by Chris Munzing
The Long Beach native who currently lives in Manhattan is one of five filmmakers selected as finalists in the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival. The five finalists were selected from over seven hundred filmmakers who entered the contest.
These seven hundred entrants were required to submit a short film to be reviewed by a panel of experts and online voters. From this huge number, only twenty-five were selected to go on to the next round. Marro's entry in the contest, "Quality of Mercy," earned him a spot in the second round. The 12-minute film is about a chance meeting between a man and a mysterious woman with deadly consequences. Prior to this competition, "Quality of Mercy" had been an entry in more than twenty-five film festivals.
Those twenty-five qualifiers were flown to Park City, Utah for the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. While at Sundance, the qualifiers took place in various workshops. "We met the people from Chrysler," Marro said. "We learned about their products."
The filmmakers needed to learn about Chrysler vehicles because the ten directors who would be selected for the next round would be required to include either the Chrysler Pacifica or the Chrysler Crossfire in the next short film they were required to make.
The final ten, however, would not be taking part in just any film contest. They were now part of the Extreme Filmmaking Competition in New York City, where they had only ten days to locate, cast and shoot their short film.
Marro's film, "Delivery Boy" deals with a simple errand and the life lessons learned by kids. The film was shot partly at home in Long Beach while using the Country Boy Bakery and Expresso Cafe in his scenes.
"What you focus on is you're constantly moving forward," Marro said about the short time given to make the film. His film was made the next cut and moved into the top five. Now Marro will be moving to Los Angeles for the summer with the other four finalists to work out of offices on the Universal Studios lot.
While in Los Angeles, the finalists, will put together a feature film package. This package includes a feature-length script, a five-minute trailer or a scene from the proposed movie completely located and shot, and a proposed movie poster.
While doing this, Marro and the other finalists will have the benefit of receiving advice and guidance from Hollywood insiders, director Doug Liman (Go!, The Bourne Identity, and Swingers) and Brett Ratner (Rush Hour and Red Dragon).
Marro was enthusiastic about the advice he was receiving from professionals in the field. "It's wonderful to have access to Doug and the other professionals," he said. He added that he had already benefited from Liman's advice on editing his projects.
He called his feature script a "comedy slash drama." "It's about three struggling actors who impersonate cops in New York City for research on a play they're writing about cops," Marro said. "It's in the vein of Midnight Run or Beverly Hills Cop."
He also said that the Chrysler contest is very different than HBO's Project Greenlight, a documentry show created and produced by actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck where they award one writer and one director the chance to make their movie.
Marro believes that the Chrysler contest is more about making a good movie, than about making a good television show about making a movie that may or may not be good. "You have to show your mettle," he said, citing the number of steps and projects necessary to make the finals. "This contest is focused on making a good final product."
His sentiments were echoed by a spokesperson for the Rose Group, a public relations firm that handles the festival. "Even the twenty-five know more than they did," the spokesperson said.
At the conclusion of the contest, Marro will pitch his package to Universal Studios and Hypnotic, Liman's production company, at the Toronto Film Festival. If he is selected, he will be the winner of $1 million to make his feature film, and guaranteed distribution for it.
Marro is confident that his film will emerge as the winner, but this former TV-commercial director will work hard towards his goal no matter what the outcome. "I hope to be making feature films on a regular basis," he said.
A million bucks would be a step in the right direction.
