Headin' Back to Memphis, and Dark Woods Con Report!

Had to take a break from working all day on a spec-script, for a potentially very large project. Figured I would hop on here and weigh in a little on the past weekend, and the weekend coming up, at MidSouthCon.

First of all, the verdict is in...DarkWoods Con is a winner. I think that Cherokee Hall, the Blackwells, and everyone involved did a fantastic job with organizing the show. The attendence was solid, there was a nice variety of exhibitors, and excellent guests.

Jeffrey Reddick, as usual, was fantastic to visit with, and we finally got to be on a panel together. Myself, writer Elizadeth Hetherington, the incomparable Nic Brown, and Jeffrey headed up a screenwriter/author panel that didn't seem to have any pauses. We had a great conversation with the audience, and the range of experience on the panel was where it needed to be to respond well to the inquiries. Jeffrey also indicated that he has a lot of irons in the fire now, and I can't wait to see how everything turns out with him in the near future. He's a great fellow and is one that anyone would want to root for.

I spent a lot of time in the dealer's room, talking to other guests, exhibitors, con attendees, and even a few that will hopefully become new readers of my work! My table was next to Schaeffer Tolliver and Justin Powell, who were manning a table for the Cineline guys. Worked out very nicely, and we had a front seat position for all the sideshow stuff from the Pickled Brothers. They are fantastic, if you haven't seen them, though it does make me queasy to watch swords being drawn out of mouths by audience participants and light bulbs being eaten.

Sam Flegal and his friend Matthew were on hand, and it turned out that we were both staying at the same hotel (though we didn't figure this out until the end of the con). Sam is a very talented artist, and is part of that extended Nashville and Tennessee family of authors and artists that have been very kind to me as I've gotten underway with the books in the past year. I was glad to see that business was brisk at his table.

And then there's Jacob Ennis, the mastermind behind Stash and the upcoming Red River. Jacob is a first rate moviemaker, and a good guy to boot, and I hope that he and I find a project to work together on one day. We discussed a couple of possibilities, so we'll see, but definitely keep your eye on him.

I had a few moments to talk with Michael Berryman, the guy who was in the original The Hills Have Eyes movie. Very nice, cordial guy, I must say!

Jerry Williams and Pat Bowling were there as well, bringing their craziness, as well as many others, such as the Infernal Dreams fellows, TJ Moreschi of Feathered Italian Films, Lee Vorvoort of the movie Gun Town, George Bonilla and the ZP International crew, and Vance and Elizadeth Hetherington (I got Elizadeth's book and am reading it, she's a very talented horror writer).

I also met Joe Garcia of the Fast Custom Shirts guys, and it looks like I have FINALLY found an artist-friendly source for t-shirts. (we're already preparing a few designs, so keep an eye on the blog)

Lots of new friends, a very good overall experience, and even a couple of Stacey Gillespie sightings (Kentucky's legendary indie film actor). Plus I got to see Billy Blackwell in his fancy new beard that he grew for his role in a new George Bonilla film...very nice!

Mark down DarkWoods Con on your calendar in 2011. Well worth it. Great Con and I think that they have something going that can really excel.


This weekend I'm back in Tennessee, in Memphis, for MidSouthCon. I'm on no less than 6 panels over the weekend, and I will be stationed at D.A. Adams table in the exhibition hall, so I'll be pretty easy to find. There are so many wonderful people in Memphis... H. David Blalock (The Jarl Himself), Herika Raymer, Kirk Stevens, Dan and Jackie Gamber, Kim Smith, Debra Parmley, Kimberly Richardson, and several others are based in Memphis who I have come to know and like a whole lot. The Con is very well run, and features some big names like Sherrylin Kenyon and Kevin J. Anderson. It will be great to catch up with a bunch of author and artist friends while I'm there. I hope to get to stop in and get some Memphis BBQ at a place recommended by author Angelia Sparrow...we'll see what happens! :)

A Stroll Through the DarkWoods, and Some Updates...

I am looking forward to DarkWoods Con this weekend. Held in Pikeville, KY, this is the first year for this Con and it is being hosted and run by some very good guys and friends from the Kentucky film scene. I interviewed the main instigator, actor/director/producer Cherokee Hall on a recent Indie Movie Masters blog, and I can say that this is definitely going to be a great addition to the convention scene, especially in the region.

One of the highlights for me personally is that my pal Jeffrey Reddick is going to be there, and we are both on a screenwriter/author panel together on Saturday. Jeffrey is a fantastic screenwriter, and one of the things I've always admired about him is that he's come back to Kentucky (where he is from) to support the burgeoning independent film community here at events and conferences. It will be great to catch up with him and find out what kind of Hollywood shenanigans he's getting into next.

Other than that, I'll be exhibting and doing one other panel on independent filmmaking. Rumor has it that I'm next to the legendary Schaeffer Tolliver in the exhibit hall (as you may recall, among Schaef's many acting credits is his role as Hasan in Shadows Light), who will be hosting a table with Justin Powell, another good friend.

I've been working hard lately, readying two new short stories for editors of new anthologies, as well as turning in a couple of others to Amanda for an anthology she is putting together at Seventh Star Press. I've also been doing a bunch of work on the spec-script that is coming due in a couple of weeks, so keep your fingers crossed! I'm still itching to tell everyone what this script/movie project is about, but I'm muzzled for the moment! :)

I have been working on breakdowns and analysis of the "Viking Age" original screenplay I've mentioned before, and we hope to move forward strongly with that project very soon, once we have it analyzed through and through.

April will see the SantaBoy shoot, the new short comedy from award-winning writer-director Scott Sullivan. Production meetings are going on later this month, with a late April shooting weekend. We've got some excellent people pulled together for this project, which is being shot by cinematographer Aaron Champion, who is one of the biggest talents I've come across in the region.

Well, that's it for now...but I will be sure to give a report early next week on DarkWoods Con, especially regarding any crazy stuff that cult-film director and icon Jerry Williams does if he shows up in Pikeville!

It was a ScareFest Weekend, and a Con Trek adventure!

ScareFest turned out to be quite an adventure! I ended up jumping aboard the Con Trek crew for Saturday, as they had selected Lexington's ScareFest to be one of their season one episodes. Con Trek, of course, is a fantastic episodic reality show that visits various conventions across the USA. It is found on the Microsoft Xbox's Video Marketplace.

I was really impressed with Alan and Brittney, the two Con Trek hosts. Seeing them work throughout the day showed me that they have a great professionalism and work ethic as well as a good chemistry. We got to visit with a number of genre stars, such as Doug Bradley (Pinhead from the Hellraiser films, Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th, was Jason in 4 of the films), Danielle Harris (who was in both of the newer Rob Zombie Halloween movies), three of the main cast from the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures, and more.

There were several thousand attendees, including alot of the filmmakers based in the immediate region. Feathered Italian Films (Jason Crowe and TJ Moreschi), Goatboy Films (Jerry Williams), Eric Butts, Pat Bowling, Cherokee Hall, Stacy Gillespie, George Bonilla and ZP International, and many more were on hand. Others included David Rudd of Infernal Dreams, Jason Sizemore of Apex Publications, Schaeffer Tolliver, Billy "Leprechaun" Blackwell (I wanted to know where he hides his pot of gold!) and alot of other excellent folks. Even my pals from Cineline/IMM, Sven Granlund and Matt Perry made it down.

The convention was very well laid out, with large aisles and plenty of room to move. The costume contest, VIP party, and other events turned out great as well. Lori Baker and Susan Rummel, two friends of mine on the ScareFest staff, looked very happy with the results.

Needless to say, lots of cool things happened over the weekend, unexpected and otherwise. Heard Con Trek's Alan Smith defending his Tennessee Titans with Kane Hodder in the rest room (and Alan didn't realize at the time that he was talking with Kane! lol).

We did about a 15 hour shoot on Saturday, so we were a bit tired at the end of it all, but I am looking forward to next year's ScareFest for sure.