Where Are They?

Will Hartman still supernaturally making films

Will Hartman, two-time winner of the coveted Palm de Grease, gave DCS a great plug while speaking on a film panel at this year's South by Southwest.

In 2007, Will's "Easy Pickins" took top prize. In 2008, Will was back to win again with his zombie comedy "Food for Thought". Both "Easy Pickins" and "Food for Thought" were ambitious films for DCS. With stunts and visual and practical effects, he pushed the boundaries of what could done with limited time and resources. Just goes to show you what determination, dedication and a pound of flesh can do.

Both films continue to play at film festivals around the world. Easy Pickins' won a jury award from the Chicago International Children's film festival last year. Food for Thought has played a lot of great festivals, including South By Southwest, Newport Beach, Clermont-Ferrand and (soon) Barcelona.

Since Will's 2008 win at DCS, he has worked as a writer-director on various projects in TV and commercials. He is currently one of the writer-directors for an upcoming CG-animated TV project for Marvel/Disney. Last year he sold a supernatural comedy pitch to FOX Broadcasting with Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine, The Office). In the commercial world, he's been writing-directing spots for Mattel, Shop 'n Save and a new video game from Ubisoft, among other things.

Will says he's glad Duke City Shootout is coming back. "I'll always be a fan and supporter of the festival, and thankful for the subsequent opportunities that have come my way because of it".

Jennifer Buntjer is Bakin'

Since producing "Food for Thought" in the 2008 Duke City Shootout, Jennifer has taken a turn in her career direction. Instead of being force-fed film industry stress, she has decided to feed the mouths of industry with delicious biscochitos. She has created the brand new New Mexico Biscochito Company featuring four different kinds of Biscochitos: The Traditional, The Toasted, The Cocoa Diablo and The 3 Oranges. She whips up these concoctions in the South Valley Economic Development Centered and her partner is her industrious, entrepreneureal 16-year old son.

Even better, Jennifer has promised to send along some of her mouth-watering delights to one of our 2010 Duke City Shootout events!

Adam Durant, the new dad

Since producing "Mantrap" in the 2008 Duke City Shootout, Adam has directed and produced many other pieces including "Domestic Training", a karate spoof movie and "The Sitter" which won the Guild award for best Horror/SciFi film of 2009. Adam was also part of the Bernalillo County Arts Outreach Film workshop program directing seven of the pieces.

Adam was 1st Assistant Director on the locally produced independent feature "Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer" as well as feature movies. Most recently Adam has become a proud father to Mariella Patricia Durant and could not be happier.

Writers Scott & Paula Merrow Still Going Strong

Scott & Paula's 2007 Duke City Shootout entry, "The Spider Experiment", had a good run on the film festival circuit. It was an official selection in 18 film festivals all over the country and in Mexico and India. It won a Special Jury Award at Worldfest-Houston.

Since "The Spider Experiment", they've had one other screenplay produced. It's called "Mustang Magic", and it won a contest sponsored by the Ford Motor Company and Filmaka.com. Mustang Magic was previewed nationally on NBC-TV during the "Knight Rider" TV show. (You can watch it on the Filmaka.com website. Just type "Mustang Magic" into the search window on their homepage.)

We really enjoyed our DCS experience. (So much so that we plan to enter a couple scripts this year.) Neither of us knew anything about making movies, so we were pretty nervous about directing "The Spider Experiment". Thank God for the mentors!!! (Ralph Keyser, Paul Gallegos -- great!) So, even though it was a bit of a whirlwind week (working with a classroom full of 10 year olds and a camera that kept overheating), it turned out to be a lot of fun. And now we know a LITTLE bit more about directing a movie, but more importantly, we got a lot of insight into the process -- what needs to happen to turn a script into a movie. Our writing has improved a lot as a result.

Darlene Hansen active in New Mexico Film and Theater

Darlene Hansen has worked the Duke City Shootout not only as a casting agent but produced two Shootout films, the latest being the 2007 film "Young Gun".

Since her first job with the Duke City Shootout 10 years ago, Darlene has been working as an actress, casting director, dancer, director and producer. She is now working as the Musical Director on "Because We Can" a Vaudeville/Burlesque show that will be performed in July of 2010 plus dancing with a group called "Hot, Live and Otherwise". Darlene is also producing a reality show with Chris Ranney and Lucas Corvatta. She says her reality show will bring work into New Mexico for many of the talented professionals living in the state.

Darlene believes that we have all the resources in New Mexico to work the movie/TV industry and to continue to expand the state's reputation as one of the best places to film in the United States.

Shootout Winner Making A-List

Way back in 2002, when the Shootout was still called Flicks on 66, writers Steven List and Astrid Neal won the Palm de Grease and the Audience Award for a little comedy called Shibubu. Since then, List has steadily made inroads into the business. As List noted in a recent email, “I expect to be directing my first feature in 2009, and without question, my experience at Flicks was a key factor in giving me the confidence to pursue that goal.” And New Mexico will still play a big part in his plans. Read more to find out what Steven’s been up to.