I Competed in My First Ever Posterpalooza

Last weekend I took (ahem) a plunge.

I woke up early on a Sunday morning to drive to the Valley and join a bunch of people I had never met before...only to end up having a blast, surrounded by creative minds, and coming up with ridiculously fun things like this poster recreation of Overboard (above) in which I gave my best Kurt Russell.

Created by my screenwriter-playwright friend Erik Patterson, POSTERPALOOZA has become an annual tradition. (This is its fourth year.) 15 teams gather together in a park and are sent off on a mission -- to recreate as many movie posters as they can within 6 hours. Each team is given a list of 20 films, spread across 5 genres, to choose from.

Giving my best Aaron Eckhart and Jack Nicholson, respectively.

Once all photos have been submitted to a panel of judges (in jpegs on a USB drive, natch), teams can take a break before everyone gathers at night for a party to watch a slideshow of all the entries and eat some grub. (This year we reconvened at The Smokehouse in Burbank -- my first time; must go back.) There, prizes are handed out to the top three teams, awarded for their creativity and ambition -- bonus points can be earned within each genre.

Since I had signed up without forming a team, I was this year's designated Posterpalooza Orphan. Therefore I was placed with a bunch of creative peeps from Echo Park and Highland Park who welcomed me with open arms. It was awesome.

Here are some behind-the-scenes pics showcasing what went down over the course of the day.

Recreating Rabbit Hole.

The People vs. Larry Flynt 

Trainwreck

Needless to say, I'm definitely signing up for next year's competition.

@TheFirstEcho