News

Emerson Faculty member henry dane wins first prize in the first annual override 60 second film festival

Part-time Emerson faculty member, Henry Dane, won first prize for his entry titled, "Override Overture" in the first annual Override "Make A 60 Second Film, Win $5,000 Contest," which was part of the opening ceremony of the New Hampshire Film Festival.

"By splicing together images from silent films, Dane, in a witty, informative fashion, told the story of how Override can help consumers save on their price of gas," said Override Spokesperson Lars Trodson, in a press release. "Our judges at Override were correct in their choice for the number one film, because this was also the audience favorite."

For the second year in a row, Assistant Professor Jim Macak took 14 Emerson students to the Austin Film Festival’s Screenwriters Conference Oct. 16-19.  The Screenwriters Conference is a four-day event that features panels, workshops and informal gatherings where participants can meet and talk to screenwriters like Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean) and TV Writers like Greg Daniels (The Office).

Emerson students were well represented in this year’s writing contests at the Austin Film Festival.  Junior Ryan Sheppard was a semi-finalist in the TV Comedy Writing competition.  Other students who scored as quarter-finalists included: Amanda Sprecher, Michael McGuire, Rachel Lind and Annie Chuprevich.  Emerson Alum Jim Martin also scored as a semi-finalist in the Comedy Screenplay category.

One of the high points of the Screenwriter’s Conference is the Austin Film Festival's Pitch Competition.  Over 120 contestants pitched their screenplay stories to a panel of judges.  Pitches were limited to 90 seconds.  Six students entered the competition and Senior Maxwell Kessler advanced to the finals and finished fifth.

Junior Nick Bell called the conference “a fantastic and overwhelming experience... The most impressive part of the conference was how easily we could approach writers and directors and have brief informal chats.”

Students at the Austin Film Festival.  First row: Salvatore Valone, Rosina Murphy, Laura Page, Maxwell Kessler.  Second row: Faculty Advisor Jim Macak, Chris Summerfield, Deven Blethen, Gabriella Conti, Ryan Sheppard.  Third Row: Nicholas Bell, William Murphy, Daniel Darcy, Joshua Banta and Eric Eliacin.  Not pictured: Ashley Whiting.

Emerson Student Max Baquiran was one of three winners at the Rhode Island Film Festival's short script competition this summer.  Max's script, "Never Again," received a staged reading at the festival's ScriptBiz Two-Day Workshop on August 5 at the Renaissance Providence Hotel.  The script centers on a retired hit man forced to perform one last job.

In other contest news, recent graduate Charles Andres was one of five finalists in the Acclaim TV spec writing competition for his episode of "The Office."  His script was also a semi-finalist in the Scriptaplooza TV spec competition. Wendy Cohen was a quarter-finalist in the American Gem Short Script contest for her hour-long TV pilot "Southern Gothic."