industry here. I remember a long, passionate thread that followed a Buffalo Rising article a few years ago, which was ultimately highjacked by a guy more interested in raising money for his film than in seeing our burgeoning industry grow; ironically, most of us who went at it on that thread are now friends/colleagues - because we had the same goal in mind. And the goal post in sight.
Last year, we got the news that beginning in 2015, Western New York is getting a 5% bump in the New York State Film Tax Credit: any production shooting here that takes the time to meet the state's requirements, and does its post here, will receive 40% of its qualified costs (excluding above the line fees like writers, producers, director and stars) back from the state - 5% more than productions would see in NYC. It's an incentive to bring films and film jobs here, not "corporate welfare." NYC already does well with productions, and WNY needs all the help it can get. Who's responsible for this bump for WNY? A lot of the credit goes to Buffalo-Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark, Rochester Film & Video Office Executive Director Nora Brown, and Buffalo Film Office Director of Operations Rich Wall, who worked tirelessly to push this through. And it's working: ANNA is here because of the Film Tax Credit, more films in the $1 mil - $2 mil range will come here, out of town filmmakers contact me frequently to discuss the film tax credit, locations and crew. At a time when Buffalo is turning around, we're actually seeing something many of us thought would take another decade: a vital film production industry that will enable many of us to make a living in our chosen fields.
Chris Scioli and I wouldn't be hosting an annual Buffalo Film Expo if we didn't see what's coming our way. Production has often left the US for Canada for incentives, and now its fleeing LA for cities and states in the US that have aggressive tax incentives. At Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival this year, we're showing _six_ features made by local filmmakers.
Now Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino wants to phase out business incentives in NYS to lower the personal income tax rate - including the Film Tax Credit. It's pandering to the public, because so many people have adopted an anti-taxes stance as their religion, rather than using their common sense to arrive at a sound judgment. Getting rid of this credit, or sharply reducing it, will stop Buffalo's film industry dead in its tracks; it will also seriously harm - possibly destroy - the film industry in NYC. Without that, the entire state will suffer, and anyone here who hopes to make a living in film will have to go elsewhere. This isn't a Democrat vs. Republican issue (Republicans are supposed to be pro-business, remember?). I have have friends who are passionate about fracking, abortion, guns - I'm not addressing any of those issues. But I am saying this: Rob Astorino is the enemy of film production in NYS, and a vote for Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins is a defacto vote for Astorino. If you want to see a film industry in Buffalo, and if you want to see the billion dollar film industry in NYC - which benefits the entire state - continue, Andrew Cuomo is the only choice. Vote Cuomo.
Here's one newspaper article with Astorino's anti-Film Tax Credit in b&w.
http://nypost.com/2014/10/01/astorino-calls-for-dramatic-reduction-in-state-income-tax/
If you're not a knee-jerk partisan reactionary, and you want to preserve this tax credit, please share my long winded post with your NYS friends. If you can't help yourself, and just have to turn red and blast steam out of your ears and pound away at your keyboard slamming Cuomo, go right ahead, just don't expect me to debate you; I have my eye on the prize.
October 21, 2014
Buffalo Film Expo 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BUFFALO FILM EXPO ANNOUNCES WORKSHOP PANELISTS
Buffalo, New York - Buffalo Film Expo (BFX), a one day educational event comprised of workshops aimed at professional and aspiring filmmakers, will be held Saturday, Nov. 1st from 10 am to 5:30 pm at the Holiday Inn Buffalo Airport, 4600 Genesee Street in Cheektowaga. Area film professionals serve as panelists covering screenwriting, producing, the NYS Film Tax Credit, cinematography, the business side of acting and gear. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students with ID.
"The film industry in the Buffalo-Niagara region is growing," says Gregory Lamberson, who organized the event with Chris Scioli. "This conference is aimed at people who want to learn more about the film making process, and people who want to participate in this growing industry in our region. Writers, producers, camera people and actors can all benefit from the information shared here. This is also a great networking opportunity: we encourage people to bring their business cards and head shots."
BFX is sponsored by Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, which runs Fri, Nov. 7th - Thurs, Nov. 13th at Eastern Hills Cinema; Buffalo Movie-Video Makers, the oldest amateur film society in the nation; and Adam Bloch Sound. Attendees will receive one free pass to see 6 Bullets to Hell, a new spaghetti western playing at Buffalo Dreams Fri, Nov. 7th at 9:45 pm.
The Pierce-Arrow Film Arts Center, 48 Hr. Film Festival, and regional production companies Pixelmander, LLC, White Lion Studios, Metroisha Productions and Martin McGee Productions will all have a presence in the banquet room. All speakers are subject to availability.
Schedule:
10:30 am Screenwriting: Greg Stuhr (The American Side), Korey Green (The Romans), Greg Lamberson (Dry Bones).
11:40 am Producing Your First Feature: Bobby Gott (B.O.Y.D.), Elizabeth Nixon (Elizabeth Bathory) Brandyn T. Williams (Dwelling) and John Renna (Dick Johnson & Tommygun vs. the Cannibal Cop).
12:50 pm The NYS Film Tax Credit: Buffalo Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark, Rochester/Finger Lakes Film & Video Office Executive Director Nora Brown, Buffalo Film Office Director of Operations Rich Wall.
2:10 pm Cinematography: Chris Santucci, Stephen Powell, Matthew Nardone and Tom Wills.
3:20 pm The Business Side of Acting (Casting/Presentation): Greg Stuhr, Bryan Patrick Stoyle, J. Garrett Vorreuter.
4:30 pm Gear Talk: Chris Santucci, Tom Wills.
Buffalo Dreams website:
http://www.buffalodreamsfilmfest.com
Buffalo Film Expo on Facebook:
October 14, 2014
October Releases: CREEPERS - THE FRENZY WOLVES - DRY BONES
First, GAVE UP THE GHOST, the short film I produced and directed based on a short storyby Jeff Strand (who also scripted) was released as one segment of CREEPERS, a horror antholgy, on a Limited Edition Blu-ray. The short was a lot of fun to do, because I've wanted to collaborate with Jeff in a manner that would not tear our friendship to shreds (I could never co-write with anyone). It also allowed me to work with some of my closest friends in Buffalo, and some new (and importan) collaborators. It also allowed me to flex my comedy muscles - not my black comedy muscles, or my campy comedy muscles - as a nice warm up for KILLER RACK.
There are three other shorts based on horror stories in the anthology, including Joe Lansdale's BY THE HAIR OF THE HEAD, which was adapted by Mike T. Lyddon, who executive produced the entire anthology. I'm proud of our little comedy, and you can read all about the anthology here:
http://www.creepersfilm.com/
But that was last week. This week I had two projects released on the same day.
FIrst up is my novel THE FRENZY WOLVES, the final book in my werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle. I never intended to write a trilogy about werewolves; The Jake Helman Files is my chosen series. THE FRENZY WAY was based on a screenplay I wrote long ago, and when I finished the novel, it was clear to me there was still material to explore, so I decided towrite one sequel. And halfway through THE FRENZY WAR, it became clear that I needed a third book to wrap up character/plot threads I developed in the sequel. I wrote THE FRENZY WOLVES specifically to be a wrapup, and it's an emotionally satisfying resolution for me. Each of the hree novels has a different focus, but together they form one complete story. There is no need to write another one, but I left the door open for a radical continuation should the opportunity present itself. The reviews from Publishers Weekly, Fangoria and The Horror Fiction Review were fantastic, so I'm glad I got the chance to push the concepts in the first novel even farther. You can order THE FRENZY WOLVES right here:
http://www.amazon.com/Frenzy-Wolves-Cycle/dp/1605427160/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413354125&sr=1-1&keywords=the+frenzy+wolves
Also released Tuesday was DRY BONES, the low budget feature I wrote and co-directed with Michael O'Hear, who stars alongside Debbie Rochon and many of my Buffalo friends; it makes a great double feature with GAVE UP THE GHOST, in fact -you can see many of the same actors (and my hose) in different roles. Three months ago, with this release gearing up, it felt like so little time had passed since we shot it. Now - after shooting KILLER RACK - it seems like an eternity. DRY BONES is a horor comedy, with the accent on comedy. I wanted it to have an uncomfortable sense of humor, so people wondered if they should laugh or be scared. Despite the low budget, I feel we succeeded; it has a truly quirky tone and plays with audience expectations. There haven't been many reviews yet, but the ones that have appeared have been largely positive. The film is available for rent at Family Video locations nationwide, which is in itself a major victory in today's amrketplace. You can purchase DRY BONES right here:
http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Bones-Debbie-Rochon/dp/B00M58FRDK/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1413354528&sr=1-1&keywords=dry+bones
Creating and co-creating these projects - along with producing THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS, finishing THE JULIAN YEAR, and writing the upcoming final Jake Helman novel, not to mention multiple drafts of the CARNAGE ROAD screenplay and producing and directing KILLER RACK - has not come without a price. I'm in the middle of organizing (with Chris Scioli) Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, and I feel every one of my 50 years - older, in fact. I'm exhausted, and I'm ready for a couple of months relaxation and family time.
This Friday, I screen GAVE UP THE GHOST at the Eerie Horror Film Festival (and Jeff screens iton Sunday at the Halloween Horror Picture Show in Tampa). Saturday I'll be signing copies of THE FRENZY WOLVES and DRY BONES inthe dealers room. Next Wednesday we travel to NYC, where I'll be a guest in ROy Frumkes's class on horror films at SVA, and Saturday I'll be at Chiller Theater Expo in New Jersey. When I come home, I moderate Buffalo Film Expo on Saturday,Nov. 1st, and travel to Toronto the next day for Horror[Rama, sponsored by Fangoria and Suspect Video. Then I have Bufalo Dreams from Fri No. 7th - Thursday Nov. 13th.
Living the life!
October 9, 2014
Buffalo Film Expo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BUFFALO DREAMS PRESENTS SECOND ANNUAL BUFFALO FILM EXPO
Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, which runs Friday November 7th - Thursday November 13th at the Eastern Hills Cinema, presents the second Buffalo Film Expo, a stand alone event, on Saturday, November 1st from 10 am to 5 pm at the Holiday Inn Buffalo Airport, 4600 Genesee Street in Cheektowaga. Admission is $10 for the day.
Buffalo Film Expo (BFX) is an educational event dedicated to promoting film production in the area and fostering professional practices among local movie makers. Workshops include Screenwriting, Producing Your First Feature, the NYS Film Production Tax Credit, Cinematiography, the Business of Acting, and Documentary Filmmaking. Buffalo Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark, Buffalo Film Office Director of Operations Rich Wall, and Nora Brown, Executive Director of the Rochester/Finger Lakes Film & Video Office are scheduled to participate.
"For a few years now, filmmakers in Western New York have heatedly discussed how to build a viable film industry in this area," says Gregory Lamberson, who runs the event with Chris Scioli. "Thanks largely to the efforts of Tim, Rich and Nora, an aggressive state tax credit for film production begins in 2015, and we're already seeing productions come to town because of it; we're on the cusp of something real happening here, and BFX is as much about preparing area film production personnel for what's coming our way as it is about teaching the fundamentals of screenwriting and cinematography to people interested in those areas, and the business aspects of acting to our talented community of performers. Anyone serious about producing a film here will benefit from learning how the state can help. We've kept the price affordable for students as well."
Panelists will be announced closer to the event date. An additional workshop on Independent Film Distribution will be held one week later as part of Buffalo Dreams. Inexpensive sponsorships and tables for BFX are available; interested parties should contact Lamberson or Scioli through the Buffalo Dreams website or BFX Facebook page.
Visit Buffalo Film Expo on the Buffalo Dreams website:
http://buffalodreamsfilmfest.com/
Buffalo Film Expo on Facebook:
