Keegan Wilcox won the grand prize of the Tell It Your Way contest for his dramatic, three-minute short film called “Porcelain Unicorn,” which will be shown at next year’s Beloit International Film Festival.

“It’s surreal at the moment,” Wilcox said. “We weren’t expecting this so it’s pretty awesome.”

Among his prizes is a week’s worth of work experience with Scott, who chose Wilcox as the winner.

“It’s a huge career opportunity because not many people get in the door there,” Wilcox said.

The son of Dave Wilcox who served as Beloit City Manager from 1986-1992, Wilcox lived in Beloit from ages 2 to 7 years old and attended Morgan Elementary School. His family then moved to Arizona where he spent the rest of his formative years, but he still remembers Beloit.

“It’s a big part of my childhood and is a big part of my imagination,” he said. “When I think about setting creative stories, I find myself drifting back to that environment.”

Beloit is also where Wilcox first became fascinated with film.

Ever since he was very young, he said he enjoyed putting on plays and always knew he wanted to work in the film industry.

Wilcox went on to attend Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts in Orange County, Calif., where he graduated in 2005 with a degree in film production.

He did a series of assistant and low-paying jobs before he started his own commercial production company in Los Angeles three years ago called 100 to 1 Productions where he writes, directs and produces.

“My goal is definitely to make my mark in the film industry. I’d like to do a movie that people see and that makes an impact in some way,” said Wilcox, adding that he is interested in science-fiction and action/ adventures movies like “Avatar” that take you to another world.

Now, Wilcox is one step closer to achieving his dream thanks to his win for “Porcelain Unicorn.”

A film with Jewish undertones, Wilcox said he was inspired by his grandfather’s time in war.

“I took that and formed it around a classic narrative structure where a protagonist, or hero, travels through the darkness before seeing the light,” he said.

Telling a complete story with a beginning and end in three minutes was not easy, but Wilcox said he was able to achieve that by paying detailed attention to the script before leaping into the filming aspects.

“Filmmaking is always fun in a labor and love way,” Wilcox said. “It was a lot of stress, but I had a lot of fun.”

Visit www.porcelainunicorn.com for more information and to view the film.