Christopher Utley's profile answers

My wife was a member of Meetup starting in 2005. I saw an email that she sent with Meetup's link on it and I checked out the website for myself in Spring 2006. At the time there were no film groups in the Los Angeles area. A couple of months later, I noticed that a film group was formed in Orange County (where I lived at the time). I went to one of their events and mentioned to the Group Organizer that I wanted to do events for some upcoming films. He appointed me an Assistant Group Organizer and I hit the ground running. I hosted many successful movie events and was co-host of our Oscar Party in February 2007.

Shortly after the Oscar Party, I decided to relocate to the LA area with plans to start my own film group in the area. A few weeks later, I got an email saying that the Group Organizer of another film group in LA had stepped down from their position. I decided to accept the role in April 2007 and I officialy relaunched the group in Summer 2007 - renaming it SoCal Movie Fanatics. Since that time, we have grown from roughly 150 members to over 630 members - becoming Meetup's #1 film club in Southern California in the process. . We have a team of 13 Organizers including myself - hosting movie events at theatres across the LA area. Our favorite spots are Arclight Hollywood & Grauman's Chinese....

I joined Meetup searching for film clubs. At the time of joining, there weren't any but after a few months, a club was formed in Orange County and I became an Assistant Organizer (AO). A year later, after proving myself to be a successful AO and co-leader of the group, an opportunity rose to become leader of a film club in LA and I accepted it. Over the span of little more than a year, our group membership has grown from 150-200 members to almost 600 members. We now have more members and more group activities than any other Meetup film club in the LA area....

MySpace & Facebook. Don't spend too much time on either one!

3 Black Chicks, Ain't It Cool News, Rotten Tomatoes, Dark Horizons, IMDB, Variety, Hollywood Reporter

Denzel & Halle winning Best Actor/Actress on the same night. I cried.

1. Too many MBA's who love the BUSINESS instead of the ART of film being allowed to greenlight projects.
2. Lack of development for new writers who bring fresh, creative ideas to their work.
3. The push towards isolated, in-home film watching experiences as opposed to the magic of seeing films in the theatre as they were meant to be seen....

Spike Lee. As an African American, his films speak directly to the pulse of who I am as a person in the USA.

As is the case with most of us in the Biz, I ultimately want to write screenplays and have them produced. But my love for film is so wide and vast that I don't think I'll simply be satisfied with just making my own movie. My goal is to venture into other aspects of film including hosting test screenings of new films and coordinating focus group discussions to give the audience better insight and input on how to create the best film possible. I also want to parlay my Meetup.com experience into my own enterprise dedicated to the creation and managing of film clubs across the country....

I searched for years for a community to share my love for film and joined Meetup in 2006 in hopes of finding said community. A film club in Orange County, CA was formed a few months after I joined and I became an Assistant Event Organizer. A few months later, an opportunity arose to become the head Organizer of an LA based film club and I assumed the position....