deadCENTER Film

“Winnebago Man” Director and Star To Appear on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

I can’t help but feel all warm and fuzzy when I see a fellow Oklahomie filmmaker making it big. Seriously big. Like being on The Tonight Show BIG. This evening, I plan on taking off my Team Coco gloves (but just for tonight) and sitting down to watch Ben Steinbauer talk about his film, “Winnebago Man”, with the Winnebago Man himself, Jack Rebney.

And what’s über awesome about it all is that “Winnebago Man” was one the first films to go through deadCENTER’s Fiscal Sponsorship. I could tell you all about it, or you could just go to the Fiscal Sponsorship page and read until your heart is content. TEAM COCO! I’ll stop now.

deadCENTER selects new Executive Director

We are pleased as punch to announce that the search for a new Executive Director has found success.  Here’s the official word:

Oklahoma native Lance McDaniel chosen to lead state’s largest film festival.

deadCENTER Film Festival officials announced today the hiring of Lance McDaniel as Executive Director.

McDaniel replaces longtime director Cacky Poarch, who resigned earlier this year following the most successful festival to date. McDaniel’s background in marketing and international brand consultation, combined with his filmmaking and passion for education, make him the ideal person to take the helm at this time.

“Cacky Poarch, Melissa Scaramucci and Kim Haywood have transformed deadCenter into a nationally-renowned platform for independent film and an outstanding showcase for Oklahoma creativity,” said McDaniel. “We hope to build on their success by partnering with local universities and corporate sponsors to educate students all over Oklahoma about independent film, and to help groom the next generation of Oklahoma filmmakers.”

McDaniel received his Bachelors in Communication from Stanford University and his Masters of Liberal Arts in Film from Oklahoma City University “Lance brings a high level of experience to the table. He is a past award-winning filmmaker with deadCENTER, he’s volunteered for the last five years in literally every aspect of the event, and his passion for the art of filmmaking is unparalleled,” added board chairman Peter Dolese.

The Referral – Film Threat Wants to Help Fund Your Film Project

If you attended our excellent panels series this year at deadCENTER, you know something we talked about a lot is the effect the Internet has had on the entire filmmaking experience, not to mention the film viewing experience. During these discussions, one issue kept popping up: the lowering of barriers is great, but it also means there’s just a lot more competition.

One of the best examples of this is the huge number of film projects vying for funding on the Internet. On that front, Film Threat is trying to help by giving a few worthy projects a leg up. Every week, they will be featuring one noteworthy project posted on crowd-sourced funding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo on their site. Which means more eyes on your fund-raising efforts. Which could mean more cash. From the posting:

“That’s right, every Monday, starting July 25, 2010, we’re going to feature one film or film-related project in progress that we feel is worth your and our time. From there, it’s up to our passionate, film-hungry and film-savvy readers to decide whether they want to take that extra step to help make these projects in progress a reality. It’s then up to you, the filmmaker, to live up to the faith we’re putting in you and your efforts by giving you such lofty praise as featuring you and your project as a top story on our site (seriously, you want this; studio films and indies alike routinely angle for space and feature stories on our site).”

For the full post and submission form, click through to the Film Threat post. And if you’re an Okie filmmaker who is going to submit, let us know in the comments, and we’ll keep an eye on Film Threat to see if you’ve been spotlighted.

Letting people know how much you like deadCENTER – now in handy voting form!

If you are one of literally several people who regularly wish there was a way to let people know you think deadCENTER is “The Best Annual Event” in Oklahoma City, you’re in luck. Head over to the Oklahoma Gazette’s website to fill out their Best of OKC ballot, or if you prefer putting pen to paper, you can pick up one of their free papers just about anywhere around the metro.

Important note: you must vote in at least half the categories (there are 109) for your ballot to count, so don’t just skip down to #65 to vote for us!

“Festival life can be brutal, y’all.”

Houston Press writer and Film Threat contributor Pete Vonder Haar checks in with an epic account of his time at this year’s deadCENTER Film Festival, including how he got a wicked black eye during a screening.

The quotes are meaty and plentiful, but here’s one of our favorites: “In this, its tenth year, deadCENTER is firing on all cylinders and is — in my humble opinion — one of the best film festivals around. Period.”

Read the whole sordid tale over at FilmThreat.com.