Beverly Hills Shorts Festival (or Remembering To Breathe After Being So Stressed)

Saturday was the actual screenings for the film festival. In the past, we’ve had screenings the entire weekend, but since this was my first time running the festival, the other co-directors agreed that we should cut it back to one day (I’m very grateful that they made that decision).

The screenings were at 3, 5, and 7 with an awards ceremony at 9. But I wanted to get to Busby’s super early so I could make sure that everything was in order. When I arrived, the ballroom was all set up for the screenings.

It was only bright in there because the curtains were still open. While the screenings were going on it was nice and dark.

I also tested the DVDs we were using. The biggest fear that I had was that there would be some sort of technical issue during a screenings. It’s happened before and I’m sure it’s happened again. But I’ve never been the person who had to fix it (or who had to listen to an angry filmmaker yelling).

I tried to stay calm while waiting for the volunteers to show up for the first shift. I killed time by making phone calls and playing a couple of rounds of Candy Crush.

And before I knew it, the festival was starting. Since I couldn’t be in 2 places at once, I stayed outside at the check in table while the films were going. But I always had a volunteer inside in charge of making sure there were no technical issues. I also had a volunteer run the Q&A after the screening.

While I didn’t get to see any of the films during the festival, I’ve been told by the volunteers and filmmakers that there were no technical issues during the entire thing. I had no angry filmmakers and nobody demanded a refund of their ticket (yes, that’s happened in the past as well).

I got to host the awards ceremony for the first time (I’m normally just hanging out watching it). It was so much fun getting to pass out awards (not all the winners were present, but those who were were so enthusiastic that they won).

And then it was done.

I’m still in shock that I managed to do it. I’ve been nervous for so long about this and honestly, I think it went smoother this year than any other year (that could be due to the fact that we ran all the screenings off of DVDs and only had one day of screenings). There are a couple of things that I’m hoping to improve on for next year, but I’ll have an entire year to prep for that festival.

I also wanted to just say on here how grateful I am to all my volunteers this year. I know that the festival would have been a disaster without them. Not only were they rockstars in doing their jobs, they also helped to calm me down.

Now I get to relax at Thanksgiving with most of my family.

BTW, if you are a filmmaker and want to submit your film for next year, let me know!

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Another Festival Done! (or My Weekend With The Beverly Hills Shorts Festival) Opening Night Party (or Getting To Be A Party Hostess) Exciting News (or Sometimes It Pays To Wait It Out) Busy Work (or It’s All Coming Together) Trying To Go With The Flow (or Staying Calm And Remembering To Breathe) Holiday Workouts (or Hills, Hills, and More Hills)