UI student wins film contest

By Gregg Hennigan / IOWA CITY PRESS-CITIZEN / December 6, 2005

Ashton Kutcher wasn't there, but Iowa, MTV and the world of film converged for a "Punk'd"-like prank Monday night in Iowa City.

University of Iowa student Scott Beck thought he was surprising his friend Bryan Woods by going to Woods' apartment and telling him he'd won mtvU's "Best Film on Cam-pus" contest. Instead, when Beck showed up, he was told he was, in fact, the winner.

"This is absurd," Beck, a 21-year-old junior in communications, said when he opened the apartment door and was greeted with a "surprise" by about a dozen friends and cast and crew from his movie.

Beck and Woods submitted films for the contest and were among five finalists. Beck won for his film titled "University Heights."

The contest asked college filmmakers to submit movie trailers no longer than two minutes illustrating a full-length feature they would like to make one day.

As the winner, Beck won a development deal with MTV Films and a home entertainment center. There's no guarantee that a movie will be made, but Beck now will be asked to develop a feature-length script.

"It's my dream come true," he said. "It really is."

Beck said he and Woods have been working on a longer script for "University Heights" for months and they would be writing a lot after the school semester is over. Beck described the movie as a mystery about the last days on a college campus of four people whose lives intertwine.

Stephen Friedman, general manager of mtvU, said "University Heights" was chosen over dozens of other entries because the characters were developed and it did the best job of pulling viewers in.

"I think people were curious about what were the different strands that they saw in the film and where would they lead," he said. "And that's always the key to a great trailer."

Beck and Woods worked closely on each other's movies and Woods, also a 21-year-old junior in communications, said it felt like a win for him, too.

Collaboration is nothing new for the two Bettendorf natives. They've made four feature-length films and about 15 short films together since the seventh grade. They've entered films into several competitions and were finalists last year for the inaugural mtvU contest.

It's a writing/directing/producing partnership they hope to take to Hollywood after they graduate.

"That's our dream, to be able to make movies," Woods said.