Longboat Key IT specialist Barry Gaines launching sci-fi and fantasy film festival

Barry Gaines, an IT specialist for the town of Longboat Key, has already created a world of his own with his sci-fi series “A World of Worlds.” But now, as he looks towards the future, he’s looking to create gathering of creatives of his own with GainesCon. 

The eponymous convention will be a sci-fi, fantasy, screenwriting, artistry, cosplay, musical extravaganza that Gaines hopes to roll out in November.

This is phase two in his grand plan, with the series “A World of Worlds” as phase one and a future film studio as phase three. Gaines has been taking mental notes for years as he’s gone to other genre conventions and is hoping to create a convention-expo hybrid that elevates the artists involved and gets more people into the genre.

“I just want to give anyone a chance who wants to be involved in this type of industry,” Gaines said. “Building something different than anybody else is really important to me, and just giving people, especially actors, a chance to run around. A lot of the content is very PSA-oriented, or like a romantic comedy. And that's fine and all good. But sometimes you want to run around and get dirty.”

Gaines envisions a film festival that celebrates all aspects of the genre, from artists to cosplayers to actors and everyone in between. Gaines wants to draw high-profile Hollywood and sci-fi convention eyes to this side of the state to give those just starting out more exposure. 

“I want to bring that audience here to Sarasota, to St. Pete,” Gaines said. “That’s the whole point of this, and I have to start by one foot in front of the other. Everyone's always looking to the other side and not over here. And I said, ‘Why not us?’ We have all the resources in the world here. We got the beautiful beaches. We got the sun. I mean, doggone it, let's do it.”

Gaines is in the early stages of planning the inaugural convention and has begun accepting submissions, finding sponsors and looking for donations. For now, the festival is open to short films up to 40 minutes long. Of course, there will be the “Best Picture” and “Best Actor” awards, but they’ll actually be the Dragon Awards — Red Dragon for Best Picture and Golden Dragon for Best Actor and Best Actress. Gaines will also have awards for Best Action Sequence and a screenwriting award.

“All of these great stories that are out there,” Gaines said. “A lot of times they don't have the opportunity to get into major film festivals. If you are into that realm, it has to be such a higher level that most don’t have the money or just don’t have the resources, but they do have a great idea. They’ll put everything into it and never get a chance to be shown. Everybody and everything has its place.”

In particular, he’s excited about the “No Budget, No Problem” award. It’s for filmmakers who made something amazing for less than $1,000. That’s how Gaines himself made his films, by making friends and garnering donations and getting it done with a camera and some friends. 

“Those to me are the ones I really pay more attention to because I'm that guy,” Gaines said. 

Giving people a shot in the high-budget sci-fi and fantasy world is above all what Gaines wants to accomplish with GainesCon. He made “A World of Worlds” with local actors and a special effects team spread across the globe, building a world and a movie around his central story. He’s seen his actors grow over the years and wants to be able to see new people grow too, once he’s met them at GainesCon. 

“It’s not just doing the story, but it’s contributing to the community as well,” Gaines said. “That’s a big deal with me. This is for the artists … I want to show what the content creators have gone through.”