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| Winner Scott Masterson holds his winnings, a $15,000 check for being selected
the winner of the First Howard Stern Film Festival. Scott stands next to Radio Host Howard Stern, and two runners-up. Photo by Roger
Kisby/Getty Images. |
Scott
Masterson Wins $15,000
Top
Film Festival Prize
Salem
native Scott Masterson won the first ever Howard Stern Film
Festival. That netted Scott the $15,000 first place prize and
oodles of high profile meetings and great opportunities based
on the success of his five-minute film that met the criteria
of featuring “something” about Howard Stern.
RADIO PLAY captured the hearts of the judges and Stern
with its kid versions of Stern and co-hosts Robin Quivers and
Fred Norris encountering one another on ham radio in 1962. The
conversation, awkward at first, picks up when young Howard
launches into bathroom humor. At the end of the film Stern
lies in bed, dreaming of the future, and dons on a pair of his
trademark shades.
Masterson
found out about the contest at the end of February. He sprung
into action, but drew inspiration and fast action from the
fact that the contest deadline was April 11th, that doesn’t
leave much time to concept, create and produce even a short
film! After muddling several ideas Scott believed that he had
to have Howard in the movie in order to get noticed. The
“Stern” version he decided on had to be a kid because an
adult Stern would be almost impossible to do given the time
and budget limitations; that
led to the ham radio idea, and the rest has a very good
result.
When we
talked to Scott Masterson, he was back in Boston working as
the 2nd AD on Dave McLaughlin’s independent film “On
Broadway.” It
began production on May 1st and Scott had signed on, so back
from the high-profiled meetings he came to work the week until
he could be replaced.
Masterson
had a great deal of confidence going into the night of the
Festival. He was after all one of the nine finalists out of
2000 entries and he had heard the Howard Stern Show gang talk
about his film on the air. But when he got there, he suddenly
realized that everyone else, the eight other finalists, also
were confident and that brought him right back down to earth.
How much
difference can this make for Scott Masterson? Since the
ceremony at New York's Hudson Theater, he's been shaking a lot
of hands and collecting business cards. Obviously, great
opportunities abound. In Demand Networks now owns RADIO PLAY,
a given when it was entered if it became a finalist. It
appears now on the subscription-only cable channel Howard TV
on Demand.
Good
going Scott who called in a lot of industry “chits” to
make the film on about $250 used mostly for food and props!
Dave
Lewis’ “Mob Yoga” Wins Pitch Fest at the Palm Beach
International Film Festival!
Dave
Lewis’ pitch of “Mob Yoga” as a feature film
comedy project was one of 2 winners at the Palm Beach
International Film Festival. In the competition Lewis was
given 3 minutes to pitch the idea to 2 Hollywood producers in
front of a crowd of 50 other filmmakers, many of whom
also pitched their projects in the fest.
The event
was very encouraging as both the two producers, other
“pitchers,” and the audience of filmmakers broke into
laughter at the story idea several times.
The first
draft of the script for “Mob Yoga” is nearly complete and
about ready for review and comments. Writer-Director Dave
Lewis plans to get the film into production in 2007.
THE
LEGEND OF LUCY KEYES Wins the IFFB Audience Award
 |
| THE LEGEND OF LUCY KEYES child stars Kathleen Regan, Anna Friedman, Jillian Wheeler, Cassidy Hinkle and writer-director John Stimpson doing a Q & A after a packed screening of 600 people at the Independent Film Festival of Boston.The locally produced independent film won the IFFB Audience Award.
Photo by Mike Ritter, www.ritterbin.com, 2006. |
Moody
Street Picture’s latest thriller, THE LEGEND OF LUCY KEYES
(see IMAGINE February 2005), headlined at the 4th annual
Independent Film Festival of Boston April 19th-24th. The film,
based on a real-life haunting at Wachusett Mountain in
Princeton, MA, screened twice at the Coolidge Corner Theater
and at the Somerville Theater. It was the film’s Northeast
premiere. LUCY KEYES has previously played at festivals in
Santa Barbara, Sedona, Sonoma Valley and Winston-Salem, NC.
One
of the film’s stars, Justin Theroux, of MULHOLLAND DRIVE and
CHARLIE’S ANGELS attended the festival, as did 8-year old
Cassidy Hinkle who plays
Lucy. Julie Delpy, who plays the lead role, was working on a
project in Paris and was not be able to attend.
Many local Boston area actors who are also featured in
the film were at the festival events including Ken Cheeseman,
Rachel Harker, Kathleen Regan, David Ian and Anna Friedman.
Meanwhile
a deal has been inked between Moody Street Pictures and the
Lifetime Movie Network to premiere the HD originated project
throughout North America this summer. And a DVD deal is also
pending.
The
film was shot in Princeton, MA last winter and features an
infamous local legend that provides the historical backdrop to
the feature. The film’s writer/director, John Stimpson lives
in Princeton on part of the property that was farmed by the
Keyes family many years ago.
Devlo
Media Wins Five Telly Awards, Also Nominated in Four
Categories for New England Emmy Awards
Devlo
Media, Rumford, RI, has recently earned national recognition
taking home top honors in five categories at the 27th Annual
Telly Awards. Additionally, Devlo Media has been nominated in
four categories in the upcoming New England Emmy Awards.
These two
awards represent the premiere international-level honor for
local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as
well as the finest video and film productions. The winning
spots can be viewed on-line at www.devlomedia.com John Lavall
and Jessica Jennings of Devlo Media produced the winning entries
for Roger Williams Medical Center, Save the Bay, and the Rhode
Island Department of the Attorney General, respectively,
in the categories of lighting, cinematography,
sound-design and public service campaigns.
The New
England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences, founded in 1955, is the preeminent membership
organization serving the television industry. The New England
NATAS fosters creativity and inspires excellence through the
renowned Emmy Award, the most prestigious honor and most
coveted peer-recognition symbol of distinction in television.
The Telly
Awards annually showcases the best work of the most
respected advertising agencies, production companies,
television stations, cable operators, and corporate video
departments in the world. The Telly Awards is a widely-known
and highly-respected national and international competition
and receives over 10,000 entries annually from all 50
states and many foreign countries. Devlo Media is a film and
video production company that provides services to a wide
range of clients throughout Rhode Island. For more information
visit www.devlomedia.com.
Plymouth
Independent Film Festival Honors Richard Leacock
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Richard Leacock, the godfather of cinema verite, arrives from Paris to lead Masterclasses, workshops, discussions and Q&As at the Plimoth Plantation during the Plymouth Independent Film Festival. This year PIFF '06 will award this living legend the
festival's Honor Award. Photo courtesy of PIFF. |
Plymouth
makes history this summer
when Richard Leacock, the godfather of cinema verite, arrives
from Paris to lead Masterclasses, workshops, discussions and
Q&As at the Plimoth Plantation during the Plymouth
Independent Film Festival. This year PIFF '06 will award this
living legend the festival's Award.
Mr.
Leacock will present the Masterclass: What's in a Sequence?
July 21st from 4-6 p.m., and a panel discussion: Life Cinema:
What's Next?" July 22nd from 4-6 p.m. The masterclasses
will be augmented by film screenings comprised of Leacock's
films as well as those by his colleagues and students - quite
possibly a festival first.
Richard
Leacock's career as a documentary filmmaker began at the age
of 14 when he produced CANARY ISLAND BANANAS, a film he
created after being sent from his father's banana plantation
off the coast of Africa to England to further his education.
He wanted to share his slice of the Garden of Eden with less
fortunate classmates. During the Future Filmmakers
Collaborative Felix Awards Ceremony for student filmmakers,
grades 7-12, July 20th at 4 p.m. at the Plimoth Plantation,
Richard Leacock will once again share the film he made when he
was a young future filmmaker on the brink of a history
making career.
In its
infancy documentary filmmaking turned subjects into actors.
Heavy cameras and bulky editing equipment were problematic
until smaller, lightweight, hand-held cameras came into play.
When filming JAZZ DANCE in '54 at a club on New York's lower
East-side Leacock used hand-held cameras and was "all
over the place having the time of my life, jumping, dancing,
shooting right in the midst of everything. What a fabulous
night."
Richard
Leacock, along with D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and
others, joined Robert Drew, founder of Drew Associates. Drew
was an editor at LIFE Magazine who specialized in
"candid still picture essays." Together this group
formed a "nucleus gang" and their cameras
became unobtrusive third eyes. Subjects forgot they were being
filmed. The results produced award-winning documentaries,
among them PRIMARY, the breaking story of John F. Kennedy's
campaign in Wisconsin. Drew and Maysles will also be in
Plymouth during the festival to join the celebration and
discuss their work following the screenings.
This
just in from Vin Fraioli: Do NOT miss David Freeman’s
seminar, “Beyond Structure.”
 |
| David Freeman. has turned writing into diamonds. Here he gives his Beyond Structure Screenwriting Seminar in New York City. Photo by Vin Fraioli. |
Last
month, I sat through the ten hour a day two day session with
David as he presented the dramatic cogs which turn the
fundamental wheels of dramatic writing. David’s presentation
for me was part stand-up, part ad hoc therapy session, but
always rich in insights and practical applications. Just a
word, though. The seminar does as it the title says. It goes
beyond the basics. So get familiar with the screenplay form
first. And watch the films which will be covered.
Oh, yes.
Bring a pen.
REMEMBERING
JOHN MARSHALL,
 |
| John Marshall filming A KALAHARI FAMILY in southern Africa. Photo courtesy of the DER/Marshall Family Archive. |
a short
film by Alice Apley and David Tamés premiered on April 5th at
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The film screened as part of
the museum's celebration of the 35th Anniversary of
Documentary Educational Resources (DER) and presents a brief
portrait of John Kennedy Marshall (1932-2005) whose
fifty-years of filmmaking began with THE HUNTERS in 1957 and
culminated in 2003 with A KALAHARI FAMILY. (See IMAGINE MARCH
2006)
The film
will be distributed by DER.
For more
information visit www.der.org
|
