When Canton High School junior Zach Levenson tried out for a scriptwriting contest, he was up against some serious competition. Hundreds of writers came up with ideas for the contest at sneakonthelot.com, many of them well-respected film professionals. But in the end, Levenson’s idea ended up on top, and now it’s being turned into a 10-minute, $20,000 movie.
When Canton High School junior Zach Levenson tried out for a scriptwriting contest, he was up against some serious competition. Hundreds of writers came up with ideas for the contest at sneakonthelot.com, many of them well-respected film professionals. But in the end, Levenson’s idea ended up on top, and now it’s being turned into a 10-minute, $20,000 movie.
“I’m really proud, obviously,” said Levenson, 17. “The guys who ran the contest said I had the least experience of anyone who applied, and they still thought my idea was the best.”
Levenson’s idea was for the movie to center around a famous thief and the reporter who covers him, with a twist ending: the thief and the reporter are the same person. Filmmakers at the website tweaked his idea so the thief/reporter has a split personality, but they still invited him to write the script.
“They changed the story a little bit, but I was still very active in the scripting process,” Levenson said.
Levenson already won this contest, but his new film is up for another prize, one that Canton residents can help him win. The movie is going up against other films at sneakonthelot.com, and if his gets the most votes from viewers, he’ll get to go to California next summer to make another $20,000 picture.
“I’m number one right now, but that has to hold up until Dec. 31,” he said. “So my neighbors in Canton can be a huge help.”
Levenson said Canton High School’s film classes really prepared him for this contest, which will in turn help him get into the college he wants to go to: either Emerson or Chapman. Levenson also went to California last year for a filmmaker’s conference with visual arts teacher Edward McDonough, an experience Levenson said really helped him get serious about film.
“These are great programs, but they’re hard to get into and they’re expensive,” he said. “But with these experiences, I should have a better chance.”
Because of the new film, Levenson will get an entry on the Internet Movie Database, a fact that he can put on applications to prove he has experience and success as a filmmaker. The filmmakers at sneakonthelot.com also have told him he has a chance at getting a job with them when he graduates.
“This has been very motivating for him,” said Zach’s mother, Janice Levenson. “It’s something he really wants, something he really wants to pursue, so it drives him to get into the best schools.”
Levenson’s passion is for film editing, but he got into scriptwriting because none of his friends wanted to write the movies they make together. But he knows the experience in scriptwriting has helped him grow.
“There are a lot of things I didn’t know, and things I didn’t know that I didn’t know,” he said. “So this won’t just help me in applications. It is also helping me learn about something I really care about.”
Peter Cox can be reached at pcox@cnc.com or by phone at 508-967-3512.