Expo Wrap-Up (Part II)
After hearing The Dude, I headed over to the trade show area to work the scr(i)pt magazine booth. Was pretty busy over there, but I still got the chance to talk to lots of people and walk around a bit to see other booths.
Bill Martell was there, and as fun and entertaining as always. John Scott Lewinski was there too, and we chatted for a bit as well. I got the chance to pop over to Chris Soth's booth for Million Dollar Screenwriting, and we met briefly, in anticipation of better times later in the weekend. Among other people who stopped by to introduce themselves to me or say Hi at the scr(i)pt booth were Warren and Neal, as well as Emily. I also met Maziar, whom you should all use to copy your scripts ($.02 per page!), and who was kind enough to give me a ride home that afternoon.
Saturday, I did not attend the Expo, and I spent Saturday night prepping for my seminars on Sunday, and going to sleep early!
Sunday began bright and early, so I could make it to Expo on time for my 8 AM session. I have to say that the two sessions I had on Sunday went as well as I could have possibly hoped. I had about 35-40 people in each one, and I was really happy with those numbers considering that A) this was the first time I was presenting seminars here, and B) the first seminar was at 8 AM on a SUNDAY! and the second was up against some pretty hefty guests of honor: William Goldman and David Koepp.
I was also really pleased with the feedback people in the seminars gave me, and was quite flattered by some of the awesome compliments I received. I won't repeat them here, but I'll just say thanks very much to those of you reading this who may have been among my students in those seminars. (And if you were there, and this is your first time reading my blog, please stick around for a while. Poke through the archives. Leave a comment or two. And check the links in my sidebar.)
Another really cool experience from Expo was another benefit of being a speaker there. I got to hang out in the speakers' "Green Room." Why was this cool? Well, some free food and drinks, for starters. But more importantly, it really made me feel like a part of a community of colleagues, and specifically made me feel like I was beginning to become a part of a new community of colleagues of whom I was "the rookie." People in the room, some of whom I met/spoke with, and some of whom I just saw, were Michael Hague, Karl Iglesias, Jim Mercurio, Rob Tobin, Linda Aronson, Michael Halperin, Julie Marsh Nelson, Robin Russin, Brad Schreiber, Richard Michaels Stefanik, and Marc and Elaine Zicree, among others. And everyone was really nice and friendly.
But what was even more thrilling was to look over at one point and see William Goldman sitting there as well! He was waiting to begin his first Guest of Honor lecture, and a few people were going over to talk to him. I did the same, which was a thrill. I introduced myself, and thanked him for coming to speak and being so encouraging to everyone there. Then I joked about being "up against him" in the scheduling, and he was perfectly encouraging. What I didn't do, but I thought would've been funny, was to walk up to him and say, "Mr. Goldman, I think you're writing stinks." And then when he reacted however he would, I would have said, "Not really. I just didn't want to sound like everyone else when I came up and told you how great your writing is, and what a fan I am." Instead, I didn't tell him anything of that nature, and simply left it to a polite thank you.
Final Wrap-Up to come in Part III
Tags: Screenwriting+Expo, screenwriting+gurus, William+Goldman
Bill Martell was there, and as fun and entertaining as always. John Scott Lewinski was there too, and we chatted for a bit as well. I got the chance to pop over to Chris Soth's booth for Million Dollar Screenwriting, and we met briefly, in anticipation of better times later in the weekend. Among other people who stopped by to introduce themselves to me or say Hi at the scr(i)pt booth were Warren and Neal, as well as Emily. I also met Maziar, whom you should all use to copy your scripts ($.02 per page!), and who was kind enough to give me a ride home that afternoon.
Saturday, I did not attend the Expo, and I spent Saturday night prepping for my seminars on Sunday, and going to sleep early!
Sunday began bright and early, so I could make it to Expo on time for my 8 AM session. I have to say that the two sessions I had on Sunday went as well as I could have possibly hoped. I had about 35-40 people in each one, and I was really happy with those numbers considering that A) this was the first time I was presenting seminars here, and B) the first seminar was at 8 AM on a SUNDAY! and the second was up against some pretty hefty guests of honor: William Goldman and David Koepp.
I was also really pleased with the feedback people in the seminars gave me, and was quite flattered by some of the awesome compliments I received. I won't repeat them here, but I'll just say thanks very much to those of you reading this who may have been among my students in those seminars. (And if you were there, and this is your first time reading my blog, please stick around for a while. Poke through the archives. Leave a comment or two. And check the links in my sidebar.)
Another really cool experience from Expo was another benefit of being a speaker there. I got to hang out in the speakers' "Green Room." Why was this cool? Well, some free food and drinks, for starters. But more importantly, it really made me feel like a part of a community of colleagues, and specifically made me feel like I was beginning to become a part of a new community of colleagues of whom I was "the rookie." People in the room, some of whom I met/spoke with, and some of whom I just saw, were Michael Hague, Karl Iglesias, Jim Mercurio, Rob Tobin, Linda Aronson, Michael Halperin, Julie Marsh Nelson, Robin Russin, Brad Schreiber, Richard Michaels Stefanik, and Marc and Elaine Zicree, among others. And everyone was really nice and friendly.
But what was even more thrilling was to look over at one point and see William Goldman sitting there as well! He was waiting to begin his first Guest of Honor lecture, and a few people were going over to talk to him. I did the same, which was a thrill. I introduced myself, and thanked him for coming to speak and being so encouraging to everyone there. Then I joked about being "up against him" in the scheduling, and he was perfectly encouraging. What I didn't do, but I thought would've been funny, was to walk up to him and say, "Mr. Goldman, I think you're writing stinks." And then when he reacted however he would, I would have said, "Not really. I just didn't want to sound like everyone else when I came up and told you how great your writing is, and what a fan I am." Instead, I didn't tell him anything of that nature, and simply left it to a polite thank you.
Final Wrap-Up to come in Part III
Tags: Screenwriting+Expo, screenwriting+gurus, William+Goldman
posted by Fun Joel | 11:36 PM
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