Filmmaker not short on motivation

Elia Powers

For his recent short film, “The Lost Art,” Scott Peters decided to

write and direct without dialogue.

Still, Peters’ voice -- and unmistakable sarcastic humor -- comes

through clearly over the telephone.

On hearing the news that his 10-minute film had been selected to

play at the Cannes International Film Festival: “I was very excited.

I bought a bottle of gin and went straight for the hills.”

On the small crowds at the three festival screenings last month:

“If you were in town for this incredible event, would you go to a

student showing?”

All kidding aside, Peters, a 1999 Corona del Mar High School

graduate and former Chapman University student, is high on his recent

film, calling it “his favorite.”

“The Lost Art” was one of seven short works to be shown as part of

the noncompetitive Cannes Film Market. Chapman film festival

coordinator Derek Horne entered a handful of student films into the

international festival.

Horne and three professors accompanied the students on a 10-day

trip.

Peters’ sentimental, black-and-white film is set in an

old-fashioned barbershop at no particular place or time. The story is

of a man who visits his favorite barber for a shave each morning.

One day, when the patron is a no-show, the barber is concerned. He

visits the man’s home, where the barber finds his friend using an

electric razor.

The barber has lost his last customer.

“I cried the first time I saw it,” said Ann Peters, Scott’s

mother. “It’s a fact of life. There are people losing their

livelihood because of technology.”

Peters, 24, said he wasn’t attempting to make a social statement.

He calls the movie a “cartoon-like comedy,” though he is quick to

articulate his dislike for labels.

The concept came to Peters after one of his friends visited a

local barber a few years back.

He made the film as a class project while a student at Chapman

University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

Tony Alosi, an assistant professor at Chapman who teaches

screenwriting and film production, said Peters’ strengths as a

filmmaker are displayed in “The Lost Art.”

“He is a natural storyteller,” said Alosi, who had Peters as a

student in numerous screenwriting classes. “He understands something

that is very hard to teach -- the idea of visual storytelling.”

Peters sharpened his filmmaking skills while in high school, when

he took classes at UC Irvine and USC. While at Chapman, he won his

share of awards, including best new filmmaker and best director.

Peters took “The Lost Art” to the Los Angeles Film Festival, the

Austin Film Festival and to various cinema showcases in Europe. The

piece was named Best Short Film at the UCLA Short Takes Festival last

spring.

Peters said he shot the film on a budget of about $1,300. He

enlisted three of his relatives, including his uncle, to fill roles.

The fourth actor was a professional but did the film pro bono.

Peters said the man commuted from the San Fernando Valley each

morning for the filming, which took three days over several weekends

at three locations -- old town Orange, a Costa Mesa barber shop and

his childhood home in Newport Beach.

Peters lives in Los Angeles, where he is an assistant to

screenwriter Sacha Gervasi, whose credits include “The Terminal.”

Last spring, Peters stopped attending classes at Chapman, where he

is only a few credits shy of graduating. Peters, who has aspirations

of being a Hollywood director, said he isn’t sure if he will return

to school.

“I like what I’m doing now,” he said. “I’m concentrating on my

writing.”

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at

[email protected].