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Steven Spielberg, Sofia Coppola, the Coen Brothers, M. Night Shyamalan ... these famous filmmakers have created fantastic movies.

But do you ever wonder how they got started?

Well, Fresno plays host to one festival that could be the catalyst for producing the next Spielberg or Coppola.

The Get Reel! Teen Film Festival is a competition that showcases the theatrical creations of Valley filmmakers ages 13-19. There are six categories: documentary, commercial or public service announcement, feature short, music video, broadcast and animation.

These 44 original films compete in their categories for prizes. The best film in each category will receive a $100 Visa gift card; the audience's favorite film gets a $100 gift card as well; and "Best in Show." will receive $500.

Prize money, however, isn't the motivation for many of these aspiring filmmakers.

Fae McComb, a sophomore at Buchanan High School, who created and stars in the feature short film "The Worst Zombie Movie Ever Made in the History of Mankind, Ever," jumped at the opportunity to try her hand at filmmaking.

"I'm actually thinking of going into videography as a major," Fae says, "and when Gina Becker [a librarian who is helping to coordinate the event] told me about the festival, I thought it would be a good start."

Other applicants already were involved in filmmaking projects. Morgan Phillips, a senior at Clovis East, is one of the five creators of the animated film "Newspaper," about a group of farm animals who form a plan to save their farm. "We just started working on the film," he says, "and found out about the film festival and thought, 'Hey, let's just enter that.' "

Clovis East sophomore Jennifer Gagne and her four colleagues made a public service announcement last semester called "Drugs Impact," about the detrimental effects of illegal drugs. "Well, we had this thing at school where we have morning announcements on TV, and we decided to put some announcements from our Advanced Media Class on TV," she explains. "My teacher recommended that we put it into the film festival because it was one of the top five that he got out of all his students."

Involvement has inspired some of student to delve more deeply into filmmaking as a possible career.

"I'd like to do documentaries that would help educate people on events going on in the world," McComb says. Gagne has similar aspirations: "I would love to get into movie directing or somehow being on television. I love editing and I love directing, so something along those lines."

Even if students are not interested in making a career out of filmmaking, participating in the festival is an important way for the youth of the Valley to showcase their own views.

"Filmmaking is an excellent way for teens to express themselves, enrich Fresno's cultural arts scene, and offer the community a different perspective," Becker says.

Students will have a chance to get feedback from judges who have experience in the film industry, so for those looking to further their skills, the festival can be a push in the right direction.