Silver Screen Society selects student’s screenplay

By: Monique Bos

Published: Friday, November 17, 2006

Daniel Vang, a junior film and television student at the Savannah College of Art and Design, received a $1,000 scholarship and has the opportunity to earn $2,000 more through a Silver Screen Society program targeted to SCAD students.

The award is granted in three steps. First, students submit a five- to seven-page treatment for a feature-length screenplay set in Savannah. Each year, the society selects a different genre; this year, treatments had to be for a low-budget romantic comedy.

During the annual Savannah Film Festival, students present their entries to a panel of industry judges, who select a winner and award the initial $1,000 prize.

Vang’s treatment, for a film called “Paranormal,” draws on the city’s reputation for ghosts.

“Savannah is known for being the most haunted city in America,” he said. “I wanted to incorporate this into the storyline.”

Vang will receive another $1,000 when he completes the screenplay, and the final $1,000 when he produces a table reading of the script at the 2007 film festival. Last year’s scholarship recipient, Aaron Kablack, produced his table reading Oct. 29 at the festival.

Vang said he is excited about developing the screenplay and believes the project will challenge his writing skills.

“The table read will be a lot of fun. Bruce Dern said, when he accepted his award at the film festival, ‘At the end of the day, you remember the people (characters),’” Vang explained. “Most romantic comedies are character-driven, so if I do my job right, the table reading will have memorable characters you’ll enjoy.”

He added, “Table readings involve little staged action, so one of the things that will have to really stand out is the dialogue. I hope by the end of all this, I’ll be a better dialogue writer.”

Vang said he enjoyed other opportunities at the film festival as well.

“In a way, a little bit of Hollywood comes to us, instead of the other way around,” he explained. “The panels were the best. It’s a good opportunity to see the people who actually do it up front.”

He spoke highly of the training he has received in the film and television department at SCAD.

“I’m really glad I chose to come to SCAD. (Nobody is paying me to say this!)” he said. “We’ve got a lot of talented filmmakers and our facilities are top-notch. Even the professionals who attended the film festival reiterated this. They were amazed at all of the camera, lighting and post-production facilities we have.”

He also has supplemented his classroom projects with involvement in Beecon, the SCAD student television station, where he works as programming director. Vang said that in his year and a half at Beecon, he has helped with most of the station’s original productions, including shows such as “Tilted Windows” and “Chuckin’ It.”

Now, he said, “My job is to decide what goes on Comcast Public Access and the Beecon Web site (www.beecon.tv), work with students to develop new show ideas, and attract student film submissions.”

Being involved in a student media endeavor such as Beecon is time-consuming, but Vang said the learning opportunities are well worth the time and effort.

“Beecon can be quite a lot of work at times, but it has been very rewarding. I know I’m a better filmmaker/collaborator from it,” he said. “You meet motivated people who share your enthusiasm. It’s a great place to get experience, especially for freshmen. It’s the perfect place to get ahead, so that when you reach your upper-level film and television classes, you’re not having to deal with ‘newbie’ growing pains.”

Despite his experience and accomplishments, Vang is humble when he talks about embarking on his film career after graduation.

“I think a lot of film students would like to sit in the director’s chair,” he said. “I’m one of them. Nobody starts at the top, so I’m prepared to take coffee orders.”

However, with the contacts he already has made through the Silver Screen Society scholarship competition, he may not be carrying coffee for long — or at all.

“Fellow students, if you can, submit to next year’s competition,” he said. “Winning this contest has helped me make many contacts within the industry. I get to chat weekly with an Emmy-winning producer!”