New York actress, Spartanburg native to judge Expecting Goodness Film Festival
The film festival takes place June 14.
Organizers of the 2014 Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival have persuaded New York actress and Spartanburg native Celia Weston to come home to serve as a judge. Nominated for a Tony award for Best Actress, Weston has appeared in numerous films including Dead Man Walking, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Far From Heaven. Fans of television's Modern Family will recognize Weston in the role of Barb Tucker. Weston joins film critic Michael Dunaway and writer Scott Gould on the judging panel.
The festival pairs acclaimed short stories by South Carolina writers with regional filmmakers who adapt the stories into short films. This year’s festival includes stories written by authors Ron Rash, Brett Lott, George Singleton, Pam Durban, and many more. The 2014 festival takes place June 14 at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg.
Festival schedule:
- Judges’ Matinee Screening, open to the public: noon – 2 p.m., $10
- 2014 Indie Grants Screening (works-in-progress): 4 – 5:15 p.m., free
- Premiere Awards Screening: 7 – 10 p.m., $20
Find more information or purchase tickets online.
The festival is presented by HUB-BUB and the University of South Carolina Upstate and sponsored by Contec Inc.
About the Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival
In 2012, the Hub City Writers Project and HUB-BUB held the first annual Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Seven Upstate filmmakers selected a story from the Hub City Press book
Expecting Goodness to use as inspiration for a short film. In 2013, two categories of filmmaker applicants were accepted into the festival: experienced and emerging. Community workshops on screenplay adaptation and film production were held in the months leading up to the main screening event. Sell-out crowds made the festival one of Upstate South Carolina’s most popular cultural events of the year.
Via: Expecting Goodness Film Festival
Ready to write a movie?
Have you always wanted to write a movie? Here’s your chance to take the first step toward that dream. Filmmaker Ron Hagell is offering a six-part introductory screenwriting course beginning Tues., Nov. 26, from 6 - 8 p.m. at the Tapps Art Center, 1644 Main Street in Columbia.
Registration is $150 with a discounted rate of $100 for students (18 or over) and teachers. Participants are expected to attend six classes and begin the process toward the completion of a feature-length screenplay. Contact Hagell to register (r.hagell@gmail.com or (917) 216 2098) or register in person at the Nov. 26 class. Registrations will be accepted through Dec. 3.
The first three classes are Nov. 26, Dec, 3 & 10, 2013; the additional three classes are Jan. 14, 21 & 28, 2014. Each class meets from 6 - 8 p.m.
The course will cover story structure, character development and motivation, as well as methods for getting started and continuing toward your goal. All participants will receive critical feedback and gain confidence in preparation of industry standard scripts. According to Hagell, “this course is designed for all sorts of filmmakers and films, from shorts and commercials to longer form documentaries and features. It’s all about telling stories and moving an audience."
Hagell has more than 30 years of experience teaching media writing, production and performance at universities in Europe, the UK and here in the U.S. His work was selected for the 2013 Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival and Jasper Magazine's 2nd Act Film Festival.
More information is available online: https://sites.google.com/site/columbiascreenwriting/
Note: Applications for the 2014 Expecting Goodness Film festival are due Dec. 31, 2013.
Fiction Project stories selected for Expecting Goodness Film Festival
For the second annual Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival, the folks at Hub City Writers Project invited writers from across South Carolina, including previous South Carolina Fiction Project winners, to submit their stories for consideration. Emerging and experienced filmmakers were invited to choose a story upon which to base an original short film. We're happy to say that five of the 12 stories that were filmed are Fiction Project winners, and a sixth writer is a multiple Fiction Project winner (Deno Trakas - a five-time winner!)
The 2013 writers (*denotes Fiction Project winners):
Joseph Bodie, Audra Kerr Brown*, Lindy Keane Carter*, Melinda S. Cotton*, Elizabeth Cox, Vickie Dailey, Erin Michelle Fleming, Matthew Fogarty, Terresa Haskew, Robert Lamb, John R. Saylor*, Deno Trakas*, Susan Levi Wallach and David A. Wright*
Even if you can't make it to the festival on March 23 (which is nearly sold out), you can attend the free reception the night before and hear the writers read parts of the stories that inspired the films. The reception takes place March 22 at 7 p.m. at The Showroom at Hub-Bub. The film festival takes place March 23 from 3 - 10 p.m. at Chapman Cultural Center. Film festival tickets are $15.
Also on the festival website, you can read short bios of the writers and filmmakers and find out what some of them say about the experience, including this thought from Terresa Haskew, author of "Living the Dream."
I have to admit I was feeling some anxiety over my role in the film. I fretted that I would have to DO something…be involved…have to add this to my already full agenda. What did I know about filmmaking? Was I supposed to be there, to guide the process? What would this do to my already limited writing time?
About the Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival
First held in 2012, the Expecting Goodness Film Festival is a writer’s film festival. Talented South Carolina writers and their stories were connected with emerging and experienced filmmakers across South Carolina to create original short films. This one-of-a-kind project brings literature and film together in a way that showcases emerging South Carolina writers and filmmakers, engages and educates the community on numerous aspects of the industry and generates enthusiasm for film.
South Carolina filmmakers wanted for Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival
South Carolina filmmakers are invited to participate in the 2013 Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival, which pairs filmmakers with South Carolina writers and their recently published or award-winning stories. More than 35 stories are available for filmmakers to choose from.
Of those who register between Sept. 19 and Oct. 19, a maximum of seven emerging and seven experienced filmmakers will be selected by a lottery on Oct. 29, and the project will begin with the public Launch Night in Spartanburg on Nov. 3. Filmmakers will have four months to use a story as inspiration for a 5-10 minute short film that will premiere and compete for awards on March 23, 2013, at the David Reid Theatre, thanks to host sponsor Chapman Cultural Center, in Spartanburg.
Cash prizes will be awarded on the festival night in five juried awards: Best Film ($1000), Best Editing ($250), Best Cinematography ($250), Best Actor/Actress ($250), and the Emerging Filmmaker Award, which will grant the winner $250 and a multi-day hands-on professional filmmaking experience thanks to the South Carolina Film Commission. An Audience Favorite Award of $1000 will be voted on and awarded on the festival night, as well.
Confirmed judges are Dr. Bernie Dunlap, Wofford College president and writer, producer, and on-air presenter of public television; Peter Wentworth, film producer; and Marjorie Wentworth, S.C. Poet Laureate.
The Expecting Goodness Short Film Festival was created in 2011 by the Hub City Writers Project and HUB-BUB, 501-c-3 nonprofit programs in Spartanburg. The inaugural project paired seven writers and their stories published in the Hub City Press collection “Expecting Goodness” with seven South Carolina filmmakers. After workshops, community gatherings, and two months of filming, the project concluded with a sold-out festival night in March 2012.
“After the incredible success of the first film festival we wanted to grow it for its second year,” said organizer and Hub City Writers Project assistant director Kari Jackson. “By expanding it and limiting it to South Carolina writers and filmmakers, we showcase the talent we have right here in our state. We’re excited to see the collaborations come together into films and share them with the public all along the way.”
All South Carolina filmmakers 18 or over and willing to commit to the duration of the project should register by Oct. 19 at http://www.expectinggoodness.com.
Via: Hub City Writers Project
