MSU Student Film Premieres Next Week

An elite group of students have been given a challenge: create a half-hour fiction film together over the course of two semesters using professional equipment and a $2000 budget, under the supervision of professors Jeff Wray and Bob Albers. This select group of Media Arts, English and Theatre students are a part of the Fiction Film Production specialization.

“Jeff and I created this specialization because we knew there were a ton of students that wanted to
make films,” Albers said. “The specialization is three years old and every year the films that the students
make get better and better.”

The students in the specialization this year first met in a directing class taught by Wray, that only Fiction
Film specialization students may take.

In Fall 2012, the students met again to begin their long journey as one group of filmmakers to create their own fiction film.

During the production phase and post-production phase of the film, Wray and Albers assigned specific
roles to each student. Some roles required more than one student, helping inspire even more
collaboration. Andy Beaudoin, Dennis Corsi, and Sarah VerStrat, the trio of writers for the film, had never written a film together prior to the specialization.

“Working with two other writers was challenging, but it was a great experience to toss ideas back and
forth and learn from the other writers,” Corsi said of the collaboration. Corsi is also the post-production
supervisor of the film. 
Once writing for the film was completed, the next four months were devoted to shooting “Married with
Benefits.” Last minute casting changes, film set fallbacks and illnesses were among the challenges the
students had to overcome to complete the film.

Fast-forward to April 2013 and the students have sold out the film’s April 24 world premiere. In addition to having an additional screening on the Michigan State University campus at Wells Hall in room B122 on April 29, the students are preparing to submit “Married With Benefits” to film festivals nationwide.

“Married With Benefits” is the end result of the unique journey the students took in the specialization. The
film is about Mary (Deb Fernandez) and Scott (David Mackson) attempting to spice up their marriage by
experimenting with an open relationship. Upon letting a bizarre assortment of people into their lives,
they discover that it is not as simple as they had hoped.