The overwhelming majority of wireless users continue to view the phone simply as a platform for voice conversations. For a handful of aspiring filmmakers, though, it’s a potential ticket to Hollywood.
Entertainment industry executives and wireless types gathered last week at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills at the Third Screen Film Festival, described as the first such event for films made specifically for mobile phones. Todd Spence’s “The Lost” beat out the nearly 1,000 submitted short films garnering the festival’s top prize of a $10,000 filmmaker grant. Spence’s clip will also air on Sprint Nextel Corp.’s GoTV Super Channel.
Other festival winners included Matt Paige’s “Pumpkin,” which snared the $3,000 Jury Prize as the clip receiving the most text-message votes from the festival’s 200 attendees, and Tim Saccardo’s “Slideshow,” which was presented with the Mobile Award.
The competition solicited video clips-animated shorts, comedy skits, even mini-dramas-designed to be viewed on mobile phones. The event wasn’t just a way for college kids and dilettantes to express their creativity, insisted Jon Katzman, director of the Columbia College Chicago’s Semester in L.A. program, but a chance for a staggering industry to explore a new-potentially lucrative-platform.
“If you look at cell-phone companies, they’re about the same (in number and size) as the networks and studios,” said Katzman. “But instead of losing audience share, they’re growing at 30 to 50 percent of revenues every year.”
Indeed, the festival drew some impressive names: judges included David Gale, executive vice president of new media and specialty film content at MTV Networks; Suzanne Zizzi of John Woo’s Lion Rock Productions and Ron Taylor of Fox Diversity Development, among others. Student winners’ work will air on MTV’s 24-hour college network, which is broadcast to nearly 7 million students nationwide.
But for the would-be Scorseses, the competition is as much about drawing the attention of the entertainment industry as it is about getting attention from peers.
“A lot of these students have a lot of great ideas,” said Katzman. “But it’s difficult for them to get their material out to the Hollywood community.”
