While most Wayland High School classes involve taking tests and writing papers, the Script to Screen course offers students the hands-on experience of creating their own movies. On Wednesday, May 23, the products of this class, the films Molineux, Behind Closed Doors and preFAMOUS, premiered during the second annual Script to Screen Film Festival.

Molineux, written by junior Jacob Sussman, is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, My Kinsman, Major Molineux. Sussman adapted the short story, originally set in the 1700s, to fit into a modern high school setting.

Behind Closed Doors,, written by junior Jason Goodman, is an original mystery movie. It stars junior Carly McKee.

preFAMOUS is based on the video game “inFAMOUS.” Co-writers and editors juniors Kevin Skowronski and Kazi Ahmed, based the film as a prequel to the game, focusing on the story that takes place before “InFAMOUS.”

“They are all very artistic and creative,” said Script To Screen teacher Jim Mullane. “We have an action adventure film, a mystery film and a film that plays with the concept of time; they are so different.”

Like last year, students wrote their own scripts for their productions. They then pitched their scripts to a panel of teachers and administrators who picked the student-written scripts that most appealed to them.

“I’m not going to lie; the original script wasn’t very good,” said Skowronski. “My idea was just a random fantasy. I didn’t think it would actually happen because there is so much superhero action, but thankfully we got the chance.”

The Script to Screen course is composed of students who have taken either TV Production or a dramatic arts elective. Beside writing the scripts, the students also cast actors, stage scenes, film scenes, edit the footage and market the final product.

“What kid didn’t want to be a movie star or director when they grew up?” said Mullane. “This class gives you the opportunity to work in a real life atmosphere to see if you like it. Even if you don’t end up liking the work, the class will help you in any career because you have to communicate and stay organized.”

One of the biggest challenges facing the students was finishing the films on time; students had one less month to complete their movies than last year’s class.

“It’s been stressful. There have been days where we had to come in after school and edit until nine at night, but Mr. Mullane has been really nice,” said Skowronski, who also directed preFAMOUS. “It always seems like the next deadline is on top of us, but we have worked as a team and gotten it done.”

Coordinating with actors from the theater classes was also a challenge. Besides the difficulty of simply finding a time and place to shoot, neither actors nor the crew had much experience.

“At first it was kind of rough working with the actors because they were used to doing work on stage, and we weren’t used to directing people,” said junior Dominique Simpson, scene director for Behind Closed Doors.

“On stage you have to be big with your actions because the audience is huge, but with film, the audience is the camera, so you have to show your emotions with smaller details,” said preFAMOUS actor senior Greg Seage.

Despite the challenges, all three films premiered on Wednesday night.