So it’s some unmemorable date in 2003 and Clevelander Jeffrey K. Rohrs had this strange dream involving kids, cars, and videogames. Normally, such things would pass into the ether, but Jeff had caught the screenwriting bug, so he plugged that dream straight into Final Draft and out popped a screenplay for a short film entitled “Look Both Ways.”

Great. A short. Now what?

Well, in Jeff’s case, he posted a logline for his short to InkTip.com (formerly the Writers’ Script Network). It was a free, painless process that resulted in several requests from budding directors to read his script. There was the NYC film student. The German commercial director. The jaded guy from L.A. All with nice compliments, but nothing more.

And then came the email that would change Jeff’s life FOREVER (dunt-dunt-dunnnnn).

Hi there,

I saw your synopsis online and was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about LOOK BOTH WAYS or if I could read it. You can check me up on imdb.com under: Daniel Oron.

Thanks

D.

Yes, it was Daniel Oron, a Canadian director—with all the sensibilities and fondness for bacon that it implies—who finally embraced LBW. And the rest, they say, is history. Only not quite.

Daniel read LBW, liked it, but proclaimed, “it’s too bad because I’m not making shorts anymore.” Then, of course, he called Jeff to figure out how they could make the film together. A few calls to a few generous friends and relatives and the pair had a budget. A few more calls and favors called in by Daniel, and they had a great Canadian cast and crew lined up.

Principal photography took place on a chilly, 2004 Halloween weekend in Toronto. There were the expected budget overruns. The unexpected, yet requisite, “production issues” that “build character.” And, of course, there was that one time the Steadycam® went crashing to the ground (thankfully, only the ground suffered damage).

For the next year and a half, life and “the day jobs” reared their ugly heads, pushing off completion of the film. However, in mid-2006, thanks to the yeoman efforts and volunteer hours of many, LBW became an honest-to-God, actual film.

With LBW “in the can,” a flurry of film festival submissions ensued—a few of which turned into opportunities to screen in New York, Toronto, Miami, and Houston. As Daniel and Jeff observed the screenings, they noticed something interesting—afterwards the viewers young and old, tech-savvy or not, got into great discussions concerning the thorny issues of video game violence, online addiction, and virtual world ethics.

As for where things go from here, you’ll have to stay tuned…

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