Local film company makes MTV film finals

By Sean Leary / MOLINE DISPATCH / November 2004

Bettendorf film company Bluebox Limited has advanced to the final three in the MTV Best Film on Campus Competition.

Bluebox -- Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, both 20 -- learned they'd made it to the finals this weekend. Their short film "Shades" will be critiqued this week by three groups of judges: Hollywood directors Joel Schumacher ("Batman and Robin"), Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting") and Allison Anders ("Grace of My Heart"); MTV staffers; and online voters.

Today, MTV will list the finalists on www.mtvu.com, allowing movie buffs nationwide to vote for their favorites of the three films.

The winner of the contest will receive two tickets to the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, an internship with MTV Films, and pitch meetings with MTV Films and Creative Artists Agency.

Bluebox created the four-minute "Shades," about a troubled young man suffering from recurring nightmares of a terrible accident, exclusively for the contest. Its cast features local actors, including Travis Shepherd and Christy Sullivan of Bettendorf and Jim Siokos of Rock Island.

Mr. Beck and Mr. Woods have been writing, directing and producing films together for seven years. They have produced 13 shorts and four feature-length movies, including their most recent, "Her Summer," which debuted at the Putnam/IMAX Theater in October.

They have won awards from the Iowa Motion Picture Association and the Wild Rose Independent Film Festival. They also climbed to the top 50 in the HBO/Bravo/Miramax-sponsored "Project Greenlight" contest in April.

For more information on Bluebox, see www.blueboxlimited.com.