"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.

Filmmakers Win National Telly Award

This summer, a documentary film produced by the our creative team picked up a national Silver Telly Award – the top prize.

Our short film “Melissa” was produced through director Scott Takeda's production company Takeda Entertainment. The film competed in the documentary film category. In this film, Lori Kay Allred followed Stage-4 cancer patient Melissa as she adjusted to life with incurable lung cancer. We captured moments ranging from her preparing Thanksgiving dinner with family to wrestling with the difficult decision to retire.

“The entire team is celebrating,” said Takeda. “We put our hearts and souls in to telling her story. We appreciate the opportunity to show her resilience and human spirit. While we don’t produce our films to win awards, it’s always nice when people independently say we did a good job.”

Since 1988, the Telly Awards reward creative excellence in advertising, television and film. 

"If Not Now" Begins Festival Run at SENE Film Festival

Director Lori Kay Allred and producer Scott Takeda walk the red carpet with actor Catherine McGuire at the closing ceremonies of the SENE Film Festival at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island. (April 2015)

This month, our dramatic short film "If Not Now" began its festival run at the 8th Annual SENE Film Festival in Providence, Rhode Island.

(Second from left) "If Not Now" actor Catherine McGuire and director Lori Kay Allred answer questions in the filmmaker Q&A after the Friday evening screening at Columbus Theater in Providence, Rhode Island. (April 2015)

"This is my first film festival so I had no idea what to expect," said director Lori Kay Allred. "However all of my director colleagues strongly suggested this festival because its programmers were very selective, so I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of terrific films and meeting the filmmakers."

"I was happy because we came home with a nomination," said producer Scott Takeda. "SENE Film Festival jurors recognized the beautiful cinematography of Dave Klein."