Another Year, Another 48 Hours

This weekend is the latest round of the 48 Hour Film Project in Boston, and this time I'm on yet another team.  With the good people at Malarkey Films busy doing preproduction on The Ex Factor, I was left without a team.  So, I put a listing up at the volunteer for a team page on the 48 Hour Film site, thinking that it probably wouldn't pan out.  However, I soon got an email from a guy putting together a new team.  Unlike other teams I've been on, the guy heading this team is a 48 Hour rookie but has assembled what seems to be a good group of people, many with experience and others with a lot of enthusiasm.  In a little over a week the film we made will be screened at the Kendall Theatre.

With another team comes another creative process, which is always interesting.  I'm seen as someone with a good idea on the writing portion of the process, and I've described the process that I like with anyone who wants in on the writing to start writing at the beginning of the 48 hour period.  After a few hours, everyone who has something written shares with the group, and the director chooses one of the ideas to develop.  As much as you might have ideas before the 48 hour period, things can change when you're on the clock and you are given required elements that just don't fit your preconceptions. It's to the point where I think it's a good idea not to brainstorm ahead of time, as I think you don't want to get attached to an idea only to have it contradict the required elements.


As you might expect, everyone wants to be a part of the creative process.  It's part of the fun of the 48 Hour Film Project.  But I've yet to encounter a process in which everyone's input is given equal weight that isn't a complete clusterfuck.  At some point someone has to move the ball forward and give something the greenlight.

So, in anticipation of this weekend's festivities, here are two short screenplays written for the 48 Hour Film Project but weren't used.  The first was one written for the 2008 Providence 48HFP where the required character was Monte or Mary Cheney, hairstylist.  The prop was a pear, and the line of dialogue was "If you see him again, let me know." The genre was "Road Movie". The Five Blades

I wrote this in the wee hours of the morning after the decision was made to shoot another script.  I just wanted to put onto paper what I would have done if I had complete control, a loony riff on a Chinese kung fu movie with an old master reuniting a clan.

The next script was a script I wrote during a practice session for the 2010 National Film Challenge.  We gave ourselves the criteria of the Sci Fi genre, Simon Carhartt, farmer as the character, the prop of a mailed package, and the line "I wish I had a bigger box". Back to the Prom

If we were to shoot it, there are probably adjustments that would need to be made, but it's a fun framework that does sci-fi with a minimum of effects.  Undergoing the writing process ahead of time really helped us trust the system when it came time to writing and producing Motivations Unlimited.