Big Island Film Festival
The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii will take center stage May 24-28, 2012 as it plays host to the seventh annual Big Island Film Festival. The film festival is a celebration of independent narrative filmmakers and their short and feature films. Recently selected as MovieMaker Magazine’s one of “Twenty Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee," the Big Island Film Festival provides an international array of narrative features and shorts in a breathtakingly beautiful, tropical setting.
Recently named one of Moviemaker Magazine's Coolest Film Festivals, the Big Island “Talk Story” Film Festival is a celebration of narrative filmmaking in one of the most beautiful settings on the planet. Throughout Memorial Day Weekend, filmmakers and film lovers come together on Hawai’i, the Big Island, to celebrate brand new narrative films, with daytime screenings, nightly double features and shorts from Hawaii and around the world at The Fairmont Orchid, Hawai'i and free family films at The Shops at Mauna Lani. Each year, 60-70 features and short movies are showcased, along with music, hula, sunshine, surf and tropical splendor, to fill five days with memories for a lifetime.
The Big Island Film Festival is proud to announce an exciting lineup of professional screenwriting and filmmaking workshops during BIFF 2012. Limited space will be available on an advance registration basis, for workshops presented by Story/Career Consultant Jen Grisanti and Maui hit filmmaker Brian Kohne, on Thursday, May 24 at The Fairmont Orchid, Hawai’i Amphitheatre.
Jen Grisanti
A Story/Career Consultant, Writing Instructor for Writers on the Verge at NBC, former 12-year studio executive, Jen Grisanti is a Blogger for The Huffington Post and author of the new books, Story Line: Finding Gold In Your Life Story and TV Writing Tool Kit: How To Write a Script That Sells. After starting her career as an assistant to Aaron Spelling in 1992, and with him as her 12-year mentor, Grisanti climbed the ranks to become VP of Current Programs at CBS/Paramount. Jen Grisanti Consultancy Inc. launched in 2008 as a consulting firm dedicated to helping talented writers break into the industry. Since then, Jen has worked with over four hundred writers working in television, film and novels. Twenty-six of her clients have staffed as writers on TV shows and ten have sold pilots, two that went to series.
Grisanti’s Workshop, “How to Write TV Spec & Pilot Scripts” will help screenwriters get ten steps ahead by understanding what producers and executives are looking for in a TV spec and pilot script, including all the story components for telling the one-hour drama and half hour sitcom stories. Grisanti says “With experience in staffing over 15 primetime shows, I will reveal secrets from the executive side and guide you to utilize your voice in your story as a way to help your TV spec/pilot scripts rise to the top of the stack.”
Brian Kohne
Named as "Person Who Made A Difference in 2011" by the Maui News, Hawaii native Brian Kohne is writer/director/editor/producer of "Get A Job," an award-winning independent feature comedy starring islanders Willie K, Eric Gilliom, Augie T, Jake Shimabukuro, Henry Kapono, Amy Hanaiali'i, and Mick Fleetwood. The movie won "Best of Fest" and "Best Hawaiian Feature" at BIFF 2011, along with numerous honors at festivals in the U.S. and abroad. A Film and Art school graduate, and Music Producer of the "Barefoot Natives," Kohne boasts a diverse work history which includes Sports Broadcasting, Interactive Television, Corporate Video, Concert Promotion, and Sales/Marketing. He is currently at work on a new independent island feature: "Brother's Kuleana."
Kohne’s Workshop, “From Conception to Completion: Indie Features”
“Movies were traditionally ‘made’ three times,” says Kohne. “They were Written, Produced, and Edited. But with technological shifts, movement away from theatrical exhibition, and the evolution of distribution models, an independent auteur now ‘makes’ a movie four times. This workshop explores the necessary inter-connectivity, as Marketing/Distribution has become an integral part of the production process and equally critical to an indie's success.”
More information can be found by visiting: www.BigIslandFilmFestival.com
Special rates have been set aside for patrons of the Big Island Film Festival, please call our reservations specialists at 800-845-9905.