Danielle Solzman
For Your Consideration is a short film that shows what happens when entitled women get together to make a film in hopes of winning Oscars.
The Sundance Film Festival has a way of making things happen. This is the goal of the three women who meet at the LA member’s only club. And yes, there are stereotypes involved when it comes to putting this idea together. Prison reform is one of the ideas that’s thrown out as an idea. Realizing that prisons are already being reformed, they discuss making the film about a Mexican. Two other women enter the picture and then it’s suggested that they give the film a Me, Too moment at an ICE facility. The toxicity! Tangerine is even brought up when it’s suggested shooting the film on an iPhone.
Phase one is concepting the idea. The next phase is putting together a focus group. Finally, phase three is pre-production. There’s so much that goes into filmmaking and the film only offers a brief glimpse. Of course, it simplifies the process. The real world wouldn’t see it just happen over coffee at a member’s only club. This film is not without scenes form the film being conceptualized and Skylar Maxon plays himself. There are scenes during the credits so please make sure to watch all the way through.
Aldo Arias writes the film’s script from a story by director Poppy Gordon. Ultimately, the film is short at just under 14 minutes. While For Your Consideration could potentially work as a feature film, the short film is a brilliant satire of the industry. When you’re hundreds of miles away from LA, one wonders how often this happens. How often does a group of privileged women get together in order to give a voice to marginalized communities? Personally, I wouldn’t trust them with telling the story they want to tell. Not when they’re seeing to co-opt a voice that belongs to someone else. This is where the satire really gets driven home. They are the most clueless people when it comes to filmmaking and trying to tell the most woke story they possibly can.
There’s been a push for inclusivity of late and in satirizing the industry, For Your Consideration seeks to push every button. With as many screenings that this film had last year, it’s a shame that it wasn’t on the Academy’s short list let alone final nominations.
DIRECTOR: Poppy Gordon
SCREENWRITER: Aldo Arias
CAST: Samantha Robinson, Juliette Goglia, Ava Capri, Tess Trotter, Jasmin Carina, Skyler Maxon
