“Limping Towards Babylon” was an Official Selection and I went up to the High Desert to the town of Yucca Valley to attend the Scriptwriters / Composers Roundtable (6 writer / 2 composers / 1 songwriter) moderated by festival director Matt Beurois.

We weren’t really talking about our screenplays directly as there were questions about where do we get our ideas and inspiration, our influences etc. In the Q&A, I answered a question about what writers get paid by the Studios.

After the panel, we were asked to sign festival posters. I’m still not sure why. Maybe they give them out to the towns folk? While we were signing, there were a few people who came over to talk to us / ask for advice.

While I’ve been to a fair number of small film festivals, this one was unusual for two reasons: overall it was well run, stayed on schedule and unusually provided lunch on Sunday and cold and hot drinks all day (though I would quibble they should have had some kind of cream to go along with the coffee in the Green Room).

The other reason for its unusualness was just how community oriented the festival is. Granted, beyond our submission fees, the town is funding this festival, but nonetheless I found it rare. (Below Festival Director Matt Beurois.)

The Mayor (Dr. Lombardo) made both the opening and closing remarks; the Homecoming King and Queen AND Miss Yucca Valley and her court were in attendance. The night before, the Sheriff and his department showed up on the red carpet and showed off their patrol cars … all the while the festival also tried to provide “Hollywood” content during the 3 days of the festival (a visiting professional director, a visit to a Western town set, a panel on the state of Hollywood, and so on).

Then, after we writers / composers signed the posters, there was a block of short films and music videos, followed by an unusual pitching session because instead of pitching to Industry people, we pitched to the towns people.

So while not literally useful, my skepticism was alleviated. Not only was it good practice (having 2 minutes to pitch 20 people, one after another), the one thing I found helpful was figuring out how to stay enthusiastic and seeing what interested regular people. I could literally see when the engagement clicked in. (All of the photos above were taken by me or by my friend Michelle Babitz using my Nikon. All of the photos below were taken by the Festival’s photographer.)

Here I am pitching various locals left and center, and right, Miss Yucca Valley and the Homecoming Queen being pitched to:

One of the things I most appreciated about the festival is that they were happy to upload visual materials about the films and scripts. Here’s a link to my “Limping Towards Babylon” Look Book: https://yuccavalleyfilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ltb-look-book-smaller-reduced-file-size.pdf

And here’s the link to the entire 2024 festival program: https://yuccavalleyfilmfestival.com/detailed-program-yvff-2024/

Another unusual feature of the festival is that the winners received a cash award (modest but nonetheless, admirable) along with the usual paper certificate. My one real criticism of the festival was that there seemed to be a bias toward locals / people already known to the Festival to being named the winner of these awards (about 1/3). Moreover, short scripts and full lengths were lumped together in the same category of Best Script and a short script actually won. I don’t care how good a short is, it can’t be compared to the difficulty of creating a quality full length script. (Likewise a score for a short film won and thus the cash award while a full length movie score only got an Honorable Mention sans cash.)