48 Hour Film Festival
and..... ACTION!
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Dear Readers,
Yes, Hollywood is shut down. A very hearty thank you to SAG, who struck in solidarity with the WGA on July 14th. You would think, since we struck 108 days ago (on May 2nd) that there would be some positive news from negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP (Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers). Alas, it is not so. If you are the praying kind of person, send up a few words on our behalf for a positive change for everyone working in entertainment.
In the meantime, for the sake of our own sanity and the safety of our loved ones, creatives must create. The inability to work paid jobs has turned all of us artists to focus on our own projects.
Yours truly was invited to a “48-Hour Film Festival” in San Diego. Imagining it to be two days straight of watching movies with film nerds, I happily said,
“Yes, I can make it for Saturday, but I have plans for Friday and Sunday.”
My very kind friend informed me,
“Well, we were hoping you would write the script, and script supervise it.”
Cue the brakes.
Me: “Okay, I’ve canceled all my plans this weekend. Now, what is this thing?”
At 7 pm on Friday, the 48-Hour Film Festival - San Diego gave us a character name, that character’s occupation, a line of dialogue, and a prop that every team at the festival was required to use. Each team is then given, at random, two different genres. We could pick one, or combine them. At 7 pm on Sunday evening, a completed 5-7 minute film is due.
GAME ON.
For several months now I have wanted to make a short film with a new friend of mine, a talented actress and a precious person. I thus floated MaryLynn Suchan’s IMDB page to my highly skilled friends at Charthouse. In turn, I sent her Charthouse’s Instagram. The admiration and respect were mutual, and like that, I found our lead actress and struck my first Hollywood deal. (To be clear, all work was voluntary and in alignment with the WGA Strike.)
Friday evening we arrived and received our prop, line of dialogue, and character name and occupation. With fingers crossed, we awaited our randomly chosen genres:
Film de Femme & Heist.
SCORE!
After a meeting with the whole team, the director Jon Austin and I left to write the script. Thankfully, we were accompanied by our first AD who made sure we were hydrated and fed and kept the rest of the team updated. Five hours later, we had a tight screenplay titled NAMESAKE. The next day, after little sleep, props shopping, equipment retrieving, and many other tasks, our team assembled at the shooting location.
It’s hard to express the feeling of watching a whole company of people work together to make your words come alive on the screen. There were moments on set when cast or crew (working out how to complete a scene) would point out,
“Well, in the script...”
Oh, the surreal glee of seeing your vision capture the hearts and imaginations of creative people. It was truly a delight to work with this team in our two-day mad dash to create a compelling narrative.
I’m thrilled to announce MaryLynn Suchan was named “Best Actress” for this 48-Hour Festival. Congratulations!
A huge thank you to Kari Austin, a phenomenal photographer who did the DTI for this project. You can follow her on Instagram.
I will be sharing the produced screenplay, NAMESAKE, next month in place of this newsletter’s regular short story. As soon as the film is released for viewing, I will let you know in this newsletter.
Adventure Awaits!
~ S. C. Durbois
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