While helping on the set of a thesis project being coordinated by a group of upperclassmen film students, freshmen Anthony Abaci learned a surprising fact: less than a year away from their college graduation, the classmates were only just meeting and getting to know each other.
Why were Dodge students waiting so long to collaborate with one another? Anthony began to form an idea. Instead of spending years of film school working self-sufficiently, why not bring together a group of passionate students from his own class and begin large team projects right away? With this thought, No More Glass Productions was born.
“The point is really to make enthralling short films now. We want to make films at the same level that school projects for sophomores and juniors are at. That’s a high level where they have equipment, a budget, and different people working together. We want to start doing that as freshmen.”
The name No More Glass Productions is derived from the two residence halls that Chapman University’s Dodge College freshmen currently live in, North Morlan Hall and Glass Hall. In the upcoming weeks, the group intends to begin producing its first project, a short film called “Bacon Hazing,” written by film production student Annaliese Eisenstadt.
“I just wrote this script for a screenwriting class; I never thought people would be interested in it. When I had the opportunity to pitch it at a No More Glass meeting, to my surprise, it received a great response. I was very touched that even the most talented film makers in this production group were willing to lose any ego to fulfill even the smallest roles in the making of the film.”
“Bacon Hazing,” which will serve as the flagship project for No More Glass Productions, will be shot on the first weekend of December and continue through second semester. Annaliese Eisenstadt has been appointed the project’s director, with Anthony Abaci and Gia Rigoli serving as joint producers. The short film follows the story of a foreign college student named Lizzy who struggles to fit into the American social scene. The British protagonist soon turns to a sorority for a chance at making friends, only to discover that the one she had in mind is actually a frightening cult.
“Starting out, we’re focusing on one film at a time. But we hope to start producing multiple films at once and getting everyone’s ideas and stories out there for people to see,” said co-producer Gia Rigoli. “We all live near each other and have so many resources available to us, there seems no better time to start.”
For more information on “Bacon Hazing,” check out the No More Glass Productions Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/nomoreglassproductions