A former Trail resident has a shot at winning $10,000 to kickstart her future in comedy, but only has one minute to prove her worth.
Funny girl Gina Lorenzi, a 2007 J. L. Crowe graduate, and three former college mates have entered Virgin Radio’s Fake Film Festival.
After graduating from the Vancouver Academy of Dramatic Arts in March, the crew of friends thought it would be wise to submit a piece into the competition that could land them new opportunities or a nice chunk of cash to pursue more training and cover their rent.
“Even if we don’t win, we’re getting our names out there,” said Lorenzi, who is currently in the market for an agent to help her step into the television and film industry in Vancouver.
The competition asks participants to submit a video recreating their favourite movie in 60 seconds or less. Immediately, Lorenzi and her friends decided on “Mean Girls,” a teen comedy that explores the perils of high school.
Using a flip-cam and a tripod, the team produced their own “spoof-like” take on the film that follows 16-year-old, home-schooled “Cady” into her first year in high school.
“She’s taken under the wing by these two outsider kids,” explained Lorenzi, who plays Cady in their short video.
With help from the social outcasts, Cady becomes obsessed with sabotaging a group of popular girls known as the “plastics” but by the end she becomes her worst enemy.
The team manages to sum up the movie’s storyline in a funny and well-portrayed skit, where the actors play up the comedy bit with paper blonde hair taped to their faces and punchy lines that are spot-on with the personalities in the movie.
“We’ve seen the movie so many times that we have it memorized back to front,” said Lorenzi.
“Mean Girls in 60 Seconds” has been posted to Virgin’s website along with other short films like “Juno” and “Fallen.”
With already 60 votes and over 1,000 views, Lorenzi is hoping that their late submission will still have a chance to make the finals with help from her hometown.
“Comedy is my forte. I’ve always been making people laugh,” said Lorenzi, who aspires to be like actress Amanda Bynes.
“Making people laugh – I feed off it,” said the 21-year-old. “My dad’s always been able to walk into a room and have the whole room laughing, I get it from him.”
Proud parents Fred and Valli Lorenzi fully support their daughter’s dream to making it big.
“She was born to be wild,” laughed Fred when the Times caught up with him Tuesday. “This is her career. We just see what she’s got and we are behind her 100 per cent.”
Always with a camera in hand, Fred captured his daughters’ upbringing on film – videos that the whole family reviews time and time again.
Lorenzi has now picked up the camera herself, contributing videos to YouTube, which can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/geebatart
Among the 50 video clips found on her YouTube account is a spoof on a “Quest” commercial, where Lorenzi highlights the actuality of a typical phone operator as a lonely, unattractive girl rather than the sexy young, single girl seen on TV.
Another hit is her video called “Gina’s Cucina,” where she takes on the role of an Italian Nonna, who holds her pride while making a messy sandwich.
With the cutoff for votes on Jan. 25, Lorenzi encourages residents to visit virginradio.ca, and after clicking on “2011 fake film festival” a list of submissions can be viewed and votes cast from there.
Though voting will help judges select finalists, staff at the radio station will also look for accuracy, quality and promotion.
Ten finalists will be invited to walk the red carpet at the Fake Film Festival on Jan. 28, where their movies will be screened. Then the winner will walk away with $10,000 in cash and the Fake Film Festival trophy.
Not bad for less than a minute of work.