Archive for July, 2009

SoCal Film Festival – semi-finalist

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 31 July 2009 in Announcements, Film and screenwriting. 2 Comments

My feature screenplay Another Man’s Shoes has just been announced as a semi-finalist in the SoCal Independent Film Festival in California. Finalists to be announced on 7 August. If I get selected I’ll be heading over there to meet agents and producers 🙂

And all of this on the back of a very successful festival run for Enemy Lines at the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival. We didn’t win, but certainly held our own.

Co-publishing – pros and cons

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 22 July 2009 in Business of Writing and Publishing. 21 Comments

It used to be vanity publishing, then along came self-publishing, now the buzz word is ‘co-publishing’. What is it, and is it worth it from a writer’s perspective? The Crafty Writer investigates.

It’s not vanity publishing

Well firstly, let me say that it is not vanity publishing. In fact, since the self-publishing revolution, brought on by Print on Demand (POD) technology, the charlatans who preyed on desperate writers seem to have scurried back into their holes (although I fear, some of them may have re-emerged as ‘co-publishers’). Vanity publishers will print anything.  They claim to be ‘real’ publishers but there’s no editorial input and, apart from a post on their website, no marketing or distribution either – and you of course foot the whole bill. In addition, you have to buy your own books from them, albeit at wholesale discount or ‘cost’. For more information see this article by the Society of Authors.
Continue reading ‘Co-publishing – pros and cons’

Rushes Soho Short Film Festival

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 13 July 2009 in Announcements, Competitions, Film, screenwriting and Scriptwriting. 11 Comments

My film, Enemy Lines, has been selected in the short film category at this year’s Rushes Soho Shorts Festival:

soho shorts film festival

140 new films from 18 countries will be competing in 8 categories:  Long Form, International, Newcomer, Short Film, Documentary, Animation, Music Video and Broadcast Design. The Official Competition Screenings will be held at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in central London.  The Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday 30th July 2009.

enemy lines short film

Enemy Lines will be screened on Thursday 23 July (6.30pm , Cinema 1; Saturday 25 July (9pm, Cinema 2) and Wednesday 29 July (9pm, Cinema 1). 

Other films to be screened at the festival include Sadie Frost’s Directorial Debut, Danny Boyles End Credit Sequence for Slumdog Millionaire, actors such as Michael Bryne (Gangs of New York), Juliet Stevenson (Bend It Like Beckham), Nick Nolte (Hotel Rwanda, 48 Hours), Connie Fischer (Sound Of Music), Russel Tovey (Being Human), Chris Hehir (Green Street), Danny Cunningham (24 Hour Party People), Jack O’Connell (This is England), comedians such as Adam Buxton Lulu McClatchy and Alexei Sayle, and music videos from McFly to Royskopp, Will Young to Goldfrapp, Coldplay and U2 and many more.

Having grown dramatically every year since its inauguration in 1998, this year’s festival runs over 10 days and offers a wide range of events including the Opening Night Premiere ‘The Calling’, BAFTA Short Filmmakers Market, seminars, panel discussions, guest screening programmes, receptions and exhibitions held in 15 different venues in Soho district.

All events and full booking details can be found on their website:  www.sohoshorts.com.

I’ll be going down for the Wednesday screening and will be meeting up with my director, Michael Steel. Please let me know if you’re going to any of the screenings.