After an interview with Alvaro Rodriguez on the Page 2 Screen set and then the "Hot Damn! Chili Cookoff" (winner: David Deverell), dozens of Script-Com attendees and their guests settled in for "RIFF III," a 90-minute program of trailers and short films made exclusively by members of the Tennessee Screenwriting Association.
Mark Naccarato, Script-Com's conference director, introduced the festival with a history lesson taking folks back to 2002, when TSA members decided to host their own film fest called "RIFF" (the Renegade Independent Film Festival) when several members' films were rejected from screening at the Nashville Film Festival that year. Mark, who had a film in the first RIFF, name-checked TSA members Alan McKenna and Zac Adams who were in attendance this year and were also part of the 2002 program. The original RIFF not only sold out the Belcourt Theatre and the Franklin Theatre (both of which were struggling financially) and then went on to a performance for film students at Western Kentucky University later that year. In 2003, RIFF returned with a completely different slate of films, this time opened up to submissions from across the state.
After the nostalgia trip, the lights dimmed in the NECAT studio and the audience was treated to a wide variety of short films from TSA writers, including:
"American Sock" written by Jason Allen
"The Hole Truth" written and directed by Irish Johnston
"Morning Chores" written and directed by Elvis Wilson
"Inner Demons" written and directed by Michael Bentley & Corbin Eaton
"Don't Turn Around" written and directed by Zac Adams
"Fogg" (trailer) written and directed by Elvis Wilson
"Oreo?" written and directed by Daniel Spear
"The Romulan War: First Contact" (preview) written and directed by Mark Naccarato
"Alius Primorus" co-written by Rob Lindsay
"Back to Christmas" co-written by Melissa Sheridan
"The Odds" & "Gates of Flesh" (trailers) written and directed by Bob Giordano
"Best Offer" written and directed by Ben Wynn Barrett
"The Good Mother" co-written and directed by Zac Adams
"The Runner" written and directed by MK Kopp
"Autumn Lovers" written by and co-directed by Jason Allen
Thanks to Eric Lowy at NECAT for the production assistance, to Alvaro Rodriguez, and to the local filmmakers who helped TSA revive the independent, creative spirit of Middle Tennessee's rising screenwriters and indie filmmakers.
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