Introduce Yourself : Fledgling Film Maker by Linda Summer

As a former Publicist and Promotions Producer with the Nine Network (Australia), I knew that I would one day venture into the filmmaking world. Well, here I am – albeit a fledgling. My strength lies in writing and I have been informally studying screenwriting for a couple of years. In 2015, I wrote, produced and directed a short film called 'Good Medicine.' It was essentially a 'bootcamp' exercise designed to experience the A-Z of short film production with no intention of submission to film festivals. Despite my film's shortcomings due to my directorial inexperience, when it was completed, I felt compelled to share the fruits of everybody's hard work, for without them, my film would never have been made. A Google search led me to Withoutabox and FilmFreeway, where the festival submission process is a breeze. Blown away by the staggering number of festivals to choose from on the global circuit, I entered Good Medicine to several low profile festivals which were either free or very inexpensive to enter. Am pleased to announce that the Creation International Film Festival in Canada has selected my film - a most unexpected and inspiring surprise. I have also received several encouraging rejection emails from festival directors, some of whom have recieved thousands of submissions. Apparantly the Sundance festival received over 8000 submissions, most of which ended up in a 'slush pile.' according to an Indie Wire article. I'm sure there are some diamonds in that pile.... I live on the gorgeous Central Coast, NSW (an hour north of Sydney) and am currently experimenting with a nature-based short film series with a 'fairyish' twist. I recently resumed work on the rewrite of my first feature length screenplay tentatively entitled 'Woo Woo World' - the story of a grieving woman's unwitting journey through the commercially exploited spiritual 'industry' following her father's untimely death.