Thursday, May 24, 2007

Stepping Out
Catching the Waves

By Michael Hixon
(Updated: Thursday, May 24, 2007 10:21 AM PDT)

Avid surfer and El Segundo resident Barry Hatchett hopes to draw amateur filmmakers to the first Beach Shorts Film Fest in August, which will take a cinematic look at surfing and the beach lifestyle.

Even though the festival's Web site, www.beachshortsfilm fest.com, has a submission deadline of Aug. 1, Hatchett said that deadline will be extended. The festival will take place Aug. 23 at the Hermosa Beach Community Center theater.

“I've made a few travel movies from my own trips,” said Hatchett. “I enjoyed making them and enjoyed seeing other people's so I thought this would be a fun idea to just put together an evening of watching short surf films. I wanted to make it a two-part evening where we can show the best of the amateur films and I also want to arrange some professionals to come so they can show their newest preview reels of things they're working on. So that way amateurs get to see what professionals are doing and the professionals can meet some up-and-coming amateurs so everybody benefits.”

All films, according to Hatchtt, will be between seven and 12 minutes in length

“I'm a surfer but I also enjoy diving and kayaking and paddle boarding so I play in the water all the time,” he said. “I thought that if anyone wants to make a movie about hula or paddle boarding or sandcastle building, I thought any beach lifestyle would be fun to make a movie of.”

Raised in Tulsa, Okla., Hatchett moved to Marina del Rey, where his brother had a sailboat, in the winter of 1987. He started working for an independent film company, Concord New Horizons, in Venice, building sets, before becoming a set dresser for television and film. Currently he is on hiatus from the hit ABC show “Criminal Minds.”

“I work for a team of people who work for the decorator,” said Hatchett about his job. “The decorator chooses how the sets will work as far as the furnishings and the pictures and all the details like that. Then we move the furniture, hang the pictures, put the rugs out, set the table, put the magazines on the coffee table and make sure it all gets back to where it belongs when it's done. I work with a very good group of people. We've been together a long time. Most of us came from ‘Beverly Hills 90210.' I worked on that show for nine years. We just went from one show to the next. But that was an amazing nine-year run for us. The show ran 10 years and 300 episodes so it was a once-in-a-lifetime happening in our job.”

Hatchet, who has also worked on “Roswell,” “Judging Amy” and ‘The Guardian,” as well as the films “The Siege” and “The Bodyguard,” said the amateur part of the festival will be in two age divisions - 19 years old and younger, and 20 years old and older.

“I'm hoping a lot of high school and college kids will send in videos,” he said. “Surfing is the main thing but I didn't want to exclude anybody, like boogie boarding or kite surfing, because those things are so interesting. People might get a taste of that and say, ‘Hey, I want to try that.' I didn't know anything about paddle boarding and then I met some people and did it a few times. It's great fun. So if someone comes to the film festival and gets to see the films and go, ‘Oh yeah, I didn't know anything about kite boarding,' it kind of gives a window to a different sport they might want to play.”

For more information on the festival and submission requirements, visit www.beachshortsfilmfest.com.