Remembering a colleague
Midweek update: This one is hard to write
I wanted to note this week the passing of a talented Oklahoma writer and marketer.
Jon Skelly, who I worked with on four different 48-hour films, passed away April 18 at the age of 45. His obituary can be found here:
https://www.mcneilsfuneral.com/obituaries/Jonathan-James-Skelly?obId=31266899
If you’d like to help his wife and four kids during this challenging time, there is a GoFundMe for them at this site: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jon-skelly-legacy-fund
Jon’s successful marketing career can be traced at his website JonSkelly.com. Others knew him from his church activities or college athletic career. But where I came to know Jon was his through work as a writer on 48-hour films, which showcased his cleverness, wit and speed as a writer.
I know others will remember Jon’s love for his family and how good he was at his job. I don’t know if as many people had a firsthand view of how good he was as a film writer, so I want to take this week’s update to let people know about his work in that field.
I first became aware of Jon when he worked with co-writer Sean Thiessen on “Crouching Lion, Hidden Treasure.” This was the second 48-hour film directed by Kyle Roberts (“What Rhymes With Reason”) after “Paradox,” written by Thiessen and me in 2013. Roberts was coming off of the win for Best Oklahoma Film for “The Posthuman Project” around the time of this contest in 2014. Skelly and Thiessen came together to write a humorous fantasy musical of which I am a little envious. Skelly also provided his deep baritone for the voice of the narrator, adding a fun dimension to the film. “Crouching Lion” went on to play the 2015 deadCenter film festival in Oklahoma City, and rack up some other awards on its festival run.
I joined in on the Skelly-Thiessen team in the 2015 OKC 48-hour film contest for “Heroes of the Realm,” in which fantasy videogame warriors are displaced into our world. There’s lots of trademark Skelly wit on display in this one.
In the film, magic opens a portal to our world. This allows both heroes and villains from a world where magic reigns to slip through. To stop the evil sorcerer, it’s up to a pizza delivery woman to make the most important delivery of her life.
The film stars Kate Le, Stephen Goodman, Kato Buss, Alissa Ford, and Raychelle McDonald. Roberts directed it and produced it with Denise Castelli and Toni Marlo. This did well on the festival circuit as well, with awards at Chicago’s Juggernaut Sci-Fi/Fantasy Short Film Festival and the Austin Revolution Film Festival.
I don’t know that the film is available anywhere to stream, but you can see the teaser trailer here: https://www.ra-pictures.com/hotr
The next time Jon and I worked together was a couple of years later, this time with director Ricky Pope. Ricky was helming a 48-hour team for the first time and had Chris Forbes and Songo Adoki lined up to write for him. Ablegate Productions’ entry to the 48 Hour Film Project OKC for 2017 was “Semi-Social,” which was nominated for Best Sound Design, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Micro-Short Comedy, and OK Soil Micro-Short.
Our logline was: A tech-addicted teen attempting to attract the girl of his dreams gets help from an unexpected source. We were inspired by films like “Back to the Future” and “Pretty in Pink.” This film is on YouTube here:
The four writers of “Semi-Social” returned in 2018 to work with Pope on “Overdue,” which we shot in my kids’ elementary school. Having the shoot nearby allowed us to use Speeding Bullet Comics for our writers’ room. I felt like we used the experience from “Semi-Social,” which had some funny bits, to gel even further on “Overdue.”
The “Overdue” synopsis:
A pregnant librarian, on a journey to the perfect baby name, goes into labor and is joined on her trip by a cast of characters from her favorite books. Time is running out as her husband hits the road to get her to the hospital.
“Overdue” won “Audience Choice” in the Oklahoma City 48 Hour Film Project 2018, and went on to play multiple festivals, including Sunny Side Up, Bare Bones International, Clean Shorts and Red Dirt.
You can watch “Overdue” on YouTube as well.
After working on “The Grave” as a non-contest film in 2018, I thought I might be done writing short films. Fortunately, fate intervened one last time in the 2019 OKC 48-hour film contest, as Roberts decided to again helm a team.
“Life, Upgraded” was created as part of the 2019 48-hour film project in Oklahoma City and was directed by Roberts. It starred LaRonn Marzett, Raychelle Black, Josiah Overstreet, Neil Newby, Collin Place, Leah N.H. Philpott, and Rett Terrell. The film won eight awards in the OKC contest, including runner-up for best film. It also received third place in the “Film of the Year” competition at the Oklahoma State Film Festival.
Here’s the logline: A forbidden romance between an android and the daughter of the engineer who built him is tested when she is ordered to erase his memory, forcing the couple to choose between the life they were made for and the love they have found.
This last time working with Thiessen and Skelly was again so rewarding. The writers’ room was full of laughs on all these, even as they were done on a wildly compressed schedule to get a full short film made in just 48 hours. This was less comedic than our previous collaborations, but it might be the best one. I have a place in my heart for them all, though. At one point, this was viewable online due to its award-winning turn in OKC, but it doesn’t appear to be at this time.
All of the collaborations with Roberts screened at various film festivals; the first two screened again at his Recklesstival in 2016.
I haven’t participated in any film contests since 2019 – COVID and other things derailed me to some degree – but I had considered it this year before realizing my schedule wouldn’t allow it. I had considered contacting Jon to see if he had looked at reaching out to any particular teams. Now, I wish I’d reached out anyway. While others had many more interactions with Jon and very personal ties to grieve, I will remember him as a great collaborator who I was fortunate to get the chance to work with as much as I did.
Skelly family GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jon-skelly-legacy-fund
Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about comics, film, and other entertainment topics for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, Oklahoma.