Milwaukee Film's 2012 Collaborative Cinema program begins its first day of filming this Friday, July 27 at 342 E. Silver Spring Dr., in Whitefish Bay.

Filming for this year's production, "The Vampire Formerly Known as Dracula," will take place in front of the former Berkeley's Cafe from 8 to 11:30 a.m. The film is written by Milwaukee High School of the Arts student Ian Walls and directed by MATC graduate Nathaniel Schardin.

A comedy about a traditional Dracula who finds himself out of place in contemporary America's world of hip, fashionable vamps, "The Vampire Formerly Known as Dracula" will be filmed by a full film crew and debuted in "The Milwaukee Show" at the 2012 Milwaukee Film Festival, held Sept. 27-Oct. 11.

Walls' idea was chosen out of over 50 submissions from high school and college students and local writers enrolled in Milwaukee Film's Collaborative Cinema screenwriting workshops.

For more information about the Collaborative Cinema program or the Milwaukee Film Festival, visit mkefilm.org.