WATCH A VIDEO ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS BELOW.
Reno’s Travis Calvert is in Hollywood now preparing to direct Adrien Brody in a short film for a script that he wrote.
“Back in January I entered Jameson’s First Shot screenwriting competition,” Calvert said. “It is a contest put on (by) Kevin Spacey’s production company Triggerstreet productions, where they seek out new talent for writing/directing. The contest consisted of writing a seven-page short screenplay with the idea in mind that the winner of said contest gets to make their film with Adrien Brody as the lead actor.”
Calvert said he “pumped out the script one afternoon and sent it off, thinking nothing more of it.”
He received a call the first week of March notifying him that he was on the shortlist of 20 entrants, out of 1,750 entries.
Calvert has been working at IGT for eight years, five of which as a prototyper/computer programmer. More recently, he’s been video producer at IGT, writing and directing voiceover talent and occasionally film talent.
To make the final cut for the Kevin Spacey contest, Calvert said he had to produce a headshot, a video biography, a director’s treatment, a video explanation of the treatment, as well as cast, film and edit a sample scene.
“With the tremendous help of some great friends I scrambled and put together the best submission I could muster,” Calvert explained.
Then, the unexpected happened.
“I received a phone call from Dublin, Ireland on a Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m.,” Calvert said. “They asked if I could install Skype on my phone in the next five minutes. I splashed some water on my face and calmed my shaking hands enough to install the app and take a call from London from Ed Sayers and Dana Brunetti. This was the call I had been waiting for. I had done it. I won one of the three coveted spots.”
Reno’s Travis Calvert is making his film with Adrien Brody. He’s in the pre-production phase right now. Filming begins next week.
“The only way I can think to keep myself grounded is to give some much needed thanks to the people who helped me get here,” Calvert wrote on his Facebook.
Spacey was one of the panel to select Calvert’s script as the only American winner, one of three worldwide.
News of the film script competition winners was first reported in the Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/…/kevin-spaceys-short-film…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxSZ9HqryQg
