I was fortunate to be a judge for the short screenplay category of the American University Visions 2012 competition. As an AU grad and screenwriter, I was glad to help.

In past years, my fellow judges and I agonized over the decision-making process. This year, it was easy. We all agreed on one script.

That screenplay was Alpha by Christina Pamies. She wrote a thought-provoking science fiction script about alternate dimensions. In her story, people have found a way to travel from the “alpha” and “beta” worlds, encountering different and less perfect versions of themselves. Alternate Services is responsible for returning these “rogues” to their own dimension.

It’s hard to write a sci-fi story that you haven’t seen a hundred times before. Alpha kept my interest, especially as I realized that our world was the “beta” reality. Pamies did a great job at making this concept seem plausible and tragic.

One of the other judges described the script as “emotionally mature” which was an apt description. While the scenario was sci-fi, characters grappled with outlandish problems of identity and reality like actual people would. In other words, it’s believable, the most important test for science fiction.

See the rest of the winners of Visions 2012.

Also of note is Pretty All the Time by Annie Coburn, which won for Outstanding Narrative Production. This is a great script too – it won the 2009 DC Shorts Screenplay Competition – and now has begun its life as a short film on the festival circuit.

Can you write a simple ten-page film script? Enter the DC Shorts Screenplay Competition and you could win $2000 and see your vision on the big screen.

And I’ll help – here are my tips on how to win the competition. I’ve been a judge for the competition for several years now.

You’ve got all winter to put your story on the page. The early deadline for the competition is March 31.

(l to r) Arlin Godwin, Nick Fitzhugh, Mary Ratliff, Anthony Brenneman, Jackie Steven

Directors are auteurs, in charge of hundreds of people and with millions of dollars at their disposal, right? Think again. Easy-t0-use cameras and Internet technology allow anyone with a story to tell to make a movie. This was highlighted by the recent talk by four Washington-area filmmakers at the Apple Store in Georgetown. They’re all alumni of DC Shorts, with films or scripts that appeared in this local festival.

Arlin Godwin wanted to make a short film but didn’t want to deal with actors. Over a couple of weekends, in his own apartment, he made the delightfully creepy Man in 813. It won Outstanding Local Film at DC Shorts. Fascinating to me was the fact that he shot it with a Canon T2i (a digital still camera) and primarily used the “nifty fifty” lens, a $100 prime lens beloved by photographers. 

A man who had no qualms about dealing with actors is Anthony Brenneman. He’s part of what I’ve called the AU mafia of filmmakers. Anthony has a soft touch with actors which is evident is his short film Frienemies. It’s a topical story about high school rivalries playing out in the digital age. In future projects, he wants to concentrate on his strengths – directing and working with actors.

Mary Ratliff is one of my favorite local filmmakers. She was a finalist in the DC Shorts Screenwriting Competition (where I’m a judge). Mary is making Good Game, a documentary about an elite video gaming team preparing for a Starcraft tournament. It’s a fascinating look at a subculture most Americans are unaware of – you can make a living playing video games? Key to her endeavor was winning the trust of her subjects. She did so by being a passionate gamer herself.

With a love of soccer, Nick Fitzhugh wanted to make a documentary in South Africa during the World Cup. He looked beyond the bright lights and big stadiums and produced Soccer City. This documentary (originally a series of webisodes) follows five soccer players in one of the country’s largest and most notorious townships. You can see it on ESPN Classic on Nov 5 at 5 PM ET or at the Rosebud Film Festival on Nov 12.

These four stories illustrate that you don’t need millions of dollars or Hollywood connections to make a movie. You just need an interesting story to tell.

A couple of technical notes:

• Everyone except Mary used Final Cut for editing.
• Canon DSLRs (T2i, 7D, 5D) are popular but once you add gear for sound and other tools their price/convenience factor disappears.
• The ease of shooting digital video leads to data management challenges, i.e, how do you collect, store and organize all the footage you shot?

Actors face off in a reading of Mirror Image.

A live screenplay reading offers the writer a chance to hear how their work sounds read aloud. It’s a great way to get feedback on your story. You can learn a lot from an audience – did they laugh at that joke? – as well as discovering whether your cleverly crafted dialogue sounds witty or clunky.

Every year, the DC Shorts Screenwriting Competition performs a live reading of short scripts. We read five short screenplays – the finalists from our competition –  before an audience who votes for the winner. It’s a theater-in-the-round setting, with actors sitting around a table and the audience surrounding them. You’re encouraged to just listen to the words, like a radio play, and imagine the story.

I’ve been a judge for the competition (selecting the finalists) and have directed a couple of the scripts in the past. Here’s how it works:

Casting – Finding the right performers for a screenplay reading is different than casting for a movie or a play. You don’t need a bombastic Shakespearian nor a twinkly-eyed movie star. What an actor looks like isn’t important for a screenplay reading. Instead, you want an actor who can communicate emotion solely with their voice. Casting is the most important decision you will make when directing a reading.

In the DC Shorts Screenwriting Competition, we held an open casting call for actors. Our finalist writers listened to 90-second monologues by the assembled performers, trying to figure out if they would make good fits for the parts in their scripts.

I was filling in for Matthew Ogosi, the writer of the Desdemona, a romantic comedy set in high school. I cast Carrie Daniels, Patricia Mizen, Alexis Graves, Bill Blumenauer and Jonathan Lee Taylor. Why them? I was guided by Matthew’s thumbnail descriptions of the characters in his script. Casting is subjective but the actors I selected all had the light touch necessary for comedy. And, as it turns out, they had excellent chemistry together.

Marked-up copy of Desdemona

Directing - As Kelley Baker once told me, if the director is shouting then he’s failed. That’s certainly not me. I viewed my role as to get out of the way of the actors. It’s up to them to make the words on the page seem like real human emotion. We had two hours of rehearsals. We read the script (it was only a dozen pages), discussed it, and I answered any questions the actors had about how lines should be said, pronunciations, references made in the script. We then put our chairs together in a circle like we would in the reading, and read the script aloud over and over again as the actors grew comfortable with the material.

In a screenplay, there’s a lot of description as you paint the scene for the reader. That can be hard to follow when read aloud, so I cut out as much of that description as possible, to keep the focus on the story. I wanted to hear the actors, not me (I was the narrator for the piece).

Staging – Honestly, I didn’t think much about where we would sit around the table until Carrie brought it up. We decided that she, as Desdemona, would sit at the corner of the table with her love interest, Jonathan, and her best friend in the script, Alexis. Her hot rival Patricia faced her across the table. I was between them, as narrator, while Bill the villain sat across from me.

In an interesting bit of staging, the winner of the competition, Mirror Image, had the two actors sitting across from each other, representing a man and his reflection (see photo above).

Performance – Don’t look up! Maybe actors are different but it’s hard not to be nervous when you’re surrounded by a hundred people listening to your every word. In between my bits of narration, I glanced up from the page – wow, that’s a lot of people - and nearly lost my place in the script.

Our reading of Desdemona turned out really well. Everyone laughed and applauded at the end, which was gratifying. We didn’t win but the actors and the audience all had a good time. It’s a cute script that would make an excellent short film.

The DC Shorts Film Festival wraps up this Sunday. Now in its eight year, this celebration of cinema brought 145 films from 23 countries to Washington. As the Blogger-in-Chief for DC Shorts, I’ve seen a lot of short films. Not all, but enough to have my favorites. Here they are:

Little Horses
At the Q&A after the screening, director Levi Abrino said that he was looking to make a movie with the emotional resonance and complexity of a Chekhov short story. He succeeded – this tale of a divorced dad’s struggle to hold on to his son is moving, sad, funny and yet affirming as well. It demonstrates what independent film does so well, by portraying the drama of people who could be your neighbors. Little Horses won a DC Shorts Audience Favorite Award and a Filmmakers’ Favorite Award.

The Man in 813
This is one of several local films in the festival. We also did an interview with director Arlin Godwin on the DC Shorts blog. The Man in 813 is scarcely longer than its trailer, but still manages to tell a funny, creepy story that anyone who has ever lived in an apartment building can relate to – what are my neighbors up to? What’s significant is that the film was shot by one person in his apartment using a Canon T2i, a digital still camera that also shoots video. This short basically cost nothing and yet was screened with films that costs thousands of dollars, a potent demonstration of the advances in technology allow anyone to be a filmmaker.

Interview Date
The script for Interview Date won the DC Shorts Screenplay Competition last year. I read this script as a judge for the contest, then watched it being performed before a live audience. As the winner of the festival, Interview Date received $2000 from DC Shorts to turn their script into a movie. I was delighted when director Mike Lemcke and comedian Grant Lyon returned this year with a finished film. It’s been a fascinating journey to watch, this transition of words on a page to moving images on a screen. This connection between a screenplay competition and a film festival makes DC Shorts unique, turning writers into filmmakers.

The Scarecrow Girl
For me, this was the most beautiful film of the festival. While shooting in rural Brazil, director Cássio Pereira dos Santos took hours of sky shots, because they were so amazingly blue. These shots frame a film about a young girl in rural Brazil who wants to go to school but can’t. It’s a true story, taken from stories told by Cássio’s grandmother.

These four films are a great demonstration of the power of independent film to tell stories that you’re not going to get out of Hollywood. Rather than relying on formulas and catch-phrases, indie film at its best communicates visions that are both original and unique.

Perhaps due to the plentiful amounts of bacon, the Award Brunch is my favorite part of the DC Shorts Film Festival. Filmmakers, staff and honored guests gather at Clyde’s of Gallery Place for one final event.

Awards are handed out in multiple categories by festival director Jon Gann, who always manages to tear up during the ceremony. Here are this year’s winners:

Audience Favorites

• Duel at Blood Creek
• Two’s a Crowd
• Sudden Death
• Little Horses
• A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me
• A Menina Espantalho
  

Audience Special Recognition

• Bye Bye Now
• Miyuki’s Wind Bell
• Interview Date (winner of the DC Shorts 2010 Screenplay Competition)
• Wanting Alex
• Cataplexy

Outstanding Local Film (presented by KvM Rentals)

• The Man in 813 (see our interview with director Arlin Godwin)

Outstanding Cinematography (presented by FujiFilm)

• Sukkertoppen

Outstanding Use of Food (presented by Whole Foods)

• UnderCover

Outstanding 1st Time Director

• Christophe Nassif, “What to Bring to America”

Festival Director’s Choice

• Simpatia do Limão

Filmmaker’s Choice

• Little Horses

You can still see all the great films of the festival as DC Shorts runs until September 18. Check the schedule for screening times, including FREE lunch shows and special pink and sexy shorts programs. And don’t miss the Closing Bash on Saturday, September 17 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

Staged reading of Interview Date, with writer/producer Grant Lyon on right.

Last year, I was a judge for the DC Shorts Screenplay Competition. I had the chance to see a staged reading of the screenplay Interview Date, one of six finalists that we selected. The audience voted Interview Date as the overall winner of the competition so the writers of this clever comedy received $2000 to turn their story into a short film

And now, one year later, Interview Date will be playing on the big screen at DC Shorts. Can’t wait to see it – stories like this are what make DC Shorts such a special experience.

The DC Shorts Film Festival has returned! It’s my favorite time of year, when filmmakers from around the world come to Washington to share their cinematic visions.

This year, the festival features 145 films from 23 nations. The short films are organized into different screenings and shown at E Street Cinema, the Artisphere, the Atlas Performing Arts Center and the US Navy Memorial. The festival runs from September 8-18.

I’ve been a part of the festival for more than five years, as a judge, screenplay competition manager, photographer, volunteer wrangler and, this year, as a blogger-in-chief. What I like most about DC Shorts is that it’s a festival for filmmakers. They’re front and center, with the opportunity to receive recognition for their work. Lots of small touches make them feel welcome, like vouchers for food and a special filmmakers-only party.

This is not Hollywood. The films in the festival come from people doing it themselves. They’re not trying to win the attention of some fickle producer; instead, they go out and film the story they want to tell. This year’s DC Shorts features a slew of local films, including a film that cost only $500 to make. This is not atypical – you can do a lot with a camera and volunteer labor.

As someone who has written screenplays and self-published a novel, I identify with this DIY philosophy. It’s what makes our age so wonderful, that advances in technology allow anyone to communicate their vision with the world.

Why do they make movies in LA? Well, they always have.

But, with cheap cameras and Internet distribution, that doesn’t need to be the case anymore. The upcoming DC Shorts Film Festival features several films that were made in Washington. In an article for the Pink Line Project, I argue that these local films are just the harbinger of things to come. I believe that moviemaking will escape from LA and that interesting films will be made everywhere.

I’m the Chief Blogger for the DC Shorts Film Festival, responsible for developing an editorial strategy, training contributors, editing blog posts and writing posts of my own.

For the DC Shorts blog, I wrote a short article on local filmmakers in the festival. It’s a subject I’ve been interested in for a long time. The revolution in technology (cheaper cameras and internet distribution) allow anyone to make a movie these days. There’s no reason that filmmaking has to only occur in Hollywood anymore.