Senior Nick Urbanowicz sits in an office, surrounded by both movie producers and the principal, as he watches his idea of a movie spring to life before him. His movie script, which has brought them all here, is going to be used.
Urbanowicz has had an expressed interest in movies ever since he was a kid, and that has carried over to him now being a young adult.
“All my life, ever since a young age, my dad has shown me a lot more advanced material and film than what other kids were given at a young age,“ he said.
This script was not made because Urbanowicz had a class project due or because he was bored. This short movie, In Schools Like These, is a passion project for him.
“It takes place in a principal’s office with a kid who has been a very powerful image for the school in his intelligence and athletic abilities,” he said. “He got into a very severe fight at the school, and the administration has a bone to pick with him. It’s a sense of morals and the right thing to do, and it challenges a lot of problems I see within the school system.”
He is not new to the performance scene, as he has done many theater shows both in and out of school, where he has used this experience to learn more about the movie and theater production world and to meet new people in the space.
“I recently did an out-of-school production, Long Christmas Dinner, with the Bread and Wine theater company, and there I met a cast member who was heavily a part of the local film associations, and he was more than happy to help with any project,” he said.
The cast member he met was Pietro D’Alessio, his soon-to-be movie producer. D’Alessio has worked on many movie projects, including a few productions for Netflix. D’Alessio met with Urbanowicz and was impressed with what he saw.
“I see some doing others’ online content, but not many [young adults] who write their own projects,” said D’Alessio. “Nick is unique in that he is talented, smart, focused, hard-working, and committed to his craft, free of ego, and welcomes feedback.“
Even though Urbanowicz’s first copy of the script was not in a producible state, he kept at it, impressing D’Alessio once again.
“I was inspired by his willingness to do the work to make his own project,” said D’Alessio. “He was willing, and still is willing, to always do what must be done to make his idea even better for the production of his film.”
This dedication not only inspired D’Alessio but also HHS Principal David Williams.
“I think what impressed me most was Nick’s perseverance in getting the script written, because his producer was telling me that Nick first submitted one that was handwritten and just wasn’t good,” said Williams. “Then [he] gave him some feedback and told him, ‘No, you can’t turn this in like this. Here is how it has to be.’ Nick made several iterations before it was finally acceptable.”
In fact, Urbanowicz is being nominated for an award for his perseverance on this script. He will be presented with this honor in front of the entire administration at HPSD’s main office.
“It [The award] was given to me by Mr. Williams, after he heard from my producers,… about my persistence, my work ethic, my passion for the craft,” he said.
However, this doesn’t mean he is done revising and changing the script. He is always reworking it to be just right.
“Right now, we are doing a lot of revising to the script to make it have a more three-act structure, which means it follows an introduction, a climax to the scene, and a resolution to what that scene is,” he said.
Currently on the producing side, D’Alessio is in the casting process. Over 140 people have applied for the role. Filming is set to take place at HHS over a weekend in April, with a real film crew of 12 to 15 people coming to prepare the set, actors, and cameras.
Urbanowicz has already gotten ideas to use this film as “reel”, or a clip of footage for actors to send to production studios as a resume of sorts, as well as displaying it publicly.
“We are going to be taking it to festivals to be seen,” he said. “We are trying to cut the script down … to fit between 10 minutes or less, so it can be put into more festivals, and possibly even be produced for a full-length film or even a show. Anything is possible.”
Urbanowicz is graduating this year, and he will have a real short film under his belt. No matter what he does or where he goes, this script and the idea of theater as a whole will stay with him throughout his whole life.
“This idea that you can be anything you want to be on the stage and you can show that to other people… [and] it helps others cope with their own lives was something that really gave me a lot of inspiration,” said Urbanowicz.
