International Moviemakers Challenged To Make Feature Length Movie In Two Weeks

An informal exchange on Twitter has turned into a legitimate international movie making challenge that will see completed movies screened all over the world. Participants have only two weeks in May to shoot and edit their movie which must be at least sixty minutes in duration. Many of the moviemakers are already posting updates to Twitter and personal blogs as they prepare for shooting.

Chuck Tryon, author and professor of film and media studies at Fayetteville State University, says that Gershbein, who has previously worked at Pixar and Dreamworks, was inspired to create the Two Week Film Collective after participating in Alejandro Adams' roundtable on self-distribution. Tryon is "intrigued by Reid's attempt to combine two indie cinema practices that I find especially appealing: creating new, often temporary sites for screening movies and encouraging conversations about the production process (and the films themselves)."

Award winning filmmaker Lucas McNelly is one of the independent moviemakers answering the challenge enthuses "You spend two weeks in hell making a film that no one expects to be any good at all. And if you can clear that hurdle and make something people actually want to see, you've got a film that you can say, 'We made this in two weeks on a Twitter challenge'". He concludes that "there's festivals that would love to show a film like that."

Portsmouth born Mike Peter Reed is another award winning filmmaker taking part. His previous feature 'Crooked Features' was shot over two weeks in 2004 but edited over several more weeks. "You don't have to mad to work here" says Reed, "but then you'd just be a regular moviemaker wouldn't you". He says that initially "I thought they were beyond mad, that the world does not need more mumblecore. Then I got to thinking that if I could design a premise to fit the constraints of the challenge then it would be worth doing for the heck of it". After discussing an abstract musical premise with local writer Matt Smart "suddenly things clicked and we went into idea hyperspace. We have what we consider a good twist, we've really approached this like any typical narrative only with an added element of the experimental - and a ridiculous deadline".

Since the initial call for entrants went out there has been a healthy response from the global independent moviemaking community and it's still not too late to join the Two Week Film Collective. "If you are interested in reviewing these films, participating or moderating the roundtable discussions, or have ideas for topics of discussion, then please let us know via twitter @thraveboy and we will add you to this list" remains the call on Gershbein's blog.

About the Two Week Film Collective
This is the first collective challenge to be issued and administered by Reid Gershbein. Movies must be shot and edited within two weeks in the month of May 2009 and be sixty minutes or more in duration in order to qualify for international screening later in the year. Progress is being logged using the tag #2wkfilm on Twitter.