48 Hour Film Project!
Tonight begins another 48 Hour Film Project! I’ll be working with Bill Coughlan of Tohubohu Productions again. (You may know Mr. Coughlan’s esteemed wife, Pam, a.k.a. Mother Reader.)
So here’s how it goes: Bill will show up at the official launch site tonight, and reach into a series of bins to pull out our surprise required elements for the film. Those elements include genre (could be musical, western, detective, noir, etc.); prop we have to use (rubber ducky, bracelet, i.d. card, etc.); line of dialogue (last year’s: “We’re hoping things will change”); and character to include (last year’s: coach Ivan something something).
Then Bill calls me, and we brainstorm (usually with Pam on the line or shouting in the background). Then I write like the wind. Write, write, write. I kick out a first draft of an 8-minute film, and Bill and Pam decide what they like and don’t like. Then I do another draft or two, and by about midnight their time we have a finished script.
Then tomorrow, Saturday, Bill and the cast and crew will begin filming. Film, film, film. Try to finish all the photography by Saturday night. Then Sunday is for editing, adding a musical score, adding beginning and ending credits, etc. Then Bill will drive like the wind to go turn in the film by the deadline, which I think is around 5:00 Sunday evening.
Whew! Fun and fast and crazy.
Here’s last year’s entry, which ended up winning the Audience Award. Woot! (And by the way, these hilarious actors ended up doing quite a bit of ad-libbing, so I can’t take credit for all their wittiness. But I certainly enjoy it!)
And as a special bonus feature, here’s the film we completed last fall for an International 48 Hour Film Project, where the only required element was that we all make up a story about the end of the world. Yow.
Enjoy!
So excited about the event! Not going to get any sleep this weekend, but hey, we’ll get a movie out of it!
So glad to have you on the team again this year!
Go team, GO!
So, uh… What happened?
We drew “horror” as our genre–which, in case you can’t tell from my books, is so NOT my thing. But a challenge is a challenge. Although I did experience writer’s block for the first time in my life. Ugh.
The film will be shown tonight at a theater in D.C., and then at some point in the near feature I’ll be available to post it online. I haven’t even seen it yet myself–very curious how it all turned out! I have total confidence in the director, Bill Coughlan, and in the talented cast. If anyone could elevate my attempt to write horror, they certainly could.
So I’ll keep you posted! Thanks for asking!