Finance Professor’s Film Wins Top Prize at Breckenridge

A Belk College of Business finance professor can now add award-winning film producer to his list of titles.

Steven Clark, associate professor of finance, is the lead investor and executive producer for “See You Next Christmas,” which in September won Best Comedy at the Breck Film Fest, one of the oldest film festivals in the country. Not bad for Clark’s first foray into film.

Clark, who says he’s always been a film buff, learned about the film through the equity crowdfunding portal Wefunder. After talking with the director and one of the producers, he decided to get involved.

The holiday romantic comedy – released in time for the holiday season on Apple TV, iTunes and several other video on demand (TVOD) platforms – was filmed in early 2020, just before the pandemic shutdowns.

Clark was on the film set for three days and can also be spotted on screen in a background role.

“I learned a great deal both about the artistic aspects of filmmaking as well as the business side,” he says. “ ‘See You Next Christmas’ was such a good experience that I invested in another film through Wefunder.”

This film, titled “SCRAP,” is currently in post-production and will be out next year. Clark is an executive producer and also cast in a small role as a physician.

Clark, who teaches in the nationally ranked Master of Science in Mathematical Finance program, is also bringing his knowledge of crowdfunding into the classroom. He says faculty are in the early stages of adding crowdfunding and other fintech course content into the program’s new fintech and quantitative finance curriculum.

On the set of “See you Next Christmas”: From left: Matt Enlow (producer), Steven Clark, Mackensie MiLyn (actress), Christine Weatherup (writer, director, actress) and Beatriz Chahin (producer).