The recent Dances With Films festival, the 27th, ran in California from 20-30 Jun.
“This festival champions the unflinching spirit at the very core of the independent film scene. While the vast majority of film fests rely heavily on celebrity, we have relied on the innovation, talent, creativity and sweat equity that revolutionized the entertainment industry.”
Among the titles shown were a couple of short TV pilots, which I was sent for review.
Ms. Pink
Ms. Pink is written and directed by Lauren McCann, who also stars in this blackly comic action half-hour in which the title character lives both a mundane, colourless life with her two children, and an exciting sideline as a would-be female assassin.
Fast-paced and inventive, McCann uses the sleek violence of Tarantino and the slickness of graphic novels to create this pilot which already shows lots of potential without bringing too many characters into the mix. I’d certainly consider watching this show if it made it to series and had a little more spent on it.
I liked the style of filming and the use of music and unusual point of view shots, The locations, too, are fascinating and varied, although some of the line delivery could be a little less stilted. I’m sufficiently intrigued, though, to know more, and I liked how not one character was given a real identity (instead you have ‘The Patient One’, ‘The Side Man’, ‘The Singer’ etc.).
Within the cast, Tahtianna Fennin’s leader may become a strong adversary for McCann’s Ms. Pink. We wiill have to see.
World Twistories
A bonkers look at history and the people behind the tales, here set in ‘eccentric London’. When there are numerous YouTube channels presenting this sort of material in a similar style, what does a TV pilot bring into the mix other than “Tik Tok sensation Paul Longley”.
This episode looks as coffee shops, which doesn’t seem to fit the initial brief. It’s also rather amateur for something aimed at a broadcast channel. With the captions and some of the set-up, I found myself wondering if it was, in fact, a spoof in the Philomena Cunk style.
With historical reinactments which are equally below par, I can’t find myself recommending this one over more in-depth material already available. Yes, Richard Hogarth making patrons to his coffee house speak Latin is true. It’s eccentric and daft enough without treating it in this irritating way.
It does settle eventually, but by then the damage has been done and I think many would have changed channels rather than the equivalent of ‘like and subscribe’.