Santa vs. Elf on the Shelf in Waters’ latest production

Lewes filmmaker Rob Waters took up a friend’s challenge recently, and two weeks later entered his latest short feature film in an Eastern Shore film contest.

And short it is, only three minutes long. Waters filmed the short, dubbed “Sweet,” at Lewes’ Kindle restaurant starring local actors James Keegan as Santa Claus and Alex Lloyd-Wood as the Elf on the Shelf. The two characters face off while sitting in a booth at the popular Bank Street restaurant. Waters would only say the gist of the film is about Santa and the Elf having a heated exchange over the Elf encroaching on Santa’s territory.

Per entry rules for the ‘Twas the Film Fest Before Christmas contest, a snow globe must be used as a prop, and there must be a line of dialogue that states, “It was a Tupperware knife. He got it from the party.”

“I live for these types of film competitions,” said Waters, whose commercial work frequently runs on local television networks. “When I started my filmmaking career, I cut my teeth on these contests, which usually happened in Philly or Wilmington.”

Waters co-ran a film contest this fall at the Milton Theatre called the Horror Trailer Challenge, in which the Christmas film contest creator, Mitchell Cannon, won third place.

“When it launched, he simply said, ‘You should enter,’ which the over-competitive filmmaker side of me took as ‘Do you have the guts to enter this contest, old man,’” Waters said.

So he did, editing his film right up to the Dec. 15 entry deadline.

The screening was scheduled for Dec. 23 at the Cult Classic Brewing Company in Stevensville, Md., where contestants will compete for a $250 first-place prize. Waters said he plans to share his film online the week after Christmas.