The Jameson First Shot, a new short film competition designed to discover talented screenwriters and directors from Russia, South Africa and the US, comes with an incredible prize where one winner from each country will have his or her script made into a short film by Trigger Street Productions, starring Kevin Spacey.
Genevieve Hofmeyr, founder, partner and producer of Moonlighting Films, one of South Africa’s leading film production companies commented, “I am delighted that South Africa has been selected as one of the participating countries in this competition. Too few opportunities are given to emerging screenwriters to have their work recognized in an international arena and this is a wonderful platform for our South African writers. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to possibly have someone of Spacey’s stature perform their work. This competition will certainly encourage and help develop our local scriptwriters boosting our content development, which in turn I believe will be of benefit to the future of our local film industry.”
Thandie Brewer, chair of the Writer’s Guild of South Africa as well as screenwriting chair for AFDA added, “This is an opportunity for South African screenwriters and the Writers Guild of South Africa is delighted that South African writing talent will be showcased in this way. On a personal level, as both a writer and chair of the Writers’ Guild of South Africa, I’m enormously excited by the chance that this will give both established and upcoming writers to get their work into the International arena. Particularly with an actor of Kevin Spacey’s stature.”
Talented filmmakers looking for their big break are invited to submit a script of up to seven pages to the website before 31 December 2011.
Inspired by the theme of a legendary, humorous or very tall tale, the shortlist will be judged by an expert team including Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, president of Trigger Street Productions (The Social Network). The nominees will then go through to the next round, where they will show their directing skills by shooting a scene supplied by Trigger Street.
One winner from each country will then fly to LA to shoot the script and direct Kevin Spacey, all with the backing of his award winning production company. The public will vote on the three films to decide the overall winner of the competition.
For full details on how to enter plus exclusive videos and tips from Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, go to www.jamesonfirstshot.com.
