Here's the Link to the Variety Article:
You'll need to sign up for a free 2 week subscription if you don't have an account. Or you can just read the full article below.
" Stopwatch
prod'n"
Groups race against the clock to create insta-films
By ZACHARY PINCUS-ROTH
NEW YORK -- There's no time for development hell at Raw Impressions.
The recently concluded bicoastal fest premiered seven short films that
started production 16 days earlier. Seven teams, each consisting of
a writer, a composer, a director, actors and other staff -- many of
whom had never worked together before -- were given two locations and
a theme ("without thinking") and told to make a 10-minute
musical film. The frantic productions culminated May 23 with preems
in Gotham and L.A.
The ambitious fest, which cost less than $20,000, is just the latest
time-limited film fest organized by Raw Impressions, which has also
whipped together similar events for the stage since its founding in
2001. It is one of a growing number of orgs specializing in such under-the-gun
style productions that can create not only an adrenaline rush, but
also a networking opportunity for participants.
Org with perhaps the most star power is The 24 Hour Company, whose
24 Hour Plays events -- plays written, rehearsed, and, yes, memorized
in a day -- have featured the likes of Brooke Shields, Christina RicciChristina
Ricci and Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei. Founded in 1995, org does several
events a year, including a big Broadway benefit for arts education
charity Working Playground, and has licensed the name to several dozen
spin-offs.
Founder Tina Fallon sees her events as a "jolt to people's systems," noting "a
lot of times people get stuck in safe working patterns." Raw Impressions
co-founder David Rodwin, meanwhile, says such fests offset theater's "culture
of development workshop hell where you never see your work fully done."
As for auds, they're "in on the process, they know what you've
been through," says Fallon, so they get to enjoy "the thrill
of something going wrong." When Amanda PeetAmanda Peet forgot
her lines in last year's Broadway event, there was laughter instead
of awkward silence.
Another play-in-a-day event is Fast & Loose, which began in 1998
and is put on by the Sacred Fools company in Los Angeles. Org called
theAtrainplays recruits scribes and songwriters to write plays and
musicals while taking GothamGotham's A train its entire length and
back again. Instant Films, based at L.A. Center Studios, and the 48
Hour Film Project, which does events in many cities worldwide, create
films in two days. There are also time-limited events for comic books,
videogames, and even novels.
The fast-moving fests are expanding their missions to push for even
more time constraint activities. The 24 Hour Company is holding a Starbucks-sponsored
event for British students at the Old Vic this summer, and are planning
to partner with Working Playground to bring The 24 Hour Plays to New
York City public school students.
And Instant Films co-founder Peter Lebow says his org might even go
for broke and try doing a feature in 48 hours.
Date in print: Mon., Jun. 6, 2005
© 2005 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc