For many students, Hurricane Gustav was an inconvenient disaster. But for one University student, it was an opportunity to script his next masterpiece.Garick Giroir, mass communication junior and president of the University Cinema Club, got what he calls “the itch” to write a screenplay, and sheer boredom at his grandmother’s house during the hurricane helped him scratch it.”I had been wanting to write a new screenplay for a while, and at my grandmother’s house, boredom and creativity kind of mixed,” Giroir said. “After a day and a half, I had a 40-page screenplay ready to go.”That screenplay is “Code Purple,” the newest of several screenplays developed by Giroir. The film is an amusing look at a mix-up between a suitcase full of money and another full of candy. Giroir said he enjoys screenwriting, but he doesn’t stop there. He films and edits his screenplays too.”This all started out in high school,” Giroir said. “We had to make films for class, and I really enjoyed it. So in my extra time I started grabbing some friends and a camera or two and shooting some of the things I had written.”Soon after, Giroir and his friends formed filmmaking group Zut and Funaki Films and have now produced more than 40 short films, mostly comedies, and three 20-minute feature films.”We started off just showing our films to friends,” Giroir said. “Then we started posting them on YouTube. Then people starting coming to me and asking for a copy of the films, saying they really enjoyed them. So we just kept doing it.”Along with popular acclaim, Giroir said he knew he was good at filmmaking when his high school film teacher entered his documentary about New Orleans cemeteries, aptly titled “New Orleans Cemeteries,” into the Galveston Island Film Festival in Galveston, Texas in 2005.”My teacher was very supportive of my work,” Giroir said. “New Orleans Cemeteries was too short to win first place, but I won honors for it. I also ended up winning Best Multimedia Student at Mandeville High for that documentary.”Giroir said he couldn’t do what he loves without the help of teachers and advisers like Stacey Simmons, Cinema Club adviser and executive director of Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium.”Garick is very talented and dedicated,” Simmons said. “He keeps getting better with everything he does. He keeps learning and doesn’t quit. That’s huge in this industry.”While Simmons claims Giroir succeeds because of his talent, Giroir said friendly competition from filmmaking group Pyro Productions keeps him motivated.Josh Carley, Pyro Productions director and mass communication junior, said the motivation is mutual. “I am always impressed by Garick’s work,” Carley said. “He’ll put something together, and it will inspire me to do something. Or I’ll do something, and it will inspire him to do something. We keep each other going.” Some of Giroir’s most popular films include “A Day in the Life of Garick Giroir,” “Comment Order Crusaders” and “Chaosity,” a feature presented on campus at the Outhouse Film and Video Festival last year. Cameras and props can make independent filmmaking expensive, but Giroir keeps the costs of filming down by borrowing cameras and reusing props from previous films. “Every now and then I have to come out of pocket and buy something,” Giroir said. “Like for Code Purple, I had to buy the two briefcases at 50 bucks each. But I don’t mind buying things. It makes the films better.”Giroir’s affinity for filmmaking begs the question: Why he is in mass communication instead of a film major?The answer: The University doesn’t offer a film studies program. The closest thing the University    offers is a minor in film and media arts.”Since I was a little boy, I’ve always known I wanted to go to LSU,” Giroir said. “Even knowing LSU doesn’t have a film studies program, that never changed. Mass communication, particularly advertising, is as close to film and scripting as I can get. But definitely if LSU had film as a major, I’d be in it.”Carley said it may be in Louisiana’s best interest for the University to offer a film studies program.”It seems like LSU should have something like film studies,” Carley said. “Lots of people here are interested in filming. And with Louisiana’s movie industry growing every year, a film studies major at the biggest state school seems logical.”Simmons said for now, the best opportunities in filmmaking reside in cities outside of Louisiana.”You have to leave Louisiana to be a part of the filmmaking culture,” Simmons said. “That’s bad for the state. Money ultimately flows to the producers and distributors. People like Garick can help create a culture of artistic talent and bring money to Louisiana.”- – – -Contact Abraham Felix at [email protected]