• by Kelly Samardak , May 29, 2008

The 6th Annual New Directors Showcase, DGA Theatre, New York
May 28, 2008

If your name is Clay Weiner, you probably have a wonderful sense of humor honed from years of childhood name-game torture, and you made one of my favorite commercials, Bud Light's "Dude." If you're James Larese, you're a tilted-fedora-sporting, cool as a cucumber creative force with a humble smile -- part of the three musketeers of Syndrome, Robot Films. If your name is David Katzenberg, well, I guess you're doing us all a favor by showing up late with Nicky Hilton (double-what?), and you're either painfully shy or grimacing, "Augh, why do I have to do these plebian appearances?" From my seat, it kinda looked to be the latter.

Clay, James, and David were just three of 30 new directors honored at the SHOOT 6th Annual New Director's Showcase last night. The screening was followed by a claustrophic's sanity test of an after party.

I arrived at 5:58 p.m., frightened into punctuality by the marching order whipped into the attendees via confirmation note. Doors: 6:00 p.m.! Screening: 6:30 p.m. SHARP! Randoms were in the pause position outside the closed glass doors of the Director's Guild Theatre. Using my super-spy deduction skills, I assumed the doors were locked, but never a sheep to follow the wooly flock, I tried the doors anyway. Locked. I wasn't the only one with faulty Spidey senses -- each new arrival tried those doors.

I am typically a late person. It's not cute, it's flaky, and frankly, how old am I? Be on time! Which is why, as my stomach grumbled and danced with anticipation of the food promised after the show, I was getting more and more irked as 6:30 turned into 6:40, and 6:40 turned into 6:47. Hmph.

In highly competitive fields like the arts, you either unapologetically throw everyone under the bus or you strive to create a mutually supportive community. It warmed my cold black heart to see everyone greeting each other with genuine squeals of recognition, fat wet cheek kisses, and bone-crushing slaps on the back.

The reel! The reel was awesome. I won't go into each piece, but it was a truly diverse portfolio of animation, quirkiness, blood-warming beats, and the jiggly camera work of reality-style direction. Tor Myhren, executive vice president/chief creative officer, Grey New York -- and a brutally honest badass -- does not like bad production and he was also on the panel following the screening. Give him the real reel: "I don't care if it's old, I don't care if it's fake, it's just got to be good," he barked.

Traditional media and industries gripping traditional delivery methods tightly in their sweaty fists are toiling over the NOT-new Internet revolution -- and the film industry is no exception. You either fight the new-media platforms and implode, or use it and keep breathing. With other user-generated content enablers like YouTube, spots (specs?) can be created -- and more importantly, shared -- easily.

To the after-party already! The bartenders were great, the wine was delicious, the food was beyond questionable. If I can't figure out if that's brown Brie or a floppy mushroom, it's not good. I've been to slumber parties with better (even though it ended up in someone's hair). There were tiny cups of cat hork, oblong cups of pureed moth, and then a plate of meat that looked like it was rescued from behind Churascaria. You know by now that free food is my favorite dish -- but I didn't eat one bite.

I skipped home and ate a Lean Pocket instead. A Lean Pocket!

Got some floppy mushrooms you need to offload in public? Invite Kelly to cover your party in Just An Online Minute: kelly@mediapost.com

See the real reel of photos on Flickr !