Library Event Will Offer A Rare Opportunity

To View Newtown Native’s Film

By Nancy K. Crevier

According to FifthForm.com, a new full-length feature film called Fifth Forum is a dark comedy about a war of pranks played at an elite boys’ school, around the time of the Gulf War, in 1991. The feature was co-authored by Adam Orman and Newtown native Bill Stern, and will be presented at two special showings at C.H. Booth Library on Saturday, February 20, scheduled for 3 and 7 pm.

A graduate of Newtown High School, Class of 1992, Mr Stern is the son of residents Peter and Julie Stern. He received his undergraduate degree in urban planning from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where he became friends with Mr Orman. The two men ended up in California, where Mr Stern pursued a career in marketing and Mr Orman pursued a career in the restaurant industry. It was while they were both living in San Francisco that the ideas for Fifth Form began to percolate, and Mr Orman, who holds a masters degree in film from Columbia, approached Mr Stern.

“Adam threw out this idea he had, and I said, ‘I’ll tag along,’ but it became more than that, a full collaboration with him,” said Mr Stern. That surprised him, considering that the only writing he had done was personal writing of short stories, a few travel stories, and some restaurant reviews on-line.

“I don’t think of myself as a writer, but I’ve always liked it. I credit my English teachers at NHS for my enjoyment of the English language,” he said. “This is a wondrous example of how you don’t have to be a ‘writer’ to be involved in the creative process. You can be whatever you want, as long as you do it,” he added.

Drawing on his own experiences, having gone to a private school, and being Jewish, Adam Orman came up with the idea for a “prank war” that boys in that situation can get into.

“I did go to Choate in Wallingford,” said Mr Orman, “so the time frame for the movie is about the same and some of the details of the setting, but the plot points are not real.”

The story centers on Josh Schuster, a young Jewish boy who has entered the private school system in his junior year of high school.

“It’s a coming of age movie, you could say,” said Mr Stern. “Josh is feeling a little off center and gets caught up in the ‘joking’ nature of boys left to their own devices. He decides to ally himself with the popular students against the less popular juniors, who are not white,” he said. The pranks morph from lighthearted acknowledgments of ethnic differences to mean spirited pranks, with Josh “not quite having the subtle understanding of what is appropriate. Things turn as he becomes a prank target, and some poor choices are made,” Mr Stern said.

There was an actual incident at Choate, recalled Mr Orman, when the Gulf War broke out and which stuck with him for many years.

“A white kid in the dorm said something racially inflammatory about ‘waging war’ on other kids, but nothing came of it,” he said — unlike the scenes that play out in Fifth Form (a reference to the junior year at private school.)

The process of writing the screenplay was enjoyable, for the most part, said Mr Stern.

“We met in a coffee shop and brainstormed scenes. We talked it out, scene by scene, the motivations of the characters, and the story telling. Adam would take the notes home and put it into script. Then we’d meet again to review it and pick up where we left off,” he recalled. The script and rewrites took the pair about six months in all, he said.

By the time the men finished the script, Mr Stern was no longer living in California and Mr Orman took on the task of bringing the film to fruition.

“I applied for fiscal sponsorship through the former Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco in April 2007,” said Mr Orman. Using an e-mail campaign and clips of the movie on YouTube, he began to raise the funding to produce the film. “Once I thought we had enough, I interviewed for a producer who had the equipment and crew in San Francisco.” By the spring of 2008, a crew and cast were put together by a casting agent and filming started.

“Bill was able to come out for a couple of days, and he was surprised at how different it was from what he had thought while we were writing, I think,” said Mr Orman. “Things do go in different directions once filming begins. Sometimes the character isn’t who you thought he was. I was okay with that,” he said.

“I didn’t really get it until I saw the filming,” Mr Stern said. “It was then that I saw the depth and breadth of what Adam had created. It was great to be part of that process,” he said.

Filmed at a dorm on the campus of St Mary’s College in the Bay Area of San Francisco, the film was ready for showing by early 2009. To date, the film has won two awards. In Philadelphia, Fifth Form won Best Film at the Urban Suburban Film Festival in 2009, and at the Houston Worldfest, it received the Gold Award. Ironically, although he now lives in Philadelphia, Mr Stern was in California at the time of the Urban Suburban Film Festival and did not attend the award ceremony.

Distribution of a film is complicated, said Mr Orman. The producer is represented at this time by Ostrow and Company, who sell the film to distributors. Most likely, he said, the film will be distributed for TV worldwide and then go straight to DVD for release.

Mr Orman and Mr Stern have since collaborated on a second screenplay, “a much darker one,” that is not yet in production.

Mr Stern will be in Newtown for the free showings at the C.H. Booth Library on February 20, and Mr Orman, now a resident of Austin, Texas, is hopeful that he will be able to attend, as well. They look forward to a good reception from Mr Stern’s hometown audience.

 “The writing was so much fun. To just meet with a friend, and start with one sentence and see what we could create. It could be we’ll  never see it in major theaters, so this might be a good chance for people to see it. I hope so,” Mr Stern said.

Reservations for the screenings at Booth Library, 25 Main Street in Newtown, are now being accepted online. Visit CHBoothLibrary.org to make a reservation, or call the library at 203-426-4533. Seating is limited.