General Information
Duration: 1 hr 18 min 0 sec
Genres: Animation, Feature, Fiction
Language:
Country:
Submitted By: Vincent Scuro
Festival Rating
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DirectorsVincent ScuroDrone Runner II
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ProducersVIncent ScuroDrone Runner II
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WritersVIncent ScuroDrone Runner II
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Film TypeAnimation, Feature, Fiction
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Genres
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Runtime1 hours 18 minutes 0 seconds
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Production BudgetUSD
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Country of Origin
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Country of Filming
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Film Language
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Shooting Format
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Aspect Ratio
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Film ColorColor
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Student ProjectNo
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First-time FilmmakerNo
Director's Biography
Vincent Scuro is an Orlando‑based filmmaker known for creating award‑winning independent films that blend narrative craft, animation, and original music. His animated sci‑fi films Drone Runner (2022) and Drone Runner II (2024) — which he wrote, directed, produced, and scored — earned multiple festival honors, including wins at the Orlando International Film Festival, Treasure Coast International Film Festival, NYC Independent Film Festival, and New Jersey Film Awards.
Scuro also served as Executive Producer and Archival Producer on the Emmy‑nominated documentary Woman in Motion (2019), the story of Nichelle Nichols and NASA’s historic astronaut recruitment program.
Before focusing on film, Scuro authored numerous books in both fiction and nonfiction, including titles in the Dodd, Mead Wonders science series and the Zach Taylor Action Adventure series. His long career as a storyteller now fuels his work in animation, world‑building, and film scoring.
Director's Statement
Drone Runners is a science fiction action/adventure film about loyalty, conscience, and the difficult path toward redemption. At its core, the film follows Drone Runner Lara Solaris as she confronts a mission that violates everything she believes in. She is ordered to neutralize an unauthorized Drone Runner whose actions threaten the fragile truce that ended the hundred‑year Drone Wars. But as Lara descends into the hidden world of Planet Ooteon, she discovers that the truth is far more complicated — and that the person she was sent to eliminate may be the only force preventing genocide.
This film explores what happens when duty collides with morality, and when a soldier must choose between obedience and compassion. Lara’s journey is not only about uncovering the planet’s buried secrets and awakening powers she never knew she possessed; it is also about confronting her own past, forgiving herself, and finding the courage to act on what is right rather than what is ordered.
I made Drone Runners for several reasons. One was the personal challenge of writing, producing, and directing a full‑length animated feature — a milestone I’ve worked toward for years. Another was to continue the Drone Runner franchise, which began as a two‑minute experiment and grew into a trilogy embraced by audiences and festivals around the world. The response to the earlier films made it clear that this universe resonates far beyond what I expected, and this feature allows me to expand its mythology, deepen its emotional stakes, and bring the story to its most ambitious scale yet.
Lastly but perhaps most importantly, Drone Runners was created using a modular, screenplay‑driven workflow I developed specifically for this project — a hybrid AI/VFX method built from short, layered segments engineered like micro‑shots.
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