Slamdance has announced the winners of its annual screenplay competition, with Mike Ackerman’s feature-length script “This End Up” winning the grand prize.
Slamdance announced the awards — recognizing writers across the categories of feature film, horror/thriller, TV pilot, short film and a special mentorship award — during a ceremony held at Los Angeles’s Westwood Landmark Theater on Wednesday night. In total, the organization gave out more than $18,000 in prizes and industry services.
Per the official synopsis of “This End Up,” Ackerman’s winning screenplay follows “a sheltered man who lives his life quite literally, and physically, upside-down. When he finally meets a woman who accepts him as he is, her closed-minded family plants doubt as to whether his condition will stand in the way of her dream of an adventurous lifestyle.”
Anna Lee Lawson, the film festival and screenplay competition manager, commented on Ackerman’s work, saying, “Mike’s...
Slamdance announced the awards — recognizing writers across the categories of feature film, horror/thriller, TV pilot, short film and a special mentorship award — during a ceremony held at Los Angeles’s Westwood Landmark Theater on Wednesday night. In total, the organization gave out more than $18,000 in prizes and industry services.
Per the official synopsis of “This End Up,” Ackerman’s winning screenplay follows “a sheltered man who lives his life quite literally, and physically, upside-down. When he finally meets a woman who accepts him as he is, her closed-minded family plants doubt as to whether his condition will stand in the way of her dream of an adventurous lifestyle.”
Anna Lee Lawson, the film festival and screenplay competition manager, commented on Ackerman’s work, saying, “Mike’s...
- 10/26/2023
- by Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
New 'Man On A Ledge' movie delivered great drama,action,suspense & more. Summit Entertainment released their new action/thriller flick "Man On A Ledge" into theaters this weekend. I just checked it out,and it turned out to be a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I mean, I new it would be pretty good,but it really went above and beyond with the action,thrills,suspense,great twists,and more. I thought Sam Worthington did a real good job with this role too. It stars: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Anthony Mackie, Ed Harris, Edward Burns, Titus Welliver, Genesis Rodriguez,and Kyra Sedgwick. In the flick, officer Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a crime he adamantly believes he didn't do. One day, his partner Mike Ackerman gets him permission out of jail to attend a funeral under police watch.
- 1/29/2012
- by Andre
- OnTheFlix
Chicago – New York City. Mid-day. A man steps outside the window on the edge of the Roosevelt Hotel. Is he jumping? That’s the question that street level onlookers and moviegoers want answered from Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris in “Man on a Ledge”
Rating: 3.0/5.0
This trifle of an action film does have some mojo going for it. It’s played a bit tongue-in-cheek, with the wry Banks filling the role as the hard-drinking New York Police suicide negotiator. The tension in this film is wholly exaggerated, to a point where it teeters on the brink of parody. All the ensemble cast has their game faces on, however, as the somewhat overly complex plot unravels.
Sam Worthington is Nick Cassidy, introduced as a cop-turned-thief doing hard time at Sing-Sing. His brother Joey (Jamie Bell) is embarrassed that Nick has sullied the family name, but does manage...
Rating: 3.0/5.0
This trifle of an action film does have some mojo going for it. It’s played a bit tongue-in-cheek, with the wry Banks filling the role as the hard-drinking New York Police suicide negotiator. The tension in this film is wholly exaggerated, to a point where it teeters on the brink of parody. All the ensemble cast has their game faces on, however, as the somewhat overly complex plot unravels.
Sam Worthington is Nick Cassidy, introduced as a cop-turned-thief doing hard time at Sing-Sing. His brother Joey (Jamie Bell) is embarrassed that Nick has sullied the family name, but does manage...
- 1/27/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Man On A Ledge is a film that will be revered in Screenwriting I classes all across this great nation. Like a beacon of hope, this “action thriller” will embolden film students to shrug off their professor’s instance on featuring characters instead of caricatures, avoiding deliberately on the nose dialogue and setting up credible conflicts with a true sense of risk involved. This film goes to great lengths to show that none of these issues seem to get in the way of turning your amateur script into a big-budget Hollywood flick. Congratulations on the ignominy, screenwriter Pablo F. Fenjves!
The film is less of a standalone piece and more of a composite of other, far better genre films, all melded together like money-making stew. A dash of The Fugitive, a heaping helping of Inside Job and just the right amount Dog Day Afternoon (with requisite “Attica!!” homage), then add...
The film is less of a standalone piece and more of a composite of other, far better genre films, all melded together like money-making stew. A dash of The Fugitive, a heaping helping of Inside Job and just the right amount Dog Day Afternoon (with requisite “Attica!!” homage), then add...
- 1/27/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Anthony Mackie is always a fun interview. Whether he.s promoting a sci-fi actioner like Real Steel or the new action drama Man On A Ledge, Mackie has been honest and gregarious with his answers.
In Man On A Ledge, the actor stars as Mike Ackerman, the former partner of the ex-cop now wanted fugitive Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington). In this interview, we talked about:
*** What attracted him to Man On A Ledge
*** Working with first time feature director, Asger Leth who.s coming from the documentary world
*** His character, Mike Ackerman
*** His terrific career . what does he attribute that to?
*** The fascination of people looking at jumpers, why are they fascinated?
*** Our voyeuristic generation and the Kardashians!
*** What.s his biggest fear?
Have Fun!
In Man On A Ledge, the actor stars as Mike Ackerman, the former partner of the ex-cop now wanted fugitive Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington). In this interview, we talked about:
*** What attracted him to Man On A Ledge
*** Working with first time feature director, Asger Leth who.s coming from the documentary world
*** His character, Mike Ackerman
*** His terrific career . what does he attribute that to?
*** The fascination of people looking at jumpers, why are they fascinated?
*** Our voyeuristic generation and the Kardashians!
*** What.s his biggest fear?
Have Fun!
- 1/26/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Man on a Ledge
Directed by Asger Leth
Written by Pablo F. Fenjves
U.S.A, 2012
It feels safe to assume that ensemble pieces are rarely an easy proposition. The matter of juggling good writing and proper screen time between a great number of solid characters requires some highly regarded skill, both from the standpoints of a director and a screenwriter. Casting also comes into play in a significant way. When faced with a pool of especially gifted thespians, the task can prove to be all the easier, for their individual talents can lift the project up, or it can all backfire, as is the case whenever great actors are criminally under-used. Relative newcomer Asger Leth (his only other feature being a 2006 documentary, Chosts of Cité Soleil) accepts the challenge with a New York shot heist film, Man on a Ledge.
Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is an ex-member of the...
Directed by Asger Leth
Written by Pablo F. Fenjves
U.S.A, 2012
It feels safe to assume that ensemble pieces are rarely an easy proposition. The matter of juggling good writing and proper screen time between a great number of solid characters requires some highly regarded skill, both from the standpoints of a director and a screenwriter. Casting also comes into play in a significant way. When faced with a pool of especially gifted thespians, the task can prove to be all the easier, for their individual talents can lift the project up, or it can all backfire, as is the case whenever great actors are criminally under-used. Relative newcomer Asger Leth (his only other feature being a 2006 documentary, Chosts of Cité Soleil) accepts the challenge with a New York shot heist film, Man on a Ledge.
Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is an ex-member of the...
- 1/24/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
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