Well, it’s nearing four AM on Monday, October 20th, barely an hour after I returned home from five days in East Hampton, NY. I see that my ever-impatient mom posted down below asking how I did at the fest, I assume in terms of prizes and such. Well, the reason she didn’t know is because I didn’t know until about 9:30 PM last night when the awards were handed out at the closing ceremony. The result? I didn’t win any awards. However, the festival was hardly a wash. I had a GREAT time overall, and “A BETTER PLACE” was very well received indeed. I made a few good friends as well, and was happy to share the experience with my best friend Brian Lynch, who came up to the festival on Friday and Saturday (and made quite an impression himself) with his lovely girlfriend Lorene Scafaria, as well as with my friend Neil Epstein (who attended the entire festival with me and even provided me with my transportation and free accommodations, thanks to his saintly aunt Anita who owns a house in the Hamptons). A couple other friends showed up for the Saturday showing LATE and ended up missing the actual screening, but they did get to hang out for the day and see the hilarious short film “CULTURE” and the feature “FAKIN DA’ FUNK” (another film in competition), which was also attended by the film’s stars Ernie Hudson and Pam Grier. Neil and I also partied nearly every night with our new pals Brent Sims and John Taylor, who’s powerful documentary “GUTTER PUNKS” (about homeless teens in New Orleans) was in the documentary competition. I also made more than a few connections while there, and quite a few producers and such expressed interest in my new screenplay, so we’ll see what happens there…

Anyway, all in all, it was a great first experience for me on the festival circuit. I had a blast, and I think Neil and Brian did as well, and I hope a bunch more of you get to see “A BETTER PLACE” when it plays at the Walter Reade this Thursday. G’Night!