Make a Film in a Weekend with the 48 Hour Film Project

 If you want to make movies, then make a movie. And  we always get caught up in,  why we can't make it? Well, I don't have a writer, I don't have a script, I don't have this, I don't have that.

You know?  and the 48 just, it forces you to get it done and 

you in, in just a week, no excuses. In

just a weekend, you can get it done and you can say,  I made a movie  Thank you for joining us. I'm your host Candace Block, and for this episode we're gonna learn all about the 48 hour film project, a unique and fun international film competition that takes place in over 100 cities around the world. Today I have the pleasure of chatting with Lisa Giles. The producer of the 48 Hour film project in Richmond, Virginia, and Lisa has been a juror for numerous film festivals, has been an acting coach and talent manager, and has also produced commercials for the Richmond Market.

She's an active member of the Virginia Production Alliance. Serves on its executive board of trustees, is the founder and former producer of the Virginia High School League Film Festival and is currently producing a monthly short film series featuring independent filmmakers.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you Candace. 

So glad to 

be here. 

Yeah, I'm very excited to have you here.  I personally have participated in the 48 hour film festival and I know what it is. But for listeners who don't know anything about it, what's like a really quick synopsis 

  

of The 48 hour film project 

48 hour film project is a competition that challenges its participants to write, shoot, and edit a short film. In 48 hours or less, And they are given a character prop, a line of dialogue, and a genre right before the competition starts. So they don't know what they're going to make.

Until right before the competition starts and they have 48 hours to do it. And after they turn it in, if they turn it in, uh, if they turn something in, it gets screened even if it's late, but only the ones that are on time are eligible for awards. And to go to Film Appalooza, which is the ,grand finale competition of all of the projects that happen around the world.

And that 

happens every. 

 Um, so also for people who,  wanna see a lot about it, your website has a lot of this information and some great videos. There is actually also a short video about what the 48 hour film project is,

and fun fact, I'm in that video. Yeah, I'm the woman with the orb, uh, the glowing thing there.

I w I had a Halloween costume  I made myself into Cora from Tron Legacy, and so we decided to continue using it for different things and some friends and I had did that little segment. Yeah, it's nice to see that it's still up there, so, you know, if anyone wants to be curious and see that as well, um,

But yeah. So you had mentioned a bunch of the different, uh, things that we're gonna dive into a little bit more later about some of the specifics of it. But do you know, um, like what the inspiration was for this and like where the very

  

first one was when it was some of the. 

The project was founded by Mark Rupert,  and  it launched in Washington DC in 2001, and,  the inspiration, as I understand and remember, it was there were theater competitions that were similar and the play writes. had the challenge  to write and produce and put on a play in 48 hours.

So Mark said, Hmm, I wonder if this would work for film. And this, you know, in 2001, this was before , you know, so much of the great technology that we had today. So it was much harder to do it in 2001,  than it is now.  

Well, it really is like a great bootcamp. It's kind of like it forces you to get it done. I, I like when creative projects have parameters to just like, make you actually do it . and it's like a really great space to learn and practice all the elements of it.

 and you are one of the city producers. So what does, what does, that mean? what does

the city producer do? 

So for all of the cities that do this, you need somebody to coordinate everything, and that's what the city producer does. the city producers, uh, we do the, the marketing, the recruiting of the filmmakers. We create networking events and some of us do auditions. Some of us, you know, each city is a little bit different.

but the city producer is the one that puts it all together. So  they have the kickoff events. They deliver the, what we call the character prop and the line and the genre. We, we coordinate all of that. Uh, we coordinate the screenings at, um, at a movie theater and so forth. So we are the managers of the whole project

And Richmond where you are is gonna be July 14th this year, and Washington DC where I am is going to be May 5th that weekend. So, um, for people, it, most of our listeners are.  those areas. So  check the website for where,  it is.  Is there a particular reason why it's spread out as opposed to all places trying to

do it on the same weekend? 

Well, it has probably more to do with what the 

producer's able to pull off  and, and what, you know, what venues they have access to and when. And I know most of the American cities  we try to do. After school is out. Cuz you know, we have parents  that participate it's much easier to do it  outside of the school year.

Um, so that's why we do it in July. we don't have to contend  with school schedules  and that kind of thing, but plus it's just tradition. We've always done it since we, since we launched in Richmond, we've always done it in July. So, uh, Richmond part. Expect it to be in July. But yeah, it's really more about, uh, what works best for the city producer and their access to.

But  in the international cities, most of them do it in the fall. I'm not sure why that is. I'm not sure if they, if it's a requirement, um, but most of them do it after hours are 

oh, interesting. Well, it's, it's kind of nice that it's spread around. I mean, in theory, someone

could go to another city if they wanted to. 

Yeah. 

they They do. We have, we have filmmakers that bounce from city to city and, and do it. We, I mean, I, I always get DC filmmakers all the time. That's, that's nothing I get. Uh, filmmakers, there's a Hampton Roads, uh, 48. that area of Virginia Beach and Williamsburg and Hampton and Norfolk, all those, they, they come and do Richmond.

There's one in Lynchburg and they come to Richmond to do one. We had one from Tennessee come to Richmond last year.  

Well, I guess it's good to know that if for your personal schedule, you can't make one, you can try to find another one that you can. And with enough cities, they're not. There's

gonna be one, not that far away.

Yeah. And it's even a little bit easier now coming out of Covid. We, you know, had to, like everybody else, had to,  change some things around to try to accommodate people a little bit better. And it used to be that you had to physically turn in your film on Sunday. Uh, you had to be at the venue physically and hand your car drive, to the city producer.

But now we have it so that  it's a digital upload. So you can be anywhere  and you can participate and you can submit 

it 

digitally 

that

does. give you just a little bit extra time. , 

It does. 

It 

when I, when I participated, it was still the physical delivery time and now you can literally, as the clock is counting down, just wait for that upload time. That's, that's great. Um, so it is in a lot of cities, but if it, if you want to bring it to your city and it's not there, how would someone kind of,

um, br bring the

project to their. 

that is, an excellent question, if a city does not have it and there is somebody who wants to service city producer, obviously that's, that's what you need first. You need a city producer who can coordinate everything, and if you have that person willing to do it, you can contact the headquarters 

and there's also, uh, resources  on the website as well, which, you know, we're gonna. Share. It's, well, it's 40 hour film.com, but it'll also be in the, in the show notes and everything.  and that's with the numerals, so it's four eight, not f o r or anything.  So have, have you personally done the project a

bunch or once or twice or? 

Candace, I'm ashamed to admit that I have not, but I wanted to. I, I remember when the very first one came to Richmond and I had heard and,  my problem was that I  wasn't connected with people. I didn't, I didn't know, you know, where am I gonna get actors?

Where am I gonna get a writer? Where am I? You know, and I, I thought about, okay, well how much of that can I do? Which ends up being what a lot of teams do. You know, many people, or wear many hats when, you know, you could be the writer, you could be the actor, you could, you know, maybe be the editor. But I didn't have all of those skills and I didn't feel comfortable enough, you know, pull.

people together. I did, I couldn't pull people together. I didn't know anybody who could do it, but I couldn't do but so much. And, and my brother was gonna help me. He was gonna be the cinematographer and, editor  and  I couldn't ever get him to commit. So, . So between his, him being non-committal 

and me

It's your brother's 

fault, okay? Yeah. 

I know

So, so yeah. So I never did it, but, um, I knew the woman who was producing at the time, Ellie St. John. And,  and when she was ready to give it up, you know, she, she knew all that I had done in film and she recommended that I take her place. 

as you  mentioned, it's like a team thing, but it can be all sizes of teams. So you know, you could have one, have you ever had one person do

really well as the. 

I have had teams of one they have not done very well , but there have been teams of one for sure. Um, and I think probably our,  average team is about 13 

Oh wow. 

Um, . Yeah. But I think the largest is like 116 or something like that. Um, at, I think, yeah, they were in Mexico City, that, that had a team that big.

 

Okay. So yeah, if you've got about a dozen or so friends or you know, whatever you have at your disposal,  it's fun. I mean, I, I recommend doing it.  there's different rules and guidelines, so we can talk about, like the actual process a little bit more now. Um, so there's specific things like, because you're.

producing something in 48 hours. There's the perimeter of time, it's, you're making shorts. They have to be between four and seven minutes long. There's also some specific tech specs and things like that.  it's all on the website, but  you'd still get like a massive range of projects that come in. Are you still like surprised at the range that you get within even people that got the same genre

or prop or.

it's, you know, you you're only as limited as your creativity, you know,  and it is amazing, even though every team gets the same character prop and line, you know, not everybody gets the same genre, but even though every team gets. The same character prop in line. It's so amazing to see what comes back and how they implement that character and how they implement that line. 

Yeah. It sounds like a real celebration of creativity and how it can be so different based on any little flavor you put into If you, if you had a team of. Some set of 12 people, it would be wildly different than if there were like three of those people were different.  or if the line was different or anything.

I just think it's such a great concept to get people to, to practice with all of that. But that said, everyone has to follow those specific, guidelines and rules. Do you see, what are the most common broken.

Well, believe it or not, there aren't a whole lot of rules that get broken because a broken rule is basically a disqualification  

Yeah. 

Right? 

But if the, the, the one thing that if, if that goes wrong is being.  and nobody likes to be late because everybody wants to win, you know, and you can't win if you're late.

You can still turn it in and it can still get screened, but it can't be eligible for does happen.  The international average is 20% of registered teams are late. In Richmond, our average is more like, more like 10%. So we do really, really well with getting our films in on time.

Um, and just thinking back, The summer when our last project, the films that were late uh, we've, we've even had some that were discretionary late because  they turned them in on time, but they didn't like what they had turned in, so they wanted to take another couple hours to tweak it, to just fix that last little thing.

And  they were okay with it being late. They were okay with it not being eligible for awards because they. Their best work to be seen by the public. You know, if it was gonna 

be seen, they 

wanted the 

Wow. I ne I never thought about that. The like final change in tweak. That's interesting that some teams have done that and it's not on like

a one time thing 

yeah,  we had one that, they had uploaded it on time, but they didn't 

have sound 

Oh no. 

so, so of course they weren't gonna submit a film without sound.

So, you know, they said, okay, well it's gotta be late. We, we want, we want our film to be screened with 

sound. 

fair. That's totally fair. Yeah. , you can't blame 'em on that one. Um, so yeah, they get screened in a movie theater, which is really exciting. I mean, people are kind of doing this for fun and uh, or for whatever reason they're doing it, you know, practice fun,  all these different reasons. But it's kind of a cool and exciting thing to see your finished piece on a big screen.

 that's really cool.  with the final, um, sort of movie theater experience,  I would imagine that was a little bit changed during the pandemic, but are, are you, were you able to still do some of that or did you take

like a virtual year or two? 

for 2020. We did not have one in Richmond at all. Some, some cities around the world did. Um, some went virtual. Um, some just had very limited.  in-person screenings. And here in Richmond, I just felt like, you know, it wasn't the same , you know, I, I just didn't feel like it would be doing the, the event any justice.

Plus it was almost impossible to get a theater. Um, so we did not have one in 2020 at all. 2021. We did. It was very small. Um, it, and it was still, still a challenge in 2021 to get a theater. Um, but we did have one, um, and. 2022 last year. It was, it was bananas. I mean, they were, they were, the filmmakers were so ready to come back and do it again.

And, uh, and they did. And it was amazing. And we had great crowds 

and 

That's awesome. So it sounds like you're back at full speed. And it also goes to show what a great project it is that people keep coming back and are excited for it and want it  year after year. Um, the, the longevity of the 48 hour film project like is just. Like a testament to what a great concept it is as well.

you mentioned some of the  awards earlier, so everything's screened and then there are awards and they're broken down into different things. Can you tell us some of those

awards?

Sure.  of course, the 48 specific awards are best use of character, best use of prop, best use of line of dialogue, and best use of genre because those are the four things that they don't. What they're going to be until right before. So obviously we wanna celebrate the filmmakers that do well with that particular part of the challenge.

And then the other awards are what you would expect. Best actor. Best 

directing and, and there's also an audience favorite, right? Or

like an audience pick because people vote 

Yes. And, and that's, that's huge. There are a lot of teams that feel that that is the best award. You know, if, if they, if they can get an audience of however many hundred that's there to see if they can get all of them in agreement and they can win that, they think that's better than the, than the jury award really a lot of the times.

And, and I, I probably agree. Um,

think, I think when the year that I did it, I think we won Audience award. Very proud of that. Um, yeah, it was a funny, it was cuz it was funny, you know, if

you do a goofy, funny one, it's usually, usually 

Those are the ones that are, that have the better chance of winning 

Yeah. Cuz people like, I mean, it's a fun experience.  everyone likes to laugh and be entertained in a fun way.  so  what are

the different genres? 

There are, you know, the standard drama, horror comedy, um, some of the ones that are kind of 48 specific, we, we have Buddy films, uh, fish Outta Water. Film Defam, have a strong female lead. Um, so we've got, a bunch of

different genres 

There's also musical, right? 

musical I was gonna say, that's vre.

That's the one nobody 

wants, 

Unless they're a singer or something and they're just waiting, they're like, one of these 48 hour

films is gonna be my time to shine. 

It's so funny because I remember over last summer,  the team that drew,  musical, they, they cheered and celebrated. So I, I assumed, I was like, oh, okay. They wanted that, how, you know, how about that? They got what they wanted. And then when they turned in their film, I said, oh, okay. Maybe they did

They just had a lot of fun with it. They knew it was gonna be fun. They were not singers , but they had so much fun with it. And it 

was a 

really fun 

That's great. Yeah. Maybe they took it as like, okay, well we got the hardest one. Let's 

Right, Right, 

so yeah, when someone wins, for example, best film, you were mentioning at the start of our conversation that  the winners go onto a film of Palooza Festival. Um, can you tell us more about

that?

film Appalooza is amazing. Um, the, and that's right, the, the best film from. Participating City. So the a hundred some odd films that are winners, they compete against each other at film of Alza. That happens every March this year. It's March 15th through 18th and it's in Los Angeles. And so that is the big festival experience. So there are screenings, there are workshops, um, there are parties. And so the, the, yeah, that's what we consider the grand finale. And from that event there. About 13 films I think, that are selected to also move on from there to screen at Cannes in France. And that's in, that's every May. Um, we in Richmond have had filmmakers screen at Cannes.

So that's, been an amazing experience for us. And, you know, that that, that kind of sets the bar, you know, here in Richmond we expect you to do well. You know, we expect you to, to be competitive and, you know, 

Yeah. Have you ever, it's like one year we're gonna have a hundred percent on time and we're gonna have

someone win at the short film corner at Cannes. 

I

say it every year. I'm so competitive for them. I'm, I'm their biggest cheerleader.  and I tell you, we have such great talent here and it's, it's really wonderful to see, um, you know, how far they can go and, you know, when, when you believe in what they're doing and, and just rooting 

them on. 

So I'm 

talent 

everywhere. So that's what's so great about this, that it's spread around if someone isn't able to or hasn't, you know, relocated to one of the hubs or whatever, you know, as everything's getting a little more remote and stuff too, people are able to kind of be where they are and produce great stuff, and with all the technology, letting people do things like even with, uh, an iPhone or something.

Um, so I think it's just really great that yes, you. Do something on a weekend with some buddies and end up at Cannes, even potentially . So I, I love what 48 hour film project has become, and I definitely recommend that people check it out. Um, so I, the other question I had is there's, there's the film Appalooza for.

For, uh, your stuff and then, uh, even the, the relationship that you have with can, if someone really loved their finished piece and they wanted to show it in other festivals, is there a way that they could do that? Or like, uh, is that allowed? What's, what are sort of the reg, the rules about participating

in this and then taking that project further?

that is absolutely allowed. The filmmakers do own the rights. Um, what we at the 48 do? We, we, you know, we're, like I said, we're the cheerleaders. We want to promote them as much as possible. So once we get through with our screenings and film appalooza and can, if it should go there, um, the filmmakers are absolutely allowed to show it at other 

festival. 

That's great. Yeah. you never know what's gonna happen with them. You know,  maybe all you needed was that line of dialogue and prop or whatever to push the great idea that

created your cinematic masterpiece. Um, 

 we actually have had, uh, one of our judges. For the horror project, which we do two projects here in Richmond. We do the standard summer one. And then because it's so popular and because Richmond can't get enough of the 48, we we added on the horror project and we do that every October, uh, to coordinate with Halloween.

But one of the judges for that project was, the founder of Crypto Con Seattle. And. He selected five of his favorites from our horror project to get complimentary screenings at his event at Crypto Con. So, so those five will, will 

screen in Seattle 

That's so cool. Yeah. So speaking of the judges, like where do you find your judges  it sounds like you've had some really impressive

judges in different cities over the years. 

Well, we, we have, um, you know, uh, Tim Reid is one of our favorites. Tim Reid, uh, from W K R P in Cincinnati. And, uh, sister, sister and so forth.  he lives right here in Virginia. So, uh, he's been one of our judges, uh, Jesse Vaughn has been one of our judges who was. I don't know how many Emmys he has. I wanna say 36.

It's ridiculous the number of Emmys he has, but, he's been one of our judges. Um, but, our judges can be from anywhere. because the film community in Richmond is, is pretty tight knit. Everybody knows everybody. I try to get, you know, judges that people don't know. . So as I said, the judge from, Seattle, he was, he was brought in, uh, to to judge for us last year and, and I've forgot, you know, just other people that I have met from, from judging other festivals and, uh, so forth.

Well, you know, we do each other favors. I'll judge your festival. You judge 

mine so 

it 

Um, how many, how many judges are there? 

It depends. Every city does different, you know, and I'm, anybody who's coordinated, judging, knows that you better get more than you actually need because people do , they don't fulfill their obligation, their commitment.

Um, so we, we like to have three. Whatever the number is, we like it to be odd, you know, in case there's a tiebreaker needed. I do not play a role in that whatsoever. Um, they do their thing, they pick their selections and they tell me who 

they pick,

and 

when you're, you're the, the main cheerleader off to the side. You help coordinate, make it all happen, and then it

sounds like you, you cheer on Richmond at the end. 

Oh, I do, I do. I, they, they're, they're so talented and they work so hard and, you know, it's just infectious. Their enthusiasm and their,  their skill and, and you know, how can you not

Yeah. So if someone wants to,  participate, what are they gonna need to know? Obviously we've established that it, they probably need a few people at least to help them.  but there's, there's a, a registration fee, right? and is that the only major,

like blocking point or 

 there is a registration fee, um, that is, uh, for Richmond. You know, you, you mentioned that we, our filmmaking we weekend is July 14th weekend. Um, and the registrations for whatever your filmmaking weekend is, is always about 10 weeks prior. So our registration. May 9th. Uh, so after May 9th, free to register your team, um, and that early bird registration fee is $158.

And if you wait closer to the event, the fee goes up . So you're encouraged to to register early so you can, uh, get the best price. I see teams register the day of the competition. Please don't do that, , because you know  when you set your intention to compete and you do it early, then you tend to do better and, and you.

You have more time to try to coordinate, uh, things in advance. And there's only a few things that you can do in advance, and that's to get your team together, get your equipment, and get your locations So, and, and that takes time, uh, because you have to get permission for those locations. 

Um, so the the earlier you are able to do all of that, then the more you can relax as you get toward filmmaking weekend and you know, you just have it. All those hurdles you have jumped over before the filmmaking to 

Yeah. Well that's excellent advice. So yeah, gather your team and then if your team has a certain amount of people, that is a really reasonable registration price. And if you're dividing it among your teammates, it's a really, uh, accessible project that you guys,  put on. So that's great. Um, if someone wanted to be like a producer or a judge or anything, is all that information online as.

Um, A, they would just need to contact me, um, and producer. It depends what you mean by producer. Um, we call the team leaders. We th that essentially is the producer for the team. Um, but anybody, if you want to be a producer for a new city, then, then yes, you would just reach out to the headquarters in Washington DC 

if someone wants to participate and doesn't have a team, is there anything set up as like a people without teams can kind of like collect and meet each other?  

one of the tools that we'll be using  this year in Richmond is the Richmond Film Network, and the Richmond Film Network is. In a nutshell, it's a community where creatives who want to be connected to other creatives to help them with their goals in their project, that they can utilize that to meet other people, to meet those goals and projects.

And the Richmond Film Network was born out of the 48 because we have these singles who are looking for, other people to be on their team and. From that need, we formed this network. Um, so the network is actually, it's a, it's an app. You can log in and create a profile and you can find whatever you need.

If you're looking for an actor, look up all the actors. If you're looking for the, for a screenwriter, look at your screenwriters and you can connect with them through the app.  richmond Film,  network.org. And, um, and you can connect that way. And we.

just launched that in September-ish.

Um, so it's it's still new. Uh, we're still still growing, but like I said, we're gonna use that this year. And so I'm sure it'll get even bigger once we start the 48 in July. Um, and to take that experience of the online community a step farther.

You know, we realized, okay, we need some kind of in-person event outside of the 48 to keep these people connected.

So what grew out of the Richmond Film Network was the short film series which I'm producing. It's a monthly,  series where we're screening independent films,  mostly from Richmond, but we've had some from beyond as well. the very first one we did was in. , and it was an international debut.

We had filmmakers from, uh, Los Angeles and Iran that also screened. it's still new, it's still young, but it's growing and it's a becoming a great way.

For 

creatives in 

Well that's awesome cuz I mean, you need networking in this world and it's another amazing resource and another great thing to come from the 48 hour film project. I, I would imagine that other. Uh, have, there are other versions of things that have sprung from it as well. Um, so it's, it's a really great resource.

It's amazing that you do that, and it's a testament to you being a great city producer, that you're like such a advocate for helping creatives find each other and produce great stuff. So That's awesome. we've kind of covered why someone should participate, but do you have like a little pitch  for why someone

should do the 48

hour film project?

Well, you know, I think the number one thing that you get out of it is experience. If you want to make movies, then make a movie. And  we always get caught up in,  why we can't make it? Well, I don't have a writer, I don't have a script, I don't have this, I don't have that.

You know?  and the 48 just, it forces you to get it done and 

you in, in just a week, no excuses. In

just a weekend, you can get it done and you can say,  I made a movie.  you made a movie and it, like I said, it's infectious and you'll want to do it again and again and again. Um, you can expand your network, you know, by participating in the 

48. Um, 

You can make great, friends, it 

great make amazing friends,

You get material for your reel, you get confidence for the next thing that you do. Inspiration, motivation. A sense of accomplishment, awards and prizes. So 

there are many 

literally no downside. It's 

no downside except for you.

You won't 

get sleep 

Right, 

You won't get much sleep that weekend, but it's

worth 

okay to lo, you know, you gotta have a day or two without sleep here and there. That's part of living life.  

All right. Well that sounds great.  I'm sure everybody here, if they don't already know about it, haven't already participated, is, is wanting to check it out now.

So go do that. You can check out more. At 48 hour film.com. That's four eight hour film.com. We'll put that in the show notes as well. But thank you so, so much. I mean, this is, I can personally vouch for being a great experience. Um, you can,  as well. And I do wanna follow up with you sometime in a few years and make

sure you've made one yourself.

I want You to make one

it. You're, you're need 

but yeah, thank you so much for talking with us about it and, um, yeah, it was, it's great to learn even more.