SHORT TAKES : Filmmakers Get Dose of Reality

FT. WALTON BEACH, Fla. — Nine college students with toy guns who were making an amateur cops-and-robbers film got a scary dose of reality when armed officers came to the set and told them to drop their weapons, authorities said today.

“We received a report that there were some subjects loading automatic weapons onto a boat on a dock,” said Lt. Brad Williams of the Florida Marine Patrol about Wednesday’s incident.

Two FMP officers went to the scene, followed by city police. They ordered the students to drop their weapons and lie spread-eagled on the ground, then they frisked them.

“I was shaking in my boots. It was wild,” said Kenny Harris, 19, a student at Florida State University. He recalled at least one officer telling the young men not to make any false moves.

Harris and the other eight sophomores explained to the law enforcement officers that they were using a 21-foot sailboat to film a movie called “Florida Force” as a summer project. They were videotaping the opening scene at the Ft. Walton Beach marina and had set off firecrackers to simulate gunfire. That apparently prompted someone to call authorities.

All nine were released after a stern lecture.