YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – South Range High School Senior Jacob Richardson enjoys painting and chose to use that as a theme for his written PSA entry in the Tom Holden Memorial Scholarship contest.
Richardson felt he wanted to create a commercial concept with a comedic element and felt that SMARTS was the perfect fit.
Read Jacobs’s winning script for SMARTS below:
2nd Runner-Up: Jacob Richardson, South Range High School
The camera pans to a class of students painting. Each student is panting on a canvas propped vertically on an easel, and everyone in the room is standing.
Each member of the class wears a paint smock. Some are covered in paint and others are newer.
As students work on their paintings and talk with one another, there is an instructor walking around the room. He gives advice when needed and encourages students as they paint.
The instructor stops at two friends who are chatting in a tone of friendly bicker. The two are presented as opposites.
One’s painting is magnificent, and the other appears to be struggling.
The instructor turns to the talented painter of the two and says in a shocked tone,
“I’m very impressed. Look at the brushwork and the intricate
detail. You have a gift! Da Vinci himself would be proud of this.”
The talented painter smiles and thanks the instructor for his kind words.
Then, the instructor turns to the less talented painter of the two and reviews his work.
He responds to his analysis by saying shakily,
“And you…wow……..such an interesting…..style”
This response is given in a tone that indicates the painter is limited in skill, but the instructor is trying to find something nice to say.
The instructor walks away towards a different group of students.
The less talented painter turns to his friend and says,
“I’m awful at this.”
The talented friend turns and says in an encouraging tone,
“Hey man, everyone’s an artist! Doesn’t matter how good you
are”
The less talented painter puts his arm around his friend and sighs.
Then, after a moment of silence, the less talented friend subtly grabs a handful of paint and plops it on his friend’s head.
Soon a full paint war erupted and everyone in the class joined in. Everyone is laughing and paint is flying everywhere.
The instructor tries to stop it but ducks and barely dodges a clump of paint flying by his head, and he takes cover under a desk when he realizes that he won’t be able to.
The instructor almost has a frightened expression on his face as the class is exploding around him. He looks into the camera and breaks the fourth wall with a frightened and annoyed look. He is very overwhelmed.
Then he turns to look at a wall where a significant amount of wet, flying globs of paint have gathered and realizes that it looks very similar to a famous masterpiece. It looks as if it is a Van Gogh-style formation similar to Starry Night.
He seems confused and shocked upon seeing this and says no himself,
“Oh, my…..”
Then, as the paint continues to fly around the room and students are laughing and giggling, the screen fades to black.
(Next section has a voiceover)
The saying “Everyone is an Artist!” comes onto the screen.
After a few seconds, it changes to “Join us for a summer of fun. All classes are free.”
Then finally, that changes to “SMARTS”
*End commercial*
