Team Steps Up For Another Short Film

This month, our team begins pre-production on a short film for Denver’s 48 Hour Film Project. We will write, shoot, and edit a film in 48 hours as a part of this international script-to-screen competition.

“I’m super excited,” said producer Scott Takeda. “Brock Sherman will be directing this one, so I’ll get to be a lead actor. I’ll also be focusing on casting and locations.”

Recent national-Emmy winner Lori Kay Allred is also our producer, joining long-time collaborator writer Rob Palmer. The competition kicks off August 2nd when teams throughout Denver will be given a required object, line-of-dialogue, and a character to include in the film. Teams will also draw a genre out of a hat.

In previous years, we have been nominated for Best Film three times and won Best Special Effects (2010 – Albuquerque), Best Actor and Special Effects (2011 – Albuquerque), and Audience Favorite and Best Use of Line (Denver – 2011).

6/15/13 UPDATE – Audrey Walters (ABC’s ‘Killer Women’) has signed on to be a lead actor in our film. We are super excited to have Audrey as part of our cast. She recently shot a supporting role with Wes Bentley and Vinessa Shaw in ‘Things People Do.‘

6/19/13 UPDATE – Joe Bocian (‘Roswell FM’) has also signed to be a lead actor in our film. Joe brings great comedic intensity to his roles and is a long-time collaborator with this creative team having co-starred in our 2011 short film ‘The Rapture.‘ We’ve also come to agreement with cinematographer Dave Klein to shoot our film.

7/10/13 UPDATE – Sydney Ackman (‘College Pranks’) joins the cast as a supporting actor. Producers are excited that she brings a sarcastic Millennial energy to the cast. 

7/16/13 UPDATE – Producers are thrilled that Bob King has agreed to AD our film. Bob is a member of the DGA and one of the most experienced assistant directors in our region.

7/19/13 UPDATE – Nick Ian Holmes (‘College Pranks’) joins the cast as a supporting actor. He brings antic comic timing with a dark edge. 

7/29/13 UPDATE – Actor Catherine McGuire (‘Those Who Can’t) rounds out our cast as a supporting actor. She brings a tough-minded authority to her roles. Catherine recently filmed an Amazon Studios pilot for the Nix Brothers called ‘Those Who Can’t’ starring Nikki Glaser and the Growlix comedy trio.

International Award for Takeda

Scott Takeda just won a Bronze WorldMedal from the prestigious New York Festivals International TV and Film Competition for a documentary short that he directed through his production company, Takeda Entertainment. 

Now in its 55th year, the New York Festivals recognizes the world’s best creative work in advertising, feature films, and TV programming. The TV and Film Awards were presented at a gala this week at the NAB convention in Las Vegas. Other winners included the BBC, Sesame Street, NBC for its Olympics Coverage, and HBO.

“Once again, I am so grateful that our talented team was recognized by the judges at the New York Festivals,” said director Scott Takeda. “The film was a rewarding and collaborative effort of a lot of people who were working at the top of their talents to craft an emotional story of a woman living with cancer. We dedicate this award to her ongoing journey.”

This is Takeda's fifth WorldMedal, previously winning a Gold in 2002, Silvers in 2011 and 2008, another Bronze in 2002. He also received four additional nominations.

Our Latest Shorts in Festivals

Still image from ‘The Rapture’ with cast members Summer Olsson, Amy Baldwin, Joe Bocian and Mike Ostroski.

Our latest short film is are the middle of their festival run and getting good results. "The Rapture" screened at the 2012 Film Festival of Colorado as an official entry.

"I was really happy with the audience reactions," said screenwriter Rob Palmer. "The audiences were packed, and the crowds were very enthusiastic and got the dark comedy moments."

"Rob was smart to craft a story with the audience in mind," said director Scott Takeda. "The Rapture was topical with all of the recent news stories about prophets predicting the end of the world and our tip-of-the-hat to the long-term anxiety caused by our current economic crisis."

Earlier this spring, "The Rapture" also screened at the Taos Shortz Film Festival - one of the top shorts festivals in the nation.

"I was very excited about this," said Takeda. "Our executive producer Rachel Hroncich was able to pull some strings to get our film in front of the programmers, and they liked our irreverent style."

2011 Emmy Nomination

Although it’s somewhat of a cliché to say "it’s an honor to be nominated"…in our case, it’s really true. We are very honored to have received a 2011 Emmy nomination in the highly competitive community affairs segment category of the Heartland Chapter’s Emmy competition. Our moving documentary short was directed by Scott Takeda through his production company Takeda Entertainment. Takeda directed and wrote the documentary, and BI Worldwide was the agency. Our entry is competing with two other documentaries for the top honor. The winner will be announced at the 25th Anniversary Awards Gala in late July.

This is the sixth time in the past seven years Takeda has received an Emmy nomination, and his ninth total nomination to date. So far, he's been fortunate to have won it five of those times.

"The Rapture" Wins Two Awards

Hip-Hip-Hooray! We are celebrating after our dark comedy The Rapture was named a Top-10 film in Albuquerque’s highly competitive 48-Hour Film Project competition. Besides our nomination for Best Picture, our film won a technical award (Best Special Effects) and an artistic award (Best Actor for Mike Ostroski’s performance as Reverend Little).

(Clockwise) "Best Actor" winner Mike Ostroski with screenwriter Robert Palmer, executive producer Rachel Hroncich and actor Summer Olsson at the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque, NM. (July 2011)

“These awards are special because they recognize some talented folks,” said director Scott Takeda. “The Best Special Effects is a huge nod to Brock Sherman and our stunt coordinator Amy Dalness who found creative ways to blend live-action stunts with green-screen animation.

Actor Mike Ostroski responding to a special effect we created to make it look like actor Courtney Bell was being thrown back by a massive electrical shock in the dark comedy short "The Rapture."

“And what can I say about Mike Ostroski except that the award is well deserved. He absolutely held the film together and was our lead in every sense of the word. He allowed me to tell the story of this dysfunctional congregation through his eyes.”

Kudos to executive producer Rachel Hroncich for gathering an amazing crew. And a standing ovation to our talented cast.