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.

Second LA Festival for "If Not Now"

We're putting off shopping for Thanksgiving dinner to make flight plans to return to Los Angeles to escort our dramatic short "If Not Now" to its second LA festival -- the 2015 Woman Up Film Festival.

"This is a little overwhelming," said director Lori Kay Allred. "This was my first time directing a narrative film, and I was just trying to tell a very personal story since I've been touched by a parent dealing with dementia. I'm really honored that this film has touched so many people."

"If Not Now" Selected to LA Femme Festival

Our cast and producing team is getting ready to head to LA for the 2015 LA Femme International Film Festival. Our short film ‘If Not Now’ was selected by the festival and given a prime Friday evening screening slot in the festival’s main theatre in Beverly Hills. Our film tells the story of how one family deals with the dementia of an older parent.

Now in its 11th year, the LA Femme Film Festival showcases commercially viable films written, directed and produced by women.

Actors Kate Cook & Mike Ostroski, director Lori Kay Allred, producer Scott Takeda, and actor Catherine McGuire of "If Not Now" at opening night of LA Femme Film Festival (October 2015)

"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."

"If Not Now" Goes To Malta

Our latest short film "If Not Now" , directed by Lori Kay Allred, has been selected to screen internationally this month in Malta as part of their film festival. Because our film tells the story of a family dealing with dementia, the festival programmers will be holding seminars on aging and Alzheimer’s to coincide with our screening.

“You have told such a powerful and moving story,” said Mary Rose Meli of the Malta Festival. “One of the most prominent psychiatrists in Malta who was formerly a university professor in Canada will be leading the workshop. We are very excited and looking forward to this event.”

"This is why we do what we do," said producer Scott Takeda. "Although it's nice to know that our film is playing internationally, it's far more important to me that our stories are impacting the lives of people."