UCLA students pitch their films to pros at Producers Marketplace competition
Event will also honor veteran producer Steve Golin with 2008 Vision Award
Four graduate students in the prestigious Producers Program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television will present their film ideas to a distinguished panel of judges during the highly anticipated annual Producers Marketplace event on Wednesday, June 11, at 7:30 p.m. on the UCLA campus. The finalists' projects were vetted by industry professionals throughout the academic year.
During the event, Bruce Cohen, vice president of motion pictures for the Producers Guild of America, will present the School of Theater, Film and Television and PGA Vision Award to veteran producer Steve Golin. Golin is founder and chief executive officer of Anonymous Content, a development, production and management company. The award is given to producers whose careers are distinguished by the highest standards and whose body of work exemplifies quality, persistence and integrity.
Producers Marketplace is one of the best examples of the school's commitment to helping its graduates make the transition to the highly competitive professional realm. During the competition, the finalists will get a taste of the high-pressure challenges professional producers face, as they take the stage to deliver five-minute concept pitches before a panel of motion-picture industry judges. They will then field a battery of questions about how they plan to get their projects made.
The winning student will receive the UCLA Producers Program Marketplace Award, which is supported by a generous donation from producer and distinguished alumnus Dan Angel.
The 2008 Producers Marketplace student finalists and their projects are:
Giacun Caduff: "As Simple As Snow"In this murder mystery, a teenage loner absorbs himself in solving a complex puzzle in order to find his vanished girlfriend.Andrea Johnston: "Ernest and the Radio"When a burned-out community college professor discovers a radio that can tune in to people's private conversations, he finds inspiration and begins to turn his life around in this dark comedy. But when his interest in the radio turns to obsession, a series of events unfold which force him to choose between the radio and life as he knows it.May Lugemwa: "Trinity"Inspired by true events, this biopic drama tells the story of genius scientist Robert Oppenheimer, who, seduced by power and the lure of fame, took charge of the top secret Manhattan Project to help the Allies win World War II but soon discovered that his brilliant creation — the atomic bomb — was actually humanity's worst nightmare.Sebastian Mathews: "Black Flag"This historical drama tells a classic tale of seduction and deceit in which a brilliant young ship designer changes the course of history when he sacrifices his dream to take down the infamous pirate Blackbeard.
Producers Marketplace 2008 will take place at Freud Playhouse in UCLA's Macgowan Hall. Admission is free, but space is limited and reservations are required. For more information and to R.S.V.P., visit www.tft.ucla.edu/festival2008.
Over the past 20 years, Steve Golin has developed a reputation for cultivating artistic freedom while maintaining commercial viability, working in the diverse media of feature films, television, commercials, music videos and new media. He has amassed nearly 40 film and television projects distinguished by an original and often quirky sensibility.
Golin's credits include "Babel," directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu; "Rendition" directed by Anonymous Content client Gavin Hood; "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (Michel Gondry); "Being John Malkovich" (Spike Jonze); "Nurse Betty" (Neil LaBute); "The Game" (David Fincher); "Red Rock West" (John Dahl) and "Wild At Heart" (David Lynch), which won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990. He is currently in production in London on "44 Inch Chest," directed by top Anonymous Content commercials director Malcolm Venville from a screenplay by Louis Mellis and David Scinto ("Sexy Beast").