Get ready to get weird!
The BizarroLand Film Debacle (aka the BFD) is a timed filmmaking challenge where participants have 72 hours to make a weird movie based on some bizarre story prompts. Oh, and the event takes place entirely online, so filmmakers everywhere — literally everywhere — are welcome to join.
How does it work?
- Sign up
Signups will be open from April 1 through June 9. The form is at the bottom of this page. Just scroll down a little. You can’t miss it. - Pay the fee
The cost is $40 (USD) per team. You can PayPal the fee to PayPal.me/bizarroland. If you don’t have PayPal, message me on social media, and we’ll figure something out. - Attend the Kickoff
The Kickoff will take place Friday, June 30, and there will be different sessions for the folks in different time zones. Each team will be randomly assigned their prompts and given their own deadline. - Shoot!
You only have 72 hours from the moment you get your prompts to write, shoot, edit, export, and upload a film that meets your prompts. - Watch the stream
All the completed movies will be streamed live on YouTube on Saturday, July 8, and then they’ll stay online for a whole week, ending with an awards stream on Saturday, July 15. The entire program will be totally free to everyone around the world.
What are this year’s prompts?
During the Kickoff, each team will roll two twelve-sided dice (or 2d12 for my fellow nerds), and they get to pick which number will determine their Vibe and which will determine their Story Prompt from the following list. (If they roll a 12, they get their pick from the list.)
Vibes
This year, each team will have as their Vibe inspiration a single frame from a famed performance by America’s greatest Treasure — Nicolas Cage:
1. Nic in Wild at Heart
2. Nic in Con Air
3. Nic in Moonstruck
4. Nic in Raising Arizona
5. Nic in Mandy
6. Nic in Matchstick Men
7. Nic in Peggy Sue Got Married
8. Nic in The Rock
9. Nic in Adaptation
10. Nic in Face/Off
11. Nic in Kick Ass
12. (YOU PICK)
Story Prompts
All of this year’s Story Prompts will stimulate the teams to breathe life into cinema’s tiredest plot tropes:
1. Creepy doll and/or child
2. It was all a dream
3. “Three weeks earlier…”
4. Dead the whole time
5. Time travel
6. Multiple personalities
7. Getting caught was part of the plan
8. One week from retirement
9. Waking up to an alarm clock
10. Medicine cabinet mirror scare
11. “Are you as turned on as I am right now?!”
12. (YOU PICK)
Why the hell would anyone do this?!
Hey, if you’re not constantly on the hunt for any flimsy excuse to make a weird-ass movie, then I don’t think we can be friends. For real, though, every team that completes the 2022 Debacle will get an exclusive 2023 Debacle challenge pin that will never be on sale anywhere (unless some degenerate monster hocks theirs on eBay). The teams will also be competing for three unique trophies designed by a weirdo artist specifically for this shindig.
This year’s artist will be revealed soon!
Previous trophies
2020
Bootleg action figures by Dain Marx
2021
Furby abominations by Sophie G. Stark
2022
Sasquatch Melts by Kevin Herdeman
Frequently asked questions
- Is this one of those sketchy deals where the festival owns all the movies people make?
Absolutely not! When you sign up, you agree not to show the movie you make before our screening (which ends on July 15), but after that, the thing is entirely yours to do with as you please. Submit it to festivals, post it on your Vimeo, bury it under your couch and try to suppress the memory… whatever makes you happy! - What are these “bizarre story prompts”?
This year’s prompts will be released soon, but in the past, we’ve had things like:- An anxious movie about eating something that isn’t food
- A horny movie about a body orifice appearing someplace it does not belong
- An emo movie about an inorganic substance coming out of a body
- A nihilistic movie about a person revealing themselves to be something other than human
- A moist movie about receiving divine visions in waste
- One pin per team? Isn’t that super lame?
Yes, it is! That’s why this year, teams will have the chance to buy extra pins after they complete their movies — but only if they complete their movies, since that’s the only way to get one of these pins. - Who determines the winners? Do you just give the trophies to your friends?
I don’t do the judging at all! I bring on a panel of judges to decide the three movies that nail their prompts the best while simultaneously being the most fun to watch. - Do you allow the use of stock footage?
It’s fine, but I’m not thrilled about it. Basically, as long as the stock is not the only thing on screen, you’re in the clear. - What about copyrighted music and whatnot?
Only use material you have the rights to. That includes music, likenesses, sound effects, whatever. Like it says when you sign up, you accept all the legal responsibility for your movie. And rest assured, if the lawyers come calling, I will give you up in a heartbeat. - So I have some strong opinions about critical ra—
Let me stop you right there. If you submit anything that I determine, entirely by my own criteria, to be hateful, I reserve the right to not show it in the lineup, not send you a pin, and not give you a refund. Plus, I will probably spend your fee on drugs or abortions or something.