College grad already successful in competitive film industry

Spenser Cohen Spenser Cohen is a 22yearold college graduate determined to making a name for himself in the film industry.

With a couple of short films on the independent film circuit, a completed music video for "American Idol" finalist Ace Young's debut album and several treatments being pitched to two major record labels, Cohen is on his way to his dream job before the ink on his diploma has dried.

Cohen, who is spending the summer at his mother's Calabasas home, graduated from USC's School of Cinematic Arts in May. He said his "dream job is to be writer and director and have an amazing career, work with amazing people and make amazing films."

Cohen said Young chose him to produce a music video for his debut album after viewing his short psychological thriller, "Shattered."

"Shattered," said Cohen, has undertones of classic Hitchcockstyled cinematography. He described the film as "'Pulp Fiction' meets 'Heroes.'"

"It's basically like a fractured narrative of three characters whose lives converge in a coffee shop," Cohen said. "Each of them has unique, quirky abilities, and they don't understand why they have them."

One male character "sees too many details instead of the big picture," he said, while the woman in the film can only relax when she is in physical pain. The third character is an archetypal "outlaw" who believes he's Jesse James.

"He thinks he's this outlaw, but he's a deranged lunatic," Cohen said. The story line depicts how two characters set about stopping the outlaw from a crazed rampage.

The film unfolds without dialogue. Music, sound and expression propel the story, Cohen said.

"Shattered" will screen Sun., Aug. 10 at the HollyShorts Film Festival.

Cohen said Young liked the dark elements of "Shattered" and asked him to produce a similarly styled music video for the song "Addicted" from his debut album. Cohen juxtaposed Young's "dark rocker" image in a film noir style with "beautiful, perfect models." He characterized the look as "a hard rock music video meets Victoria's Secret commercial."

An overriding goal of the video was to depict Young in "strong visuals as a rocker, not an American Idol," Cohen said. Despite the edginess of the video, the underlying theme of a love story was told, he said.

"Love is one of the biggest addictions and is a symbol for all other addictions," Cohen said.

Cohen enlisted 10 friends and colleagues to help produce the video. Rather than get paid for the work, Cohen chose to take a "decent budget and make it look like it was five times more."

Cohen also produced a short film called "Bedridden." The story concerns a doctor who visits an elderly couple to find out why the wife is bedridden. The husband locks the doctor in the bedroom with his sick wife.

"As the doctor approaches the bed, the wife reveals something, that she's not what she seems," Cohen cryptically explained. At first, the audience is lead to believe that the woman, who is chained to her bed, is a victim of spousal abuse, but first impressions are deceiving.

"It's very 'Twilight Zone,'" Cohen said.

Cohen has partnered with Anna Halberg, a 21-year-old Toluca Lake resident and USC cinema student, to pitch several treatments to such major labels as Hollywood Records and Jive Records. Cohen's brother and manager, Steve, said Cohen was asked by three major record labels to direct music videos for their artists.

"I'm in the process of showing people my work," Cohen said. "If they like the treatment then I will do the video."

If they win the job, Halberg will serve as a producer, handling the budget, hiring crew and actors, scouting locations for shoots and performing other organizational tasks.

"I'm really drawn to his work," Halberg said. "Spenser is incredibly creative. He has the artistic vision, and I'm incredibly organized."

From now on, Cohen expects to be paid for his work. "These are huge videos," he said of the three possibilities on the horizon.