How to Navigate the Austin Film Festival
Summary
Heading to Austin Film Festival? Don’t Go Unprepared.
Join Geoff Faugerolas, Director of Development Services, and Ashley Smith, Head of Community, for a live webcast designed to help you maximize every moment of your AFF experience.
Both Geoff and Ashley are AFF veterans who know the ins and outs of the festival—from which panels to prioritize to how to network authentically without being “that person.” They’ll share insider tips you won’t find in the program guide and help you create a game plan so you can walk into Austin with confidence.
What You'll Learn
- How to prep before you go (scheduling, pitching, research)
- What to prioritize once you’re there (panels, parties, networking)
- How to nail your pitch and handle Q&A like a pro
- The follow-up formula that actually gets responses
- Insider tips from people who’ve been there, done that
Who Should Attend
- First-time AFF attendees looking for a game plan
- AFF veterans who want to sharpen their strategy
- Screenwriters pitching in competitions or paid sessions
- Anyone networking at AFF who wants to stand out
- Stage 32 members attending the festival and looking to connect
Executive
Ashley Smith is the Head of Community here at Stage 32!
Prior to joining the incredible team at Stage 32, Ashley spent nearly 7 years at a boutique development and talent management company where she was deeply involved with every development project, management client, and administrative aspect of running the company. She oversaw a rich development slate of films, ongoing series, and limited series across genres and developed projects for Amazon, Sony TV, FX, Universal TV, Paramount TV, Legendary Global, MGM, A&E, Concord Originals, and many others. Some of the projects that Ashley has been involved with include Pose on FX, Vikings on History Channel, Vikings: Valhalla on Netflix, and the upcoming Sony/ITV series, The Winter King.
Ashley was directly involved in acquiring the rights to a global bestselling book that she helped develop as a series adaptation that was successfully pitched and sold to MGM and FX. She had the honor of developing with some of the top screenwriters and best-selling authors in the business, providing thoughtful notes to improve all documents, pitch materials, and script drafts.