Okay, like I said, this is blatant self promotion. I've been crazy busy these last few months, but one of the craziest days was this Saturday when I became a mov-i stah as part of the 48 Hour Film Project.
Some of you guys may have heard of the 48 Hour Film Project, but for those uninitiated, here's the Cliffs Notes: The 48HFP is an international competition that takes place every few weekends in a different city. Teams of filmmakers sign up in each city to create a short film in 48 hours. Each team randomly draws a different genre of film, and every team in the city must include the same prop, line of dialogue, and character. With me so far? At the end of the weekend all the films are screened and prizes are given in various categories. At the end of the year all the city winners are screened again, released on DVD, and given further prizes. (48HFP website.)
So, as you've guessed ('cause most of you aren't total drooling morons) I was lucky enough to get cast in one of this year's DC films. Some teams predetermine a group of actors they want to work with, but some (most?) put a group of actors on standby and wait until they've written a script before final casting. I was on standby for a bunch of different teams, but had no idea if I'd be working or not. I was up until the wee hours on Friday waiting to hear, and by early (and man was it early) Saturday morning I was on set in Logan Circle, a proud member of Team Soul Story. Thirteen hours later I crawled home after having finished filming a movie that didn't even exist on paper 24 hours earlier.
Our team's film is entitled Tina's Heart (awwwwww!) and is a touching (we hope) coming of age picture (our genre). The required prop this year was a fire extinguisher (try using that if your genre is Western Musical), the line of dialogue was "This is absolutely the last time," and the character was "Tim or Tina Tate, a gay glass sculptor extraordinaire" (yup, that was me--not one word about type casting). I think the writers did a pretty good job with those parameters, and I know the cast, crew, and director were amazing to work with. Most of the films in the competition end up being comedies regardless of genre, so we're a little different. (Last year's ultimate winner: Mimes of the Prairie, a musical western from a team in Des Moines.) The DC teams were composed of everyone from high school students to indie filmmakers to pros from National Geographic Television and the Discovery Channel. Our team was a rag-tag group of indie start ups, and we rocked.
So here's where you come in: there were 100 DC teams, 78 of whom finished their films on time for award eligibility. We want an award, dammit. The films are being screened all this week at AFI Silver in downtown Silver Spring. We're talking BIG screen. So come help me answer the question every actor asks when seeing themselves on the silver screen for the first time: Is my nose really THAT big? Oh yeah, and vote for us for the audience award! We may not have the best film, but we DO have the most friends. There are other awards given by a panel of judges, but short of bribery (though I did just get my tax refund...) we have no way of influencing those. I'd also love to catch up with those of you I've met, and meet some of you for the first time. You keep holding those damn mixers on days I'm Mom-sitting.
The particulars: our film is being screened at 7pm Friday, May 12, at AFI Silver theatre in downtown Silver Spring (8633 Colesville Road, directions here). There are eight screenings total due to the large number of films, so be sure to get tickets for Group G, FRIDAY @ 7PM. I've been told (repeatedly) that the screenings will sell out, but you can buy tickets in advance (no service charge) from the AFI website here.
It should be a fun time, or at least an amusing curiosity. Hope to see some of you there!
Poop,
Ellie
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