'Scandal' in Colfax as film team wraps project

Concluding a grueling 48-hour race to finish, the Perpetual F film team turned in their 6-minute short film ‘Grand Forks’ Sunday night.
The project is one of more than a dozen shot and edited in between Friday and Sunday evenings as part of the Sacramento International Film Festival’s 48-hour film challenge.
The projects will screen at the festival on April 23.
‘Grand Forks’ is a creative adaptation of real event from the early 1970s. In the film, downtown Colfax stands in for the North Dakota town of Grand Forks.
“Pulling off a period-piece in a 48-hour challenge was super ambitious,” said Ed Fletcher, the writer and one of the producers on the project. ”The contest does allow teams to do some pre-production so we had a lot done before the clock started ticking.”
Directing the project was Damen Quincy Hayes, who is also teaming with Fletcher on a related documentary “Do the Dance.”
It all started with “Pink,” Fletcher’s true story script about the Sacramento 1969 battle of over nude dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat club. The recent death of key figures prompted the Perpetual F team to accelerate plans to tell the real story through the documentary.
“When the 48 came along we already had plenty on our plate,” said Hayes, who performed under the name DQ Hayes during his career as a musician. “But the idea was so good we decided to do it anyway.”
‘Grand Forks’ explores a chapter of Sacramento-born exotic dancer Susanne Haines life that isn’t covered by ‘Pink.’ When the club manager wants to cut her appearance fee, exotic dancer Susanne Haines cooks up a scandalous plan to scare up a full house.
“I kept telling people in the local film community we weren't doing a 48, but the theme for the slate of 48-hour films ‘scandal’ was almost too good to pass up,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher said his mind was also influenced by actress Bunny Stewart, who offered her services before seeing a script. Stewart plays Haines in the film.

Documentary 'Do the Dance' hits fundraising goal

The crowdfunding campaign in support of Sacramento-based documentary ‘Do the Dance,” on Thursday reached its goal of raising $10,000 in 30 days -- just hours ahead of it’s deadline.

The project, led by veteran newspaper reporter Ed Fletcher, explores a racy Sacramento 1969 court case to take a broader look at the limits of free expression.

The indiegogo campaign received 92 contributions totaling $10,479 as of this publication. The campaign went into the final 16 hours needing an additional $716 to reach the goal.

“I’m excited to have met our goal. Now we can get back to focusing on making this film,” said Fletcher.

Director Damen Quincy Hayes said the campaign provided more drama than needed, but was glad to get there.

“I just want to get out there and make this film now,” Hayes said.

While the money generated through the crowdfunding campaign gets them a long way down the road, as Fletcher explains, they will need additional capital, likely from equity investors.  

The colorful trial over “bottomless” dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat will help to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression then and now, filmmakers say. The impactful Sacramento trial went national when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided to take the jury to the club see the dancers “do the dance.” The case helped write the rules for exotic dance in California.

Fletcher, who grew up in Orangevale, learned about the Pink Pussy Kat trial from an older editor and soon found himself buried in old news clippings.

Do the Dance explores these issues:

• Self-promotion vs Free expression
• Female empowerment vs  Sexual exploitation

Historic photos, audio and background materials: dothedance.net

Connect with us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pinkfilm1969/   

Or on twitter at @pinkfilm1969

Drive to do 'Big Things' prompted crowdfund campaign

I've always believed I could do big things.
In high school, I built the "ram shack" student store.
In college, I took the school weekly newspaper daily during the Bayou Classic.
As a newspaper professional, it's been more of a challenge. Big ideas die because of cost, time involved or they don't fit the company plan.
Several years ago, I stumbled across the Pink Pussy Kat trial and believed I could make something interesting creatively with the story. Over the years, there were ample opportunities to decide the road was too hard and put it down. For years, I kept waiting for a big money backer to emerge or someone in Hollywood to call.
My last visit Burning Man (2016), I was in a funk. A year had passed and I was no closer to my goal. This year, I vowed to move it forward come hell or high-water. Rather than wait, I decided to make my own magic. This crowdfunding campaign forced us kick our project into high gear. We developed some amazing digital assets (poster, trailer). We also began the long process of telling people about this project with radio, television and print interviews.
Despite some obstacles, which I won't detail, we're within striking distance of our goal: raising $10,000 in 30 days.
At present, we have 16 hours to raise the final $714. Thank you for helping me do big things.
- Ed Fletcher, Ed is a Sacramento-based journalist and filmmaker.

Click here to visit campaign page

Free expression documentary fund nears 70 percent

San Francisco topless legend Carol Doda performs during Sacramento indecency trial 

The online campaign funding a Sacramento documentary exploring the 1969 strip club indecency case that took the jury to the club is approaching 70 percent funded with 9 days remaining.

Using the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, Fletcher and his team are trying to raise $10,000 by March 22. Through March 15, the month-long campaign was at 68 percent of goal.

The feature-length documentary will use the colorful 1969 trial over “bottomless” dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat to help to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression then and now.

The impactful Sacramento trial went national when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided to take the jury to the club see the dancers “do the dance.” The case helped write the rules for exotic dance in California.

Sacramento journalist and filmmaker Ed Fletcher said he was confident the team will hit the goal.

“There is so much Sacramento love for a deeply local story. We will get there,” said Fletcher.

The reaction to the campaign has been mostly positive, Fletcher said.

“Some people don’t want to talk about it or maybe they think it’s anti-women. To me, it’s just history,” Fletcher said. “This happened and we want to tell the story. I’m not pro-strip club or anti-strip club. I’m a journalist. But at the same time you can’t be afraid to show a little leg in marking if you’re making a project about free expression.”

Directing the project is DQ Hayes, an emerging filmmaker and former musician from the band Shakedown.

"There is love for this project from all over. We get people hitting up our page from UK, Spain, Sweden. Free expression and women's empowerment is universal," said Hayes.

More information at: Dothedance.net

CLICK HERE to contribute

Carol Doda, Big John Misterly clash in coming documentary film

Video clips furnished by the forthcoming documentary film "Do the Dance," which uses the Sacramento 1969 trial over "bottomless" dancing to tell a broader story about the limits to Free Expression. Do the dance is currently raising funds via indiegogo.
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Former Sacramento County sheriff lays out how women should be covered under a new ordinance being discussed in response to the full nude performances he deemed indecent.  As a result of the case, the county and state officials enacted new rules.

​​

San Francisco topless legend Carol Doda was called to testify during the Pink Pussy Kat trial. In this 1969 clip she talks about the difference between Sacramento and San Francisco.

California beer bar challenged legal nudity limits of late 1960s

During the summer of 1969, a beer bar in the Northern California community of Orangevale dared to go full-nude setting off a series of legal challenges that ended with the dancers, including Carol Doda, performing for the jury.

"Do the Dance," a documentary telling the story of this wild and influential trial, is currently raising funds on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform.

Campaign underway to fund free expression documentary

The online crowdfunding campaign seeking $10,000 to launch Sacramento documentary "Do the Dance" is underway. 'Do the Dance' examines a 1969 Sacramento strip club indecency trial to tell a broader story about the limits of Free Expression.  The trial made national news after Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided the jury needed to see the dancer "do the dance." San Francisco topless legend Carol Doda also testified.  Learn more HERE.

Trailer reveals First Amendment fight over nude dance

Our team is excited to share the preview trailer for documentary film 'Do the Dance.' The film explores the 1969 Sacramento trial that helped write the rules to exotic dance.  Tell us what you think. Please join us for the film launch party at 7 p.m. Feb. 21. More details and tickets HERE.

Burlesque Legend Angel Walker on the role of GoGo dancers

A lot has changed in taking it off.
Helping keep me on my toes is Burlesque Legend Angel Walker better known as Satans Angel.
Headliners like Walker and Carol Doda were the stars, but GoGo dancers were a key part of the entertainment. They kept the patrons there between acts by featured performers, Walker explains. Some clubs only featured GoGo dancers.
Just what kind of dancing was going on at Orangevale's Pink Pussy Kat a Go-Go? That's what a 1969 Sacramento trial set out to find out.
That trial is the launching point for documentary film "Do the Dance."
In this audio Walker talks Carol Doda, Go-Go dancers and the bar owners' push for more skin.





Here is my earlier interview for more on her amazing backstory.

Portland burlesque star featured at Sacramento documentary film fundraiser

The Sacramento-based team behind the forthcoming documentary film “Do the Dance” is proud to announce that a rising star in burlesque and strip will headline the film project’s Feb. 21 launch fundraiser.

Headlining this hot-ticket event is Ivizia, the reigning Miss Exotic Oregon. The event will also feature performances from Sacramento’s Midtown Moxies burlesque troupe.

The evening, at Midtown Sacramento’s Clara performing arts center, will premiere the film’s preview trailer, feature the presiding Judge Earl Warren Jr, an auction of “free expression” art and small bites from celebrity chef Adam Pachal.

Ivizia is a Portland-based entertainer who has been thrilling audiences around the world since 2001. With over 15 years of specializing in fire performance, she has also become a premiere variety entertainer and is guaranteed to ignite your fantasies. In addition to her hotter talent, Ivizia's repertoire includes roller-skating, cube spinning, comedy and a unique puppetry performance that may just give you a “religious experience”.
Ivizia holds the title for Miss Exotic Oregon 2016 and is crowned "Queen of Roses" for 2016 Oregon Burlesque Festival.

The Midtown Moxies Burlesque troupe were formed in late 2014 and have been packing the house ever since! You can see them every 1st Saturday at Midtown Barfly and every 3rd Friday at The Blue Lamp. The Moxies blend classic moves and elements with modern music,  sultry singing and hilarious comedy, creating diverse performances that please every guest.

“Do the Dance” is a feature documentary the uses Sacramento’s infamous “bottomless” stripper trial to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression.

Veteran Sacramento Bee reporter Ed Fletcher is the project’s creative lead. DQ Hayes, formerly of the band Shakedown, is directing and is a
producer.

Get tickets HERE

Cable show: Where are you at with film project?

I recently sat down with Elisia Gonzales and Rafael Siegel, the hosts of the community cable show Sactown Underground, to talk about the exciting updates on my documentary film project "Do The Dance." Do The Dance explores the 1969 Sacramento's strip club indecency trail that wrote the rules in California for exotic dance. The conversation also hits on how to setup the feature film screenplay "Pink."

Progress, setback in search for crusading stripper

Exotic dancer Susanne Haines (edited)

Yesterday was one of those "good news, bad news" days in my on-again search for Susanne Haines -- the dancer at the center of Sacramento's landmark 1969 strip club indecency case.
The case made national headlines when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided the jury needed to see the dance to decide whether it violated community standards. It also featured a performance from San Franciso dancer Carol Doda. It remains relevant because the case helped set the rules for exotic dance in California.
The bad news: new clues lead to yet another dead end (for now).
Good news: I found her sister Evangeline Fullmer AND she agreed to be interviewed on camera.
Finding Susanne has been no so simple get.
She was Susanne Haines
But first she was Susanne Tropper
then she was Susanne Register
and now Susanne Medina
Suddenly after months of no progress, I had actionable intelligence (i.e.  a phone number and address).
But alas it appears Susanne sold her central Florida residence and moved again. (Confirmed by a neighbor and realtor.com) If she not running sometimes it appears that way.
In the great news category, I've tracked down both her siblings Carlton Tropper and Evangeline (Tropper) Fullmer.
I spoke with Evangeline for about an hour.
The conversation started awkwardly, as one might suspect. I call out of the blue and her I am asking about things that happened nearly 50 years ago. But once we started talking, I think she enjoyed the trip down memory lane. At 73, she's sharp and thoughtful.
As a teen herself, Evangeline became the de facto mother to her younger sister Susanne and brother Carlton after their mother died and their father slid into alcoholism.
Susanne emerged as a free-thinking firebrand, unafraid to do her own thing.
"Susanne was different. She beat to her own drummer," Fullmer said. "Knowing Susanne I wasn't surprised," she said of her sister's path into stripping.
Susanne's sister won't be much help finding her. She didn't know Susanne had moved and isn't in regular contact with her once newsworthy sister.

Carol Doda's dead, now what

Death of would be documentary star adds urgency to project 

Carol Doda performing at Chuck Landis' Largo during Sacramento obscenity trial 

By Ed Flethcher
Meeting Carol Doda always seems a matter of when, not if.
Once I began to pursue producing a film about Sacramento’s infamous strip club indecency trial, I’d decided Doda could be key in securing more media coverage and access to financial backers.
The world famous San Francisco entertainer turned the 1969 trial into a national story when she was called to testify by performing a striptease for the jury.
Doda’s cooperation and (hopefully) support would open the doors to media coverage and financial backers, I’d reasoned.
While I briefly spoke with her (more on that later), I never got my interview.
She died Nov. 9  at age 78 due to complications related to kidney failure.
Doda’s death and the passing of Sacramento County Undersheriff Larry Stamm is a sad reminder that time is of the essence when it comes to uncovering dusty historical gems contained in human memories.
When the project was first conceived it was singular in focus: produce a feature-length film on the arrest and trial -- think “American Hustle” meets “The People Vs. Larry Flynt.”
Maybe some screenwriters have a clear distinction between research and writing phases while writing a historical fiction. That has not been the care for me. I researched and wrote, then researched some more.
All along the way, I’ve been sharing the process and the bits history I’ve uncovered.
Somewhere along the way, we decided this rich American story is worth sharing as a documentary.
Doda would have been one of the stars.
I’d resisted the urge to rush right into calling Doda early in the process, but more than a year ago a summoned the courage to call Miss Doda. I looked up the number to her San Francisco lingerie shop and dialed it up.
The problem was she said she had not been to Sacramento and did not perform at the trial. Rather than trying to convince her otherwise, I politely let her off the hook and resolved to try to meet her face-to-face once I had the pictures to show her.
Now I have the photos, but Doda is no longer with us.
Former KCRA reporter Steve Swatt said her appearance was a highlight of the trial.
“Carol Doda was the main attraction in Sacramento's famous topless-bottomless obscenity trial in the late 1960s. She testified at the trial by performing her San Francisco act -- topless, of course -- at what was then the Largo nightclub on Fair Oaks Boulevard,” said Swatt, who covered the trial. “Needless to say, her appearance in front of judge, jury, attorneys, media and curious onlookers was the highlight of the trial.”
The San Francisco Chronicle credited with helping take the strip tease out of the fringe and exposing it mainstream audiences.
Using her loss as added motivation, stay tuned for announcements aimed at kicking the documentary project into high gear. If you’d like to help please contact Ed Fletcher at pinkfilm1969@gmail.com.

Carol Doda performs during Sacramento stripper trial

So exciting about these images I found of the Pink Pussy Kat trial that I can't want to share what I found at the U.C. Davis Speical Collections. They were taken by the Sacramento Union newspaper on Sept. 22, 1969. 

Sacramento's 1969 "bottomless" stripper trial reached another level of media hype when San Francisco performer Carol Doda arrived to dance for the 10 men, 2 woman jury. The Sept. 22, 1969 court proceedings took place at Chuck Landis' Largo. Pink Pussy Kat performers Susanne Marie Haines and Sheila Brandenson, as well as owner Leonard Glancy were arrested after performing fully nude.

The presiding judge Earl Warren Jr. is surrounded by the media. The fact that Warren is the son of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren added another story line.

While the trial hinging on "contemporary community standards," in addition to watching the offending dance, the jury received testimony from Doda and watched the film "I Am Curious Yellow."

Carol Doda surrounded by the Sacramento media including radio station KFBK.

Trial judge Earl Warren Jr. outside of Chuck Landis' Largo. All image used on a provisional basis. Images from Sacramento Union archives maintained by the U.C. Davis Special Collections. 

Orangevale's Pink Pussy Kat left legacy

Orangevale's Pink Pussy Kat a Go-Go may have been short-lived and lacking in grandeur, but it left its mark on American culture through its challenge of perceived and later instituted indecency standards. Having found no recorded account of the club or the trial, I wrote one based on news stories obtained through The Sacramento Bee and an autobiography written by former exotic performer Susanne Haines Register. Please help me improve on this article. -- Ed Fletcher

Tavern owner Leonard Glancy
 is flanked by dancers
Susanne Haines (left) and Shiela Brendenson  Sacramento Bee August 27, 1969

Orangevale strip club impact outlasts club

The Pink Pussy Kat was a beer bar and strip club noted for its legal wranglings with county and state authorities over indecency standards in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was located in Orangevale, CA, about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento. 

The bar, which featured beer, food, pool tables and topless (and sometimes bottomless) barmaids is believed to have closed on or around the March 1976 death of owner Leonard Glancy. It was located at 9346 Greenback Lane, in a drab Orangevale shopping plaza.

Sacramento County Sheriff "Big" John Misterly actively sought to reign in the 1960s counterculture movement and tasked detectives with making regular check at the region's adult-themed bars.

On July 27, 1969, dancers Susanne Marie Haines, 22, and Sheila Brandenson,  were arrested after performing fully nude. Owner Leonard Glancy was taken in as well. Topless had been the acceptable practice. Presiding over the trial was Sacramento Superior Court Judge Earl Warren, Jr., who happens to be the son of former California Governor and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. Warren still resides in the Sacramento area.

The trial made national headlines after Warren agreed to a defense motion to temporarily move the proceeding to the club and allow the jury to see the offending performance. On Sept. 17, Haines attempted to replicate the dance for which was was arrested. She danced to "Suzy Q," and songs by the Byrds and Jimi Hendrix under dim lights with psychedelic art projected on the walls. On Sept. 22, noted San Francisco topless performer Carol Doda also performed for the jury.

The dancers and Glancy were acquitted Oct. 2, 1969, by the 10-man, two-woman jury, but that was far from the end of the legal fight over nude dancing.

On Oct. 21, Sacramento County enacted an ordinance prohibiting topless and bottomless dancing, and topless waitresses.

Glancy and Haines challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance.

During the legal fight, Glancy turned to various other means to keep his business going, including offering patrons a closed-circuit broadcast of on-site strip performances and putting dancers in see-through panties.

The result of the case, which was combined with other challenges from similar laws, is California’s current practice of not allowing alcohol at fully-nude strip clubs based health code rules.

On May 12, 1970, Glancy was arrested in the shooting of a patron in the parking lot. Glancy claimed it was in defense.

Shortly after her indecency acquittal, Haines left the Pink Pussy Kat. To further her career as striptease performer and capitalize on her notoriety, she began touring gentlemen's clubs across the country as a featured performer. In 1971, she won the title of Miss Nude Cosmos, often known by its more legally dubious name, Miss Nude Universe. During her time on the road, doing a week or more stints at strip clubs, she was arrested more than a dozen times for performing bottomless. By her account, these dances -- and her arrests -- were part publicity stunt, part legitimate act of free expression.

Death records indicate Glancy died in March of 1976.

It’s unclear when the club closed.  

In 1978, Haines, under her married name Susanne Haines Register wrote, “Take It All Off,” an autobiography that followed her path from Mormon schoolgirl to “dope-smoking” dancer and on to her eventual self-described “salvation.”

Dancer's memoir reveals church, closer Sacramento connection

"Take It All Off" by Susanne Haines Register, 1978

"Susanne wrote a memoir."

That's was the new fact staring at me via a facebook message.
It would have been nice to know that three years ago when I started this screenplay.
"Take It All Off," by Susanne Haines Register, was released by Beta Books of San Diego in 1978.
The book covers her early life, the Sacramento indecency trial, her reign as Miss Nude Universe and more than a year traveling the country as a headlining exotic dancer.
For the uninitiated,  my screenplay "Pink" focuses on Susanne's 1969 arrest and trial. The case became national news when the trial judge decided that for the jury to determine whether the dance violated community standards they'd have to see it.
News clips and the accounts of the reporters that covered it form the bulk of my research. When the script started it was a 15-minute short film I expected to produce for a few thousand dollars. But when I embarked on expanding it, it never occurred to be to exhaustively research the story before leaping into the feature length version.
Reading the news clips gave me the rough outline of what happened, but not much of a sense of the person. The Bee and other news outlets covered the story, but kept their toe in the shallow end. I knew a little more about details about the Sheriff Misterly and trial Judge Earl Warren Jr., who happens to be son of the former Supreme Court Justice, but as the story went through revisions it was clear Susanne was the star.
Why did she get arrested seven times for performing bottomless? I didn't know for sure so I filled in the blanks. I gave her voice.
The book -- somehow invisible to google searches -- provides tantalizing new details. Susanne was born Susanne Tropper (March 13, 1947) to Frank Julius Tropper and Alice May (Simpson) Tropper. Family tragedy forced her to harden fast as she split time growing up between Sacramento's suburbs (Fair Oaks and Roseville) and Provo, UT. After a tumultuous childhood, she won Miss Placer County at age 16 before finding her way to the stage of Orangevale's Pink Pussy Kat.
While the book is lacking in literary grace, it's a flashlight into the shadowy '70s strip club circuit. Susanne represented the highest ideals of the craft in fighting for free expression, but also saw the lows exotic dance.
My task now is to see how the new facts fit into my pre-existing world.

Burlesque legend Angel Walker talks taking it off

Burlesque Legend Angel Walker, better known as Satan's Angel, has lived such an incredible life that hours into a conversation she still finds new ways to shock you.
From San Francisco's North Beach to the world's stage, her story is the subject of the documentary "Satan's Angel: The Queen of Fire Tassels."
In hopes of better understanding my screenplay "Pink" and Orangevale's "Pink Pussy Kat," I reached out to Ms. Walker.
The result was a delightful conversation about burlesque, go-go, striptease and exotic dancing in the late 60s and early 70s.
She could not tell me much about the Pink Pussy Kat or the dancer at the center of the trial Susanne Haines, but that's not to say there wasn't much to learn from that unguarded spark plug of a woman. Here's a piece of our conversation:

Film research trip ends exotic avoidance

I wonder sometimes what people think about a guy who would devote years of his life writing a screenplay and producing a movie about a strip club.
 "Some big perv."
Fact is, until last night, I hadn't been to a strip club for at least five years -- including the entire time writing "Pink."
For those new to the blog, "Pink" is my sexy dramatic comedy about Sacramento's 1969 "bottomless" stripper trial. The indecency trial became a national story when the judge decided in order for the jury to determine whether the dance violated community standards they'd have to see it. The girls won the trial but the government changed the law making it a health code violation to consume alcoholic beverages in establishments that allow full nudity.
So what's a guy who doesn't care for spending money on exotic dancers doing writing a screenplay about exotic dancers? The short answer is because it a local story that needed to be told. When you strip everything else away its a story about free expression dressed up in late 60s attire.
Think "American Hustle" meets "People vs. Larry Flynt."
Most of my research came from old fraying newspaper clips. I didn’t set out to write a strip club screenplay. It started as a short term project and has steadily grown.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude (though "Blue Lagon" was too much for me went I saw it as a boy). I’ve been to strip clubs and enjoy seeing women naked as much as the next guy, probably a little more. The bulk of my strip club experience came from Bourbon Street excursions during college and the rush of bachelor parties one endures in their early 30s.
But I could never justify expending money on the experience.
More than the money, the transactional relationship bothers me.
While I firmly believe performers should have the right to dance naked in exchange for money, I much prefer nudity without compensation.
Pink can be a beautiful movie that makes audiences laugh, causes a modest arousal, says something about art, freedom and culture -- and makes money.
So for the sake of research I, joined by a female friend, went to Gold Club Centerfolds. After an absence of half a decade, the adult establishment seemed remarkably the same in all its soft skin and curvaceous glory.
I'll spare you the details (good and bad) other than to note I drank hot tea, a legacy of the "Pink Pussy Kat" decision.

10 Things I Learned from American Film Market

Screenwriter and producer Ed Fletcher delivers his pitch for "Pink" at the 2014 American Film Market as pitch expert and forum moderator Stephanie Palmer looks on.

By Ed Fletcher

Armed with a stack of business cards, some new pink ties and a four-day pass ($500), I recently attended American Film Market in Santa Monica, one of the world’s largest film markets, to develop or sell my screenplay Pink. For more information on Pink, a sexy dramatic comedy based on Sacramento’s 1969 bottomless stripper trial, read my blog or find us on Facebook. What follows is a rundown of things I learned or reconfirmed from attending American Film Market for the first time and as someone new to film.

1. Hollywood is not about openness or inclusion. It’s a meritocracy based on your ability to make them money. That’s not an indictment, just real talk.
2. In the film world there are creative types and business types. AFM is more for the business types. It ain’t called a market for nothing.
3. There is little demand for comedies, dramas, sports movies or urban movies overseas. As a result, there are an exorbitant number of low budget thrillers, action movies and beast/zombie movies being made and marketed. 
4. Getting on stage at the Pitch Conference can make you interesting to all the other filmmakers in the room, but since heavy hitters were in the their temporary sales offices blocks away, you’re still a nobody to them. 
5. Just because somebody retweets you doesn’t mean you’re somebody to them.  
6. Having a good pitch is one thing, but have it packaged (name director or talent signed on) and you’re cookin’. I wasn’t cooking.
7. Wearing a Pink tie everyday was a great idea. Who forgets the Black guy, wearing a pink tie, and talking about a screenplay named Pink?  
8. Cell phones are a security blanket for people afraid to be alone. It’s hard to spark up a conversation when people are checking their security blanket.
9. The Producer Forums are popular: Get there early. Disregard this if you have a confirmed “producers” credit and can skip the line. 
10. Despite the new ways to network through social media, nothing beats spending time in the lobby bar in terms of making connections.

The event offers a bevy of high level forums on the film business.

The rooms of two Santa Monica hotels are turned into temporary film offices.

Ed Fletcher posing for a picture at American Film Market 2014.

Time to Say "Geronimo" and Take Film Leap

When I was a little kid and even into adolescence, I loved to take risks.
In those days of perfect knees, I jumped from roofs, moving trucks and once from one moving speed boat to another. I thought nothing of taking a ski jump within weeks of learning to ski.
Like most people, as the years moved along I found myself taking fewer risks.
I ski with the goal of not falling. I keep the cruise control set at 75 mph as to not get a ticket. And I’ve sought comfort in my work environment.
On one hand, comfort and safety is a beautiful thing in this troubled economic climate. But on the other hand, it can be constricting and confining when your heart wants to soar.

Illustration by Val Mina

The instability of the journalism industry pushed me to do something I should have been doing all along: taking risks.
A three years, ago I started screenwriting and performing improv. Two days before my 40th birthday I hosted a comedy show and performed stand up.
Now I’m on my way to Santa Monica for the American Film Market conference in hopes of selling my screenplay or packaging it as an independent film.
Here's the logline for those new to this blog: A free-speech loving exotic dancer battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to prove her "bottomless" dance is art worthy of protection in this sexy dramatic comedy based on a real 1969 case.
I’m characterizing it as a risk, but is it really?
Based on my submitted video pitch, I’ll already by pitching the script during the pitch session, so at worst I bomb the pitch, but salvage the weekend by taking notes at some very valuable forums and meeting a distributor interested in the film once its a completed.
But how likely is that? I’ve been a rally commissioner, scout camp leader, improv performer, television host, stand up comedian, and “the Voice” at Burning Man.
The upside: I nail the pitch, meet Jennifer Lawrence’s agent Jeremy Plager in the lobby bar, we get hammered, end up back at her place, she challenges to a beer chugging contest, loses and agrees to star in my film.
Here is to taking risks that arn’t too risky.

Like Pink Film on Facebook and follow @edfletcher on twitter for reports from the road. Hell I might even Instagram some famous people if my battery survives.