Professor of Film Richard Endacott has earned film festival success for his screenplay “Turn Over.”
The script has won Best Dramatic Short Script at the Cowpokes International Film Festival in Harrah, Oklahoma; Writer’s Block Award (Best Short Script) at the Snake Alley Festival of Film in Burlington, Iowa; and Best Short Script in the Copa Shorts Film Festival in Maricopa, Arizona.
It has also earned semi-finalist selection in the Cinema Soup Film Festival in Gatlinburg, Tennessee; the Lake Travis Film Festival in Lakeway and Bee Cave, Texas; and the Desertscape International Film Festival in St. George, Utah, as well as Juried Selection for Competition honors at the Great Plains Film Festival in Yukon, Oklahoma, and the Skiptown Playhouse International Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Endacott, a Nebraska native who grew up on a cattle ranch, found inspiration for the screenplay in antique tractors.
“I’m keenly aware of how difficult it can be to maintain a family farm in a climate where costs are high, small farms are being sold, and fewer young people are willing or able to devote their lives to farming,” he said. “I also love old things—tractors, trucks, machinery. Recently, I connected with a group of antique tractor restorers and read Roger Welsch’s book, ‘Tractors and the Men Who Love Them.’ The passion that restorers have for sharing these remarkable works of industrial design and engineering was contagious. That was the seed that started my work on ‘Turn Over.’
“Turn Over” features Kerry, who returns to the family farm with a money-making proposition for his estranged brother Thad.
“Both men discover they share ownership of an antique tractor purchased by their father before he died. Figuring out whether the tractor has a seized engine means the difference between a wad of cash or a hunk of junk. If the two can work together to get the old beast to turn over, it might mean more than money to both,” reads the synopsis.
Endacott said he has always been interested in finding ways to tell stories that are simple and universal.
“For me, the short screenplay (and the short film) is a powerful way to tell this type of story,” he said. “At some level, I think everyone can relate to the conflicts that can arise between family members. Often, these conflicts are passionate, but also hold the most potential for reconciliation and growth. A story about brothers whose paths have diverged, yet need the support that can come from rebuilding their relationship is familiar. So I wrote a story about that. . . and antique tractors.”
Endacott is in the process of grant development for the film with a goal of going into production for “Turn Over” next August.