Most Recent 50 Kisses Updates

Filming a Kiss Goodbye by Baz Hodson
Every now and then an online competition arises which allows you to push your creative abilities on a self funded production. It’s always a welcome change from the day to day grind of making a buck, which doesn’t get any easier when you actually rely

50 Kisses Masterclass 1 – recutting your film
As part of 50 Kisses we have invited filmmakers to act on our feedback and that of the community. Already, one filmmaking team, Sweet Home Films in LA has made their film over 20% shorter, fixed some audio problems and overall radically improved their work.

‘Colton’s Big Night’ – a production designers view
A month ago a friend of mine, Sebastian Solberg, asked me if I wanted to be production designer on his next project, Colton’s Big Night, and of course I said yes. I wanted to be a part of this production for a number of reasons.

And the screenplay award goes to…
Amidst the excitement and exhilaration of this weekend’s London Screenwriters Festival, we announced the winner of the 50 Kisses Screenplay Award to a packed Hall in the Keynote speech. Who won? “Enough” by Kirsty McConnell (Read script here) Screenwriting Legend John August said of the

Bringing the Script to life- an Actors opportunity too by James Kirk
“Some people want it to happen; some wish it would happen, while others make it happen.” I came across this quote only months ago in between another sales call at a very corporate company where I was doing my day job, selling my soul to

Coltons Big Night by Sebastian Solberg
I first heard about the 50 Kisses competition through Chris Jone’s blog. I loved the idea of making a crowd sourced feature film and was looking for another project to sink my teeth into. A two page script, I thought ‘how hard can it be’?

Unbearable…
“What was I thinking?” “Why did I think we could pull this off?” “I need to be at back work in 6 hours…” “I wonder if they’ll have bagels on set tomorrow morning? All these things were rattling through my head going into the 14th

Enough by Simon Straub
The first desicion we had to make was choosing a script. It was rather easy because we had certain limits, no money, not much time to prepare and the cast had to be easy available. “Enoungh” gave us all that. A simple but strong story,

Close Encounters at 1.15am…
So it’s 1.15am and I look over to see the shop manager looking sleepily at the clock. I had told him we’d be finished filming by 11pm and we’ve still got a couple of shots to do. I look at the crew but they’re working

Shooting ‘A Ghetto Punk Romance’ on RED Epic
I heard about the 50 kisses competition through a friend and decided to read a couple of scripts out of curiosity. When I read Lloyd Morgan’s “Ghetto Punk Romance” I instantly felt inspired. It was one of those moments that you can’t quite descibe. To

And the winnner is…
So the votes are in and we can now reveal the top ten scripts for 50 Kisses. The winner will be revealed at the London Screenwriters’ Festival next week. So to be clear, this is just the best screenplay award. There will still be awards

A German Dream Date
We chose Dream Date because we found the script charming and witty. We could relate as parents to the storyline, and as filmmakers, well, we are all about the humour. So far in our films, we tend to stretch ourselves and try new things. So

What Do Writers Do? By Peter Carruthers, writer and filmmaker for ‘Never Forget’
As soon as my girlfriend told me about 50 Kisses, I knew I was going to go for it. I’d never entered a writing competition before but this seemed like a no brainer to me. 2 pages? Anyone can write 2 pages in a month,

Standing with giants: Guest Blog by Shaun Bond
I have seen a worrying trend in some of the short film competitions I’ve seen over the last few years, where creativity loses out to high production values and polish. Often this is because the competition is held by a company looking to use the

Q and A with Sweet Home Films’ Evan and Kerry Marlowe
How did you hear about the 50 Kisses Competition? Kerry: I met Chris Jones back in 2004 at a barbeque at Ealing Studios. He was talking about his book ‘The Guerilla Film Maker’s Handbook’ and how to be an independent film-maker, this information has stayed

No Excuses
Maureen: For a filmmaker, I always find myself making up excuses not to make films. ‘I don’t have money’, ‘I have to work a full time job’, ‘I don’t have time’. I went to film school thinking: ‘I can write, but I can’t direct’. I

Jo Buckman on her RomZom ‘You Used to Bring Me Flowers’
It’s this funny thing being known mostly as a Producer rather than a writer. Truth is I write a lot. I’ve got a drawer full of short film scripts ready to go, a TV pilot, a documentary and a feature outline. It’s just that while

The 50 Kisses competition changed my life by Nathan Gower
There. I said it. In all its seemingly hyperbolic glory, that first sentence is completely valid and one that I will stand by, regardless of whether or not I ever have the pleasure of seeing another of my scripts make it on the “big screen.”

How to Crowdsource a Film: Chris Jones on the Omnibus Movie, 50 Kisses
By Randy Astle, first published on www.filmmakermagazine.com The Internet and digital filmmaking tools have opened up new possibilities of crowdsourcing material–Life in a Day, Declaration of Interdependence, One Day on Earth, even the interactive Star Wars Uncut–and given new life to the omnibus/anthology film format. The latest project to adopt the form is 50 Kisses, a

Watch trailer for 50 Kisses winner Starè Yildirim’s next film
From Starè… The trailer of my last film “Lovers of the Other Side” is competing at Krakow Film Festival, can u watch and if u like the trailer, can u click on the vote button next to the trailer? Big hug to my cast and crew 💕 lead actor is again non actor, just a

What I learned producing 50 Kisses by Gail Hackston
I can’t even begin to tell you how much producing 50 Kisses has enriched my life. But I also must tell you how much a pain in the arse it has been too! Like all film projects the buzz of the start quickly fades when you are knee deep in contracts at 2am and find

Can an android feel love? Project ‘NEIL’ from ‘50 Kisses’, an open screenwriting and filmmaking laboratory
Watch the eight films produced from the single two page screenplay ‘Neil’ by Nigel Karikari. A few of the 50 Kisses scripts were very popular with the filmmakers, including ‘NEIL’, which resulted in eight films being made from the same script. Here are the eight films back to back. It’s fascinating to compare each,

50 Kisses ~ The Contest ~ The Feature ~ The Premiere in Houston, Texas by Laura Koons
What an incredible journey for those who made it from script to screen. My own script was not chosen, so why in the world would I want to host a premier? Humbly, I declare I had a lot to learn and 50 Kisses was a great teacher. What the contest allowed for many of us

50 Kisses World Premeire video goes live!
On February 13th 2014, crowdcreated feature film ‘50 Kisses’ was simultaneously premiered and released in the UK. At a capacity screening at the Genesis Cinema, cast, crew, friends and family gathered to celebrate in style. ‘50 Kisses’ took just under two years from concept to completion with nearly two thousand scripts submitted, one hundred and

REVIEW: CHARLIE’S CAHIERS DE London/Exceeding expectations hugely as the Guardian points out
Review by Charlie Wiseman from IMDb This put it among the top rated films of the week. Is cinema at a Crossroad?Taking a step back for a more controlled step forward, in a crowd funded feature, acting as a catalyst for change? I used to write culture reviews for the Aga Khan appearing in India,

REVIEW: Roses are bled, Violets a strew, how wonderfully refreshing, to see something new!
By Roger Smith from IMDb The film finished and we were invited by the good shepherd on stage to go to the IMDb page to let the world know what we thought. OK so I have started this review in reverse, so let’s go back to the beginning. I’m an American in London and I

REVIEW: A sign post for a future wave of film makers and a mile stone in British Cinema…9 out of 10
By Alex Heaton from IMDb When I first heard of the concept for the 50 Kisses film (50 writers, 50 different production teams making 50 different films about a kiss, mostly taking place on Valentines Day that would form into one feature film) I have to admit I was completely sceptical. How could it work?

50 Kisses Audience Awards Arrive: Reflecting on ‘Beryl’
As we package up the audience awards for 50 Kisses, it has caused me to reflect on the strengths of the winner, ‘Beryl’, written by Sarah Page and made by Capital City. What struck me at the premiere was just how much the audience loved the film. I knew it was good, but I wasn’t

The ‘50 Kisses’ Audience Award Goes To…
I am delighted to announce the winner of the 50 Kisses Audience Award. At the premiere, we handed out voting slips and the results are below… So BIG congratulations to screenwriter Sarah Page for her script for Beryl, and team CapitalCity for their film. We have lovely trophies for you both and we will be

’50 Kisses’ Plays Gallup, New Mexico
On the evening of February 13th, here in Gallup, New Mexico, we held a pot-luck dinner and screened “50 Kisses” in the private showing room at the El Morro Theatre in downtown Gallup. A number of local filmmakers and film enthusiasts were in attendance. Twenty people turned out for our little premiere, which was perfect