Lynn Downey @ Beverly Hills

October 26, 2011

Lynn Downey, writer of the original short story that "Blue" was based on, attended the Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, hosted in Beverly Hills.  She got a chance to write a few words for us =)

First off, let me say hello and thank you to everyone who is connected to the beautiful film the girls have made. I have been so blessed by this experience and by people being touched by a collection of words that have been sitting in my computer for five years. Some of you may know this but for those of you who don't, the story is based on a very brave friend of mine from college whose dad was diagnosed with cancer and came to spend a weekend with her. They hung out and played cards and laughed and cried and just sat with the horror and stared right into it together. I was so moved by her saying, "We both needed it." I wondered what it would be like if two people were less brave. If they needed some sort of distraction or project so they didn't deal with the painful depth of reality. My professor Bart Edleman was a great encouragement and I always knew it would make a great film. It took a number of years and some friend of a friend connections for the time to be right and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

It's been so fun and so encouraging to get to travel with the film. My husband and I got to head out to Temecula to see it on the big screen for the first time. And since Heartland was the same week as the Ladyfilmmakers Festival, I was able to represent the film in Beverly Hills. 

Writer's Guild of America Theater

The Friday mixer was great fun and I got to meet a number of young filmmakers. Mike, one of the founders of the festival said 300 films were submitted, and they chose only 70, so GO BLUE!!! People said they really were touched by the film. One of the filmmakers I met wrote me this email: 

"I LOVED your movie! As a filmmaker, I really enjoyed how polished, well-structured, well-performed your simple story was -- but as the husband of a breast cancer survivor, I was moved to tears by your realistic but poignant portrait." 

Other mentionable films were "Bathing and the Single Girl," mostly because it was totally a performance piece, a ten minute monologue, filmed. It was compelling to see such a theatrical adaptation. My favorite was "The Maker," an amazing(!!!) animation that walked away with best of fest. 

Discussion Panel

I got to attend a really interesting panel discussion about the intersection of commerce and art in filmmaking with the president of the Casting Society of America, an executive producer, a cinematographer, and writer/director Diablo Cody ("Juno," "United States of Tara.") The discussion was one of those ones you leave feeling excited after, not bogged down. It seems that filmmakers of all levels are struggling to get things made these days. No matter if your budget is 200 million (Terminator Salvation), 7 million (Juno), or your own pocket money, you have to be super creative and work as a team. Just like our girls did! Afterward, I got to meet Diablo Cody and gave her our postcard. I told her about the film and she was visibly touched by it. She said it sounded like a really great story. It was a very real connection type moment. Super cool.

Diablo Cody (Writer/Director of "Juno")

My husband and I left, beaming, proud of our film Blue, and inspired to continue writing stories and getting together with other people to make those stories come to life. 


Lynn

Thanks again for all your support and I am eagerly anticipating all the wonder to come as this journey continues!