Allred's Latest Screenplay Finalist at Milledgeville

This week, judges at the Milledgeville Film Festival upgraded Lori Kay Allred’s latest screenplay from "Official Selection" to "Semi-Finalist" and now to "Finalist."  The screenplay is tentatively titled "Secrets" and is Allred’s first feature film.  It now advances to the final competition against other screenplays and will have a table read at the upcoming 2017 Milledgeville Film Festival in late April.

"We're so proud of Lori Kay," said producer Scott Takeda. "This now marks the second year that one of her projects has gotten into this Top-100 festival, having won Best Drama Film last year and been a nominee for Best Director. We're very excited about our first feature. Like all of our projects, we've taken a universal theme and put our own personal spin on it. This is a story about a family dealing with loss during the holidays, and how it works to hold things together."

Last year was the 4th year for the festival held in a small college town just east of Atlanta. It gets it's top rating because it regularly attracts some of the industry's best filmmaking talent to judge and hold seminars including Oscar-nominated producer Rachel Winter (Dallas Buyers Club), television screenwriter Jesse Zwick (Parenthood), Disney's Director of Production David Hartle, and Oscar.com showrunner John Heinsen.

"If Not Now" wins Jury "Special Mention" Prize

Pop the champagne! The jury members of the Top Shorts Film Festival just named our 2015 short film 'If Not Now' winner of Special Mention.

"After all of the judging, the jury members felt like 'If Not Now' was a special film," said Top Shorts Executive Director Roy Zafrani. "We wanted to create a special recognition for it because it touched our hearts."

This year, Top Shorts received more than 500 entries from more than 50 countries. Jurors included Emmy-winning actress Eileen Davidson (Days of Our Lives), London-based film actor Nigel Barber (Mission: Impossible - Rouge Nation) and LA actress Casey Ruggieri (Gone Girl.)

"If Not Now" Takes Top Drama Prize at Milledgeville

Judges at the Milledgeville Film Festival named "If Not Now" Best Drama Film in their 2016 campaign. The judges also named Lori Kay Allred as a nominee for "Best Director."

"Obviously we're thrilled," said producer Scott Takeda. "First, the selection of films was very good at this festival. Kudos to the programmers. So I'm very honored that our film was considered best of all the dramatic films. And second, I couldn't be more happy for our director Lori Kay Allred. This was her very first film as a director, and she did a great job. And I'm so glad that the judges saw her talent.

2016 was the fourth year for the Milledgeville Film Festival – a Top-100 reviewed festival on Film Freeway.  Held in a small college town just east of Atlanta, it regularly attracts some of the industry's best filmmaking talent. This year's speakers included Oscar-nominated producer Rachel Winter (Dallas Buyers Club), television screenwriter Jesse Zwick (Parenthood), Disney's Director of Production David Hartle, and Oscar.com showrunner John Heinsen.

Filmmakers Win Emmy

Let's celebrate! Directors Scott Takeda and Lori Kay Allred just won an Emmy from the Suncoast Regional Chapter. They took the top prize in the Human Interest-News category for a documentary series titled “Melissa’s Story.”

This was a project produced through Scott Takeda's company Takeda Entertainment; his company's second Emmy in the past five years. The previous was for a long-form commercial.

This is Takeda's sixth regional Emmy; and Lori Kay Allred's fourth. Allred had previously won a National Daytime Emmy in 2013.

"The Decision" Wins Awards

Well our hard work and hustle in Croatia seems to have paid off. The judges from Denver's 48 Hour Film Project awarded our film "The Decision" the "Best Editing" prize as well as a nomination for "Best of Denver" and an Honorable Mention for "Audience Favorite."

"This is very rewarding," said producer Scott Takeda. "The competition was especially strong this year, so I'm excited with the results. Now we begin reshoots and re-edits."

In August, our filmmakers spent additional days in Croatia shooting new scenes for the film. This fall, we will also be bringing back actor Kristen Rakes to reshoot some of the scenes we had originally shot in Albuquerque. We've begun scouting locations while working on tweaks to the longer script.

"We really feel like we have something special here," said screenwriter/director Lori Kay Allred. "This is a very personal story to me and our lead actor Leslee Crisman, and we don't want our film to be constrained to the time limits and required elements of the 48 Hour Film Project. So we'll be working throughout the fall and into the winter to make the changes we feel will tell the story we want to tell."