Golden is an upcoming independent short film written by twenty-one-year-old Aldo Novo of Miami, Florida, and directed by twenty-two-year-old Stephen Franklin of Jacksonville, Florida. Utilizing online resources such as the “Crew Calls for Film/TV at UCF” Facebook group to recruit other talented members of our community, these burgeoning artists have worked diligently to produce the film as a passion project.
“Success isn’t just an Oscar, success is finishing a script. Success is starting your first day of production. Success is wrapping the shoot. Success is finishing the edit. Success is putting that project out that was words on paper and came to fruition through all of your hard work.”
Stephen Franklin
With a plethora of cameras, microphones, and lighting equipment dispersed across the floor after a day of production and a carefully arranged shelved DVD collection nestled near a large flatscreen television playing In the Heights, Novo’s apartment reflects the creativity and cinephilia driving the production of Golden.
“I hope people relate to these characters and this situation of feeling lost or stranded, not knowing what to do with their life.”
Aldo Novo
Franklin explains what led him to directing.
“Growing up, my family had a lot of road trips. Movies and music were my entertainment, so that was where I first unknowingly got the inspiration for film,” he said. “It got more serious in high school when I started traveling. What led me down the path of directing was watching a movie and feeling something — whether it was sad or joyful. Making people feel something through a film is what really got me to directing and, in terms of Golden, there’s definitely a way I hear certain lines in my head and getting the actor to deliver it that way is a really cool feeling.”
Novo describes the inspiration for the screenplay.
“The character of Rose is a mix of personalities of people I know in real life with a little bit of myself in there, but it’s mostly real-life people As for fictional characters, I’d say the work of Noah Baumbach, those sort of mumblecore movies — Frances Ha, especially — that kind of weird, charmingly-awkward type of character drew me to write Rose. For everything else, it’s like a slice of life; there’s not any real story motivation behind it. It’s just a look into these people’s lives and a journey of finding what you’re interested in and what you want to do. The film doesn’t really have a message. I hope people relate to these characters and this situation of feeling lost or stranded, not knowing what to do with their life. I hope people resonate with the ending find their own thing too,” they said.
“Control the chaos.”
Stephen Franklin
Franklin relates how he maintains a cohesive professional environment on-set.
“For me, it goes back to when I used to direct parkour videos with my friends. As amateur as it sounds, you try to control the chaos. Creatively, people butt heads or shot lists change and there are things that are out of our control. It’s about honing in on that chaos to create order and then using that order to bring the story to life. I haven’t graduated and haven’t been on a lot of big things so I’m still figuring myself out. I don’t even know who I fully am yet, let alone what kind of director I am. I just want to bring the characters we’re working on to life and that comes half from me and half from the actors and the people we have on this production, who are amazing,” he said.
“I don’t want to be the next [Quentin] Tarantino; I want to be the first me.”
Stephen Franklin
Novo reflects on the impact of the pandemic and heavy implementation of online classes at UCF since March 2020 on their matriculation into the film program.
“I am a junior but I’m a transfer student. In high school, I was a shy kid and never got the opportunity to study film. Film has always been my dream but I never had the drive to do it until I came here and started production after production. However, I’ve been doing Zoom University the entire time and I don’t know how the film program is in-person. Everything I’ve learned about film has been from going out, seeking roles on-set, connecting with people, and observing,” they said.
Also a transfer student, Franklin adds, “After I got my AA degree from Valencia I started in the UCF film program. Originally, my goal was to do the BFA program. I had done a few things and felt that I had a pretty good submission but I didn’t get it, which is what has made me work the hardest. The door that I wanted to walk through wasn’t there so I decided to work hard and build it for myself. What I’ve taken away from a lot of my classes is the real-world experience that the teachers provide. I also use the rejection from the BFA program to drive me to prove people wrong. You don’t have to get into the BFA to be great or have a fully-financed film to be great. You can do it all by yourself.”
After they reflect on finalizing the screenplay, Novo expresses the most difficult part of their writing process.
“You get so many blocks. You hit a dead end sometimes. That and tone. It’s very easy to write a story with a mismatched tone, things that don’t make sense, characters who act [oddly], so you kinda have to build a character first and that story goes around them, making sure that everything is grounded and that the audience is not confused. The most rewarding part is seeing it come to life. It’s both scary and weird, for sure. Actors take your characters and embody them. It’s crazy to see that someone understands the character that well. It’s really rewarding, especially when it’s on screen.”
Franklin provides advice that would have proven helpful before the production.
“Before the production, I had the same headspace and the same drive. I’d tell myself to keep my mindset exactly the way it is. To anyone younger: you can do it. We’re on day four of production, and it’s going pretty well so far. Success isn’t just an Oscar; success is finishing a script. Success is starting your first day of production. Success is wrapping the shoot. Success is finishing the edit. Success is putting that project out that was words on paper and came to fruition through all of your hard work. I also want to say thank you to my family for believing in me, especially my sister. Thank you to my dad, my sister, my brother, and my girlfriend. They are the pillars of my person.”
Novo adds, “It doesn’t solely matter whether or not you have the experience. It’s important, obviously, but I’d much rather work with a respectful, kind person on-set than someone who has a lot of experience but is rude. I think we can all learn to be nice to people. I feel that it’s very important. Especially for women in the industry, it’s hard. They get a lot of judgemental notes just [as a result of] their gender, and our generation needs to build a better culture. If you don’t love this, it’s hell. I think the culture needs to shift to a new environment. I want to thank Janine, my girlfriend and script supervisor of the production. She’s my muse.”
Golden is currently in production to be released towards the end of 2021. Novo and Franklin each plan to continue pursuing other projects in the Orlando area.
