Screening Process

Screening Process (A Loser’s Guide to Love)

2004 ♦ 7:34 ♦ produced by Geoffrey Long ♦ directed by William R. Coughlan

Kevin can’t seem to catch a break in the romantic arena, and his poker buddies aren’t afraid to let him know it. Over the course of a friendly game, they recount his romantic misadventures, and a pattern emerges — all of Kevin’s concepts of romance derive from 1980s-era films. Which might be all right, except that Kevin can’t seem to execute them the way they come off in the movies. Whether he’s reenacting his favorite scenes from “Pretty in Pink,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Top Gun,” or “Say Anything,” he always manages to end up with egg on his face. That is, until he meets just the right woman...

Screening Process (A Loser’s Guide to Love) — a romance — was Tohubohu’s official entry into the 2004 National Film Challenge competition. The short was written, shot, and edited over the weekend of October 1–4, 2004. Its first theatrical screening was at the Warehouse Theater on Tuesday, November 9, followed by a showing as part of Washington, D.C.’s Art-O-Matic festival on December 2.

TOHUBOHU PRODUCTIONS presents “SCREENING PROCESS (A LOSER’S GUIDE TO LOVE)” starring SHAWN “FELT” FELTY STUART SCOTTEN NELLO DeBLASIO BJORN MUNSON RICIA WEINER featuring MEGAN STAUBITZ PAM W. COUGHLAN and LAUREN WALSH edited by WILLIAM R. COUGHLAN, ADAM YOUNG, SHAWN “FELT” FELTY and GEOFFREY LONG director of photography ADAM YOUNG executive producer WILLIAM R. COUGHLAN story by TOHUBOBU screenplay by NELLO DeBLASIO and LAUREN WALSH produced by GEOFFREY LONG directed by WILLIAM R. COUGHLAN

“Screening Process” really proved not only that we had learned from our previous attempts, but that we were able to implement effective solutions to our prior shortcomings. A cohesive writing team, detailed shot planning, rigorous preproduction and location scouting, and an even larger pool of qualified talent — both in front of and behind the camera — all led to a resulting short that was not only rewarding for those of us involved, but well received by audiences as well. Of course, this production was by no means without problems of its own, from transportation issues, to poor division of labor, to casting worries (only one of the actresses from our previous productions was available — a bit of an obstacle when you’ve drawn “romance”), to postproduction glitches. As with “Screening Process,” we continued working until the last possible moment — despite a schedule that, in theory, should have given us some breathing room. But in the end, we’ve got what I believe is our best work yet. On December 2, “Screening Process” was officially named one of the top 15 films in the 2004 National Film Challenge, and on December 17, it was awarded the “Best Romance” award.