Hi Scott, The 2014 Austin Film Festival was my 3rd time attending and was by far my most productive. The vibe was also different in subtle and fundamental ways. First off, as you know, LOTS and LOTS of writers. The dozen or so I chatted with had at least 1 finished script and ALL had great story ideas. I was so thankful I had something interesting to talk about too. My 2 prior experiences, in every single panel, I kid you not, someone asked how to get an agent or manager. I could only think they were thinking being rep’d was the magic, missing ingredient to success. This year - in the panels I attended - not ONE person asked that. Interesting. Very interesting. It seemed to me like everyone already knew basics like formatting, structure, blah blah, and wanted to hear how the pros took their characters from 0 dimensional to 3 and beyond, their work and thought processes, and of course the trials and tribulations of getting script to screen. Even though my focus is on features I loved that TV received love and attention too. We can all learn from one another and the TV sessions added a nice flavor and dimension to the weekend. I attended 2 of your panels - Surviving Your First Year(met you post panel) and The Sanity Spectrum. You pretty much captured the essence of each panel, so in the vein of less is more I’ll keep my yapper shut. ? Folks, if you’re pondering attending AFF - where ever your interests may lie but especially if you’re a writer - I recommend it. The supportive environment was great, and the panel content invigorated me to push onward and upward. The networking opportunities are great too. I'm not the most outgoing person and even I had the chance to meet interesting people. Scott - I hope you can make it in 2015. You definitely had an impact on those in your sessions, and who met you one on one. All the best, Christine

Thanks for that detailed response. I've only been to AFF twice, but my sense from talking with long-timers was this session was one of the best. A couple of questions for you. What was your overall impression of the moderators? Also what if I were to offer a scene description spotlight session? 60 minutes where we explore a variety of way to enhance writing scene description? I would use a PowerPoint presentation with plenty of examples from actual movie scripts, then an interactive component on white board to test out theory in practice. The reason I'm thinking of this is I heard from several writers they wanted more 'meat' in the way of actual writing practice. Thoughts?

Hi Scott, I agree, 2014 was indeed one of the best. In my day job I've seen tons of moderated panels, and I was impressed by the moderators. As you know moderating isn't as easy as it looks. To me the panels had a nice mix of moderators, some who utilized specific questions and others seemed to be somewhat more free form in their approach. Both approaches worked, in my opinion. The spotlight session sounds intriguing. I think writers are always looking for resources to help improve their writing, technique, or even let people know they are taking a correct approach. Good luck! Christine

Thanks, Christine!