Let's Abolish the NH Department of Cultural Resources -- NOT!

Have you written the Honorable Committee members yet? Or your representatives? Feel free to try verbiage something like this, with your own personal touch sprinkled in. (And in case you need to, click HERE to look up your State Rep.)

The Honorable Representative Carol McGuire, Chair
House Committee on Executive Departments and Administration
Legislative Office Building - Room 306
Concord, NH 03301

Re: HB1274 (Vaillancourt) - Abolishment of the Department of Cultural Resources - Oppose

Dear Madam Chair and the Members of the Committee:

I am writing to register my opposition to HB1274, authored by Rep. Steven Vaillancourt.

I am an artist who has lived and worked in the state for nearly eleven years. Without the Department of Cultural Resources (DCR) my volunteer activities, ranging from helping kids and nonprofit agencies to assisting town departments, would have been nearly impossible. The DCR mobilizes resources in such a way that it is easy to reach out and ask for help when it is needed. I have attended workshops I would not have been able to afford. I have met other artists with whom I have collaborated. 

In short, I cannot sustain my efforts without the DCR, nor can countless other artists throughout this state. And if the state loses DCR and the artists it supports, then the biggest losers are our children and our grandchildren.

Please help save the Department of Cultural Resources.

Thank you,

Dana Myskowski

Henniker, NH 

cc: Representatives Mark Lindsley & Laurie Sanborn

- - - - -

Dana Biscotti Myskowski
Emmy-Nominated Producer
Green Chair Pictures
www.greenchairpictures.com

Volunteer in the following capacities:

Director, Screenplay Competition, New Hampshire Film Festival
www.nhfilmfestival.com

Board Member, NH Film Commission
www.nh.gov/film

Founding Member, Granite SoFFA, the NH Society of Female Film Artists

www.GraniteSoFFA.org

Green Chair Reader launches!

It's been a dream of mine to publish a journal devoted to the art of the short screenplay since I first saw my short script PLAYING HOUSE in print in the Goddard College Pitkin Review. 


And now it's here!

The Header for "Green Chair Reader," designed by Adam Karolian.

Thanks to my Managing Editor Patrick Witherell for kicking this project into gear.

And to our published screenwriters: Duncan Putney, Paul Rogalus, Kevin O'Malley, Gwen Wilson & Codie Harrision.

Also to our gifted artist Adam Karolian for designing the header and for contributing three of his pieces to serve as artwork for the scripts.

Hope you enjoy the issue!

Who will you spend the holidays with?

I've been sick lately. So sick the doctor's aren't yet sure what it is. (I have a CAT Scan this week and an internal scope to look forward to early in the New Year...to see if we can find out what's been going on.)

I'm not looking for sympathy, though.

What I am looking for is what's most important to me right now. And the answer, naturally, is: Friends & Family.

So for Christmas this year, I asked my husband for two things:

1) To fly me mumsy out from California to be with us for the holidays. (She arrives tomorrow!)

2) To rent an off-season ocean-front house on an island in Maine for New Year's Weekend. (We found one and we've already signed the lease!)

I don't want *stuff*...I can't take *stuff* with me whenever it is that I check out from this game called life. It's taken me many years to realize this (what a shame).

But I'm also not looking for your judgement.

What I am looking for from you is:

WHO are you looking forward to seeing this holiday season or in the New Year? And, yes, if you'd like to share, please feel free also to share who you will miss this holiday season. I'll go first.

I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with my husband, a man I've been married to for nearly a quarter of a century (next year!). A man I almost left earlier this year. Oh, how clumsy relationships--especially the long-term ones--can be.

And to being with my daughter and my son. And their boyfriend and girlfriend, respectively.

My mom. But you already knew that. She had her own surgery just a week ago today. And an MRI last Friday. Lots of stuff going on for her, but you don't see her whining in some blog post about it. :)

And my husband's family. Christmas Eve is my favorite holiday celebration of all. I've been honored to join my husband's family for these past 24 years. (I actually told my husband that if we did split up, he could expect to see me at Christmas Eve, cuz there is no way I would ever give THAT up!)

And my friends. Those who can make the NH Film & Television Holiday Gathering. Those who will be joining me on the island. And the few in between who I'm not too tired to visit with on weekends.

And I'll miss: my father. Who died ten years ago, the weekend of the September eleventh catastrophe. His death was unrelated to that event, but it did cause significant hardship in getting the family together to be by his bedside.

And my friend Kathy. Who today I realized left us about eight years ago. I mark her anniversary with my friends' wedding anniversary. Not because I'm morbid, but because her burial service was the reason I couldn't join my friends for their big day.

We all have sadness in our lives, eh? Guess that's what makes the gifts all the greater. It's never easy, though. This thing we call life. Together though, I'm fairly certain we can make it all worthwhile.

Happy holidays!

“To the Power of YOU!” wins its category at New Media Film Festival in San Francisco

“To the Power of YOU!” – the public service announcement (PSA) created for Big Sisters of Rhode Island in the inaugural 7DayPSA Competition hosted by FLICKERS – took top honors in the category Trailers (which also included other shorts) at the New Media Film Festival’s San Francisco screening on November 5, 2011.

The PSA, which has aired in the Rhode Island market since winning first place in last year’s inaugural 7DayPSA Competition and which was Emmy-nominated earlier this year, screened before a receptive crowd at the city’s historic Landmark Lumiere Theatre.

“It’s been the ‘little engine that could’ for us,” said Dana Biscotti Myskowski, producer and creative director of Green Chair Pictures, who entered the New Hampshire-based team Smoky Quartz Productions in the inaugural competition in January 2010.

“It was fun to hear the audience ohh and ahh when ‘Purple Girl’ appeared on the screen,” Biscotti Myskowski said, describing the moment when one of the youngest of the 40 actors dressed in a plush purple warm-up suit appears in a close-up shot about half way through the minute-long piece.

It took Biscotti Myskowski several seconds to process that her team’s PSA had been announced during the awards ceremony presided over by New Media Film Festival Founder and Director Susan Johnston. “I wasn’t surprised that our piece resonated with the judges, but I didn’t realize it was in juried competition,” Biscotti Myskowski said.

The PSA was conceptualized, written, produced, and edited in seven days, in the competition that pairs filmmakers with charitable organizations in regional and state contests. The National 7DayPSA Competition, conceived of by Rhode Island actor and Emmy-winning writer Duncan Putney, has been expanding each year to include more areas of the country.

In addition to its overall awards for best piece, the PSA has also been awarded three individual prizes, presented to some of the creative minds behind the short: Adam Jones was recognized as Best Director at the inaugural competition; Gary Anderson received the Best Cinematographer award; and Best Editor went to Marc Dole.

To find more information on this and additional projects, please visit the Green Chair Pictures website. 

Plowing Up A Snake...

What would YOU do if your husband was 

brutally murdered in a small town 

where everyone knew who did it 

but no one brought them to justice?

Stay tuned for more information on this feature film production.

Jumping off!

Been busy at work pulling together a budget and business plan as I prepare to jump into feature film producing. More information posted at my Green Chair Pictures website soon!

(Oops...should be
the 32nd Annual logo....)

"Matt's Story" wins two Telly Awards 

In a field of more than 11,000, the team that volunteered to produce the seven-minute video for the Concord Boys and Girls Club wins both First and Second Highest Honors in this year's Telly Awards.

The New Hampshire production team that originally met in the Concord Boys and Girls Club to produce the Emmy-nominated Public Service Announcement for Rhode Island Big Sisters, has landed the top honor—a  Silver Telly Award (Cinematography)—and the second-highest honor—a Bronze Telly Award (Fundraising Video)—for “Matt’s Story,” produced for the Concord Boys and Girls Club’s Breakfast of Champions fundraising event. 

Since 1978 Telly Awards have been honoring the work of creative video artists from the 50 states and around the globe. Annually, more than 11,000 entries are judged by over 500 professionals and prior award winners, and rated on a scale of one to ten.

Those projects that earn a nine or ten are awarded the highest honor: the Silver Telly Award; only seven to ten percent of all entries earn this highest honor. The Silver Telly in Cinematography for “Matt’s Story” is awarded to Kent Rich of Granite River Studios.

Bronze Telly Awards are given to the projects that earn a 7.0 to 8.9 score. Roughly 18 to 25 percent of all submissions receive this Finalist Prize. The Bronze Telly in Fundraising Video for “Matt’s Story” is awarded to the entire production team.

The Silver rather than the Gold is the highest award possible in the annual Telly Awards, as originally directed by the award’s founder. The Gold Telly Award is reserved for Classic Telly Award Winners, an honor that, according to the company, is presented approximately every five years.

Last year's crew answered a call by the Concord Boys and Girls Club to produce the seven-minute video for the Club's first annual fundraising breakfast. The video featured Matt Anderson, a young man who grew up in the Club, and one of his counselors, Tom Parizo, plus interviews with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson about their son.

Many of the crew were pulled from the original Smoky Quartz Productions team, which earlier in the year produced the Emmy-nominated Public Service Announcement, "To the Power of You." That project won Best Public Service Announcement in the inaugural 7DayPSA Competition sponsored by FLICKERS in Rhode Island.

Joining us on the "Matt's Story" project were:

Executive Producer - Carol Morse

Producer - Dana Biscotti Myskowski

Director - Adam Jones

Director of Photography - Kent Rich

Editor - David Bradley

Art Director - Mary-Catherine Jones

Set Decorator - Susan Tinkham

Hair & Make-Up - Annette Sousa

Lighting Assistant - Tom Dooley

Production Assistants - Leo & Abby Myskowski