Filmmaker Woods wins our Oscar challenge

By David Burke / QUAD-CITY TIMES / March 12, 2006

No, Bryan Woods said, his knowledge of filmmaking gave him no inside track in picking all of the top six categories correctly in the Quad-City Times’ Oscar contest.

“There weren’t too many surprises this year,” said Woods, a Bettendorf native and one-half of the award-winning duo Bluebox Limited. “The big surprise was ‘Crash’ for best picture, and I just picked that because I thought it was better than ‘Brokeback (Mountain).’ I thought it might pull off a surprise upset.”

Indeed, it did. Woods, a junior at the University of Iowa, was one of five entrants who correctly picked the top six award winners correctly, and his name was picked at random to receive DVD copies of this year’s five best picture nominees.

Woods will add “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote,” “Crash,” “Good Night, and Good Luck” and “Munich” to his video collection.

Also notching perfect scores were Tom Birkhofer and Kathy Fry, Bettendorf; Kathy Webster, Blue Grass, Iowa; and Jeff Meyers, Davenport.

Out of more than 400 entrants, 54 batted five-for-six — many of them predicting a “Brokeback Mountain” win for best picture.

The 21-year-old Woods said “subconsciously” his five-plus years of filmmaking may have come into play when making his picks.

“I look at what sort of films affect people the most, and ‘Crash’ had a lot to say,” Woods said. “It’s hard to walk down the street and not hear people talking about it.”

The words “winning,” “movie” and “contest” are not new for Woods. In December, he and partner Scott Beck won the “Best Film on Campus” competition, sponsored by MTVu, a college division of the cable channel. Beck’s name was attached to the winning entry, “Her Summer,” and Woods’ name was connected to “University Heights,” which also reached the top five, although both worked together on each project.

Chief among the prizes was a development deal with MTV Films. Woods said that about two weeks ago, he and Beck met with MTV Films execs, and delivered them six movie ideas, including one completed script, for new projects.

“Now, it’s up to them to decide works best for them and for us,” he said.