In 2020 film festivals had no other choice but began moving their programming online. Covid-19 has already changed the face of many sectors and how the business will be conducted in the future. Will film festivals follow the suit and adjust to changing trends and audience expectations? The sudden move online has already allowed for wider international accessibility to films and knowledge that was reserved only a year ago for the privileged few, who could afford to splash out on those expensive events. Before the pandemic, to attend A-list film festivals you needed quite a substantial budget, and if you were a parent you also had to sort out childcare, which film festivals still don’t have on offer. If your project was a part of the competition, the expenses were justified. However, if you were going as an audience member or a freelancer, the costs were often too excessive to rationalise. It more often than not was nothing less than an expensive, thematic holiday. Online screenings, virtual meeting rooms or parties, and educational events and …

At the early stage of production, my husband and I were covering all the production needs. At the same time, I was re-writing the script while running the campaign and working on my director’s notes. I’m one of those directors who need to have everything in place before going into production. I believe that the more prepared I’m, the easier it will be to adapt when the unexpected happens. The budget was still up in the air as we needed to wait for the outcome of our campaign, to know what we could afford and what we couldn’t. ACTORS My usual work on the script includes: script breakdown and analysis, working on improvisation exercises that I can use during the rehearsals, working on character’s background stories, coming up with questions for the actors about scenes and actions that the characters take. I’m not an actor and don’t have the tools the actors have to help them develop their characters. I try to help them as much as I can and give them the push in …

1. Keep your hand moving. Regardless of your doubts and insecurities try to keep on writing, even though you think that what you’ve written makes no sense. 2. Lose control, don’t censor or edit your own writing, keep on writing whatever comes to your mind. 3. Be specific. Write a very specific description of a house your character lives in or a dress she is wearing to the New Year’s Eve party. The detail and specific description help with narrowing down your focus. 4. Don’t worry about punctuation, spelling, or grammar. Don’t fixate on that while writing your story, script or blog. This will come much later, while you are wearing the editor’s hat, not the writer’s hat. 5 . You are free to write the worst junk you want. No one must see it. It’s for your eyes only. 6. If something scary comes up, while you are writing, go for it. 7. Hemingway said that if a writer knows something, even if he doesn’t write it, it’s present in his work. Remember that while …