Hollywood or bust: Submit your film to the 100 Words Film Festival
Love film? You won’t want to miss the second annual 100 Words Film Festival in Charlotte Nov. 6-7. If you think you’re the next Tarantino, start now and submit your own masterpiece: Early bird deadline is June 1.
The concept is simple: Each short film can be any length and on any topic, but it must contain exactly 100 spoken words. Students, amateurs and professionals are welcome to submit. We chatted with the festival’s founder, Scott Galloway of Susie Films:
Q. What’s different about this year’s event?
It’s a full weekend, Friday and Saturday night. We are bringing in filmmakers and actors and actresses from around the country to do workshops on Saturday. It’s going to be a great weekend for Charlotte and for film.
Q. Talk a little bit about storytelling and why the 100 Words format drives great stories.
Technology has allowed a lot of young people and new filmmakers to make films. Cameras are very inexpensive. Editing software is now inexpensive and intuitive… Consequently filmmakers are becoming technically more and more proficient and skilled in what they do, but at the end of the day it’s still about story.
When I speak at colleges and universities, I’m amazed at how technically advanced they are, but I’m always let down by their inability to tell a story. It’s a craft that’s not taught anymore. … It might seem counterintuitive to have 100 words, but I believe that it celebrates story because with few words you have to know what you want to communicate. That’s the key.
Q. How do you see the Charlotte film scene fitting into the national industry?
I’ve always thought there was a lot of talent in Charlotte. … We’ve always had great cinematographers, editors, musicians, composers, graphic designers. They’ve always been here. The challenge has been this past year with (state-provided financial) incentives going away, we have lost a lot of talent. That’s been difficult, period. My hope is that (the festival) is a chance to celebrate those who are here and bring some back maybe.
Q. What’s the best piece of advice you received as a beginning filmmaker?
The one piece of advice, and it’s not overly revelatory, is make films. One of the great things about a short is that they’re financially and creatively achievable. Make them. The more you do it, the better you get at it. You’ll start to intuitively recognize some things and why they work. That discovery process only comes from creating over and over and over again. Once you learn how to master the short form, you can figure out the 100-page, three-act structure.
Q. What was your favorite film from last year’s festival?
Writer’s note: Scott could not pick a favorite. But here are a few that he found particularly poignant. “Hey Jason” won Best in Show of the festival.
“Hey Jason” by Cecil Stokes
“Say No More” by Drew Barnett
“Peer Pressure” by Alan Brooks
And a fun 40-second piece for your Friday enjoyment:
“Lisa’s Advice #1” by Anna Christopher and Regina Taufen
Want to hear more from Scott? He’ll be speaking this Tuesday at Halton Theater as part of CPCC’s Digital Film People event. 7:30 p.m. Free. Get more info here.
Photos courtesy 100 Words Film Festival
This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Hollywood or bust: Submit your film to the 100 Words Film Festival."