Auburn Morrow wrote a letter to the judges of her senior project at Creekview High School. For her project, she wrote, produced, and directed her own original short film to explore the film industry and her interest in being a young adult novelist. Through her research and experience making the short film, she learned about the challenges independent filmmakers face from illegal downloading hurting their ability to earn money from their work. Though there were obstacles during the writing, planning, casting, and filming stages, she was able to complete her project. However, after learning more about the film industry, she now plans to pursue her dream of being a young adult novelist by attending college first at either North Georgia State University or Kennesaw State

1. 1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
April, 19th 2012
Judges, Senior Project
Creekview High School
1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
Dear Judges,
My name is Auburn Morrow and I am a senior at Creekview high school. My entire high
school career, I have only had one goal for my future in mind. I have always wanted to be a
young adult novelist. Actually, even before high school I wanted to be a writer. However, to
explore other options with my talent for writing, I decided to create a short film. For my senior
project, I wrote, produced and directed my original short film.
Being I created a short film, I wanted to explore deeper inside the film industry because I
was innocent to its inner workings. So, I decided to research how illegal downloading affects the
film industry. My findings were very surprising, especially when I came to learn an independent
film maker did not receive any payment for his film because anyone who wanted to see the film,
simply illegally downloaded it. As that film maker did, I was faced with a few obstacles. During
the writing faze, all my stories were too long, but in the end, I did come up with a fantastic script.
After that planning became a very long and tedious challenge that I thankfully was able to finish.
When casting arrived, I had to search far and wide for actors to eventually fire one and replace
him. I made the filming part of my product strict to avoid goofing off, but still I was denied
permission to film at Target. I overcame that obstacle with a simple rewrite.
All filmmakers have to deal with the public illegally downloading their films.
Filmmakers, all the time, go to court to fight and stop people from continuing piracy because it is
a crime. After this year and what I did for my senior project, I decided not to be a filmmaker, but
continue to pursue my dreams of being a young adult novelist. First though, I will go to college,
either North Georgia State University or Kennesaw State University.
I really enjoyed exploring this field and if I had the choice, I would do it all again. Thank
you so much for taking time out of your lives to come here today.
`Sincerely,
Auburn Morrow