Sex ed as art film

A new series about sex -- on Showtime this weekend -- dares to make movies for teens by teens.

By Amy Benfer

Feb 14, 2003 |

A nonprofit company called Scenarios has created a concept that just might be the first of its kind: The sex education video as art film.

Here's how it works: Each year, Scenarios solicits screenplays for short films from students between the ages of 12 and 22. The writers of the five winning screenplays are then paired with a professional filmmaker to make their movie.

It's a project brilliant in its simplicity. The movies are relevant, because the scripts are written by teens for teens. And they are without a doubt the hippest, best-edited, most entertaining sex ed videos ever made.

The roster of directors that have worked with Scenarios, founded two years ago by Maura Minsky and Kristin Joiner, include David Frankel ("Sex and the City"), Doug Liman ("Swingers" and "Go"), Tamara Jenkins ("Slums of Beverly Hills"), and Michael Apted ("7-Up" series, "Gorillas in the Mist.")

Salon talked with two teenage girls whose films have been made by Scenarios. Verena Faden, 19, worked with Frankel to make her movie "Just Like You Imagined," a story about three couples in Miami dealing with gay romance, one-night stands and HIV. Sophia Tavernakis co-wrote "Lipstick" with four other teens. The movie, which Apted directed, follows a star soccer player who is coming out to her friends. The series airs Feb. 14, 15 and 16 on Showtime.

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Faden wrote her screenplay when she was a senior at Hialeh-Miami Lakes high school in Hialeh, Fla.

How did you get involved with Scenarios?

I was the drama club president last year. We had this great, really active teacher. He made everyone submit a screenplay. Some of the kids were like, No way. What if they take it and make something terrible?

What was it like working with David Frankel?

It was great. I still talk to him all the time. He let me ask him about a thousand questions. It was just like talking to a new friend -- well, a new friend who's won an Academy Award.

The first time I met him, we went to Starbucks with the writer I was working with. I knew I wanted the three stories to intertwine, in a cut-up documentary film style. But the original script I turned in was really rough. When I found out I won, I thought, omigod, it must be a mistake. I wrote it like a madwoman. I don't even think I spell-checked.

How did the script change over time?

The outcomes were very different in the first draft. By the end everyone had HIV. I realized I really wasn't happy with that. We went through 15 drafts. I'm happier with how it is now. The first version just wasn't realistic. Some people are going to have sex and have bad things happen; others will do the same thing and nothing will happen.

Back in the '80s, if you saw a film about HIV, the gay couple always had it. In my film, the gay couple is a normal, hesistant, cautious couple. It's the straight couple who ends up with HIV. Anyone can get it. I wanted to break those stereotypes.

What do you remember about your sex education classes in school?

I think I had the best sex education in elementary school. And of course, I learned from my parents. But by middle school, they had turned it into part of science class. In eighth grade, they showed this really graphic video of the birth of a baby. And the films in high schools were awful. You had these kids in knee socks going, "Far out!" They had to screen them on a projector! You just knew they were from 1976. It became an inside joke amongst my friends. We knew the real stuff, and that was not it.

Your film has a very flirtatious openly gay character going on a date with a boy who is shyer than he is. Were kids in your school openly out?

Being gay is just not a big deal anymore. People don't really care if you are gay or not. The characters in my film were based on different gay males I knew. One of them is somewhat restrained. He still has hangups. The other one just doesn't care. For more conservative kids, it can still be an issue to come out. Others have no problem saying, I have a date tomorrow.

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