For the past year, an a enthusiastic group of Laguna Woods Village filmmakers from the Video Club and The Old Pros has been conducting a unique experiment in filmmaking.
What if we took the same script and filmed it five different ways?
“That’s exactly what we did,” reports Gila Zalon (left), who heads the project.
A short “theatre of the absurd” script called “Script to Nowhere,” written by Gila and Lee MacMorris, was transformed by Gila into a comedy, a romance, a horror flick, a film noir, and a family movie with new character descriptions, new settings, and new shooting directions. Five separate casts and crews were recruited and trained to do the pre-production planning, shooting, and editing.
To see the result, join us on Friday, September 11, 2026 at 2 pm in the Performing Arts Center, Dining Room 1. Open free to all Village residents and their guests — with wine and cheese refreshments!
Explains Gila: “Since 2019, the Video Club’s Short Dramatic Films group has produced six short films from original scripts by Laguna Woods Village writers. However, with the loss of several key people over the years, we realized that we needed to recruit and train new filmmakers.”
How to recruit and train new filmmakers? Make five zany films — and have fun doing it!
Click below to view, print, or download event flyer.
Still shots from the five genres (above, from left), Romance, Comedy, Family, Horror, and Noir.
In late 2025, intrigued with the one script/five-genres concept — and being asked to help the filmmakers with acting and directing tasks — members of The Old Pros theatre club jumped ahead of the Video Club and, in February, 2026, they put the five scenes on a stage.
“We were amazed, actually, to see how well the scenes played — and how well they were received,” says Old Pros President Carol Glenn (seen above), who later directed the “Noir” segment of the Film Scenes Project.
Carol Glenn (center) is shown with cast members Paul Lambert and Barbara Attell from the Video Club’s 2025 Short Dramatic Film, “Twilight Time,” which she directed.
SEE THE OLD PROS’ FIVE SCENES
VIEW OUR PREVIOUS FILMS
2019 – WRITE IT DOWN
2021 – WHAT? YOU, TOO?
2022 -THE HOLE IN ONE
2023 – BOWLING BALL DEBACLE
2024 – SEEKING ONLINE ADVENTURES
2025 – TWILIGHT TIME
The Video Club’s five previous Short Dramatic Films (listed above) are available on the Video Club’s YouTube channel under Playlists > Short Dramatic Films.
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