Frederick Levy's research into the lives of successful Hollywood directors revealed one thing to him - that behind every accomplished director is a well thought-out plan.
"I would see again and again, and I couldn't believe it, how somebody could make one short film, and then were being trusted with $50 million to make a feature," he said.
"I wanted to know more for my own knowledge."
Levy is scheduled to show eight film shorts Friday night at Western Nevada Community College. The short-film evening is scheduled to being at 7:30 p.m. in Marlette Hall of Western Nevada Community College, 201 West College Parkway.
Levy compiled his research in a book called "Short Films 101," which came out in May 2004 and is available on the Barnes and Noble Web site, barnesandnoble.com.
His book, about making a short film and launching that into a career, covers traits common to successful directors.
"The (directors) had several things that they shared in common with one another, which is one of the things I'll talk about this weekend in Nevada, in addition to showing what I think are some of the best short films, some of which launched film careers," he said from his Hollywood home.
"People don't even get an opportunity to see how directors got to be famous," said Katrina Wilson, executive director of the Tahoe-Reno Film Festival.
"They only see famous directors at award ceremonies in their tuxedos and with their big homes. They don't get to see that they started out pounding the pavement, that every successful director has a short film. This is an opportunity to see how they got started."
Wilson, who said she would love to have a location in Carson City during this summer's film festival, has known Levy since he came to Reno in 2002 as part of a screenwriting conference.
"Frederick is very supportive of what we do," she said. "This is our first time having him back again."
Levy has written three other books and has run a company for 21Ú2 years called Management 101. He hand-picked this weekend's films.
"It wasn't just that (successful directors) had a short film," he said. "It was that they had a script in hand. So that after someone saw their short, and said, 'Wow, what do you have next?' they could hand them a script."
The film festival cost is $15 and benefits the Tahoe/Reno Film Festival, which has scheduled its four-day film show for Aug. 24-28 in Incline Village, Sand Harbor and Reno.
A showing is also scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Nonprofit Center at 948 Incline Way in Incline Village. For information or to purchase tickets, call the Tahoe/Reno International Film Festival at 298-0018.
- Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.
If you go
Film shorts to be shown Friday:
• "Battle of the Sexes," by Eric Kripke
• "Daughter," by Eduardo Rodriguez
• "Inside," by Trevor Sands
• "George Lucas in Love," by Joe Nussbaum
• "Natural Selection," Scott Lebercht
• "Peep Show," by Charlie Call
• "The Right Hook," by Joe Nussbaum
• "Save Virgil," by Brad Abelson
On the Net
- For a brief description of each short, go to:
www.t-riff.org/screenings.html
biography
Frederick Levy was an associate producer for the 2002 movie "Frailty."
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