The CU Film Society was first thought up by myself, Luke Boyce, and my business partner, Brett Hays, somewhere around September 2010. Together we own and operate a small independent film production company called “Shatterglass Studios“.  Some of you might recognize our name as we’ve produced several award-winning shorts and features, mostly shot in the Champaign and Chicago area’s. In 2009, we managed and co-produced the award-winning feature “Leading Ladies”, directed by Daniel and Erika Randall Beahm. It was the first full-length film that we had produced in Champaign and the cooperation that we found in the area was breathtaking. Champaign-Urbana is not only a brilliantly progressive and culturally-savvy town, but it is full of completely wonderful people who are infinitely supportive of the arts. For decades, many of us who have resided here have seen this first-hand with our amazing music scene, but there has been an underlying scene of local filmmakers and film-lovers in this town that have been crying out for their own community as well.

In the past 13 years we’ve really seen that community blossom under the incredible experiences of our annual Ebertfest! Every year, around the last week of April, Champaign becomes a film town, front and center. Roger Ebert, our hometown hero, gracefully brings his unmatched love of cinema to our small city and we get 5 days of glorious cinephilia hosted by Roger and his amazing wife, Chaz, all under the roof of our very own “Picture Palace” at the majestic Virginia Theater. But after those intoxicating 5 days are over, the cinephiles of Champaign-Urbana are once again scattered for the remaining 11 months, left to our own solitary devices.

At Shatterglass Studios, Brett and my life is film. It’s what we do on a daily basis. We watch it, study it, make it and most importantly we LOVE IT. The only things we really love more than film is our families and our community. It’s our love of this community that lead us to want to bring together all the film-lovers in Champaign-Urbana. We wanted to develop an organization that would be film-focused, both on literacy and education. So about 8 months ago we decided to gather up a small group of like-minded individuals, other Champaign-Urbana natives who love film and filmmaking as much as we do, and pitched them our idea to create this organization that could unite the film-lovers and film-makers of Champaign the entire year through various programs like special screenings of classic and independent films and workshops and classes to teach the art of filmmaking in order to foster a more vibrant filmmaking community in Champaign as well.

The idea went even better than expected. Everybody we pitched it to wanted to be involved immediately and heavily. Chris and Anne Lukeman, who together have created some of the most creative and original independent films you’ll ever see, and have been two of the forerunners of the Champaign independent film scene. Bill Kephart, who has been an incredible force for local acting in Champaign, bringing together a network of incredibly talented individuals, and being a massively talented thespian himself. AJ Christensen, an employee at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, who is not only a professional filmmaker himself, but also a passionate advocate for student filmmaking and independent animation, having overseen the University’s chapter of SIGGRAPH in years past. And Myles Beeson, a young filmmaker and alumnus of the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, whose skills have found him in various exotic locales shooting films and commercials for major corporations.  Each of these amazing people were eager to get on-board and with their devoted help within weeks we had already developed a serious game-plan to bring a Film Society to Champaign-Urbana.

So what exactly is a “film society”? Click HERE to find out!

The article was originally posted at www.cufilmsociety.com

Reposted from the Smile Politely article “Champaign has a movie studio?”

Hollywood actors, former WWF wrestlers, movie studios, and Champaign, Illinois. Wait, is this one of those selection tests where the reader decides which thing doesn’t belong? Because Champaign seems like the thing that doesn’t belong, but, oddly, they all tie together. Jesse Ventura

Although Champaign may not seem like the most natural place for a movie studio, a distant 2,000 miles away from the glitz of Hollywood, the city’s own Shatterglass Studios, located downtown in the M2 building, just completed filming their second feature-length movie with a talented cast that included a well-known household name and a seasoned Hollywood actor. Scheduled for release next year during the politically active time of a presidential election year, The Drunk (working title) is a comedic political fiction based on a descendant of the real historical labor leader from Indiana, Eugene V. Debs. In the movie, the fictional grandson of the famous socialist Debs gets arrested for drunk driving, then runs for governor against the corrupt prosecutor trying to imprison him. Not too far fetched from current political candidates.

The movie’s cast includes former WWF wrestler and former Minnesota Governor Jesse “The Body”/”The Mind” Ventura, who plays — hold on, this is a significant repertoire stretch — the governor of Indiana. Tom Sizemore, best known for his roles in Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down (and some more risqué off-the-screen activities), plays the character Bruce Frye. Shatterglass Studios filmed The Drunk in Debs’s home state, Indiana, using sites like the Eugene V. Debs historical house to evoke a sense of reality in the film. Ventura said about filming in the Midwest, “It means authenticity…if everybody involved in this film is from this general area…it should have quite a Midwestern flavor to it.”

Shatterglass Studios co-owners Luke Boyce and Brett Hays joined forces in April 2005, a year after Boyce established the company. Their success on previous films led their industry contacts made on other films to call them about the script for The Drunk six months ago. Their first short film, Sugar (2008), garnered attention and an array of awards at film festivals nationwide. Even more successful was their first feature-length movie, Leading Ladies (2010), which has thus far played in more than thirty film festivals worldwide, and is slated for another eight international film festivals this fall.

Leading Ladies Official Movie Trailer

Although most of the acting talent for The Drunk came from Chicago and St. Louis, many of the crew trekked from Champaign to Indiana to participate in the filming process, including Hays, the producer on this movie. Rebecca Bedinger, from Ippatsu Salon in Champaign, is pictured (right) working with Tom Sizemore’s hair. Chris Lukeman (videography), Myles Beeson (production coordinator and still photography), and Nick Mustille (camera and electrical), all from Champaign, were also on the set for filming.

The day I dropped by, they were filming in the historic Ohio Building in downtown Terre Haute, Indiana. While Ventura sat filming his scene among the crew and an array of hot lights, Hays toured the set to make sure everything went smoothly. The scope of his role as a producer at an independent studio is broader than a producer at a major studio, but he “love[s] the whole aspect of it from script to screen…[and putting] the puzzle pieces together on how the movie is going to be made.”

In polite Midwest fashion, Lukeman and Beeson showed me around the set between takes and talked about the cooperative spirit of the film community in Illinois. One example of this is the Red One camera loaned to Shatterglass Studios from another company for filming. Mustille explained that the Red One camera shoots a quality in between HD and film, allowing higher resolution than one would expect for a small studio.

Ventura compared working on this film to working with larger film studios like Twentieth Century Fox, with a professionally run set and standard operating procedures. One thing wasn’t quite standard operating procedure, though. The independent movie set was small enough with only a few dozen people around that within 20 minutes of my arrival, most everyone recognized me, so I didn’t need a press pass. But as I stood upstairs taking photos of the set and the film crew, I noticed someone handing out press passes to extras who were playing members of the press in the movie. The irony did not escape me that the fake press (pictured below) received press passes and prop cameras while someone from the real press walked around unbadged, taking photos of the fake press.

Like many artistically inclined people, the team at Shatterglass Studios has a “day job” when they’re not making feature-length movies. But unlike some actors who wait tables or writers who teach to pay the bills so they can do what they love on their own time, Boyce and Hays still get to direct and produce films during their day job, just a different kind. On location in Champaign-Urbana during the past few years, Shatterglass Studios has filmed commercials for the University of Illinois, Carle, and other local businesses. “We try to be more cinematic, as far as making them look more like film, rather than commercials,” said Hays.

Boyce and Hays briefly considered moving the company to a more film-centric city like Austin, but Hays noted that in a smaller, “community of artistic people” like this one, an aspiring studio encounters a cooperative spirit rather than a competitive one, both among filmmakers and businesses. He mentioned his appreciation for the encouragement the studio receives from Mike Ross, the director of the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois, and local business owners, like Cody Sokolski. Hays said, “I’ve never been in a community where you meet people, and they ask, ‘What can I do for you?’ so when we meet people, we try to do the same thing.”

Catch Leading Ladies on the big screen at the Art Theatre in Champaign this week, or wait for its release on Netflix and Amazon on September 13.

The Drunk was filmed over the course of 4 weeks in Terre Haute, IN (July 11th – August 13th) and was co-produced and managed by Shatterglass Studios producer, Brett Hays. Over the course of the 4 week shoot, many articles were published not only locally, but nationwide.

Here are links to some of the news stories:

• ABC News: Ventura Joins Sizemore in Cast of ‘The Drunk’
• Access Hollywood: Ventura Joins Sizemore In Cast Of ‘The Drunk’
• ‘The Drunk’ ready to start filming: Producers announce Tom Sizemore has joined cast
• “The Drunk” begins filming in Terre Haute
• Inside ‘The Drunk’ – Movie written and directed by local men now 2 weeks into shooting
• Valley residents turn out to be part of ‘The Drunk’
• Film crews wrapping up production of ‘The Drunk’ (interview with Brett Hays)
• What would Debs think?
• Champaign has a movie studio? (article about Shatterglass Studios)

You can see more information on the film as well as behind the scenes photos on their Facebook page

I have to say, it was another year of fantastic TED talks and the footage looks fantastic. Our hope is that the conference will become an annual event that grows in attendance and prestige each year. There is NO better setting to show off the amazing research and innovation happening in our community than TED.

You can see an example of one of the talks as well as a link to all of the videos for the conference here

You can see a list of all sponsors here

Shatterglass Studios was formed a little over 5 years ago from the imagination of a few (visionary) people. These individuals might have had different things in mind when it came to where they saw Shatterglass’ future, but the one thing they knew was that they were a part of something bigger than themselves.

Over those 5 years, Shatterglass has been honored to add numerous other talented individuals to the Shatterglass “family”. These individuals are the ones that have made Shatterglass who they are today. If there is one thing we have learned over the past 5 years it’s that you need to surround yourself with a great team. I once heard a great quote a few years back that said: “You have to do it by yourself, and you can’t do it alone“. This is so true in our industry. Most of the things that we do on a weekly basis rely on the fact that we have surrounded ourselves with individuals we totally trust.

We are at an exciting time right now where we are actively searching for new members to join our team. There are SO many exciting things that we have lined up this year that we feel so honored to be a part of. We can only imagine what amazing things are on the horizon for not only us, but for all of the people we consider a part of the Shatterglass “family”. It’s exciting for us to see people who we have worked with on past projects go on to work on some fantastic projects. We’re always trying to find ways to incorporate them into every project we work on. It’s an exciting industry we work in where we can choose the people we want to work with, socialize with and grow with. We’re thankful for a great past and excited for what the future holds.

Where did the idea for “Sugar” come about?

Sugar was called “She Broke it Off” before, but the theme of sugar being a catalyst for fantasy was there from the get go (it used to be about a beautiful neighbor girl coming to the door and asking a lonely apartment dweller for some sugar, happens all the time right?). The idea came about when I was talking to a girl with the hopes that she would break up with her current boyfriend. Why not right? We all have hopes and dreams, sometimes our hopes involve relational situations, like girls breaking up with their boyfriends or getting out of that miserable job. When I lived in Chicago I waited tables and had to do odd jobs to get by, pay for rent and for classes at Second City or Improv Olympic. The perfect world situation for me would be to get paid to do what I love, thus, “Sugar” is a film about a catalyst (sugar) that allows one to realize their dreams, in the case of the story in the film, people at the restaurant ask for sugar, and well, nothing short of magic ensues.

How long did it take to get “Sugar” into production?

Sugar went into production April 29th 2007, I wrote it in Sept ‘05, and our friend Brett Hays said he wanted to make it in October of ‘06. So it took around a year and a half to get this puppy made, but really it took four hard working months, thousands of emails, and exorbitant cell-phone bills.

What were some of the obstacles to getting the film made?

There weren’t a lot really, to be honest, the only obstacle was me, and thinking that I couldn’t make a film. When Brett said; ‘lets make this film,’ the process started. When I was going around looking for a director, a friend of mine said; ‘why don’t you just direct it?’ So, I directed it. Finding a good cinematographer was tough until I decided to get in touch with the best DP in town; Pete Biagi. Sometimes, mostly, it seems, the hardest people to get in touch with are only the hardest to get in touch with people everybody thinks they are unapproachable, it only takes a phone call, an email, a letter, or a knock on the door, and you’ve found yourself one more step closer to your goal.

How did you go about casting your actors?

I did a Sears commercial that David O’Connor cast in 2006, I never knew he’d be interested in casting a film for me until I asked him. He cast a film Nate Brown and I produced for Brian Billow in 2006 called “Bodega,” turns out he was happy to work for us again a year later. So David cast Sugar, he brought in a few essential people, namlely Hanie Lynch, the beautiful girl, he brought in Paul Perroni, who I had met the night before, and they both absolutely nailed the roles. The rest of the cast I had met through the comedy or auditioning scene in Chicago; Brian Petsos, Brian King, Brad Morris, Chris Sullivan, Greg Hollimon, TJ Miller, Alyson Lyon and the rest, all good friends, and the shoot was a blast.

What was the experience like writing, acting, directing and producing all at the same time?

It was great, I had a blast, I came prepared, and most most most importantly, I was surrounded by GREAT and VERY TALENTED people. Rachel Reichard who learned producing so fast, and got the job done. Santino Stoner, Pete Biagi an insanely talented cinematographer, and of course Matt Corrado my first AD who met with Pete and I multiple times before the shoot to make sure we were all on the same page with our shot list.

To me all of those roles work together, and compliment each other if done the right way. I wrote the script, I produced it with my team of producers, I knew the role inside and out, with the shoot dates nearing, I just organized the shots I had in my mind during meetings with Matt and Pete, so the film was produced, and directed before the camera starts rolling.

Was the finished product much different than your original vision? If so, how? And did it meet or exceed your expectations?

Exceeded, but it was not different than my original vision, does that make sense guy? I knew with the team we had around this project, the cast, the crew, the producers, the entire post team, and the overal energy about the project was just so positive that we could not go wrong. Graham Metzger did a fantastic job on the edit, John Michaels on the titles, the Color from Ken Wald, all of them are ridiculously talented. When you have a great team, and a positive atitude around a project, you can’t fail, thank God.

Who or What are some of your inspirations in the world of film?

My mom is a drama teacher, I grew up watching movies, going to theater, and really not partaking, but observing the whole ball game, it wasn’t until college that I really started acting, and then after school that I knew I wanted to make films. My other influences are my sister and bro, Cassie and Chase, my friends, improv, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Woody Allen, Chris Farley, John Hughes, Coppola, Spielberg, The Graduate, Good Will Hunting, The Blues Brothers, Bob Dylan, and my Dad.

What’s next for Alex Beh?

I’m making my feature script into a motion picture, acting in a movie this fall, and continuing to keep my head down and keep pounding it.

Watch “Sugar”

See the credits for “Sugar”

More of Alex Beh here:
Alex Beh’s Official Site
“Sugar” Official Site
Follow Alex Beh on TWITTER

The review can be read here