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MEDIA CONTACT:
NBC Entertainment Publicity, 818/840-3870
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BURBANK,
CA (September 22, 2006) –
The first annual NBCUniversal Short Film Festival announced its
winning filmmakers at the Los Angeles finalist screening Wednesday,
September 20 with the $25,000 grand prize to produce a pilot presentation
for NBCUniversal Digital Media and pitch meeting with creative executives
Rogue Pictures, Focus Features, and Universal Pictures awarded to the
filmmakers of “Equal Opportunity.”
The "Comedy Short Cuts" Festival is just one of many programs that NBCUniversal produces to encourage diversity both in front of and behind
the camera. This festival was also a celebration of the recent launch
of www.DiverseCityNBC.com, the online community that serves as a hub
for diversity across all aspects of the entertainment industry spearheaded
by Damona Resnick, Director of Talent Diversity Initiatives for NBC.
The NBCUniversal Diversity Initiative was launched in collaboration
with Kevin Seldon and Keldof Marketing, who also co-produces the Short Film Fest. Keldof
is a specialty-branding firm that creates and executes a wide array
of marketing initiatives and partnerships for its clientele. Comedy
Short Cuts was co-founded by New York Comedian Wil Sylvince (comedian,
“Comic View,” “Def Comedy Jam,) and a writer for Damon
Wayans’ “The Underground” for Showtime.
“Comedy Short Cuts was a particularly exciting endeavor for us
as it integrated the many facets of our diversity efforts by seeking
out projects with diverse production team, casts, or theme. We have
brought our diversity initiatives to the next level with this event,”
said Resnick.
“Equal Opportunity” was presented with the “Best Film”
award by D.L. Hughley, star of NBC’s new show, Studio 60 on
the Sunset Strip. The team behind the film, Camille Mana (producer),
Sameer Asad Gardezi (writer), and Howard Duy Vu (director) were awarded
a $25,000 grant to produce a pilot presentation for NBCUniversal Digital
Media and pitch meetings with Universal Pictures, Focus Features, and
Rogue Pictures.
In addition to the Best Film category, selected by a panel
of top NBC development executives, honors were also awarded for Most Creative Short
and Best Character by a panel of judges (pictured upper left with
festival producers) comprised of Eddie Steeples (My Name is Earl),
Leslie David Baker (The Office), Jon Hurwitz (co-writer, Harold
and Kumar Go to White Castle) and Stephanie Allain (producer, Hustle
& Flow & Focus Features’ Something New). Both categories
were awarded to the video titled “Virus” by filmmaker Laura
Hayes (pictured bottom left with host DL Hughley).
The voting window is still open for the online audience award, and is
currently being showcased on the film homepages of both Blockbuster.com
and MySpace.com. The Award will be decided by online viewers at www.DotComedy.com
and will be announced on October 2nd, 2006.
The festival also marked a growing partnership between NBCUniversal
sister networks' Bravo, SciFi, USA Networks, and Telemundo, as well as Rogue
Pictures, Focus Features, Universal Pictures. Corporate partners included
Blockbuster, Avid, Entertainment Partners, Final Draft, Coby, Palm,
TvTracker.com, Puma, Baseline StudioSystems, Without-a-box, Goodstorm,
The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Starwood Hotels.
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