Rotary Program: 8/25/04

Program Chairperson: Dick Jarrell

Speaker: Shannon Blackburn

Shannon Blackburn is a graduate of Pikeville High School and Morehead State University. Upon graduation from college, he went to New York and then on to California to pursue a career in filmmaking. For the past year he has been working on a film based on a screenplay that he wrote called "The Humane Game". It is a comedy about one man's search for the most humane person in America. When Shannon began to shop around for producers, directors and actors to make his dream a reality, he was faced with costs that exceeded 5 Million dollars. Know that such an amount was not feasible, he came home to Pike County to try to raise enough support and find the kind of actors that would authenticate the story more to his liking. Since the first of August he and his crew have put in 12 to 14-hour days shooting 70% of all the scenes in Pike County. It is expected to be finished by this Saturday and ready for the post production processes of editing and syncronizing the soundtrack with the pictures. The Director is Edber Mamisao, a graduate of the Vancouver Film School, who has many documentaries in the Phillipines to his credit. Since then he has created many short works with festival recognition as well as a feature length screenplay, "My Name Is Elvis". The lead actor in Shannon's film is a local personality by the name of Billy Ford. He is a well known minister who has served serval congregations in and around Pike County for many years. He has starred in many plays and has lots of experience in the acting field. Shannon believes "The Humane Game" has the potential to make a good impression at film festivals all over the world. He has already been invited to showcase his film at the "Sundance" - one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Shannon says this endeavor is a dream come true because he gets to work on a film in the hometown in which he grew up. We wish Shannon and all those who have worked on the project much success and he would like to thank all those organizations and businesses that have supported it financially. - JMC