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Justin
Routt ’98 is adept at juggling his time between two
jobs that couldn’t seem more disparate: tending bar and
making movies. The affable gift of gab associated with bartenders
has
served him well to help accomplish what is seemingly impossible:
to produce a film with practically no budget yet with the talents
of professional actors, directors and others.
An independent film writer and producer,
Routt’s first
film, Clear Cut, will premiere at the Made in Miami Film Festival
on
Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. The screening will take place in the converted
Coast Guard hangar at 2600 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove.
The film revolves around three couples who are struggling with
their relationships.
A “romantic dramedy” shot entirely in South Florida,
Clear Cut—a 30-minute short that Routt hopes to produce into
a full-length $1.5 million feature—cost only about $2,000
thanks to Routt’s relentless persistence to get freebies
and entice others to donate their time.
In 2001, Steve Sanacore, a West Palm
Beach director with years of experience in film and commercial
production, read the script
and signed on to direct. Monica Olman, production designer, stylist
and owner of the Non-Stop Prop Shop, also agreed to work for
free on the film. Both of them, as well as the six lead actors,
worked
in exchange for “points,” potential future profits.
He convinced others to donate equipment and make their locations
available for shoots.
Routt’s unlikely road to independent
filmmaker is a result of his tenacity and enthusiasm.
A divorced 43-year-old father of
three who has worked as a paralegal and landscaper and owned
vending machines, Routt said he always
liked to write and pounded out a few film scripts over the years.
A graduate of Miami-Dade College, he decided to go to FIU to
get his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and go to law
school. Along the way though, when he was tending bar at Captain’s
Tavern in Kendall, he met some people in the movie business who
helped plant the bug of producing movies.
“I starting buying tons of books
on producing and I became a self-taught writer/producer,” Routt said. “I worked on film sets
and learned a lot about how things work. I knew I had to make
the movie but I had no money.”
Two years later, Routt is excited
about Clear Cut’s debut,
and he hopes to screen the film at as many film festivals as possible
to garner studio interest and financing. In the meantime, he is
now producing an “urban trilogy” that includes three
short “Twilight Zone-like” thrillers and is preparing
to shoot a horror film in Gainesville and Miami.
To view a trailer of the Clear Cut
and learn about Birch Creek Films, Routt’s production company, go to www.bcfs.us.
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Justin
Routt ’98 (second from
right wearing headphones), an independent film writer
and producer, will have his first film, Clear Cut, premiere
at the Made in Miami Film Festival on Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. |
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