Movies are often targeted at teenagers - they have the free time and expendable income to see a lot of movies. But how often does a teenager get to see their idea for a movie actually come into production?
Every year, actually. Through a program called Collaborative Cinema, a branch of Milwaukee Film, high school students around Milwaukee have a an opportunity to work with prominent professionals in the film industry here. Every year, one student’s screenplay is chosen as the project that gets produced.
The high school students work with the professionals and their college assistants through every process of making a film. They hold workshops on everything from screenwriting and developing ideas to shooting and producing the final product.
I spoke with last year’s winner of the screenwriting contest, Alexis Daubner from Franklin High School about going through the workshops, developing her script and what it was like when she found out her idea was going to be made into a professional short film. Check out the final product - Spare Change below.
Spare Change from Milwaukee Film on Vimeo.