Front-row reporters were caught off guard as 10-year-old Chaille Stovall stuck his head out from underneath a table and thrust a mike into Sen. John McCain's face. "Excuse me," Chaille asked in his high-pitched voice. "Why should kids be interested in politics?"

To the dismay of the Secret Service and hundreds of press and TV personalities crammed into the Versailles Restaurant in Miami in March 2000, Chaille scooped seven of the 10 minutes allotted for questions. McCain was one of many candidates tracked down by Chaille and his camera crew -- including Zack Skip, then 11, and Elizabeth Farrel, then 10 -- while they filmed "Party Animals," an hour-long documentary about the 2000 presidential election that premiered on HBO on Nov. 5, 2001.

On Indian Island near Bangor, Maine, Tiana Vermette, now 18 and a member of the Penobscot Tribe, produced and directed four films, including "How the Raven Stole the Sun," a five-minute animated film. Based on ancient Indian folklore, her film aired on HBO Family channel. Tiana and her crew of eight teen-agers painstakingly created paper cutouts, similar to paper dolls, which were laid out on paintings and then filmed. "The toughest part is meeting deadlines," she said. "We had a hard time meeting our 10-week production schedule. Without family support, we would have never made it."

Many young people like Chaille and Tiana are converting their bedrooms or garages into mini-studios, plotting out storyboards, and recruiting pals and family members to make movies. All of this hard work sometimes pays off. Youth film festivals come up with cash prizes for as much $2,500, and short films by kids can get exposure on TV and the Internet.  

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