"Back in September of 2005, I attended the Georgia BIG PICTURE Conference, when the GABPC was in its infancy.  Wide-eyed and naïve, I had little idea where I would be only a few years later.  The experience I gained at the GABPC helped me hone my ambition, get a taste for independent filmmaking in Atlanta, and pick up pointers on pitching, networking, and collaborating – skills which I use every day in my career in the film industry as an AFI Directing Fellow here in Los Angeles.

I first found out about the GABPC though my university, Georgia Tech, where I was part of a student-run film club called “BuzzStudios.”  BuzzStudios provides a creative outlet for Tech students who were interested in trying their hand at the filmmaking process.  While obtaining my Mechanical Engineering degree, I also spent much of my free time working towards a Film Studies Minor and making short films with my friends and BuzzStudios.  I became increasingly interested in filmmaking as a career, and began to tirelessly teach myself as much as I could from every book in the library and websites online that I could find.  However, there is only so much one can learn about filmmaking sitting at home reading.  So I decided to get out there and take a look at the GABPC and attended their event.

Over the two-day GABPC event, I attended several short demos and courses on film production topics including editing on AVID, pitching your film, short film production, independent financing, and networking.  I particularly enjoyed the Directors Boot Camp, led by local filmmaker Ken Feinberg.  In this whirlwind two-day course, we went through each stage of the filmmaking process, getting pointers each step of the way.  My favorite part was the pitching process.  Each of the attendees was given 2 pages of dialogue, and we had to brainstorm how we would like to shoot it, and then pitch it to the class.  The best was then selected to direct the film.  The process was unnerving, but very effective in showing us how important it is to get your ideas across to an audience and convince them that they should make your movie: an invaluable skill in today’s industry where time, meetings, and money are so limited.  One vision was then selected to be made in a collaborative process together as a team to shoot this film over the next few hours.  As a filmmaker, it is so important to be both clear and concise in your direction at each step of the process in order to persuade others to help achieve your vision.  And working in this Director’s Boot Camp helped me to begin refining this skill.

Today I am grateful for how the skills and contacts I gained while attending the Georgia BIG PICTURE Conference have helped me along my journey as a film industry professional.  Over the next few years I continued learning and growing towards my Directing career.  I made several short films with CampusMovieFest, one of which my team ended up winning the top National Best Picture award, and then another the next year, winning the National Best Drama.  I later made a documentary film in Italy, then traveled to the Cannes Film Festival where another of my films was shown.  Today I am an AFI Directing Fellow living and working in Hollywood.  Getting the right foothold early on in Atlanta at the GABPC helped me get started on my way to where I am today.  I enjoyed the event then and hope it continues to succeed in the future."

Brad Tucker

2009 AFI Directing Fellow

 
____________________________________________

Are you a former GABPC attendee?  Volunteer?  Speaker?  Do you have a testimonial you'd like to share about your experience with the GABPC?  Feel free to post on our blog at http://georgiabigpictureconference.blogspot.com/.  We'll pull comments to post to this testimonial page.