‘Speechless’ to Premiere at 2013 Cleveland International Film Festival
By John Benson
Considering how petty high schoolers can be, Roxanne Lasker-Hall [pictured above; far right] is the kind of teenager everyone would be jealous of at school. Not only is she a junior at Cleveland School of the Arts but she also won a national writing competition where her submission is being turned into, oh, a short feature film directed by Hollywood’s Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, Æon Flux, Girlfight).
The competition was sponsored by Scenarios USA, which is a national non-profit organization that uses writing and film to foster youth leadership, advocacy and self-expression in students across the country. Lasker-Hall’s story Speechless was written under the topic of “What’s the REAL DEAL about Gender, Power and Relationships?” It may fall shy of The Avengers film shoot, but seasoned film professionals from Greater Cleveland shot the Hollywood-quality short film a few weekends ago at Cleveland Heights High School.
Cool Cleveland talked to Cleveland resident Lasker-Hall, 16, about this unique experience and what it’s like to know her story-turned-movie will be premiered at the 2013 Cleveland International Film Festival.
Cool Cleveland: First of all, how did you get involved with the Scenarios USA competition?
Roxanne Lasker-Hall: It started when my creative writing teacher introduced the curriculum to me and we did a bunch of little activities to explore the issue of gender, power and relationships. After that there was a writing contest. I wrote the story “Speechless” and entered it into the competition. I submitted it around January and I think I found out around March. Everyone said it was so realistic and moving.
In a nutshell, what is “Speechless” about?
A kid trying to find his voice and going through the motions of trying to learn how to be able to speak. I guess it all kind of started when I was doing research on this actual topic itself on the Internet. I came across some people’s actual stories they were confident to share online. I read it and was so moved by those stories and I just knew that no one, unless they were looking, would find these kind of things so I decided to try to write one that would be worthy for their tales to be told.
Why were you looking up this subject online?
Something that I always think of when I think of power is the idea of what it means to be a man or woman. And I usually tend to write from a woman’s point of view, and I decided I would try to do something that would be a little more difficult and go for a male’s point of view.
Looking back at the creative process, was it hard to write “Speechless?”
It was really hard to write because I had never been in that position. So writing it was kind of, “What would a guy say” and “How would a guy react to this or that?” I really enjoyed it. It was actually really emotional to write.
The story also involves dealing and concealing a sexual assault. That’s pretty deep. Shouldn’t a teenager like yourself be writing about Justin Bieber or Rhianna?
As much as I love Justin Bieber, those are things I don’t tend to write about because those things don’t make people uncomfortable. And those topics don’t really create a lot of change because they’re discussed so often.
Are you happy with the final “Speechless” script?
I had tons of say on the script, actually more than I expected to because kind of…. I’m the underdog. The people who I’m working with have been in this business for years, so I thought my opinion wouldn’t really count as much, but I’ve been asked permission for anyone to edit anything in my script. It’s been really nice, and it’s so cool to work with people who know what they’re talking about because they’ve given me great ideas.
What do you hope people take away after seeing “Speechless”?
I’m kind of hoping that people can become a little more open minded in a way about the topic and aren’t afraid to think about the things that we don’t tend to think about. The things we don’t think about are things that really need to be talked about because they can be prevented and they can be helped. And I’m just kind of hoping people see it and understand what I’m trying to say.
So looking ahead, what are you thinking about studying in college?
Before the competition I was thinking about law school. Now that I’ve gone through the motions and got to see behind the scenes of moviemaking – even just the technical things you don’t think about, the lights and camera – it’s become more appealing. I’m starting to think this could be something I could be interested in pursuing.
Finally, are you planning on writing any more film ideas?
I’m hoping so. I have lots of ideas in my head. I just have to get them down.
For more information, visit http://ScenariosUSA.org.
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio. When he’s not writing about music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his two boys in basketball, football and baseball or watching movies with his lovely wife, Maria. John also occasionally writes for CoolCleveland.com.