Agency creative Larry Ziegelman’s romantic comedy short, “Check, Please,” based on a family incident, won the Illinois Film Office’s first Shortcuts short film contest.
IFO director Betsy Steinberg presented Ziegelman with a check for $665 and a crystal star award before his film screened as part of CIFF’s Short Films program Monday night at the AMC River East theatre.
Ziegelman, an ACD on the State Farm account at DDB, says he will use the check towards his next, more ambitious comedy that he will direct this weekend.
“Check Please” is about a dinner that descends into bedlam when a young woman is invited to meet her fianc?’s family at a posh restaurant and her fianc? and his father get into a tussle over who will pick up the check.
“This actually happened to my brother, who fought with my dad over paying for dinner,” Ziegelman said. The film he’ll direct this weekend, “You Shouldn’t Have,” is about “a dysfunctional Jewish family,” and is also based on an incident that involved his “Seinfeld-like parents.”
