Intro to Overture: UCSB’s Future Film Legends Seek Resources and Dangle Carrots

I spoke with Writer/Director Iris Ortega Quevedo and Producer Isabella Leonard about their UCSB Film Studies project; a short, wordless feature called Overture that is already creating buzz. “Student film” suggests the fledgling efforts of young academic cinephiles feeling their way forward. On the other hand we have George Lucas’ THX 1138 [Star Wars], Greta Gerwig’s Hannah Takes the Stairs [Lady Bird, Little Women], Paul Thomas Anderson’s Cigarettes & Coffee [Magnolia, Licorice Pizza], Martin Scorsese’s The Big Shave [Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas],Sofia Coppola’s Lick the Star [The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation] – and a host of other short student films whose artistic insights foretold legendary careers. Overture is positioned to make a splash. 

It’s a matter of Hollywood folklore that P.T. Anderson raided his college fund, maxed out his girlfriend’s credit card and threw in his scant gambling winnings to get his inaugural short film made. The never-ending search for “resources” is a common theme among first-time filmmakers, and the promising Overture is no exception. 

MJ. The teaser you’ve produced for Overture is really surprising – amazing, actually. What is the academic context of Overture?

Isabella Leonard (Producer) [IL]. UCSB’s Film Studies program is heavily film-theory-based, but the course FAMST (Film and Media Studies) 106 is one of the biggest opportunities for students to create a short film from start to finish – as close to a professional level as possible. I think it’s the only class in the film department that’s two quarters long.

MJ. Is it the only class in the film department that actually has hands-on filmmaking as part of the curriculum?

IL. No. There are other courses like LaunchPad, which is documentary-based. But FAMST 106 is the only one based on narrative scripts from the students. We also have to raise all the funding, start an LLC, hire all of our cast and crew, create production schedules, do our taxes, get insurance permits, hire all of our actors… we do have wonderful mentorship from our professors, but we do every single thing on our own. It’s a great, great experience.

MJ. It’s a deep dive into the business as well as the art.

IL. Every member of our crew wants to go into the film industry. A project like this is crucial for our portfolios to be able to launch our careers. And may I call out the actors here? 

MJ: Yep.

IL. Tristan Wilder Hallett, from Missouri, plays Noah. His real-life mom is actually a UCSB alumnus, so they’re coming out in January for our shoot. The Father in the film is played by Sean Smith, a local to Santa Barbara. The Mother is played by Felicia Williams, from Los Angeles.

MJ: Terrific! Thanks, Isabella. Iris, as writer/director, where did you get the idea for this wordless short film?

Iris Ortega (Director) [IO]. I would say I wrote out the rough idea in one day, after listening to “Voilà,” a French song by Barbara Pravi. I don’t speak French, but the song had me feeling so sad, so nostalgic – I didn’t know how to explain the feeling. I couldn’t at all explain the emotion that I was feeling, and I thought, “I will just create a situation that attempts to recreate that feeling.” 

MJ. You created a film that attempts to convey what you felt.

IO. It depends on the medium you feel most comfortable with. You could be a painter or a singer, for instance. For me, I’m just more visual. The only way I can be super accurate is doing something visually, and with music and movement.

MJ. Art is famously subjective, drawing its power from the beholder’s experience of the work. Having said that, is there a baseline message in your film that you may want the viewer to take away?

IO. I just want to express this emotion. Is it sadness? Nostalgia? The viewer can decide if they want to really think about it, want to really feel it. The film is about everyone’s innocence, really. We’re all human, and we’re fragile.

MJ. I understand Overture was selected for production by a panel of experts? Can you explain that process?

IO. Studentscripts are sent over the summer before fall quarter, and it’s very high demand. This year there were 32 submissions. I was in Spain, literally typing for three months and sending emails to this professor: “Hey, when can I submit my script?” Of those 32 submissions, a panel of industry professionals and the professors choose 12 scripts to be pitched. 

MJ. Wow…

IO. On pitch day those 12 students go up in front of the department – anyone in the department can attend. It’s held at the Pollock Theater here on campus. From those 12 pitches, four are chosen by the panel of Hollywood professionals. Then those writers and directors have to start hiring their cast and crew.

MJ. So it’s not just the value of the script as they see it, but also your demonstration that you have the know-how and determination to actually make everything happen.

IO. They take everything into account, especially in the pitch; the ability for you to get it done, the prospect they see for it to be successful in festivals, because you only have 20 weeks to do the short film. So even if the idea is really good, if it’s not something they think you can achieve in 20 weeks they won’t select it.

MJ. Do I understand correctly that Overture is a collaboration between UCSB students and students from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid? 

IO. Yes! I’m from Spain and I’m here this year as an exchange student through UCSB’s EAP (Education Abroad Program). One of the film’s production assistants and my first assistant director are also from my university. Every year people from UCSB will go to our college and people from our college will go to UCSB, and that’s why I’m here.

MJ. How cool is that? Overture is truly a globe-spanning production. To get the film across the finish line, you have funding needs. Isabella, what are they? And please be as specific as possible.

Isabella Leonard. We’ve discovered we have about $2,000 in added equipment costs for our four-day shoot. And because we have a child actor coming out from Missouri, we need insurance for that. It raises our insurance from $500 to $2,000. We need to make DCP files for the festivals, and those range from $150 to $500. [DCP is the file type film festivals require for showing submitted films.]

MJ. Good grief. It adds up.

IL. In total, we’re in need of $7,774. That will allow us to cover our exact expenses for production, to pay our cast and crew who are volunteering their talent, and to cover any other hidden expenses we haven’t accounted for yet, which will most likely come up. A chart that breaks down the funding need is on our GoFundMe page.

MJ. Can donors expect any recognition? 

IL. Yes! For donations of $500 and above we’re offering an associate producer credit on our film. For donations of $1,500 and above, we are offering an executive producer credit on our film. The same goes for businesses or organizations that may want to donate $500 and above. In that case the company’s logo will be added to the end credits of our film. For $1,500 and above, the logo will be added and the head of the company organization will be given executive producer credit.

MJ. Those are serious giveaways.

IL. We really need the money to finish. We have a GoFundMe link (https://gofund.me/7c5d045f) and our Venmo account is @overturethefilm. Anyone interested in donating by check or other means can email overturefilmproduction@gmail.com.  Checks can be made out to Overture Film Productions, LLC. Thank hyou!

MJ. Good luck! Creatives rule.

IL. Hell yeah! Oh… whoops.