The NBCUniversal Short Film Festival Finale took place on Wednesday October 22nd, 2014 at the DGA.  Check out the finalist and semifinalist shorts on the festival’s Hulu Channel!

FINALISTS

Crescendo (directed by Alonso Alvarez Barreda)

Paulie (directed by Andrew Nackman, written by David Lee)

Hypebeasts (written & directed by Jess de la Merced)

Seventh Grade (written & directed by Stefanie Saintonge)

Drudge (written & directed by Kheireddine El-Helou)

Bombshell (written & directed by Erin Sanger)

Voicemail (written & directed by Thomas Fraser)

WINNERS

Best Short: Paulie

The team receives a Sound Package consisting of Pro Tools 11, an Apogee MiC, Plantronics BackBeat GO2 Wireless Headphones, plus an Avid Media Composer Editing Software Package.

Best Director: Alonso Alvarez Barreda (Crescendo)

Wins a $60,000 camera package donated by the Panavision New Filmmaker Program; a meeting with the heads of production for Universal Pictures; and a finalist slot in NBC’s Director Fellowship Program.

Best Actor: Montserrat Espadalé (Crescendo)

Receives a one-year talent holding deal with NBC.

Best Writer: David Lee (Paulie)

Receives an iPad with Zagg rugged folio keyboard case and the latest version of Final Draft, plus special consideration for the Universal Pictures Emerging Writers Fellowship or Final Round Placement in NBC Writers On The Verge Program.

Chiller Award: Kheireddine El-Helou (Drudge)

Wins $5k and the position as Lead Creative on an original promo for Chiller Network’s 2015 Killer Shorts Campaign.

What an outstanding year for Film Making!

A total of over 1700 short films were submitted to this years festival and the challenge was boiling it down to 14 semi-finalists.

A representative from each film was flown to New York City for a public screeningteh SVA Theater in Midtown Manhattan.

The evening was hosted by a very familiar face from Extra!, AJ Calloway.
And covering the red carpet was NBC’s Last Comic Standing Star, Zainab Johnson.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TOP 14 Semi Finalists!

TUESDAY AUG 19th – DAY 1

1. Crescendo
Director/Writer: Alonso Alvarez

Cast: Montserrat Espadalé, Frank Arend, Patrick Nuo, Brad Potts, Jennifer Cadena, Anita Beck, Ali Landry

Logline: In the 18th century Holy Roman Empire, a series of events will turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary experience for a woman whose life will never be the same.

2. Hypebeasts

Director/Writer: Jess dela Merced

Cast: Michael Rosete, Jake Choi, Jess dela Merced, Trevon Davis, Jeanette Dilone, Michael Galante, Grizz Chapman, Rich Pecci, Khalid Rivera, Nathaly Lopez, Joshua Rivera, Bryan Fitzgerald, Stephen James Anthony, Fetti D’Biasi

Logline: A boy’s desire to cop the most coveted pair of sneakers is quickly replaced with the fear that he and his sister are in serious danger when racial tensions explode in an overnight sneaker line in NYC.

3. Grief

Director: George Bessudo    Writer: Jesse David Ing

Cast: Kimberly Dollar, Reid Warner, Jaeden Lieberher, Asher Bank

Logline:A young couple coping with the death of their only son, is haunted by a malevolent spirit in their house.

4. Rattlefly

Director: Min Ding Writers: Min Ding & Yen-Chiao Huang

Cast: Maren Lord, Sadie Scott, Deema Aitken, Sheilagh Weymouth, Greg Seel

Logline: Sara, a small-town teenage girl with a dead-end existence who finds short-lived hope when she falls in love with the new pastor’s luminous daughter.

5. Seventh Grade

Director/Writer: Stefani Saintonge

Cast: Maxine Turenne, Mia Guzman, Ashe Davis, Khristen Gordon, Eric Bassant

Logline: Everyone is growing up except Patrice. But when a raunchy rumor threatens her best friend’s reputation, she’s forced to join the party and embrace adolescence.

6. Interstate

Director/Writer: Camille Stochitch

Cast:Benny Nieves, Gina Rodriguez, Max Arciniega, Roberto Montesinos, Laura Patalano, Aldo Ceceña, Darren La Borie

Logline: Joaquin has been teaching illegal immigrants how to drive, until an HSI agent shows up at his door. Will he save or give up those he has been helping?

7. Voicemail

Director/Writer: Thomas Fraser

Cast: Simone Missick, Thomas Fraser

Logline: A man comes home from vacation to find that he has 20 voicemails from the same person.

WEDNESDSAY AUG 20^th – DAY 2

1. The Incident(s) at Paradise Bay

Director: Lorne Hiltser Writer: Nate Crocker

Cast:Bobby Soto, Peter Holden, Daniel Stewart, James Logan, Kevin Flint

Logline: Some kids get detention, some kids starve in a steel cage under the hot sun with no water all day.

2. Hunger

Director: Brian Frager Writer: James Fant

Cast:London Vale, Kristin Coffman, Paula Bellamy-Franklin, Hap Lawrence, Heather Wynters, Charles Anteby, Lowell Dean, Zack Ketz,  Joseph Steven, Michael Banks, Chen Huang, Giles Clarke

Logline: A desperate mother tries to protect her disturbed young daughter on the run, but their dark past threatens to ensnare them.

3. Los Santos

Director/Writer: Coraly Santaliz

Cast:Ricardo Alvarez, Lynnette Salas, José Jorge Medina, Nancy Millán, Eddie Valdés, Filomena Saura, Danny Salinas, Roger Guzmán

Logline: How many Saints are out there?

4. #nightslikethese

Director/Writer: Hannah Macpherson

Cast: Amber Midthunder, Shay Eyre, Kenneth Miller

Logline: When a night’s escapade takes a disturbing turn for two teen girls, we learn just how disconnected and desensitized social media has made them.

5. Bombshell

Director/Writer: Erin Sanger

Cast: Sofi Choinski, Logan Riley Bruner, Shane Nepveu, Tristan Alan, Store Employee, Carolyn Slesinski, Katie Schafer, Mackenzie Brooke Taylor

Logline: A ten year-old tomboy must weigh her loyalty to her trusted older brother as the siblings become complicit in a hate crime.

6. Drudge

Director/Writer: Kheireddine El-Helou

Cast: Jessica Mann, Cameron Simmons

Logline: What was supposed to be a romantic night in for a young couple, quickly turns into a terrifying encounter with Drudge.

7. Paulie

Director: Andrew Nackman Writer: David Lee

Cast: Ethan Dizon, Hardy Gatlin, Jay Pennick, Jarid Root, Judy Durning, Christine Kellogg, Sawyer Valin

Logline: A comedy about eating dirt, the Dewey Decimal system and finishing school as quickly as possible.

Film Stills

2014 NBCUniversal Short Film Festival Semi-Finalists (Poster Slide Show) from NBC Talent Development Programs on Vimeo.

ABFF START PROJECT WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

This year over 900 actors submitted for the chance to win a co-star role on NBC’s DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

After intense Callbacks at the 2014 American Black Film Festival, we brought to the stage 2 dynamite stars:

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

KIMBERLY DALTON MITCHELL 

www.KimGiggles.com

*BFA North Carolina State 

STEFAN DEZIL

www.SDezil.com

*BFA Carnegie Mellon

In its 11th consecutive year, StandUp NBC went to NEW YORK CITY!  Early in the morning on August 16th, comedians lined up on the sidewalks of 23rd Street, and may have turned some pedestrians’ heads.  Sleeping bags, yoga mats, and folding chairs lined the doors of the Gotham Comedy Club.  Some of the Tri-State area’s most promising comedians hoped to make the cut-off for the annual open call.

Network Judges at the table included Beth Klein, SVP of Casting for Universal Television & Sahara Sushue, Manager for NBC Alternative Programming, & America’s Got Talent.

After two strong days of punchlines and call backs, 13 semi-finalists were selected!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING COMICS:

Shawn Jackson

Sam Jay 

Ricky Velez 

Marcia Belsky 

LeClerc Andre 

Langston Kerman 

Katrina Braxton 

Joel Kim Booster 

Emma Willmann 

Amanda Seales 

Alingon Mitra 

John Nguyen

Luis J. Gomez 

After the showcase, that very same night, several of the comedians were directly contacted by agents & managers who are looking to sign!

Some of these magnificent comics will be invited back in Los Angeles this Fall for the FINALS ROUND – DECEMBER 3rd…  But no finalists will be determined until we visit our last town in September,  SAN FRANCISCO!

This program is focused on exposing talented joke, sketch and comedy writers to NBCUniversal’s late-night & alternative lineup and readying them for a staff writer position. The selected writers will create new sketch material and gain insight into the dynamics of a late night writers’ room. Participants are given the chance to interact with key writers and producers from across NBCUniversal’s late-night shows, as well as receive feedback on their material. Successful participants’ material will be submitted to NBCU’s late-night & alternative executives, but writing assignments are not a guarantee. The workshop took place in New York on March 21 – 25, 2014.