PENNY JACKSON
Novelist, Playwright, and Screenwriter.
My Dinner With Schwartzey is a short film adapted from my short story published in the 1980s. My co-writer and director Melissa Skirboll helped me to transform a literary work into a visual medium.
The story of a powerful musical producer taking advantage of a young teen girl who wants to be a rock and roll star is very resonant in today's #metoo movement. Melissa and I also mixed in elements of Alice In Wonderland with Andy Warhol set in a fantastic downtown NYC club.
I hope you will have a chance to see this film in one of our festivals.
What's New
I am so proud of my first film. MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY has garnered so many festival laurels that we can't include any more on the poster. Please read all about the story, the inspiration, our collaboration with so many wonderful artists, and statements from me and our director, Melissa Skirboll.
(Click on image below for link!)
MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY had a great year!
Starting with our world premiere at the prestigious (Oscar Qualifying) Bermuda International Film Festival in March, we've screened in 22 festivals in 6 countries! We've been nominated for 27 awards and won 8!
Best Dramedy (two wins)
Best Actress ZOE WILSON (two wins)
Best Director MELISSA SKIRBOLL
Best Cinematographer ALEXA WOLF
Best Editor EVAN METZOLD
and
Filmmaker of the Year MELISSA SKIRBOLL!
Two more awards for My Dinner With Schwartzey!
My Dinner With Schwartzey is off to Florence, Italy for the Firenze Film Festival! Ciao Italia!
The team of MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY is thrilled to be awarded Best Dramedy Short from The Manhattan Film Festival.
Congratulations to all who were so wonderful in the film based on my short story.
So proud that MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY was a semi-finalist in an incredibly competitive selection of international films at The Bermuda International Film Festival.
We also had our U.K. premiere at The Beeston Film Festival. Upcoming film festivals include The Manhattan Film Festival in April and Action on Film Festival in Las Vegas in July and The Long Island Film Expo Festival 2019 in July.
Our film was also nominated for Best Drama Short in The Genre Celebration Festival in Japan.
My Dinner With Schwartzey will have its world premiere at The Bermuda International Film Festival this March, 2019.
This Academy Award qualifying festival (BIFF) is an annual spring event which highlights the best in world cinema. The festival features top films from the world's leading filmmakers as well as introduces new talent from around the world.
We are thrilled to be part of the line-up of the short films.
Schwartzey - Behind The Story: The Women Behind The Man
Here is the pre-trailer to the film titled SCHWARTZEY - BEHIND THE STORY. The two main women in the film, Fiona and Dorothy, discuss how Schwartzey discovered them and changed their lives.
Photographs by William Lide Powell.
It's a wrap! We finished shooting our short film MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY which is based on my published short story.
A cautionary tale of a young girl seduced by a powerful older music producer and his decadent friends and lifestyle.
Please follow My Dinner With Schwartzey on Twitter @SeymourSchwart8
MY DINNER WITH SCHWARTZEY is now listed on IMDB.
