 I'm gonna need you to mark your calendars for July 11th through the 14th, 2024, because you're gonna be traveling to a random city in the Bay Area for a film festival called Brave Maker Film Festival. The film festival was created by Tony Gapstone, who is a writer, director, actor. He just does so many things. He even teaches screenwriting and acting through Brave Maker, which is a non-profit. And it was a three and a half day film festival full of parties, workshops, panels, film screenings, of course. I was able to attend two and a half days of this film festival and I ended up purchasing a VIP ticket because lately I've just, if the ticket isn't that crazy out of my budget, I've been getting a VIP ticket and I have to say I have not regretted it yet. I'm sure one day I will regret some ticket that I buy for too much money. It was only $150 for all of these events. I got like two and a half packed days for $150. Otherwise, each event would have been zero. Some things were free to $20. I made it a little late to day one, but I was able to do the free screening outdoors. And then after that, we headed over to the hub and it was a big party to start off the film festival, drinks, food, lots of music, and basically just talking to everybody. There were all kinds of people there, filmmakers, actors, people just coming to the festival to watch amazing films. There's Tony, but it was a really, really chill vibe. So if you want to know what that party is like, at least this year, it was pretty chill. Then on to day two, which was absolutely packed. After a quick VIP breakfast with filmmakers, I went into a workshop that was actually hosted by Tristan Shuler, who I met the day before in the opening party. He is so intelligent and kind and passionate about writing for TV. I am not necessarily interested in transitioning from acting to being a filmmaker behind the camera, but I wanted to attend as many of these workshops as possible so I can learn more about the process behind the camera and also of course get to know filmmakers, writers, creatives. It was just so cool to learn about how somebody who actually writes for TV pitches up because Tristan is a TV writer and he also works for road map writers, which helps writers get their scripts read and then eventually end up on TV. After that, there was an actor, filmmaker, mixer, which you got to talk to a bunch of other filmmakers there as well as panelists. Like the hosts of the workshops and the panels, the professionals that were there, were very often just hanging out in all of the events because this event is relatively small, I think. It's like a few hundred people. I feel like people aren't afraid to just hang out. They're not gonna be bombarded by lines of people wanting to talk to them. So it was pretty easy to just go up to the filmmakers and get a conversation started. Then a quick walk over to have complimentary Indian food, which was so good. And we got to watch three super inspirational short films and got to talk to, of course, the filmmakers. And after I actually got interviewed by the Ubuntu team about the film. Walking over to the History Museum because there's an industry panel happening in this gorgeous, gorgeous building. The entertainment panel was super diverse and friendly, like the energy there was so good. Tony is such a hardworking kind person. And you can really tell that he is that because he's attracting so many people like that. And this industry panel is just like, they were just so honest and open for questions and to give like their honest thoughts to us. After that panel, I noticed that one of my actor friends who I worked on a commercial with years ago, maybe more than five years ago, we worked on a commercial together and then I was like, hey, we have a little break, wanna go get dinner. So we went and got dinner and we just caught up. And we started talking about this agency in Utah and how there's like work in Utah for actors. So I actually submitted to an agency in Utah because of this conversation, because of reconnecting with this actor friend. I really, really wanted to go see Tony's workshop creating a feature film, but also I wanted to go see a short film called The First X. Often in the film festival, just as in so many festivals, there's two or three things happening at once. So I snuck in to watch a short film called First X and then the next film after that was Spotlight, which I had already seen the first night. So then after that, I ran and went to Tony's workshop. Tony made a feature film called Last Chance Charlene that you can actually see in a bunch of places, including Amazon Prime Video. And it was fun to just hear about his crazy budget. I think his location budget was like $600 or something. Tony is the epitome, I feel like, of an indie filmmaker because he's always making stuff. He has like stuff on deck, writing stuff. Now a screening in the actual theater called Late Night Braves. Since I got a VIP ticket, I got invited to the after-party and it was super intimate because there were basically volunteers for the event and then filmmakers, panelists. You basically just got to drink, eat and relax. I was there from 9.30 until 1.45. I was just on Instagram and Tony was live. It's 8.47 a.m. and Tony is already in the hub and I'm like, what am I still doing in that? I need to get ready and go. The first screening is at 10, but there's a workshop at 10.45 that I'd rather go to the workshop just for this particular thing because I would love to see the screening of the film, but my point of view is that I can potentially find that film, that link, where I can necessarily go to this workshop again. So I'm gonna get out of bed and I'm gonna get over there as soon as possible. Day three started with a roadmap screenwriting panel and it was hosted by Tristan and some filmmakers, which I ended up talking to the filmmaker on the very left, Ali, in another workshop later in the day and we are actually talking and looking to collaborate. I went over to the library for women in the entertainment panel. I'm feeling really more welcome and I think someone mentioned the SJA. Everybody was in the festival along with yours and yours. We're trying. Informative. And the presence here is probably. I'm Keena Ferguson, actor, director, writer, producer, voiceover artist, all the things. There's no better way to work structure of television than to watch it done well. I will tell myself, everybody is just a dude. I know. Another beautiful panel of just such talented women. I actually ended up staying there for an iPhone filmmaking workshop because I do film all of my YouTube videos and my self-tape auditions on my phone and I wanted to see how people actually film like full length feature films and short films on their phones. And there I actually got to work with one of the panelists from earlier from the roadmap screenwriters panel and it was Ali. She ended up being on our team and after we were all done working as a team, she got all of our numbers, everybody that was working in that film and we are looking to meet up very soon in order to collaborate. During the iPhone filmmaking workshop, it was an interactive one, which we had no idea. I thought it was just gonna be like a talk then maybe they were gonna show us, you know, things that they've done on their phone. No, they're like, okay, get in groups and you're going to shoot a one minute film in the next 30 minutes. You have to write it, film it, edit it and then we're gonna watch it. We did get a short prompt where we had to say, wow, we're brave. And this is a one minute film that we were able to shoot and edit during those 30 minutes. Man, we're so brave. Now back to the theater for the Brave Maker shorts. These shorts were the ones filmed in the Brave Maker Academy, which is an acting class. You of course get to learn about acting but at the end of it, they actually write a short specifically for the actors in the class and they film it. It was really cool to see those acting students up there talking about that whole process. I had the quickest dinner and then went to Bathings Happen in Philadelphia screening, which was incredible. And there were other films screening then as well but Bathings Happen in Philadelphia, a documentary, it was amazing. Then there was another workshop that I really wanted to get to and it was creating a series, like, you know, like a TV series, web series. And it was with Sean McCarthy. He created Dusha Holig's that you can see on Amazon. It's really funny. I highly recommend watching it, especially because it's like an incredible Bay Area series. There's so much talent in the Bay Area. I ended up talking to him in one of the VIP after parties and I believe he's seen some of my work before because we started talking and maybe I might, you know, might get an opportunity to work with him soon. I then went to the Walk and Repeat where I had a little interview with Priscilla and I also talked to another filmmaker just waiting for the Walk and Repeat fay and she gave me her card. A lot of filmmakers gave me their card. So I ended up counting after the film festival on Instagram and cards. It was something like 27 people that gave me their contact info that were interested in potentially working together. Granted, most of them have never seen me act so they would still have to see, you know, what I work like. I definitely feel that I got my money's worth even if it's just for like the screenings and the workshops that I want to. But in addition to that, I feel like I'm gonna multiply my money because I was offered a couple of roles during the festival and I also interacted a lot with a lot of filmmakers and got conversations started. I got to talk to a lot of filmmakers and start relationships so maybe in the future we might be able to work together. It could be like we worked together in three months and it also could be that we worked together in like seven years, which I think is fine and great and beautiful. I'm just trying to give you a realistic perspective, like not by attending one film festival, are you gonna be set in your career? But this one, I really think you should attend. I'm going back. Like I said at the beginning, mark your calendars for July 11th through the 14th. No, Tony is not paying me to say this. I hope to be a part of the Brave Maker Film Festival in some capacity next year, even if it's just going again with the VIP ticket. So I'll see you there. And if you're interested in more actor related events or conferences, things like that that I've gone to, I have a whole playlist right here because I am an extrovert and I love going to things like this.