By Dave DeBord
Writers often create great scripts that never go beyond the written word. Shooting Scripts, a joint effort of the Iowa Scriptwriters Alliance and the Iowa Motion Picture Association, created a way for three scripts to come to life on the screen. Conceived with an eye toward both organizations working together, Shooting Scripts grew from a small idea to film a scene or two written by a couple ISA members to a two-day, full-studio, well-produced, well-acted, technically superb effort that put three five-minute scripts on tape in a workshop format with seventy people present.
Late last year, a joint committee of ISA and IMPA members—Dan Nannen, Steve Schott, Bill Coleman, Max Collins, James Serpento, and Dave DeBord—took the small idea and through a number of meetings, emails and phone calls created The Iowa Five-Minute Movie Project.
ISA members submitted five-minute scripts, an independent panel of judges narrowed the scripts (in a blind judging process) to six finalists and then three directors, chosen out of a hat by IMPA and the Iowa Film Office, each selected a script from among the final six. A full day of auditioning actors for the three scripts took place in November. The joint committee and directors then found a producer, director of photography, editor, sound person, and other crew members for each production.
On Saturday, December 28, seventy people arrived at Applied Art & Technology (thanks to George Christ, Marty Jorgensen, and Chris Heckle) in Urbandale. A three-wall set, constructed on one side of the studio provided the backdrop for each of the three productions. Audience members sat near the set watching everyone involved with the production. Each director (Rick Amundson, Max Collins, and Randy West) ran his show and provided commentary for the audience. When the directors were busy filming, Steve Schott added comments and answered questions from the audience.
The first movie, “Power of Love” by Steve Hakeman, was directed by Rick Amundson. (Storyline: The year is 1859. A man, feeling unloved and unappreciated contemplates suicide. But will a tender word at the wrong moment change the course of history?) Rick and his crew created a set that had a dark, moody look. Low lighting and somber acting created a tense scene of a provocative moment—an appropriate interpretation of the tenor of the script.
The second movie, “Three Women” was written and directed by Max Collins. (Storyline: Detective Frank Lausen has a murder to solve; but he has no shortage of suspects or confessions.) Max provided a different perspective since he was interpreting his own script. His script was physically longer (9 pages) because he included several “director comments” in the body of the script. His simple set, an interrogation room table with a couple of minor props, focused the scene on the emotions and faces of the four actors.
Randy West, from Fairfield, directed the third movie, “Meeting Dinah” by Joanna Louise Johnson. (Storyline: Christian’s departure date for active duty in Iraq has been moved up. This is his last chance to meet 15-year-old Dinah, and tell her that he loves her.) Randy, who has extensive television credits, comes from a theater background and brought that perspective to this production. He solved a production problem (with help from producer Pat Boddy) of filming the main body of the script, part of which takes place in a janitor’s closet, by staging the actions in a set corner that looked to the camera like it was a small space. That provided room for the filming equipment and kept the action visible to the audience. That same corner later became part of a school corridor in the second scene of the film showing the versatility necessary in low-budget filmmaking.
Everyone left that evening, after a twelve-hour day, tired but thrilled at seeing the three scripts come to life. But it was not over.
In January, the second half of the workshop took place in the same studio space. The set was gone and the space had been transformed into a large editing suite. There was room for workshop observers to sit near the director and editor. Equipment projected a large image from the editing console onto an adjacent wall, making the editing process clearly visible to everyone in the space. Again, the director, along with the editor, provided comments throughout the process. Directors showed alternative editing possibilities, sometimes even asking the audience for their preferences.
Each of the three films will undergo further minor editing. Music, credits and other refinements will be added. Each workshop participant will receive a tape of the three films and a public showing also is planned in the near future.
Comments received after the workshops were dramatically positive. People enjoyed “seeing the process, learning the lingo” and “being able to ask questions.” People appreciated seeing “the variety of style of scripts” and seeing how “the director works with the actors and other crew members.”
There were suggestions for changes (from the ISA/IMPA committee, the ISA Board, workshop participants, and others) for similar workshops in the future. Some wanted more “hands-on activities” and to “make it more interactive—show us the equipment, let us handle it.” Another approach might be “doing the same project by different directors—to see how each differently interprets the same scene” or “perhaps cut it back to one or two scripts and show more complex setups/scene changes.” And others suggested better documentation of rules and procedures to avoid possible misinterpretations.
Shooting Scripts, The Iowa Five-Minute Movie Project, sponsored by the Iowa Motion Picture Association and the Iowa Scriptwriters Alliance, was a tremendous success thanks to the hard work of many, many people and organizations. The Iowa Department of Economic Development, through the Iowa Film Office, provided monetary support.
The workshop was “fun… interesting… informative… and a great networking tool.” One participant summed up the workshop by writing “This is probably the best workshop I’ve attended.” Hope you were there.