Southern Shorts Guidelines

Judges

Our Judge pool consists of industry professionals who have worked on short films, features and TV series and all have IMDB credits or work in video production or education. Any notations Judges may make on their scoring sheets will be relayed to the submitter via email along with their score sheet. For reasons of security and integrity, we do not disclose which Judges scored which films.

Festival Director Stephen P. Sherwood is an award winning writer, director and editor with more than 60 credits on IMDb, including feature films and TV series. He runs a bi-weekly scriptwriting workshop and has written a three-part sci-fi/fantasy mini-series, three features and more than a dozen shorts to date. He has produced four short films which have all been shown in multiple festivals and have won several awards.

Stephen P. Sherwood

Kevin L. Powers is the former Program Director for the Gwinnett Center International Film Festival who is also a writer/producer/director of feature and short films. He’s been working in the independent film industry for over fifteen years and has worked on various shorts, features, web series and documentary.In addition to the SSA, he is also working on a new feature film to be filmed in Georgia with local cast & crew.

Kevin L. Powers

Daniel Espeut graduated Cum Laude from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a BFA in 2009. He then began to self-fund his first feature film "GreasePaint." In 2014, GreasePaint was named an “Official Selection” of the Sarasota Film Festival and the Bare Bones International Film & Music Festival. He became the first documentary filmmaker in the history of that festival to win one of their most prestigious awards, Indie Auteur of the Year.

Daniel Espeut

	Steve Anderson is a skilled and seasoned Director of Photography and Colorist who has worked on everything from features to TV shows, commercials, industrials and shorts including the series "America's Castles" and the documentaries "A Man Named Pearl," and "Restore America" among many others.
Steve Anderson

Ted Rubin hae been a Producer on many local productions. Having worked in almost every facet of film-production, he has effectively collaborated with cast and crew members on their production and personal needs. Combined with his ability to create efficient and professional sets, standing for nothing but hard work and professionalism, He has created a rolling trend in the Atlanta circuit hoping to bring Hollywood standards with a southern hospitality

Ted Rubin

Regina Partee is a graduate of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film, and a graduate of Full Sail University with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. Regina is the writer, director and producer of three local musical stage plays, multiple short films and has written several feature length screenplays. She is currently working on her first middle grade children’s book.

Gina Partee

JimmyLee Smith is a writer, producer, director and actor of web series, features, and short films. He is also the organizer of Chattamovies (a movie maker networking group), Open Screen Night, and a former organizer of FilmAtlanta. He’s been working in the independent film industry since his acting debut in the movie Zombeak! which shot in Georgia in 2004. He is also helping produce a new movie filmed in Georgia with local cast & crew which is in post production now.

JimmyLee Smith

John Schmedes is an experienced actor and writer with more than two dozen credits on IMDb including the Robert Redford movie, "A Walk In The Woods," the TV series "Devious Maids," and other award-winning features and short films. He is also the Director of Tell Tale Theatre, whose mission is to promote imagination education through original plays and workshops while dramatizing vital social themes, serving disadvantaged audiences, and establishing effective partnerships.

John Schmedes

	Dana Babin is a post-production veteran with more than 35 years under his belt, and began his career as a Cinematographer in the U.S. Navy. He has worked in multiple genres including comedy, documentary, drama and corporate. He is always refining the art of story telling while maintaining objectivity.
Dana Babin

Ragnar Keil is a professional screenwriter and director, being originally from Germany, but since more than ten years living in Montreal, Canada. He has written and directed several short films that have travelled and are still travelling around the world and been selected by many international film festivals. In his past he also has worked as a producer, production manager and unit manager in the film and TV business in Quebec.

Ragnar Keil

Ondie is a professional actress, director, film and video producer, assistant director, filmmaker, casting director,choreographer and makeup artist specializing in special fx makeup. She is the owner of A Heart&Soul Production Co. She co-owns 9Cop productions promotion and special effects team along with co-partnership with 5 other film production companies. She has been in acting and dancing for over 20 yrs with a degree in theater, dance and film.

Ondie Daniel

Deborah Childs, began acting in the eighth grade and found the theatre to be a home base. In 2000, she started acting in the Atlanta area and performed in seven plays that first year. The seventh play, Peachtree Battle, was a huge hit and became the longest running play in Atlanta theatre history. She is most proud that multiple directors call her first when casting and, for her, the more varied the roles the better. She is also on the Executive Board of Georgia Production Partnership (georgiaproduction.org.)

Deborah Childs

Tom Rowland is a writer, producer, director and editor with forty years of experience in the production industry. He graduated from New York University with a degree in film and television. He has been involved in program development for cable TV and has also been active in the writing and production of television documentaries. His film, “The Tennesseans, A Volunteer Legacy” appeared on PBS in 2015. Recently, he has written several screenplays and plans to go into production with his feature film, “Eli’s Blister,” in the spring of 2017.

Tom Rowland

Ron is an experienced Writer, Producer and Director at his company Piñon Tree Productions. His films include the dramatic short "No Chopsticks," the documentary "Windy Lou's Last Mission," and his feature drama "Manhanttan Crack'r." He has several feature and short scripts in development and plans to produce another film this year. He spends much of his time travelling when not at his home in Atlanta or North Carolina.

Ron Vigil

Originally from South West Georgia, John Prescott moved to Atlanta in 2005. After getting settled into the big city life, John focused on school. This lead him to attend Art Institute of Atlanta for Digital Film and Video production where he discovered his passion for screenwriting. In 2010, John won at Campus Movie Fest, Best Picture for his short film “Oversight”, then in 2011 won Most Popular for the short “Roman.” Since then, John has written more than 15 feature screenplays.

John Prescott

C. Nathaniel Brown is an award-winning writer, producer and director based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founder and CEO of Expected End Entertainment, a full-service media and entertainment company, he has produced more than a dozen short films, documentaries, and a feature film. He has written more than 30 screenplays, and has won Best Screenplay at the TPN Film Fest and Best Screenplay and Fan Favorite at the Christian Film Festival for a feature script entitled "Miracle’s Baby."

C. Nathaniel Brown

Britt Pitre is an independent filmmaker, author, and currently serves as the Department Chair for Design and Media Production at Atlanta Technical College. He has written, produced and directed three feature films, several shorts, a documentary and a TV pilot. Several of his films have played internationally on the festival circuit, and his second feature “No Exit” garnered a “Best of Fest” award.

Britt Pitre

	Leonard has worked overseas in video production as a producer, director, vidoegrapher and editor. He is also experienced as a narrator and writer and has worked as a freelance camera operator in Orlando. Most recently, he has working as a certified teacher, teaching video production to students for the Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida.
G. Leonard Conner