What happens when filmmakers have 48 hours to create a short?

The crowd at the Last Word, a hip restaurant and watering hole in the Old Fourth Ward, seems a bit booming for a Sunday night. A long line snakes past the bar, but these guests bypass drinks altogether. No time for cocktails.

Each person clutches an envelope with a flash drive inside. On every drive, you’ll find the owner’s respective short film. The Last Word serves as a fitting finish line for the 48 Hour Film Project, an annual mad dash competition of two-day filmmaking. And the folks in line have their fingers crossed that they’ll be turning in their movies on time.

Clay Brantley’s envelope contains the director’s six-and-a-half-minute short film “The Contacts,” a buddy flick about a pair of sexy female killers. As he steps up to the check-in table and hands over the envelope, Brantley reflects.

“We were scrambling up to the last minute,” he recalled, eyes heavy and still managing a smile.

In fact, all 81 registered teams had to scramble to write, shoot and edit a short film within a 48-hour time frame. The movies have to be at least four minutes in length and no longer than seven. On the previous Friday evening, each team drew a genre out of a hat and then were given this year’s requirements. Every film had to feature a character named Robert or Roberta Jones, use a cassette tape as a prop and include the line “It can’t possibly be this easy.”

You don’t have to be a judge of the competition to see the results. There will be six screenings next week at Landmark Theatres Midtown Art Cinema.

Although creating a film over a weekend couldn’t possibly sound more difficult, the Atlanta version of the 48 Hour Film Project continues drawing filmmakers into the fray with no signs of slowing. When the competition began 15 years ago in Washington, D.C., it proved so popular that organizers decided to expand the following year. Atlanta became one of the first additions. Today more than 140 of these events take place worldwide, from Pittsburgh to Paris.

Local event producers Gabriel Wardell and Paula Martinez have been organizing the Atlanta version for the past seven years. And since Georgia remains in the midst of a film production boom, Wardell says Atlanta’s 48 Hour Film Project has gotten a shot in the arm.

“The amount of filmmaking talent that is present in the state of Georgia right now has never been higher,” Wardell explained. “It’s very good for an event like this. It allows us to reach a lot of talented people, and each of them can build really competent and skilled teams, and make a high-quality production.”

To create a top-notch film, teams can enlist as many people as possible. And since everyone’s a volunteer, professional actors who are members of the Screen Actors Guild remain eligible.

Winners in categories from best actor to best use of prop take home a variety of prizes. Atlanta’s winners will be announced (and screened) at the Best of Atlanta + 2015 Atlanta 48HFP Awards Show on July 16, also at Landmark Theatres Midtown Art Cinema (times to be announced).

The best film winner in the Atlanta competition eventually faces off against other city winners for a $5,000 grand prize, and could receive an invitation to screen at the Cannes Film Festival.

Yet the benefits of the 48 Hour Film Project prove to be more than trophies and bragging rights. Walking away with a completed film in just two days is a prize itself.

“You could have all the time in the world and not finish a project,” said participating filmmaker Brian Parrales. “Having a deadline really helps. Finishing this in 48 hours is such a great boost. (Our team) wants to make more projects now and keep it going.”

According to Wardell, putting filmmakers in these scenarios requires them to work on the fly and try new things on set.

“They can essentially do what I call go to the toolbox and sharpen their skills,” he said. “It gives people a low-stakes setting to take some risks and chances that they might not take on a professional shoot.”

Both Wardell and Martinez say the 48 Hour Film Project proves to be a huge networking opportunity. Those looking to break into the industry can jump right in and start making contacts.

“Midlife career changers may not really know how to cross over into the film industry,” Martinez said. “By doing the 48, they take a shortcut, experience being on a film set and meet people in the industry.”

Film and TV industry professionals wishing to climb the ladder can step out of their lower-rung positions and try on a top-tier job for size. The screenings themselves put the work in front of a wide range of industry pros. If someone’s looking for writers, actors, directors or other jobs to fill, they have a virtual audition right in front of them.

“As a talent showcase, it’s unprecedented,” Wardell said, “The people who are worthy are getting selected and recruited to do professional gigs, which is the best-case scenario for us.”

While the screenings spotlight the talent, it also gives the participants the often rare opportunity to see their own work on the big screen. Wardell and Martinez recall chatting with child actress Aja Woodbridge, who participated in last year’s competition.

“She said it was the first time she and her family got to see her performance on the big screen,” Wardell said. “She cried when she saw herself, because it was so amazing. To make a movie and two weeks later be walking down the red carpet at the premiere is a rarity in this business.”

As Brantley delivers his team’s film, he realizes they’re a few minutes late. At the end of the process, he and his group hit a snag. While spending more than an hour mixing all of their digital edits into a final, single continuous clip on a computer — a process called rendering — the group had a technical issue and had to render all over again. Although submitting a late film puts Brantley and company out of the main competition, they’re still eligible for the audience award. But according to Brantley, there’s a greater reward.

“I’m not let down at all,” he said. “We’ll be able to submit it to some other film festivals. The main thing is we created a film and got it done.”