Day 1

It's over. Finally.

I'm actually into the wee hours of Day 2 now.

Lots of walking (lugging my laptop along). Good thing I'm not a couch potato, but gods.

Having a car in Austin is a necessity. I walked from the hostel I'm bedding down in to a bus stop, then from the drop off point to the Driskall hotel...

I registered and picked up my producers badge. I attended two panels called something along the lines of: "Getting the most out of competitions" and "A Shot of Inspiration for Writers."

In the first, some past contest winners told us how they parlayed contest wins into becoming filmmakers, individual journeys that no one else is gonna copy.

In the second, the panelists passed whiskey shots around for...inspiration. They fielded questions on how a writer can stay encouraged, learn when they're writers,etc.

Then I walked to a lounge a few blocks away to grab some free food, then I walked to a party in an "industrial" bar where it was too loud to really hear what everyone else was saying. I tagged along with an English indie director, Michael Bartlett, and his mates. Salt of the Earth. I'll have to see if I can see his flick, "The Zombie Diaries," at least once.

With some regret, I cut the party to hike back to the hotel to catch an expensive cab ride to view a Vietnamese film being shown at a theater too far away to walk.

The film itself was quite good, though. "Owl and Sparrow," a tear jerker about an orphan girl who brings together a young woman flight attendant looking for love and a guy hurt by a past flame.

There're some other Vietnamese films in the next few days that I'll want to see...but they're all in that same theater.

I was able to get a ride from someone leaving, but not before the taxi came to pick me up. I gave the driver a tip, then learned later that I left a folder in his car with a copy of my flight itinerary and my ticket for my airport shuttle pickup.

I can check in at the airport, and I can give the shuttle driver a confirmation number, but I want my folder back. Since I have the cabbie's card, I can try calling him and asking him if he has the folder. But I think I know what he'll say.

On the way back, I had a nice conversation with an old-school veteran woman screenwriter, Harmony. Harmony regaled me and our driver, Sassy, about how Hollywood used to be filled with reliable and professional people, who have been leaving the place in droves for the last 20 years or so. Sharks mostly infest Tinseltown nowadays. One must keep an eye out when navigating Hollywood's waters.

I attended a late night welcome conference party at a nearby bar. Talked about film with some other festival goers, and I made a suggestion to some festival staffers that shuttle service be extended to all distant theaters for all the good that'll do.

I passed on free beer to stay awake and checked out of the party to head back to my hostel. I then spent 40 minutes walking in a circle to find a late night bus and ended up at the stop I started at.

Leastways, I learned about Austin's bus schedules.

Today, I have 4 panels to look forward to. Three of which are devoted to us Second Rounders. We can ask working producers and writers anything about the secrets of breaking in. :-)

The fourth panel will actually be a "sofa" chat with the writer for "Memoirs of a Geisha."

I'll be curious to see how today turns out.

Must drag myself off to bed now to catch a few hours of semisleep.