Robert Scott (aka ScOttRa) has been watching films his entire life — the kind of watching that borders on obsession. One that draws no distinction between Bergman and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." An obsession that treats cinema not as entertainment but as a way of understanding the world.
As a kid growing up in the 1980s he shot Super 8 clay-mation films and stop motion epics with his Star Wars action figures, already dreaming of film school, but as John Lennon said "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." and unfortunately the camera went away.
But the love of cinema never did.
For decades Robert channeled his visual obsessions elsewhere:
Into writing screenplays that lived quietly in drawers.
Into horror portraits under the name ScOttRa Monster Art, work compelling enough to earn him a Rondo Award.
Into photography.
Into co-hosting Cinexcess, a film podcast with his wife Kelly.
Then on the day David Lynch died, an Instagram advertisement for the David Lynch MFA in Screenwriting at Maharishi International University appeared on his phone, and Robert took it as a sign and enrolled.
What followed surprised him. The Super 8 kid was still in there. Five films in — including the horror short "Served Cold," the experimental tribute to David Lynch; "Dark Roast," and the unsettling "Room Tone" — instructors were citing his visual ability and his sound design as particular strengths.
He is currently in production on "Dead Letters", an atmospheric horror short that began as his BA thesis film, and will serve as the proof of concept for his MFA application feature screenplay.
The Super 8 clay animation kid who chickened out, spent decades loving cinema without making it, and then at 57 — triggered by the death of his favorite filmmaker — finds himself shooting atmospheric horror in his creepy basement with a handmade glowing soul jar and sophisticated layered sound design.
The dream he had at twelve is right on schedule.
As a kid growing up in the 1980s he shot Super 8 clay-mation films and stop motion epics with his Star Wars action figures, already dreaming of film school, but as John Lennon said "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." and unfortunately the camera went away.
But the love of cinema never did.
For decades Robert channeled his visual obsessions elsewhere:
Into writing screenplays that lived quietly in drawers.
Into horror portraits under the name ScOttRa Monster Art, work compelling enough to earn him a Rondo Award.
Into photography.
Into co-hosting Cinexcess, a film podcast with his wife Kelly.
Then on the day David Lynch died, an Instagram advertisement for the David Lynch MFA in Screenwriting at Maharishi International University appeared on his phone, and Robert took it as a sign and enrolled.
What followed surprised him. The Super 8 kid was still in there. Five films in — including the horror short "Served Cold," the experimental tribute to David Lynch; "Dark Roast," and the unsettling "Room Tone" — instructors were citing his visual ability and his sound design as particular strengths.
He is currently in production on "Dead Letters", an atmospheric horror short that began as his BA thesis film, and will serve as the proof of concept for his MFA application feature screenplay.
The Super 8 clay animation kid who chickened out, spent decades loving cinema without making it, and then at 57 — triggered by the death of his favorite filmmaker — finds himself shooting atmospheric horror in his creepy basement with a handmade glowing soul jar and sophisticated layered sound design.
The dream he had at twelve is right on schedule.