Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - September 14, 2003
Jonnelle Marte, jmarte@herald.com
Scenarios USA is a national nonprofit organization to give teens a national forum to voice ideas on major issues like HIV, pregnancy and homosexuality.
The driving force behind Scenarios USA is the "What's the Real Deal?" writing contest.
Youths between 12 and 22 submit stories, poems, songs or scripts about friendship, love, coming out, STDs or whatever else they care about.
Entries are judged by a jury of teens, filmmakers, educators, film distributors and health experts.
Winning students team up with prominent filmmakers to turn their stories into short films that are then aired nationwide.
"Teens get to tell stories that affect other teens and the decisions they make," said co-founder Maura Minsky. "This is a very powerful contest."
Scenarios USA was founded in New York in 1998 by Minsky and Kristen Joiner.
They worked together to replicate the AIDS prevention programs "3000 Scenarios Against a Virus" in France and "Scenarios from the Sahel" in West Africa.
"This gives teens a voice so that they can share their message creatively," said Tim Flay, a theater arts teacher at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School. "There are not many opportunities like this for teens."
Directors who have worked with Scenarios USA include Doug Liman (Swingers, The Bourne Identity), Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter, The World is Not Enough) and Griffin Dunne (Practical Magic, Addicted to Love).
Verena Faden, last year's winner for Miami-Dade County, was partnered with director David Frankel to turn her script into a short film titled Just Like You Imagined?
Her film deals with three young couples facing relationship problems like homosexuality, HIV and pregnancy.
"Verena learned that with that voice she was given came tremendous responsibility," said Flay, who was her teacher at the time.
Faden worked on her film the second half of her senior year at Hialeah-Miami Lakes.
From rewriting -- which she said lasted about three months -- to the final editing, Faden was involved throughout.
"I was there the whole way," Faden said. "It was a really exciting experience."
Since its premiere in October, Just Like You Imagined? has been screened at dozens of film festivals and aired on Showtime. It is currently being used by schools and community groups in 37 states.
"I hope anyone who watches it will make conscious, educated decisions about what they do sexually," she said.
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