With $10,000 in the bank and a great idea, J. Galen Wilson will step behind the camera to create short film The Third Bandit with David I. Strasser.
Wilson, born and raised in Fort Langley, worked together with Strasser on the film’s trailer brief to enter the Storyhive contest.
“It wasn’t the easiest project we’ve ever done,” Wilson said of filming the dark themed trailer locally. “We had to call in some favours.”
Storyhive, A Telus initiative, gives local film creators funding and distribution opportunities. The Third Bandit was one of the 15 digital shorts finalists from B.C. Each finalist was awarded $10,000 to produce their film and present it to compete in a voted process for the overall winner of the contest.
Strasser and Wilson have worked on projects together before and Wilson found despite the project’s challenges, the flow of the work went well, even describing it as easy-going.
“Collaboration would be the key of why this actually worked out,” he said. “We pulled together the contacts we’ve made.”
Wilson’s love of film began at an early age.
“I’ve been interested in film, I suppose since I was 12 when my parents got me a small cassette camera,” he noted. “My fascination with film is the frame. That’s what I love about movies. That visual aspect, I can’t get over it.”
The original script for The Third Bandit came from the film’s lead actor, Jesse Pratt who plays the brother of a sibling pair of runaway teens who travel across the B.C. Coastal Mountains only to get entwined with a cult leader and a disgraced cop.
“The script has been developed and redeveloped by David,” noted Wilson. “We’re still pumping out new drafts as we go along.”
The short will be produced in January, filmed in the Lower Mainland.
When asked what winning Storyhive would mean to his career, Wilson responded, “It would be an excellent launch. Just the right amount of attention to launch our careers in all the right directions.”
See the film’s trailer at www.storyhive.com and click on digital shorts. Winners of the finalists will be announced in March 2016.