Set Photos From "Dysfunctional Dynamics"

Actor Sydney Ackman goes through final-looks while on set at the Comcast Digital Media Center in Centennial, Colorado (August 2013)

Denver's 48 Hour Film Project competition for 2013 has begun. Our group is one of 43 other Denver-based teams that are competing to write, shoot, and edit a short film in 48 hours. All teams met during the evening of Friday August 2nd to draw genres out of a hat and to get their required elements. 

Actor Audrey Walters studies her lines during the shoot of the comedic short "Dysfunctional Dynamics." (August 2013)

We drew “Crime” as our genre. Our required elements included a prop (apples), a character (Virgil Gerbins – uncle), and a line-of-dialogue (‘Why don’t you do it?’). Producer Scott Takeda had an art show during the same evening, so we used that location and started shooting immediately after the competition started.

"Thank goodness our screenwriter Robert Palmer works fast," said producer Lori Kay Allred. "In about 5 minutes, he improvised six quick lines for our actors so we could be shooting during a very busy First Friday art walk evening."

We did the rest of our shooting the following Saturday in the comfortable sound stages of the Comcast Digital Media Center. Brock Sherman was our director.

Editor Ryan Welborn begins a rough cut assembly while we still doing principal shooting at the Comcast Digital Media Center in Centennial, Colorado (August 2013)

We are titling our film “The Dysfunctional Dynamics" and have submitted a hurried rough-cut into 48 Hour Film Project for the competition. 

"We're all tired, but we know we've got a better film in the can," said Allred. "So we are now working on a few more days of post production for a director’s cut.  With any luck, we'll have that ready for festivals this fall. We're specifically hoping to get into the Film Festival of Colorado, and possibly Aspen Shorts."

National Daytime Emmy for Lori Kay Allred

Time to pop the champagne again. Lori Kay Allred just won a National Daytime Emmy for her work on the Food Network show "Guy Fieri's Family Reunion." It won in the top prize in the Outstanding Special Class Special category.

Allred is a writer on the show which is produced by Citizen Pictures out of Denver, Colorado. This past weekend, Fieri and the producers were at the awards banquet in Los Angeles to pick up the award. 

"I am so proud of Lori and congrats to our colleagues at Citizen Pictures," said filmmaker Scott Takeda. "Lori's talent for storytelling is unparalleled, and now it's been recognized at the highest level. It’s well deserved.."

Congrats Lori!

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."