here! @ Sundance:
Report: January 19 -24, 2004
By JD Disalvatore and Meredith Kadlec
Planet Out/Outfest held the annual queer brunch and POWER UP was a sponsor again. Jane Lynch (BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND) was on hand to promote her Sundance short LITTLE BLACK BOOT (directed by Colette Burson), a modern day lesbian Cinderella tale. “It’s not the glass slipper anymore, but a little dykey black boot!” said Lynch.
D.E.B.S. director Angela Robinson dished about the whirlwind experience of turning her Sundance short film D.E.B.S. into a feature-length version. “It’s been an amazing experience. First we had little D.E.B.S.; now we have big D.E.B.S.!”
POWER UPpers Lisa Thrasher, Stacy Codikow, John Crabtree-Ireland and Christopher Racster
Coffee chat 1
Monday morning began with the first in a week-long series of intimate Coffee Chats with queer film directors, sponsored by POWER UP.
Feature director Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S.) and documentary director Lesli Klainberg (IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN) came out to talk to the hardy early risers, who sprawled on couches and bean bags, sipping coffee and asking questions about the film business.
When asked what it’s like to have a film at Sundance, Angela said it was odd to field questions from people about her film. “For a year, this film was just my life, and now it’s this THING that people are pointing at and talking about.” Angela related a hilarious story about an interview with Essence magazine. “The interviewer said, ‘Aren’t you freaked out to be black and gay and a woman and being interviewed?’ And I was like, ‘Uh, no, I wasn’t – until you just asked me that!’” Lesli Klainberg, whose moving documentary on iconic gay writer Paul Monette won the Audience Award at Sundance in 1997, talked about the difficulties (financial) and rewards (audience reaction) in documentary film. “When we did the film on Paul, we got cards with money in them, saying things like, ‘I only have five dollars but Paul Monette changed my life.’ I got so much out of the film personally.” The directors, who have both lived in New York and L.A., explored the differences between the two cities. Angela said it’s daunting to “face the beast” and move from New York’s more documentary and indie-oriented scene to Los Angeles. “L.A. is debilitating to many people’s creative spark. You go to a coffee shop and there are 18 people there with laptops and you get really depressed, because you know there’s a screenplay on every one of them.
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Lesli Klainberg and Angela Robinson at Coffee Chat
Lesli noted, however, that while she loves New York, L.A. can be more inviting for queer filmmakers, citing the L.A. Gay and Lesbian film fest. “OUTFEST is great. You just don’t feel the same sense of community in the queer film festival world in New York as you do in L.A.” She also said the stereotype that L.A.’s industry is full of icky people is silly. “There are a lot of wonderful people in L.A. You just avoid the gross people.” Angela had to laugh when Lesli went on to say, “Some of my best friends are feature people.”
Coffee-chat 2
We have major scoop on the forthcoming SEQUEL to a famous lesbo flick, one film has viewers walking out in shock, and mainstream Hollywood may have finally found a break-out LESBIAN action director! Listen up all you girls across the country starving for lesbian content. You know who you are – you’re sick of those long, sad, thoughtful (in other words, BORING) lesbian films where someone dies or worse, goes back to men! Well, we have two words for you: Larry Kennar. Larry is not only the Executive Producer of Showtime’s new THE L WORD series, but also of the HOT, SEXY action film D.E.B.S. Witty and charming Kennar regaled the crowd at the morning POWER UP Coffee Chat with valuable advice on making it in Hollywood. Rule number one? Know how to sell yourself. “It’s all about perception,” says Kennar. “For example, a lot of mediocre writers get on shows because they can sell themselves, and a lot of great writers never get hired because they can’t pitch. You have to be a great actor to sell yourself as a writer.” Kennar says you also need to stand out from the crowd and be that “splash of pink” in the endless gray Hollywood execs deal with all day. Kennar related how D.E.B.S. director Angela Robinson accomplished this. “She walked into my office and said, ‘I want Sam Raimi’s career.’ No women director [has] ever say that. And I thought, ‘This chick is going to do it!’”
Kennar and LITTLE BLACK BOOT director Colette Burson debated whether it’s more difficult for a woman to become a director in Hollywood than a man. Burson, who feels film is one of the most sexist professions left, said the prejudice begins as early as film school. “If a woman’s film is good, people say, ‘Wow, she had a really great cinematographer.’ If a man’s film is good, it’s ‘Wow, he’s a great director.’” Burson went on to say that it helps if you think like a man in Hollywood. “Women are very fair. They will say, ‘So and so is a better director than I am.’ I tried to think more like a guy and say, ‘It’s my script and I should be the one to direct it.'"
"The L Word" executive producer Larry Kennar and LITTLE BLACK BOOT director Colette Burson at Coffee Chat at The Queer Lounge.
POWER UP DINNER
The hot list to be on was the POWER UP dinner at Grappa, one of the hottest restaurants in town. (As we walked in, we passed Kevin Bacon, Patti LaBelle and Benjamin Bratt.) POWER UP, based in L.A., with offices in New York, Chicago and San Fran, has a mission to “promote the visibility and integration of gay women in all forms of entertainment.”
At the POWER UP dinner at Grappa: (from left) OUTFEST executive director Stephen Gutwillig, LITTLE BLACK BOOT producer Christopher Racster, director Jamie Babbit, POWER UP executive director Stacy Codikow, D.E.B.S. producer Andrea Sperling.
The fabulous dinner, attended by 65-plus people, was generously sponsored by Paul Mitchell Systems and Patron Spirits. Owners John Paul and Eloise DeJoria were on hand to raise a glass. In saying why he supports POWER UP, John Paul said, “Success not shared is total failure. An organization like this is about making a segment of the planet a better place. We’re proud to support POWER UP’s mission.” (The after-party, which packed 150-plus people into Windy Ridge Café for desserts and Patron tequila, was also sponsored by the DeJoria’s.)
The event was attended by all the hottest up-and-coming lesbian filmmakers. Guests included Jane Lynch (BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND), Jamie Babbitt (director of BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER), Guinevere Turner (THE L WORD, GO FISH), Lee Friedlander (director of THE TEN RULES, GIVE OR TAKE AN INCH), Angela Robinson (director of D.E.B.S.), Colette Burson (director of LITTLE BLACK BOOT), Trish Doolan (director of APRIL’S SHOWER), Ellen Huang, (founder, The Queer Lounge), Sundance programmers Shari Frilot and Roberta Munroe, and Stephen Gutwillig and Kirsten Schaffer from LA’s OUTFEST.
Also there was here! TV's Mark Reinhart, at Sundance scouting films for acquisition. (Upcoming theatrical releases from here! Films include Golden Globe winner and "Six Feet Under" writer Christian Taylor’s SHOWBOY in April, and from producers Merchant-Ivory, MERCI, DOCTEUR REY, starring Dianne Wiest, Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Birkin.)
In each of the three years POWER UP has been around, one of the shorts it produced has made it into Sundance – an impressive track record. (Last year it was the short version of D.E.B.S., this year it’s LITTLE BLACK BOOT.) Said founder Stacy Codikow, “I couldn’t be more proud that POWER UP has the ability to reach out and touch so many people.”