“VICE” at Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival- Short Film With Love Acting Students

Love Acting students Eric Carney and Hannah Papizan on the set of “Vice”

Love Acting owner/teacher, Jency Hogan, had a really cool experience over the summer last year helping Love Acting students make their own short film called “Vice”. Jency directed it and had talented actors Hannah Papizan and Eric Carney write and star in it. Most of the actors in Baton Rouge are hungry for experiences, but lack opportunity. Actors know that they need to have a reel in order to have the opportunity to get an agent or start developing their career. Making short films has always been a great way to help actors launch into the professional world because they not only can get footage to add to their reel, but they get the experience of being on a set.

Hannah Papizan and Eric Carney are two very special acting students. They both came to Love Acting with some experience under their belt, knowing they wanted to pursue acting as a career. We’ve watched them develop their talents through our intermediate acting class and then growing into the advanced class and expanding their skills on-camera. Hannah and Eric participated in the Actor’s Showcase and it was time for them to make their own short film to really show what they can do. Jency challenged them to write their own script that she would direct and her husband Aaron Hogan would shoot. They also knew they wanted to submit it to the Louisiana Film Prize.

Hannah and Eric both wrote characters for themselves that they felt would be roles they could play in other movies— characters they’d want to be cast as. According to Jency, “It’s always fun directing your own students because they already know your communication/directing style, so when we were on set it was like a big family making a movie. We decided to take some risks and push the limits during their big fight scene by adding a physical fight to the already emotional banter. It definitely raised the stakes of the scene.”

When Jency found out that Vice got into Louisiana Film Prize she was not surprised, based on these actors’ dedication and openness to push themselves. While on set, it felt like performances that should be applauded. Aaron and Jency love working together with him working in the role of director of photography and with her directing and says, “It’s like we’re one feisty brain. We are not afraid to confront each other as in our 13 year marriage and are able to achieve artistic goals through good communication and our interconnection. We have some similar taste in films that we love. Like one of my favorite directors Greta Gerwig, we hope to be able to tag team creative projects (like Frances Ha, Barbie, etc.)— and Vice, and much more in the future.”

Now, most recently, it’s exciting that there was a Baton Rouge screening of Vice at the Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival, a new festival in Baton Rouge that folks from Love Acting are excited to be involved with. This is BRUFF’s first year. Several of our students were able to attend and support the Love Acting students and owner’s hard work on Sunday 8/24 at Manship.