Sundance Film Festival
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Thursday. Mar 23, 3:07 AM
(Part three) The Party.

Okay I’ll admit it: I’m a Black girl who moved to Utah from the real world. Born and raised where it’s a given that people of color have skills and get props. When I touched down in Salt Lake for the first time, all that came to a screeching halt. Oh well. Throw in the fact that I decided to launch a journalism career, and you’d figure I must be crazy. Must be.

Too many years of being treated like the help in local TV have only driven me. Driven me to kick their asses on their home turf. It’s a fact that the good ole boys will always find a way to rear their ugly heads, but infuriating that they just had to put in an appearance during my most exciting national TV opportunity of the year.

Hailing from a national entertainment background, I combined this with my local TV resume to segue into national TV gigs. Nearly a decade of research, hard work, and hard knocks put me on the map as the entertainment producer of the region. It also landed me the coveted spot of producer for THE Sundance party. The very exclusive one that all the stars hope to be invited to. Even with a strong, cohesive crew, and my skills, it’s a tough assignment. Having successfully covered this party for the past few years, wouldn’t ya know, my luck ran out. In the past I had always had the good sense to hire my own crew. There’s no way I’d ever let some redneck crew embarrass me in a national arena, right?

Here’s how it all went down. For reasons unknown to me, the client decided to hire my crew for me. How sweet. Calling from out of state, they really have no idea who they get on the other end of the phone. They called a production company I’m familiar with. Unfortunately they got the wrong person involved, a dangerous combination of greed and hillbilly-ness. Great. Already faced with a 23-hour shift, two shoots, two edits, I was left out of things in the planning stages. Keep in mind I came this close to calling the client and starting with “over my dead body,” but chose not to. All I can say is Godspeed and all that. This time I’ll need much more than luck.
festival.sundance.org

Alana Yorn

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