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ABOUT
THE ACTION/CUT COMPETITION
Film
Festival Today's Interview With Guy Magar
FFT:
What made Action/Cut Filmmaking Seminars decide to do
a short
film competition?
Magar:
The Action/Cut Short Film Competition was launched in 2004
due to the
many requests from filmmakers and graduates from our
Action/Cut Seminars.
They kept asking what to do with their short films as there are few fests/competitions
devoted to short films, and most of those do not have substantial
prize packages to help
the winning filmmakers move forward
with their careers...which should be the whole point
of winning awards and prizes at fests.
We started the
Action/Cut Filmmaking Seminars five years ago, and it grew
to become the most
acclaimed 2-day seminar on filmmaking in the industry...we
have given over 60 events in over
15 major film
cities and internationally from Canada to Malaysia.
Since we
are an educational service for filmmakers and screenwriters, we decided to change the
short film contest landscape and create the most important and career-changing competition in the world.
We
stress the importance of making shorts at the
seminars, especially with the recent availability
of digital
cameras and home editing systems, and the
importance of getting recognition/awards/prizes
at film festivals
and contests to launch film careers.
Since Action/Cut is an
industry-driven company, it became a natural extension to
launch this annual
competition to not only
discover the next great filmmakers from around the world,
but to open Hollywood
career access doors for the winners and truly enable them to move forward which is what
every filmmaker
hopes for when they win a
competition...but no others do what we do or can provide film
industry access,
and over 125 cash and industry awards valued at $50,000...plus promote the films by streaming them
online for the world to see!
FFT:
You've been doing one of the top filmmaking seminars for years
now,
what have you learned
from doing it?
Magar: As challenging as it is to do 12 seminar events per
year across the country and juggle those
events with my own
directing work schedule and writing assignments, it has been a
personal joy to meet
so many filmmakers and screenwriters all over
the USA and Canada. What I learned confirmed the reason
I started
the Action/Cut Seminars...which was to provide in 2-days,
intensive filmmaking knowledge at a
pro industry level.
After I
graduated from 2 top film schools, when I started my professional
career, I realized
what I was missing and desperately wish I had
but is not available in film academia institutions...and that is
to spend just 2-days with an industry director/writer willing to
open his/her intimate work process and share
actual scenes'
progression step-by-step and shot-by-shot...allowing participants
to read the actual scenes,
discuss how to shoot them within a
tight schedule, work out a shooting plan, and then executing it by
seeing
the actual dailies of those scenes and then seeing the
finished work.
This is what I was never taught because it can only
happen with a working director/writer with
accessibility to these
learning tools which is what Action/Cut is all about...from page
to film. I learned that everyone who takes Action/Cut greatly
appreciates this pro workshop and leaves with a new methodology
about how to translate any scene to the screen with the best
possible approach. Screenwriters race home
to rewrite their work
after they learn how to write "visually". We have
received thousands of thank you
letters and testimonials, of which
many are on our site, for the unique filmmaking knowledge they
learned
at the seminar. That has been the most gratifying as I
know how difficult it is to get started and pierce
through the
closed doors of the industry.
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FFT:
What makes your competition different from the rest?
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Magar:
First, we are not a festival. There are hundreds of those and
we didn't need one more. So we decided to make it a unique, industry-driven
competition...there is no other that we know of anywhere. Our
judging panels are all working filmmakers, screenwriters, agents,
executives, etc...in Hollywood as we wanted a competition that
would be strictly based not on hype or public screenings but on
truly discovering the next generation of great filmmakers and
rewarding them with more prizes than any other festival or contest
including networking career access meetings. Then, since we do not have public
screenings, we decided to promote the winning filmmakers by streaming
their work on the internet for all to see. The exposure we
provide our winning films is like no other in the world. Only an industry-oriented
competition could do this for filmmakers and this is why it is
so unique and different from any others.
FFT:
Have any of your students made a short film based on the knowledge
gained at your Action/Cut Seminars?
Magar:
Many have, and not only shorts, but feature-length films. The
2004 Action/Cut Best Fiction Winner is an A/C Graduate and so was
one of the 2004 Semi-Finalists. We have
heard from many graduates thanking us for setting this competition
up and many are planning to enter it with their shorts which they
made since taking the seminar. At our very first seminar, a participant expressed how intimidated he was about
directing and wished he could understand the process as he had
a burning idea to make his first feature. Well, within a few short
months after experiencing Action/Cut, he directed his dream feature
project. His feature went on to win more than 20 awards around
the world! He sent us a thank you which we list on our home web
page with a list of most of his awards as it was too long to list
them all!
FFT:
You are offering some unique prizes, how did you come up with
them?
Magar:
We wanted to do something different and special for the winners:
the one Grand Prize Winner and five First Place/Best Winners in each
of the five categories. We organized
an overwhelming amount of prizes because we felt that if industry
judges chose them as most deserving then we wished to do all we
could to shower them with career-changing awards. We came up with
a combination of prizes which include Cash Prizes from Action/Cut,
numerous Networking Career Access Meetings Prizes comprising of actual meetings/conferences
with Hollywood players, and Sponsor Prizes from industry companies
designed to empower these filmmakers to further develop their
careers...over 125 prizes valued at $50,000!
The list is long but includes for example meetings with
industry directors, writers, agents, award-winning designers and
cinematographers, distribution deal offers, producers' reps, exposure
at certain festivals and streaming on our website to promote the
winning films, filmmaking software products, and industry press
releases that will make available private screenings of these
winners to Hollywood folks. Our Call For Entries begins every
year on January
15th and deadlines on May 15th and entry forms are available on
our website. We look forward to a great annual competition in providing
this unique short film contest to worldwide filmmakers.
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