California Lutheran University first-year student Reed Sharp wrote and directed a short film titled “Conjugal Revivification,” which was recently accepted into the Catalina Film Festival. 

The film takes place in the 1960s and is about a couple that got married too soon. The couple is trying marriage counseling in a period of time where this wasn’t widely accepted.

Reed Sharp first wrote this piece while he was in high school.

“I love late 60s fashion. I love doing period pieces,” Reed Sharp said in a Zoom interview.

His script had to be revised from a 40 minute film to a 10 minute feature. The length had to be shortened so he could submit the film to festivals.

Compared to his previous experiences as a director, this was Reed Sharp’s first time doing a film at this level.

“I’ve done a bunch of directing but this was my first professional grade project,” he said. 

Working with him was his film’s producer Jason Quan and his brother Stone Sharp, who is a junior at Cal Lutheran and played the film’s lead.

“Reed is a very fun person, and I love working on projects with Reed because he’s very energetic and very passionate about what he does and that definitely carries on making it a much more enjoyable time on set,” Quan said in a phone interview. “And Reed is also very knowledgeable, and when you have very knowledgeable people at the top, it transfers to every single aspect of production.”

Stone Sharp had explained how “fun” it was on set since everyone was friends, leading to one of his favorite scenes to shoot. It involved the crew spending 30 to 40 minutes filming a feather falling, trying to get it to land in the right place.

Reed Sharp also spoke about his feelings on getting into the film festival.

“To get in a film festival and get recognized, it’s awesome, but y’know getting shot down by a film festival won’t stop me either. I’ll just keep on going until I make something that people like.” Reed Sharp said.

Stone Sharp had the same reaction as his brother.

“That was really exciting. It was cool cause it was one of our first chances to get invited to, ‘cause a lot of the events we’ve one of the other festivals was online so it was still cool to be a part of it, but this time we actually got to go there and like, you know, walk a little red carpet, take our pictures and then they screened all the films,” Stone Sharp said.

Quan, as the producer, felt differently about the film being featured.

“I don’t really care that we got in the film festival, I’m happy that Reed got what he wanted and it’s his vision that he envisioned,” Quan said.

Reed Sharp had submitted his project to multiple film festivals, many of which accepted it. The two that he mentioned in addition to the Catalina Film Festival were the Mill Valley Film Festival and the All American High School Film Festival. His film has also been nominated for a “Best Comedy” award in New York. 

“If I’m satisfied, then I can go on living, but if other people hate it and I’m still satisfied, that’s fine too. I’m in the industry for the art not for the money, but then again I probably want as many people as in the world to see it as possible,” Reed Sharp said.

In the future, Reed Sharp said that he wanted to be like Alfred Hitchcock and have his audience watch his films because they trust that he will deliver the best movie he can, not because of the content being advertised.

“This kid is going places,” Quan said.