NCTV Here In Nevada County

By Gerald Martin Davenport on May 27, 2014, Updated November 24, 2024
Reading Time: 2 minutes

NCTV Here In Nevada County

The Beginning

The Station Manager for NCTV came to me back in 2013 and wanted to know if I would help create, or actually emulate, Access Sacramento's PCS screenplay contest for NCTV to generate income for the station; interest in the station; support for the community: its artists and businesses; and to open up the soapbox for storytellers and filmmakers in the area.

I outlined the whole thing in a 6-page report and presented it to the board; they loved it and wanted to green-light it, but none of them ever came back with a title or specific dates and locations. So I penned the name NCTV “Here In Nevada County,” and the station manager thought it was too specific, and I mentioned A PLACE CALLED SACRAMENTO was never really about Sacramento, they just showed the city and named a few streets or business.

So Here In Nevada County was not restraining or limiting for writers; I mean, the contest is happening in Nevada County, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Penn Valley, Rough & Ready, Truckee… What else would you call it? Here In Nevada County is what it is called and if it goes on for 20 years, I can know I helped create and NAME something that lasted that long.

An opportunity to tell your story

As with PCS, we offered writers a chance to tell their story and opened the contest in February for submissions, as well as, offered screen-writing classes to those who wanted to fine-tune their screenplay or learn the art of screenplay formatting.

The Cast & Crew Call

Bob from Gold Rush Burger’s opened his business up to let in the crazy artistic types take over, and they did. I was very worried we would only get 4 to show up, and those 4 would not be filmmakers, of which all of these teams needed; we only got nine writers after months of marketing, in the paper, websites, social media, and so forth. I know I was in my right to feel nervous about the evening.

Much to my amazement and relief, there was a huge turnout for the Cast & Crew call. Lots of actors and crew. And a majority of them were late teens and early 20s which was important to bring in the younger, upcoming talents to take over the station and bring new material to it in the future.

** Updated information

Steve Dakota has dropped out of the contest.
Aria Pictures and Breckport Media Solutions are attached to Bruce Bradley’s Oberon’s Gold and The National Exchange and there are now only 8 films.

August 2014: The event is now called Foothill Films.
April 2016: The event changed names, as the station manager that initiated the whole thing has left; however the interest with the NCTV board has waned and the event has been canceled for 2016.

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