Q-C filmmakers' $300 effort to debut

By Mark McLaughlin / MOLINE DISPATCH / June 25, 2004

Movie moguls in Hollywood usually think they're doing a miraculous job if they create a feature film for just $1 million dollars. But with that kind of money, Quad-Cities filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods could have made 3,333 films -- and still had $100 to spare.

"We made our new movie 'University Heights' for about $300," Mr. Beck said. "A lot of people donated space for us to shoot in restaurants and people's houses. We received a lot of local support, and we're very thankful for that."

The feature film was shot from February to May of this year. "It took 16 days throughout those months," said Mr. Beck. He explained that the plot of the 96-minute movie "follows four lives on a college campus, along with four problems seeking answers."

The movie stars Jim Siokos as the philosophy instructor, Travis Shepherd as the English teacher, Shane Simmons and Sabien Minteer as the college students, and Justin Marxen as a friend of the students.

"'University Heights' is an examination of life and the choices we make," said Mr. Beck, who wrote and directed the film. Mr. Woods served as assistant director and producer. "This is the film that we want to take places -- it blows anything else we've done out of the water," Mr. Beck added.

Mr. Beck, 19, was born in Denver and now lives in Bettendorf. He started making films at age 10, using a shoulder-mounted video camera. His first movie was a 10-minute musical called "Oregon Trail," which he made with his sister Christina. "I watch it for laughs now," he said.

In sixth grade, he met Mr. Woods, and they soon became friends and movie collaborators. "We started doing some stop-motion projects with a big collection of Star Wars action figures," he said. In the seventh grade, they made a five-minute horror movie called "The Sleep-Over," written and directed by Mr. Beck and starring Mr. Woods.

In 2001, the two young entrepreneurs formed their production company, Bluebox Limited. The next year, they premiered two films at North Scott High School in Eldridge, Iowa -- "Remembering November" and "Prism."

In September 2003, Bluebox Limited released "Lost & Found," the 70-minute tale of a lonely man who meets a stranger through a classified ad. Their next feature, the 76-minute feature "For Always," premiered in January 2004 at the Brew & View in Rock Island. "It's about a kid who gets a package in the mail with 13 mysterious pictures in it," Mr. Beck said. "The pictures seem to be from a murder scene, and the kid tries to solve the case."

Earlier this year, Mr. Beck and Mr. Woods placed in the top 50 of the Project Greenlight movie competition, sponsored by Miramax Studios and the Bravo Channel and headed by actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Their contest submission was a three-minute short called "Amber," which will be shown July 20 as part of the Iowa Motion Picture Association short-film collection in Des Moines.

Currently, Bluebox is shooting scenes for the multimedia comedy "Your Favorite Band," a combination live action show and film about struggling rock musicians that will run Aug. 5-15 at ComedySportz in Rock Island.

What will the two moviemakers work on next? "We start work very soon on a suspense thriller called 'Her Summer,'" Mr. Beck said. "In it, two kids come across a police report about two unsolved murders, and they put together the evidence."