At the NALIP Conference
Edwin Pagan and Angel
Day 3
Ready for another exciting day, Angel and I rushed to the Press room to get our interview schedule for the day. Then rushed to room 1901, to set up our video equipment, but when we entered the room, we found Yareli and Sergio filming a documentary. As it tuned out, there was a mix up but a fortuitous one. Angel connected with Vareli and we took advantage of a photo opp with Wilmer. Isn’t that how life works? Open a door and good things are there for you!
Following our good luck, we found our next interviewee, Edwin Pagan who created and runs Latino Horror.com. He gave us a scary interview as he talks about zombies and monsters, as you’ll see in our video interview.
Lunch was delicious. Salmon over rice and vegetables in a chilled sauce. The key speaker was Herb Scannell, former President of Nickelodeon. The theme of his speech spoke of making a transition of Latin influence to one of Latin power. To become the decision makers, we need to develop 5 points of skills: write, present, direct, produce and market. Once these skills are developed we can then become a true entertainment power.
After lunch our next interview was educational, inspirational and almost confrontational. Franc Reyes was bold enough to tell Angel that Mi Vida Loca was not a Latina film! Find out what happened when we post the interview.
While Angel attended a seminar on Digital Media, I went to “Docfundamentals Workshop: Fear of Fundraising”. I learned three words, “Research, Research, Research!” The panel said it literally pays to research for a foundation that matches your subject matter and don’t give up if you get one or more more rejections. Persistence pays!
Pretty smiles, slinky black dresses, long legs and slick looking gentlemen filled the ballroom for a semi-formal dinner. The food was a delicious. However before we sat down for dinner, Angel was flying high from her interview with “High School Musical” director Kenny Ortega which capped another tremendous conference.
In the next few days, Angel and I will be posting the interviews we gathered and I’ll post my overview article on the NALIP conference.
Angel, Josefina and Paul
Day 2
The day began as it ended the night before, with another brush with a legend in the making, Josefina Lopez. As you can see Angel and I were gushing. Josefina signed my book asking me to go to Paris with her for an exotic adventure! How can I refuse?!
Before lunch we met Rogelio Labato who told us about a bad experience he had with a film distributor. Look for an in depth article about his experience to come soon.
Lunch was served with linens, two forks for one salad and a dessert. Tasty!
The keynote speech was delivered by the impassioned Luiz Valdez. I can only paraphrase statements as I could never do justice to Mr. Valdez’s inspiring, informing and glorious speech:
- People confuse race and ethnicity with nationality. Latinos are Americans!
- As Americans we need to tell our story, our American history.
- Don’t sell out! Go to the temple of soul and not the casino of money.
- Reflect the positive and not the negative.
- Lets laugh so we can overcome and rejoice.
- Turn nothing into something and make people believe in themselves.
Finally, “the future belongs to people with creativity”. After the speech, I believe everyone in the room felt nourished in both stomach and soul.
Next, Angel and I attended a seminar called, “What’s Going On? Meeting Today’s Challenges”. A few thoughts from the panel struck me:
- More television programming is being imported from other countries.
- Will the Internet pipeline remain free to all people or will it be controlled and bought by a few rich corporations?
- The government is giving out funds to stimulate the economy but is any of it going to the independent entertainment industry? So shout out to Obama and say, “show me the money!”
Our final seminar for the day was “Funny Is Money: Comedy Opportunities for Latinos”.
Jeff Valdez remarked that he doesn’t need to see another script on immigration.
Kiki Melendez just about took her shoe off and threw down about how studio executives have not opened enough doors to Latin talent.
Overall, the consensus was that writing and breaking into the comedy industry is tough but possible, if a person is proactive, creates their own opportunities and takes advantage of every opportunity no matter how small. It can be done.
With that, Angel and I called it a day. Looking forward to tomorrow, we are scheduled to video tape key speakers and talent… looking forward to it!
Day 1
Angel and I came early to the conference to get our press passes. It’s like opening up a Christmas present the night before, we get excited when we see our names on our badges.
The day was beautiful, slightly breezy and sunny in Newport Beach. The hotel is amazing.
Thursday was actor fest. We hope to meet with the director of the fest tomorrow for an interview. The group of actors I saw participating looked beautiful, determined and empowered.
Angel and I settled in the lounge area to plan our NALIP experience, (ok I’m warning you, shameless name dropping here) when Jeff Valdez, co-founder of SiTV, stopped and chatted with us. He mentioned that he was on his way to sit by the pool and work on his screenplay. He gave us his movie pitch and I hope I don’t let anything out of the bag, but the story….. sounds very funny. Sorry, you really didn’t think I was going to reveal what the movie is about did you? That’s the best thing about NALIP, everyone and anyone may stop and chat about their project with you.
After our brief encounter with greatness, Angel and I called it day. This is going to be a great conference, it’s already began on a high note.
with gratitude,
paul m
