“Small World,” a short film created by Ari Voukydis ’97 and his writing partner Mark Sarian, is currently being featured in an online competition held by JibJab.com. The two co-wrote and starred in the film, and they are competing for the chance to win $10,000 and funding for future work.
The contest winner will be based exclusively on online voting done by website visitors. It has been narrowed down to six movies, which, according to the rules, all take place in police stations.
In addition to the money, if Voukydis’s film wins he will receive a development deal that would be an opportunity to continue his work in film.
“You get paid a stipend to come up with ideas and work on stuff, the company would pay us and they’d get first rights to whatever we produce,” Voukydis explained.
Voukydis is working with John Landis, the legendary director of “Animal House,” “Blues Brothers,” “Coming To America,” and other hits.
“Landis directed every good movie except ‘Ghostbusters,’” Voukydis joked.
Voukydis explained that the contest has been something of a fluke. He and Sarian originally submitted four different short films, but only decided to include “Small World” as an afterthought.
The film depicts a prisoner and a police officer who discover that they were high school classmates while involved in an armed stand off.
The competition has been a learning experience for Voukydis, who was not actually a film major at Wesleyan.
“I’ve learned so much that I thought I knew [such as] how to make a good comedy sketch work in two and a half minutes,” he said.
The original submission, in fact, was almost twice as long as what is currently being aired on JibJab.com.
“They were like, ‘five minutes or less,’ and kept saying ‘make it shorter.’ It was frustrating because they said the contest was for five minutes, not two and a half. In the end, they are just short enough. I’m glad now because it makes it totally different,” Voukydis said.
A government major, this project is a career change for Voukydis. He has worked in journalism in New York City for several years, including a job as the man in the “Ask a Boy” column in YM Magazine. According to Voukydis, because film is so accessible, he was happy majoring in a different subject.
“A lot of things in film you can teach yourself. [You will] never read Howard Zinn on your own, but you will watch good movies. So if you don’t get into the film major you are fine. That’s my fortune cookie wisdom,” he said.
Voukydis dabbled in comedy while at the University. He was the founding editor of a no longer active comedy magazine, “Grail,” and the captain of improv troupe Desperate Measures.
“I’m happy to finally add to that Wesleyan comedy network. It’s cool I have something good, Wes-wise, that I can be proud of. I want to get out the Wesleyan vote for this thing,” Voukydis added.
Stressing the money and professional opportunity at stake, he was passionate about reaching out to Wesleyan students. Right now, his short is in second place. According to Voukydis, they only need 100 votes to pull into first.
“I’m not afraid of losing, but I’m afraid of losing by ten votes and being like, ‘What could I have done?’” Voukydis said.
Voukydis is also looking for support all along the east coast.
“I’m hoping to cash in on a lot of east coast pride [since] the first place group is from Los Angeles,” he said. “[It’s] a little Biggie-Pac battle, in the comedy world!”
The film, called “Small World,” can be viewed on JibJab.com. The contest will run until Nov. 16.
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