During the November 2005 American Film Market, DGA members participated in two key seminars held at the American Film Market in Santa Monica California, and the 2005 AFI Fest in Hollywood.
At the November 7th, AFM seminar, Scoring High: Optimizing Test Screenings as a Research Tool, a panel consisting of DGA Board Member Donald Petrie (Welcome to Mooseport, Miss Congeniality); DGA Director-member Catherine Hardwicke, (Lords of Dogtown, Thirteen); OTX Executive Vice President Kevin Goetz; Producer Michael London (Sideways, Thirteen); former Paramount Classics Co-President Ruth Vitale; and moderator/DGA Director-member Elias Merhige, (Suspect Zero, Shadow of the Vampire) conducted a candid discussion of how best to take advantage of test screenings as a tool to both fine-tune a film's story and its marketing campaign.
The November 11th AFI Fest seminar “A Conversation with Penelope Spheeris” featured Spheeris speaking about her new film The Kid and I with its star Eric Gores and moderator/DGA Director-member Patty Jenkins (Monster).
