Filmmaking Mentorship Contest

Are you a beginning SCREENWRITER and/or FILMMAKER with a passion for storytelling, but perhaps lack some knowledge, skills, or confidence to get your story to the screen? Well, then… HEREYAGO! 

A note from Mark: In appreciation for what the local independent film community—and, in particular, the Film and Media Alliance of Southern Utah (FMASU)—has done for me, I’d like to give back something to our local film community—a one-on-one mentorship for a promising filmmaker. Adam Mast and John Pugh, of FMASU, have graciously agreed to place this effort under the FMASU banner. 

What we’re looking for: 

⁃ a passionate, focused, teachable person eager to make a 5-10 minute short film worthy of festival consideration; 

⁃ an engaging, contained story (not just an account of an incident or event); ⁃ PG-13 or G rating; ⁃ No-/micro-budget (The mentorship is not bringing money to the table, so either that’s on you or you, with Mark’s guidance, have to raise any money needed). 

In order to keep the budget and scheduling challenges to a minimum, that means: 

⁃ 5-10 page screenplay ⁃ 1-3 characters 

⁃ 1-2 locations 

⁃ Minimal, simple special FX (if any) 

What Mark will provide: 

⁃ polish or edit (script doctor) your screenplay, or cowrite your story (depending on what you need); 

⁃ MENTOR YOU in the necessary preproduction tasks (including permits, releases, etc); 

⁃ FILM (Sony FS5M2 in 1080p or 4K), DIRECT, and/or 1AD during production (and MENTOR YOU in one of those roles); 

⁃ MENTOR YOU in all post-production tasks in either Final Cut Pro X/Logic Pro or Adobe CC (Premier Pro/Audition/etc); 

⁃ HELP YOU get your film screened/released; 

⁃ Get the film listed on IMDb. 

In other words, we’re offering a start-to-finish mentorship on filmmaking to a promising storyteller/filmmaker. (If you’re wondering about Mark’s qualifications—which you really should—you can check him out at https://imdb.me/markbracich. He’ll also provide a resume to anyone that asks.) 

Oh, did we mention this is a contest? 

To enter, you must submit the following to mark@markbracich.com, BY Friday, 31 JAN 2020: 

⁃ An original 5-10 page screenplay OR 3-page (max) outline/treatment for a 5-10 minute story, AND… 

⁃ a one-page (max) summary of what you hope to learn and accomplish through this mentorship. 

We’re only giving you TWO WEEKS to enter, because we want you to submit a story or script that you’ve already put lots of thought and effort into. 

There is NO FEE to enter. In fact, there is no cost at all, except for what YOU may decide to invest in or raise for your film. Keep in mind, however, as you craft your story, that there is no funding being made available through this mentorship. 

Adam Mast, John Pugh, and I will evaluate the submissions and narrow it down to three finalists by 7 Feb 2020. 

During the following week, we’ll interview the three finalists and give each a chance to pitch their project. Info on that process will be provided to the three finalists. If there are no submissions that we feel can meet all the deadlines, the contest/mentorship will be rescheduled for another time. 

The winner will be announced by 14 February 2020, and we’ll start working ASAP. We’ll have an aggressive schedule in order to meet the 2 May 2020 final deadline for submission to the Desertscape International Film Festival (17-20 June 2020), where, if the film meets the necessary standard of quality, we may get a special screening.

_______________________________________________ 

KEY DATES: 

31 January 2020 – Submissions due to me 

7 February – Three finalists announced; interviews/pitches follow that week 

14 February – Winner announced 

28 February – Script complete; preproduction and casting in progress 

15 March – Principle Photography completed (actual dates TBD; should take 2-3 days) 

19 March – Rough cut completed 

21 March – 21 April – Fine edit, Sound design, Music, Graphics, etc [This will be accomplished remotely online, since I will be on the east coast. Not to worry—there are plenty of online tools to enable us to do this very easily. Welcome to 21st century filmmaking!] 

22 April – 1 May – Fine Tuning 

2 May 2020 – final deadline for submission to Desertscape International Film Festival (17-20 June 2020) _______________________________________________ 

NOTE to more experienced CREW folks: This is an excellent opportunity for you to have a positive impact on our growing filmmaker community. If you’d like to contribute your knowledge or skills as part of this mentorship, please send me a note (mark@markbracich.com). While the primary focus will be on mentoring the “winner,” we can provide the capacity to bring some fledgling crew along during production for you to mentor in your specialty. There is NO PAY, but all contributions will be appropriately credited in the film and on IMDb.