Consider it inevitable that some creative people sometimes dabble in substances they probably shouldn’t. But this won’t be a debate about the dangers (or, in some people’s minds, merits) of marijuana. It also won’t be an indictment against Dawn “Mary Ann” Wells getting busted for supposedly possessing reefer. And, it also won’t be an umpteenth diatribe on whether you prefer Mary Ann or Ginger when it’s almost impossible to pick between the two (or at least that’s my final answer). Consider this article to just be a little reminder that Dawn Wells has made a valuable contribution to the world of film since her days cashing in on her “Gilligan’s Island” Mary Ann persona. With her “Spud Fest”–aspiring filmmakers get a chance to show their talents (and learn the craft of production) through her film festival that only gets overshadowed by Sundance because it’s located in Idaho.
Wells actually had quite a bit of foresight into starting a film festival in the potato state. In addition to drawing some bigger names each year, a lot of aspiring filmmakers have fallen in love with Idaho and realize it’s one of the best places to film a movie due to the variety of scenery. Oregon is arguably one of those types of states, too, even though Canada seems to be consuming most of on-location Hollywood shooting at the moment. But Idaho still gives the small town feeling that makes Spud Fest have a unique quality that Sundance used to have before it became the ne plus ultra film festival in America. There’s no way of knowing whether Dawn Wells’s Spud Fest will ever grow to that level–though there isn’t any doubt it’s getting better known each year. One of its strongest points is in its educational programs teaching all aspects of filmmaking and the general art for kids.
Give them some points, too, for cleverness and breaking the festival up into two parts during the year. Spud Fest “Take 1” takes place in February each year (this year’s being on February 21 and 22 in Pocatello and Idaho Falls) and “Take 2” happens in late July/early August (this year’s being on July 31 & August 1-2 in Driggs). At the event held this last February–the focus was on high school students and getting them involved in the art of incorporating general knowledge into the world of filmmaking. That involved projects utilizing elements of math, art, foreign languages and all the basic disciplines taught in high school curriculums.
Just get wind of some of these cool little projects that gave kids a well-rounded picture of what’s involved in not only making a movie, but marketing one:
–Designing artwork for a poster advertising Spud Fest Take Two in August. This teaches how posters work in selling a film to the masses. It’s also an obvious lesson in how to sell a film festival…in Idaho of all places!
–A contest to write a movie review (called “The Future Film Critics Essay Contest”) that first teaches the techniques in how a movie review is put together. If only my high school had things similar.
–An interesting lesson in putting together a mock budget for a film (utilizing $1.2 million dollars). This educational tool may be one of the best of the bunch based on getting kids to think creatively with smaller budgets. In the new age of indie films–maybe the will to do more with less in filmmaking will overcome the lessons kids get today that the more money you have, the better. Hollywood will soon rue the day when a new generation laughs uncontrollably at a film made for $200 million that looks like it was made for barely $10 million.
–A chance to study (or create) a film about sports figures. Hopefully we’ll start getting better sports movies made that aren’t just tongue-in-cheek and starring Will Farrell.
–An assignment to find something about history that you never knew before. When you make kids curious about forgotten history and how it could work in the world of filmmaking–you have a valuable educational tool. Just making kids aware that there’s plenty of forgotten history out there yet to be explored in depth is better than what most high schools teach today in their history classes.
It’ll be interesting to see what Idaho’s high school kids will come up with at Take Two coming up this summer. And, of course, they’re taking film submissions at the time of this writing for Take Two when accepted entries get screened. Keep in mind that Dawn Wells has always intended this (along with starting the Idaho Film & Television Institute) to be a family-friendly environment. Yes, that means Wells is very much like her Mary Ann character and keeping a conservative and more down-to-earth sensibility about her (with the only thing missing being coconut cream pies at the get-togethers). That means no potentially NC-17 rated films can be submitted here, though they don’t define anything by rating level. The definition of “family friendly” is also becoming quite broad when making films, so who knows how many they reject when people submit films that push the buttons of acceptability.
I give kudos anyway to Dawn Wells for starting a family-friendly film festival when family films are starting to dwindle so much just about everywhere. The fact the festival is getting kids to think family-friendly (yet still provide substance) in film is really a valuable asset to the future of film in this country. It’s probably unfortunate, however, that most of the films submitted won’t ever get mainstream distribution. But it’s probably better that way, because it’s really a community event that celebrates films mostly filmed in (at least preferably by the organizers) Idaho. It should be emphasized that you don’t have to have a film done in Idaho to qualify in getting your film screened.
Remember, too, that Dawn Wells herself will probably attend the screening of your film if you manage to get one accepted here. If you expect her to come dressed like her Mary Ann persona–you’re in for a different surprise. When she moved to Idaho in the 80’s (she reportedly lived there for a time when a kid)–she became more rustic and started being seeing wearing a cowgirl hat and boots. In fact, that look has become strongly associated with her film festival–evidenced by various photographs of her in that garb around Spud Fest’s website.
Other Dawn Wells contributions to movies, TV…and disabled people…
Even Wells would admit that her film career hasn’t been anything tremendous since “Gilligan’s Island” (and all its reunion movies) ended. Unless you’re familiar with forgotten indie films called “Winterhawk”, “The Princess and the Dwarf” or “Super Sucker” (no, that one isn’t what you probably just thought)–then Dawn Wells pretty much means “Gilligan’s Island” and Mary Ann to you. And, in some of the films she appeared in, she played as herself as a way to save the movie or give some element of familiarity to it. But she also started an interesting TV movie genre for classic TV shows that could have turned into something interesting had more like them been made.
Many of you probably remember her executive producing a hybrid documentary/TV movie re-enactment called “Surviving Gilligan’s Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History”–that’s also probably known for having one of the longest titles in TV movie history. In this unique TV movie, it depicted some of the behind-the-scenes stories (some of them arguably salacious) that happened with the cast during her time on “Gilligan’s Island.” As a combination talking heads docu and movie (with actors portraying the real actors from the series)–we saw an interesting TV movie genre developed that brought a new angle to specials reminiscing about our favorite classic TV shows.
That “Gilligan’s Island” project was so popular–Wells received the green light to executive produce another one for the classic 1960’s TV series “Batman.” This one was called “Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt” and was slightly different in that the original actors “acted” as themselves, while the actors who played Batman’s enemies (Frank Gorshin as The Joker, for example) pretended to have a beef with Adam West and Burt Ward and attempt to kill them while dressed in their old nemesis garb. Sure, that probably confused some people when the actors were acting as themselves, portraying their old Batman counterparts–yet it was pretty much brilliant in concept. The only trouble was that the teleplay was borderline terrible on this one. When you have to deal with plot–it’s quite different from the docudrama as in the “GI” movie.
It’s too bad Dawn Wells wasn’t allowed to fine-tune this unique genre, because it had strong possibilities. Nevertheless, it proved that she had a lot of creative ideas in film and gives validation for her starting a film festival.
Give her credit, too, for creating a clothing service for disabled people. Called “Wishing Well Collections”–the clothing is designed for disabled individuals to put on and take off without having to get up out of their wheelchairs.
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As America seems to bedevil people (especially TV icons) who get busted for smoking reefer–hopefully we’ll understand now that they aren’t bad people. Plus, it hasn’t been proven that Dawn Wells’s marijuana found in her car was hers. Even if she did, it’s a safe bet she doesn’t smoke it before attending her film festival (how could she when she looks so good at age 69?)…even though someone like Willie Nelson would…
