Fresh Filmmaker winner Sean Voysey Olson selected May Chaplin’s contest-winning short script, entitled “AND THE WINNER IS…” Congratulations to Sean and May!
For the first time this year, SWW collaborated with IFP-MN to combine our Script-to-Screen short script competition with their Fresh Filmmakers production grant. In this model, aspiring directors submitted proposals to direct one of the top three scripts with production support from IFP-MN, Minneapolis Community & Technical College, and Screenwriters’ Workshop. Production takes place over the Summer, with target completion date in September, and finished short film to be shown at the SWW Annual Meeting in October. The final film becomes the product of both the writer and director who then decide how to market, distribute, or enter into film festivals.
Sean has made two short films since he dived into filmmaking two years ago. His first film, BROTHER, won the “Best first-time filmmaker award” at the MELSA Quiet on the Set film festival. His second film, BREAKFAST FOR DINNER (Co-directed with his wife, Daniella), won numerous awards on the Midwest festival circuit. Sean lives in Apple Valley with his wife and daughter, Maria. He enjoys cooking, PC gaming, and anything related to 90s progressive rock.
May Chaplin has been writing screenplays for over twenty-five years with eleven feature scripts to her credit and numerous shorts. She has recently won second place in Screenwriters’ Workshop Minnesota script competition with her historical drama feature “Vindication”. She won third place in this same competition and the Morrow Fellowship with “Bounders”. She was a finalist in the McKnight Fellowship for Screenwriters with “Supposedly Empty”. Her screenplay “The Palmist” which was optioned by Rio Productions was a finalist in numerous competitions including America’s Best Screenwriting Competition, Minnesota Independent Film Fund, Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum, Hollywood’s Next Success Screenwriting Contest and the Morrow Fellowship. Her winning short, “And the Winner is…” was a semi-finalist in the BlueCat Fellini Award short competition.
