In many ways, participating in the 48-Hour Film Project is the opposite of what we usually do. Instead of championing and facilitating the right for each and everyone to have a voice and tell his or her own story, we brought a diverse group of people together to craft and tell one just one story in a weekend. I wanted Public Access of Indianapolis to participate in the 48-Hour Film Project because I thought it would be more fun than say, Cable Franchise Board meetings and FCC hearings, give us an opportunity to work with new people, and create momentum for the production of more community-based media. My hope for the weekend was for everyone involved to have had a good experience and to have learned something ?and to have a completed short film that wouldn?t embarrass us. Yes, as much as I believed in the value of the experience, I still did not want to be embarrassed by the finished product.

Nick Hess, Kathleen Dobie, and I reached out to acquaintances, friends, and family to assemble a group for the weekend. In the spirit of public access television, we welcomed all, especially the young and inexperienced. I turned to my 17-year old niece, who in turn brought in her crew of writer/actor friends. I had no idea of what they were capable of in terms of writing for film, but I knew they had written and performed works that had drawn fans and recognition. I knew they had far greater skills than I in telling a story. They were going to stay with me for the entire weekend, so I figured I could let them and any other writers do their thing Friday night while I got some much-needed sleep!

But on Friday night, we quickly hit our first challenge: nearly everyone had come to be involved in the story creation. Eighteen people wanted to have a voice in the story and script development, and many wanted screen time. Almost half of our group was teens, and most of us were inexperienced at filmmaking. And as the hours wore on, it became quietly and painfully evident that our lofty goal of including the young and inexperienced (or old and inexperienced, in my case) was being challenged by the dictates of time. One of my friends cautions that you should never pray to become more patient: you don?t magically become patient; you have to endure something where patience is your only option for relief. I had wanted to learn something, and unfortunately by the end of the first night we had a lot of lessons learned: we should have started off by setting expectations of what happens in a participatory group process on a tight deadline, and gain agreement on how the tough decisions would be made. We should have reminded everyone of the value of going through the process and the learning curve that comes with working with new people on a team. We should have reminded everyone that we appreciated their participation and contributions, even though a lot of great ideas and sometimes great work would not be used, and that not everyone with acting skills will be able to have screen time or lines in a short film.

But we didn?t start that way. We just jumped right in, even before Nick arrived from the kick-off where our genre was selected. By the end of Friday evening, I was afraid that we would lose those who seemed disappointed that their ideas or acting did not end up being part of the final story. But, for the most part, we did not. We had way more talent, real talent, involved than we could possibly have made use of in a 7-minute film made in 48 hours. And by the end of taping on Saturday evening, I knew that we had tapped into some of that talent to create something we could be proud of. Many of us were excitedly talking about what we could do next time, and there were lots of exchanges of respect and appreciation.

But all those positive feelings were forgotten as I dealt with the nerves of screening our film during the festival. Ron Keedy, owner of Key Cinemas, mentioned that concession sales were very low at the two screenings and I surmised that it was because all the filmmakers were too nervous to eat. I was amazed by what all the local filmmakers completed in a weekend. The film that won the jury award, A Killer?s Dozen, and the film voted as audience favorite, Floyd, were truly outstanding among a group of good films. There is a lot of talent in Indianapolis, well proven by the fact that my dad stayed awake through all 17 short films during the late night screening.

We did not win any awards, but I was very pleased with what we produced and the challenging way that we did it. It was a very rewarding experience and the lessons learned will strengthen what Public Access of Indianapolis does in the future. And for that, I thank everyone who was involved.

Andrea Price is President of the Public Access of Indianapolis Board.