july recap 🎉

this month was so crazy, y’all. where do I even begin. 

let’s start with ORANGE LIKE ME. 

my first short film had its official premiere at its very first film festival:

Midsummer Scream Halloween and Horror Convention’s THE SCREAMING ROOM FILM FESTIVAL in Long Beach. 

this was a full-on THREE-DAY HORROR CONVENTION, y’all. with a film festival built in.

frank and I attended every day. 

I wasn’t prepared for the sheer volume of attendees (several thousands). and the fact that I was chosen for the film festival meant that frank and I got free entry to the convention and - wait for it...

“TALENT” badges. 

MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY. TALENT COMING THROUGH.

that meant early entry, skipping all the lines, and feeling hella important the entire time 😎

…just because I made a scary little 6-minute film?! I’ll take it!!  

my little film screened this past sunday, july 28th, alongside some seriously f***ing amazing big-budget, high-caliber films.

dude.

it was SUCH. AN. HONOR!

AND - they gave me BOOTH TIME! 

there were hundreds of booths within the convention, and the film festival programmers (horrorbuzz.com) let us filmmakers take over theirs to promote as we wished. 

I put out postcards, business cards, and the CUTEST ORANGE STICKERS.

and once again - I FELT SO IMPORTANT!! 

sadly, OLM did not win any awards.

there were jury awards across the whole festival, and audience choice awards in each category.

the jury awards rightfully went to some really incredible (and bigger budget) films. 

but... I'll admit that I was mildly horrified that I didn’t win the audience award in my category, WTF???

no, I’m not swearing.

my category was indeed entitled, “WTF???” 

description: “a mind-bending collection of bizarre shorts that throws everything but the kitchen sink at you. from a singing killer clown to a whole lot of orange juice, prepare to be shocked, disturbed, and left saying, ‘what the…?’” 

my reaction to being put in that category:

…you guys…get me! 🥹😭 and that little OJ shout-out in the description?! hell yeah!! 

but, guys… sadly… I lost the audience choice award to a little film entitled…

frankencock.

it was a film about a giant homicidal penis. and unfortunately for OLM, it was extremely funny and very well done.

bravo, frankencock. 

when I told my mom that I lost to a giant penis, she said, "Ain't that just like life?"

yes, mom. it is. #motherswisdom

but this was no loss for suz. it was the most incredible honor.

and now I can cross “BE IN A FILM FESTIVAL” off my bucket list / vision board for 2024. 

thank you AGAIN to my readers who supported the production 🫶🏻 you’ll never know how much you mean to me. 

if you haven’t already, you’ll be able to see the complete film soon. gotta complete the festival circuit first! 🎥🎉

something else kinda insane happened in july... 

I got invited to the Baltimore premiere of Apple TV's new series Lady In The Lake starring Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram. 

the reason little-old-ME got invited is that they shot some of the scenes in my family’s bar, the notorious Club Charles. 

so even though I was on vacation in Joshua Tree with my LA besties, I packed up and flew last-minute out of the palm springs airport. 

and travel delays meant that I arrived in Baltimore at 6AM the day of the premiere...

but the screening was INCREDIBLE and I GOT TO MEET NATALIE AND MOSES!!

that was just over 2 weeks ago, and now I’m BACK in baltimore enjoying time with family before I head to new york for my bestie anna’s 30th birthday 🎈

what a charmed life. 

...if you made it this far, comment ORANGES!!

you just might be my biggest fan.

🍊🎥✨