The day was hot, and comedian Rob Riggle had sweat running down the side of his face. There was zero air conditioning on set, but no one on the film crew seemed to notice.
Fresh off his role as a police officer in “The Hangover,” Riggle was in town not long ago playing yet another cop in the new comedy “The Substitute.” Except this time everyone working behind the camera happened to be a teenager.
With the new school year approaching, a small number of students will be returning with war stories from their time in a filmmaking boot camp run by Fresh Films, a Chicago-based organization that gives teenagers the equipment and support to go out and make a movie. The kids have just one week to make it all happen — from storyboard to post-production.
Granted these are short films, we’re talking about, anywhere from 7 to 12 minutes. But for the first time this year, “The Substitute” (plus other Fresh Films shorts made in other cities, including New York and Los Angeles) will be posted online at funnyordie.com. That’s a high profile landing for anyone — high schooler or not.
Every film submitted will be reviewed by Funny or Die’s Adam McKay (director of “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights”) and Chris Henchy (whose producing credits include “Entourage” and “Eastbound & Down”). We’re talking actual written feedback.
Here’s how Henchy put it: “The idea of keeping in touch with what young filmmakers are doing was interesting. We see what our friends are doing and people we admire, but how often do you get to see what a 15-year-old in Orlando thinks is funny when he has a small budget.” So far, he says, the quality of work has been “pretty impressive.”
The Chicago entry, with Riggle in the aforementioned cameo, debuts on the Funny or Die site Sept. 3-9, and anyone can vote.
The winning team will score free software and equipment. But the real perk is that the top film will be entered in festivals around the country, complete with Funny or Die’s imprimatur.
“These kids are real guerrilla in the way that they put their movie together,” Alana Bardauskis, of Fresh Films, said. “They get real resourceful. One of the teens on our crew runs a haunted house, and he brought a ton of props for the film. So kids get really creative in the way they utilize their resources.”
Every job on the crew was filled by teenagers. Every single one. Working the boom mike, running audio, operating the camera. Everything. The day I visited the set, there were a few adults milling around to offer a word of advice if things got sticky. Far as I could tell, things never got sticky. The kids ran the show, from top to bottom.
“We’re trying to give them a realistic experience about what it would be like to work on a real film set,” Bardauskis said. “It’s pretty much a crash course.” The program has been around since 2002.
Sabrina Port, 17, laid out just how tight the schedule was. The film is about an out-of-control substitute teacher, and the crew ended up filming at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, where Port will be a senior.
“We had less than a week to find a location. I was like, ‘Gimme five minutes, I can handle this.’ We started on Sunday, and that’s when we did our casting, and then on Monday we started pre-production and storyboards and finding food to feed everyone. I learned how to get what we need for free.”
It might be just the leg up a kid needs down the line. At least one teen filmmaker from a previous year has a showbiz job, as an associate producer for “Dancing with the Stars.”
This is Port’s second year with Fresh Films. “My mom actually found it searching on the Internet for film programs.”
The entire thing is sponsored, so it costs the students nothing to participate.
Between takes, Riggle talked about the experience. “They’re out in this heat, sweating it out, long days, doing it because they love it. It’s not like, ‘Ugh, now we gotta go do this.’ I tip my hat to them, because that’s what it takes. They’ve been very professional. I think these guys could compete with a lot of people in Hollywood.”
I asked what he meant.
“How can I say this tactfully? Hollywood people are [childish], and these young people are not.”
Fund those awards
Pop-punk band the Plain White T’s will be in Downers Grove on Monday at the Tivoli Theatre, raising money for the After Hours Film Society and its upcoming Student Short Film and Video Festival, slated for October. The band will conduct a Q&A session in addition to the concert. For more info, go to afterhoursfilmsociety.com.
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