Pens to Lens
a project of Champaign Movie Makers
Thank you to all of the students who submitted scripts for this year’s Pens to Lens! Our filmmakers are hard at work bringing select stories to life, and we hope you will join us for this year’s gala.
The 2025 Pens to Lens Gala is Saturday, August 16 at 3:00 pm. Come early to get your picture taken on the red carpet!
For more information and to purchase your tickets, please visit The Virginia Theater.
The Pens to Lens Student Screenwriting and Filmmaking Competitions are returning for a new season in 2025! Kids write scripts which are then submitted to Champaign area filmmakers who pick their favorites to produce as actual short films. The films are presented to the community in a red carpet event to honor the young writers. Students may also submit their own films to be considered for screening at the event!
We are now accepting student screenplay submissions for Pens to Lens 2019! You can get educational resources and submission guidelines here, and when you’re ready to submit, you can find the screenplay submission form here. Remember — screenplay submissions close February 28th, 2019!
We are also accepting student-produced short films for the Student Filmmaking Competition! You can get details on that here, and when you’re ready to submit your film you can do so here. We will be accepting student film entries through June 30th, 2019!
The Pens to Lens 2018 Gala will be held on Saturday, August 11th, once again at the beautiful Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign!
For the full lineup, check out the Event on Facebook.
It’s finally 2018, and that means that this year’s Pens to Lens Student Screenwriting Competition is right around the corner! Starting February 1st – and throughout the entire month of February – we’ll begin accepting short screenplay submissions from K-12 students throughout East Central Illinois.
Be sure to check out our Resources page for loads of resources on screenwriting for students, parents, and teachers. You can also see all of the past films by going to the “Films” tab in the upper right corner of this page.
We’ll have more announcements about the screenwriting competition in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
Join local filmmakers from the CU Film Society and Pens to Lens in this free, hour-long screenwriting workshop where you’ll learn the basics of storytelling and how to turn your story into a bonafide screenplay. Also, for those who haven’t begun their own script, we’ll help brainstorm story ideas and spend some time working in small groups to workshop individual scripts.
The workshop is geared toward K-8 students, but all students K-12 are welcome! The event is free and open to the public, and will take place in Robeson Pavilion Rooms A & B at the Champaign Public Library 11AM-12PM on Saturday, February 11th.
We are now accepting student screenplay submissions for Pens to Lens 2017! You can get educational resources and submission guidelines here, and when you’re ready to submit, you can find the screenplay submission form here. Remember — screenplay submissions close February 28th!
We are also accepting student-produced short films for the Student Filmmaking Competition! You can get details on that here, and when you’re ready to submit your film you can do so here. We will be accepting student film entries through June 30th!
If you are interested in getting involved with the production of this year’s films and posters, check out this page and see what might apply to you, and if you’re interested in being considered for an onscreen role in one of the films, you can set up an actor profile on Champaign Casting Call.
It’s finally 2017, and that means that this year’s Pens to Lens Student Screenwriting Competition is right around the corner! Starting February 1st – and throughout the entire month of February – we’ll begin accepting short screenplay submissions from K-12 students throughout East Central Illinois.
Be sure to check out our Resources page for loads of resources on screenwriting for students, parents, and teachers. You can also see all of the past films by going to the “Films” tab in the upper right corner of this page.
We’ll have more announcements about the screenwriting competition in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
Tickets for the 4th Annual Pens to Lens Gala are now on sale! This year’s Gala features 18 films based on scripts written by K-12 students from all across East Central Illinois. The red carpet event begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, August 13 at the historic Virginia Theater in downtown Champaign, with movies aimed at younger viewers beginning at 2pm and movies for older students beginning at 6pm. More information is available on the Facebook Event here.
The Pens to Lens Gala is FREE for children under 18. Tickets can be purchased at The Virginia Theater website here.
Lineup
While films in the 2 p.m. show are appropriate for all ages, some films in the later block may be intense for kids under 13.
2 p.m.:
“The Search for Pizza” by Evan Unzicker, 4th Grade
“Burrito as a Pet” by Devante Derrickson, 8th Grade
“The Cody Chronicles: Murphy’s Law” by John Nicol, 9th Grade
“Horrors” by Fred Scher, 5th Grade
“Wanda and Pickles Discover the Earth”, Ella Kirwan, 8th Grade
“The Runaway Toilet” by Adrian Blume, 3rd Grade
“Bananas and Mr Snake’s Big Adventure” by Caleb Wolters, 3rd Grade
“The Alarm Clock” by Nathan Lee, 2nd Grade
“Listen” by Ethan Grinberg, 8th Grade
“The End of the World” by Caleb Pyrz, Chase Vickers, Nik Johnson, and Brett Barcus, 8th Grade
6 p.m.:
“Bumps in the Night” by Madeline De Coste, 8th Grade
“The Goldfish” by Katarina Blakeslee, 11th Grade
“Love and Death” by Cameron Johnson, 11th Grade
“Fast Rodney, Who Was On His Way Out”, by Gabriela DeLisle Diaz, 11th Grade
“The Potato Boy” by Shardale Negre and Kayla Gardner, 8th Grade
“The Star Prince” by Parker Evans, 10th Grade
“Lance Lawson: The Case of the of the Misplaced Politician” by Mitchell Flanagin, 12th Grade
“Hello Fear” by Autumn Ellis, 10th Grade
The winners of the Student Film Festival will also be shown.
2pm show:
“The Weirder it Gets” by Rowan Fisher
“Flying Jedi” by Florence Lin
6pm show:
“Summer Daze” by Sarah Stelzer
Pens to Lens is a screenwriting competition that invites K-12 students in East Central Illinois to submit original screenplays. If their screenplay is chosen, a member of the local filmmaking group Champaign Movie Makers (CMM) will turn that script into a short film. Additional scripts will be adapted as movie posters by designers from the Champaign-Urbana Design Organization (CUDO).
Mark your calendars! The Fourth Annual Pens to Lens Screening & Awards Gala returns to the Virginia Theatre on Saturday, August 13th! You can find more information by checking out our Facebook event here, and you can purchase your tickets and festival passes here.
Kids 18 and under are FREE!
See you there!
The lineup for the 3rd Annual Pens to Lens Screening and Awards Gala has been announced and tickets for the August 15th event are now available for purchase on The Virginia Theater website.
Submissions for the 2015 Pens to Lens competition have closed; filmmakers and designers are reading through the entries, and selecting which scripts they would like to bring to life!
Look for the full lineup of films to be announced in mid July, and plan for this year’s screening on August 15th at the Virginia Theater!
CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign-Urbana Film Society’s (CUFS) third annual Pens to Lens Student Screenwriting Competition begins on February 1st, 2015. In addition, CUFS is hosting the first Pens to Lens High School Film Festival that will run alongside the Screenwriting Competition. The student writing portion will run through February 28th, with filmmakers producing films for an August 2015 red carpet gala.
Pens to Lens is a screenwriting competition that invites K-12 students in East Central Illinois to submit original screenplays. If their screenplay is chosen, a member of the local filmmaking group Champaign Movie Makers (CMM) will turn that script into a short film. Additional scripts will be adapted as movie posters by designers from the Champaign-Urbana Design Organization (CUDO).
Over 150 scripts were submitted to last year’s Pens to Lens Student Screenwriting Competition. Of those scripts, 22 films were produced and screened at the Pens to Lens Gala to nearly 1,100 people at the The Virginia Theater. In addition, CUDO members transformed nearly 60 scripts into movie posters that were displayed at the Gala.
New this year is the Pens to Lens High School Film Festival. Current or recently graduated high school students, or equivalently-aged home school students, are encouraged to produce and submit original short films by June 30, 2015. All films must be written, directed, and crewed by high school students. The winning filmmaker will receive a prize and see their film screened at the Pens to Lens Gala.
Interested students should sign up on the Pens To Lens website to express their interest in participating. Members of the local filmmaking community will be available to act as mentors for students interested in participating in the Film Festival. Thanks to the support of Flex-N-Gate, and the assistance of Adorama and F&V Lighting, a BlackMagic Pocket Camera, lenses, audio gear, a light kit, and a Macbook laptop loaded with Final Cut Pro X, are all available for students to use to complete film projects.
Submission guidelines, educational materials, previous year’s films, and more, are all available at PensToLens.com. For additional information, or if you are a local filmmaker, designer, or actor interested in helping, please contact info@PenstoLens.com.
The Pens To Lens 2015 Awards and Screening Gala is scheduled for August 2015! More information about the gala will be shared here in the coming months.
The Champaign-Urbana Film Society’s Second Annual Pens to Lens Gala will be held on Aug. 9, 2014 at the Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign. A red carpet event beginning at 1pm will lead into two blocks of film screenings. Films produced from scripts written by K-7th grade students will premiere at 2pm and films made from scripts by older students will begin at 6pm. A filmmaker talkback will follow each block.
Tickets will be available for purchase starting at 10am on July 18 on the Virginia Theatre’s website and at the box office. Tickets will be $8 for each block, or $12 for a festival pass, and tickets for students 19 and under will be free.
Over 150 scripts were submitted for this year’s Pens to Lens Student Screenwriting Competition. Of those scripts, 22 films have been produced by members of the Champaign-Movie Makers (CMM). In addition, nearly 60 scripts were adapted as movie posters by members of the Champaign-Urbana Design Organization (CUDO) and will be on display.
Films shown during the first block are suitable for all ages. Films in the second block marked with an asterisk (*) contain brief moments of violence that may be inappropriate for young children. More information about the content in these films can be found at penstolens.com/content-guide/
The Adventures of Mr. Pancake
A Visit from the Tooth Fairy
Who Babysits Zombies?
The Taming of the Beast
The Sorceress
Double-O Kevin
Guys Go Green
Fast and Furious 8
Watch Out for Butterflies
The Goo Party
The Dummy vs. The Mad Robots
Race You to Russia
Mr. Snuggles
The Doughnut Dance
The Time Will Come
The Brain Storm
My Imagination Became a Ninja and It’s Following Me
*Chances
The Bedtime Story
*Zack and the Mountain Man
*The Runner
Imagine
Pens to Lens started in 2013 as an opportunity for K-12 students to get involved with the local filmmaking community. Last year, nine original short films and 57 movie posters were produced based off scripts from over 120 screenplay submissions. The films and posters premiered to a standing-room only crowd at a red carpet gala at the Art Theater Co-Op.
The wonderful Virginia Theatre will host the 2nd Annual Pens to Lens Gala on August 9! Tickets will be available starting at 10am on July 18th, at the theater and on their website. This year, we have so many shorts being made, we’re splitting the show into two blocks based on age group. Keep an eye on the CUFS Facebook page for additional information!
Local K-12 students submitted some amazing scripts, and we can’t wait to see the films produced by local filmmakers! As a reminder of just how awesome Pens to Lens is, rewatch all of last year’s films here, and check out all the posters here!
Thank you all for your patience! While some titles may be added to this list in the coming weeks, we’re ready to announce 17 scripts currently in production! The complete lineup for the Gala in early August will be released in mid-July, along with other details for the event. Good work everyone, and congratulations to all of the selected writers!
A Visit From The Tooth FairyWritten by Adrian Blume, 1st Grade |
The Adventures of Mr. PancakeWritten by Ayan Ehsan, Zander Hackman, Olivia Havard, & Nolan Lawson, 2nd Grade |
Who Babysits Zombies?Written by Eric Miebach, Audrey Young, Kalani Rentschler, Dalton Carmien, 3rd Grade |
The Dummy Vs. The Mad RobotsWritten by Mary Bryant, Jackson Reder, Nate Hopkins, and Trevor Hahn, 3rd Grade |
Watch Out For ButterfliesWritten by Megan Graham, Alejandro Hernandez, Jocelyn LeFaivre, 3rd Grade |
Fast and Furious 8Written by Urias Smith, 4th Grade |
Guys Go GreenWritten by Benjamin Keating & Claire Keating, 5th Grade |
Double-O KevinWritten by David Cerezo, 6th Grade |
The SorceressWritten by Madeline De Coste, 6th Grade |
Race You to RussiaWritten by John Patrick Nicol, 7th Grade |
Zack and the Mountain ManWritten by Preston Richardson, 8th Grade |
Mr. SnugglesWritten by Andrew Kowalski, Curtis Bradley, and Garret Williams, 8th Grade |
ImagineWritten by Lana Fitzgerald, Ellie D’Andria, and Alora Rent, 8th Grade |
The Bedtime StoryWritten by Jasmine Domingo, 9th Grade |
ChancesWritten by Mason McAnally, Nick Boeji, Cody Jesswien, 11th Grade |
The Doughnut DanceWritten by Jessie Denning, 11th Grade |
The RunnerWritten by Nathan Martin. 12th Grade |
Thanks to everyone who sent in a script! Submissions closed with nearly 150 entries. Local filmmakers are currently pouring over them, looking for those special scripts that speak to them. We will announce some of their picks at the end of April, the full lineup will be announced in mid-July, and the 2014 Pens to Lens Gala will be held in early August. More details to come!
And we’re live! We will be accepting submissions online through February 28th.
For immediate release
Second Annual Pens To Lens Student Screenwriting Competition Launches Feb 1st
The second annual Pens To Lens student screenwriting competition hosted by the Champaign-Urbana Film Society (CUFS) will launch this February 1st. The student writing portion will run through February 28th, and filmmakers will produce films for an August 2014 red carpet gala. All students in East Central Illinois are invited to participate and all teachers are encouraged to share the opportunity with their classes.
The Pens To Lens Screenwriting Competition was established with the goal of creating an opportunity for K-12 Students to participate in the local filmmaking community by writing original screenplays for short films. Without knowing what to expect, the CUFS received over 120 screenplay submissions from students aged 5 to 18.
Members of Champaign Movie Makers (CMM) produced NINE original films based on chosen submissions. Many other submissions were chosen by members of the Champaign-Urbana Design Organization (CUDO) to be adapted as movie posters. The films and posters premiered to a standing-room only crowd at a red carpet gala at the Art Theater in downtown Champaign.
This year, the Pens To Lens Committee is welcoming participation in film production from K-12 students. The Pens to Lens Committee is also sending professional filmmakers and designers to visit classrooms and after-school programs.
Additionally, the Film Society is putting out a call to community filmmakers, actors, and designers who are interested in participating in bringing student scripts to life.
The website PensToLens.com currently has submission guidelines and educational materials available. Once the competition starts, the site will allow students to indicate they would like to help on the filmmaking sets and teachers to request a filmmaker class visit. Any additional information can be found on the website or by contacting info@PensToLens.com.
The new Pens To Lens website launches today! Be sure to check out the new features celebrating the extremely successful Pens To Lens Gala that happened on May 29th: The Films page, the Photos page, the Press page, and the Supporters page. Thanks again to everyone who participated in making the first year of Pens to Lens so successful!
This screening night is free and open to the public. More frequent updates about the gala will be posted on the Facebook event page, join here for more information.
Find information about the screenplays that have been made into films in the Awards Page, which also includes more details about the gala.
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