When festival founders Emily and Caitlyn welcomed us yesterday, they and their staff talked up the fun aspects of TV Camp. “Go with the flow, but make sure to drink water,” they said. “Rub shoulders with other fans and even the pros,” they told us. “We have so much incredible talent here, you should try something brand new. You’ll find something new to love,” they were right. Yesterday, I told you that I walked out of one panel full of entertainment giants to go sit with some up and comers. Today, willing to admit that as a fiction writer, I need greater insight into developing women characters, I walked a mile from one venue to another for that panel and got turned away. Psst. Give me a minute and I tell you what’s interesting about those experiences.
Today, as I walked from one venue to another, I walked past a yoga studio where the sign read, “Strength is vulnerability.” Since I was on my way to a panel on developing women characters, I thought, that sign is right. I’m going to be vulnerable and admit that in my fiction writing, I need some coaching on developing women characters. I try to make sure that my stories and novelettes pass the Bechdel Test, but there’s way more to writing credible women characters than that. I was willing to take the risk of admitting my need for coaching. Plus Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer, Phenomenon, Cop Car) and Mary McDonnell (Dances with Wolves and Battlestar Galactica) were on the panel. Who wouldn’t want a chance to listen to them talk about bringing characters life for an hour?
Well, as I walked up to the venue, I saw a long line outside. I showed my badge to the Event Staffer at the head of the line and asked if he had room inside for any random attendees, or if he was full with reservations. I wasn’t sure the line would find the story as funny as I hope that you, my readers, do. Mr. Staffer told me he’d sent a woman inside to count available seats and he didn’t think he had room for me. I looked at the line and saw the smiling, excited faces of about a hundred women, short, tall, slender, BBW, young, old, all races and ethnicities — a real cross section of America. And then I considered myself: I look like a white guy, even though I’m hispanic. I’m wearing a royal blue shirt and black trousers and carrying a gray backpack, all colors of strong masculinity. Maybe I should have worn a salmon/pink colored shirt. I wasn’t sure these women would hear my story of vulnerability and getting in touch with my own feminine side, when I was dressed for strength. So, I apologized for interrupting and hoofed it to another panel.
Yesterday, before the Leftovers panel, I was walking across the lobby outside the Hulu Lounge, and I saw the the panel’s moderator: Maureen “Mo” Ryan. Did I want to rub shoulders with a Variety magazine writer like her? You bet! But I thought perhaps, she might be in the zone for her upcoming panel. Also, I didn’t want to sound like Steve Zahn’s character in Tom Hank’s film That Thing You Do, gushing over a famous woman in an unprofessional way. Better to wait until I was more prepared to speak intelligently to her, and moreso, until she might have time for me. Today, in the Hulu Lounge, I did rub shoulders with some very kind, articulate and generous marketing ladies from Hulu. Next time, Mo Ryan. Next time. Hopefully she won’t recognize me as one of a handful in the very back her Leftovers panel who walked out. Somehow, I think she might understand wanting to hear the stories of how to get that Big Break.
Stay tuned for coverage of the Midnight, Texas premier and more TV Camp Journals.
