SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE PRODUCER ELEVATES SHORT FILM WINNER
After competing against 150 other aspiring directors over several months and across multiple rounds, Lauren Marie Pena has been named the 2007 Breakout Filmmaker by Project Breakout, the premiere online video competition community www.projectbreakout.com
Ms. Pena, a twenty-one-year-old film student from Studio City, California, earned the respect of both the online audience and the panel of expert judges who were jointly responsible for selecting a grand prize winner from the pool of fifteen finalists.
While her original short film, Easy Money, earned Ms. Pena her place in the finals, it was her next competition entry, Christmas Confessional, which catapulted her into the opportunity of a lifetime for a young filmmaker. After winning the competition, Ms. Pena traveled all-expenses paid to London, England to work with Academy Award(R) winning producer David Parfitt and veteran director Andy Cadiff on the set of their current production, A Bunch of Amateurs.
In being advised of her victory, Ms. Pena said, “Project Breakout has given me the opportunity of a lifetime and winning this award has really helped solidify my career in film. Not only has it given me more credibility in my directing skills, I have gained the correct exposure an aspiring filmmaker needs.”
When asked about his involvement in the Breakout Filmmaker competition, producer David Parfitt said, “We are delighted to support Project Breakout and we hope that Lauren’s visit to our set will help prepare her for a great future as an independent filmmaker.”
Gregory Sukornyk, Founder and CEO of Project Breakout, added, “We have been amazed at the contestant and audience turnout for our inaugural Short Film competition. Lauren has distinguished herself in the eyes of the online audience and our expert panel of judges as a filmmaker on the rise. We are thrilled that Project Breakout is continuing to help budding talent and look forward to giving more people a leg up by offering them real career-advancing opportunities.”
The Breakout Filmmaker short film competition was open to aspiring filmmakers from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Registered fans from around the world were eligible to vote for and comment on contestants during each round of the competition. In excess of 500,000 votes were cast over the course of eight weeks.
