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About Our Project

Once Upon a Frame is a youth filmmaking program that fosters creativity, storytelling, and hands-on production experience. Guided by Mario Herbert, author of the Adrian & Sha’tanya series, participants, age 8–11,will write original stories that are adapted into professional short films. The pilot project, The Kite Heist, launches the program while honoring the late Shawnathon Chase, whose creativity and spirit continue to inspire this initiative. While each film is produced to professional standards, the program also serves as a training ground for aspiring filmmakers aged 12–25, who will gain hands-on experience by shadowing and working alongside industry professionals at every stage of production.

Once Upon A Frame, serves as a peace and youth engagement program, providing children and teens with a safe, structured environment to explore storytelling and filmmaking. By giving young people meaningful activities, the program keeps them positively occupied, fosters personal growth, improves literacy and communication skills, and offers a constructive alternative to street-related risks.

What We Are Looking For

Energetic, imaginative, and expressive people.
Commitment: Enthusiasm for participating.
Confident speakers.
Good team players.
Persons of all ages.
For everyone to have fun

*No professional acting experience is required!

If you are under 18, you must be accompanied with a parent/guardian when auditioning.

Casting Call Audition Date: 18 July 2026

Once you have filled out your casting form, by clicking on the pictures below, you will be sent a time for your audition.

THE PRANKSTER

Alyssa is a mischievous schoolgirl who routinely pulls irritating and hazardous pranks on her family and classmates from rigging a hairdryer with flour to putting worms in a peer's food. Despite constant warnings, she refuses to stop until her teacher and classmates orchestrate a retaliatory trap. During a failed prank attempt, a classroom door detaches from its hinges, sending Alyssa crashing to the ground. Exposed and caught, she is forced into a tense school meeting where her victims detail the distress she caused. Facing a severe reprimand from the principal and her furious parents, Alyssa finally learns a harsh lesson about empathy and consequences, realizing that her amusement caused real harm as she heads home to a dread-filled punishment.

for more information on characters click here

THE KITE HEIST

When siblings Tristan and Lisa lose their new Easter kite in their grumpy neighbor’s tree, he refuses to return it. After being caught trespassing during a failed retrieval attempt, they lie to their mother, prompting her to confront the neighbor. Once the truth is revealed, a furious Mum forces them to apologize and punishes them at home, leaving the siblings to learn a painful lesson about honesty and accountability.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CHARACTERS CLICK HERE

THE HAUNTED HOSPITAL

Architecture student Ash ignores warnings and sneaks into an abandoned mental hospital to study its layout, only to be terrified by a shadow that turns out to be his friend Benny playing a prank. However, the joke turns real when both boys spot the actual ghost of the building's 17th-century designer waving from a window, prompting a terrified Ash to vow never to explore abandoned buildings again.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CHARACTERS CLICK HERE

Intergalactic Pup

On a stormy Sunday night, sisters Leah and April rescue a fluffy, midnight-blue puppy they name Star after a loud crash from the sky knocks out the neighborhood's power. The next morning, they discover Star is no ordinary dog when his eyes glow bright purple and they realize his laser vision burned through a box in their shed. When their nosy neighbor Paul secretly records Star using his incredible powers to jump impossibly high for a frisbee and posts it online for social media clout, the girls fear their alien pup will be taken away. To save him, Leah cleverly films Star catching the frisbee while jumping on an old trampoline; this alternative video convinces the internet that Paul's footage was just a fake CGI hoax, successfully protecting Star's extraordinary secret.

for more information on characters, click here

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