Essex Actress to Star in Independent Film

Alicia Wernick usually has a script in hand before accepting an acting job.

At the very least, she knows what the film is about. That definitely wasn’t the case on either front for Wernick’s latest role, a starring role in the short film Crooked Cops.

The 28-year-old Essex resident was offered the role on a Wednesday, showed up for filming at 11 p.m. on Friday and finished the entire film by sundown on Saturday.

“I answered an ad on Craigslist and wasn’t sure if it was even real at first,” Wernick said. “But after talking with those involved in the project, I was intrigued and wanted to be a part of it.”

Crooked Cops will debut at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at The Charles Theatre as part of the Maryland Film Festival. The film will be one of eight independent films developed as part of The 48-Hour Film Project.

The concept behind the project is for a team to make a movie—write, shoot, edit and score it—in just 48 hours. On Friday night, the team receives a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in the movie.

Then, 48 hours later, the movie must be complete. It will usually debut in the next week at a local theater. In 2009, nearly 40,000 filmmakers made 3,000 films in 76 cities around the world as part of the project.

According to organizers, The 48 Hour Film Project's mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers. The tight deadline puts the focus squarely on the filmmakers—emphasizing creativity, teamwork skills and “doing” over “talking.”

Urban Legend Films, a small group of filmmakers who all met while at Morgan State University, produced Crooked Cops.

The group of about 10 people loved the concept of having to produce a movie that quickly and had a plot in mind when they got involved. Crooked Cops is a mockumentary that profiles a notorious con artist who eludes police and steals millions until a veteran cop discovers the criminal’s unlikely accomplice. All of the filming was done in Lauraville in northeast Baltimore.

However, having to turn around the movie so fast required having an experienced actress in the lead role, said screenplay writer Natalia Tyree. As soon as she saw Wernick’s head shot and read about her background, Tyree knew she was perfect for the role.

“Most of those involved in this project are amateurs, so we needed someone that knew what they were doing for this to be a success,” Tyree said. “Having never met any of us before that Friday night, Alicia was a true professional and stepped right into the role.”

Wernick currently works in human resources for a medical company. But she previously spent time in California, where she had several acting jobs, including in some commercials.

“You just have to trust your instinct when you have deadlines like this,” Wernick said. “It was a no-lose situation for me. It was an opportunity to act and have some fun and see where it takes us from here.”

Wernick and Tyree hope Crooked Cops takes them to France for the Cannes Film Festival, where the movie could be screened. According to event organizers, the 10 best films of the 2011 tour will be screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner.

“Getting the film done on deadline was the hard part,” Tyree said. “Now we get to sit back and hope people enjoy our film enough to get us to France.”

Tickets for the screening are $9 and can be purchased by clicking here.