Hollywood Reporter Alums Brown & Dugan Win Best Behind The Scenes Award at 168 Film Festival

LOS ANGELES, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- "Focal Lengths: The Making of 'Connectivity,'" an "Entertainment Tonight"-style featurette produced by cameraman for The Hollywood Reporter's Starz coverage of movie premieres Pete Brown and co-produced by the publication's former associate international editor Scotty Dugan, was named Best Behind the Scenes documentary in the 168 Film Festival (www.168project.com), it was announced Saturday by John David Ware, founder of the timed filmmaking competition.

The "making-of"-format entry in the eight-year-old faith-based event -- whereby contestants have one week (or 168 hours) to make a film based on randomly assigned Bible verses -- concentrates on the marital drama "Connectivity," which its cinematographer Brown, former producer at CA/AZ/NV TV25 and a camera operator on the first film shot on the RED camera ever to win a festival ("Stained"), and associate producer Dugan, veteran photojournalist whose pictures have appeared in the Associated Press, Encyclopedia Britannica, TV Guide and the Boston Globe, helped produce with a group of actors. Directed and produced by actor Elena Beuca and based on Jeremiah 7:13's summation over not heeding godly advice, the narrative film is a parable about a husband who appears to be on the verge of cheating on his wife.

"Pete and Scotty's BTS is a top-of-the-line piece of work that, besides flattering the film it focuses on, captures the spirit of what our festival is all about," said Paul e Luebbers, executive director of the 168, whose judges including "X-Men" producer Ralph Winter and "Touched by an Angel" writer-producer Brian Bird had bestowed three other nominations on "Connectivity": Best Actress (Natalie Irby), Supporting Actor (Dave Rogers) and Original Score (Suzan Brown, Jerrold Launer). "Its professionalism rivals that of any news magazine in syndication, and it plays like a special report on the next Steven Spielberg production," Luebbers added.

The pair's doc, which, with "Connectivity" itself, unspooled at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA, during the weekend festival (Mar. 26-27), was a lark Brown pursued on the chance he might have a few days after post-production on the main film to package an entertaining look at the oft-painful process such competitions as the 168 and the 48 Hour Film Festival engender.  Once A-list camera operator Ron Vidor ("Jaws," "Lethal Weapon") joined the "Connectivity" crew with Steadicam in tow for a hospital E.R. scene featuring "The Practice" star Michael Monks and Sean Ross, Brown suspected he had as compelling a BTS as "Connectivity" was a finalist entry.

Brown, whom Beuca elevated to producer after marveling at not just the ex-Mohave Community College film instructor's reel but his contacts and work ethic, conscripted BTS videographer Ognjen Milovic and Dugan, who, as a former K-ORANGE radio host in Orange County and TV anchor in Boston, suggested the BTS "go EPK contemporary," Brown recalled him saying, with real in-studio interviews.  The two quickly landed editor Wilson Stiner, "whose emphasis on thru-line helped the show find its voice," Brown said.

SOURCE Dugan & Story