Clinton Township filmmaker Charles Dewandeler wants to be the next Steven Spielberg.

“Some people laugh when I say that, but I’m serious,” the 24-year-old said. “That’s the plan.”

Dewandeler and Shelby Township resident Gary Bosek are two of six finalists for the Michigan Comcast Summer Film Series. The film series is a competition for Michigan residents to show off their 10-minute independent short films.

Bosek’s film, “The Police Report,” is centered around a small town police officer who encounters a man who says he’s a victim of identity theft. A short time later, a man looking identical to the first man comes and makes the same complaint. More men, looking like the first, enter with the same claim.

“It’s kind of a cross between ‘Multiplicity’ and ‘The Twilight Zone,’” Bosek said.

The film was shot at the old New Haven police station in one day.

“I could not have built a better set,” Bosek said. “I saw it one day and thought, ‘This is perfect.’”

Bosek, who is 39 years old and plays the police officer in the film, said he’s serious about being an actor and filmmaker.

“We’ll be making a 30-minute movie in Mount Clemens soon,” he said. “This is a good step.”

Dewandeler’s film, “Living with Terror,” is about a Muslim-American living in Dearborn who goes to Wayne State University on Sept. 12, 2001, to apply for school and is harassed and eventually detained by police.

“I wanted to make a film that people could relate to,” Dewandeler said. “It’s a fictional character based on a real life event.”

He said the film was originally 15 minutes and he cut it down before the competition.

Dewandeler, who works for Clinton Township’s cable TV channel, is a graduate of Wayne State University.

The winner of the competition will receive a digital camera valued at $5,000, and the winning film will be featured on the Independent Film Channel. The second-place winner will receive a one-year movie pass to Phoenix Theaters in Detroit or Farmington Hills.

All six films are viewable on Comcast ON DEMAND, and are being shown on the Independent Film Channel’s Web site, http://medialab.ifc.com/detroit. The winner will be chosen by online voting, which concludes in September.

For more information on Dewandeler and his films, visit www.charlesdewandeler.com.

For clips of Bosek’s work, visit www.youtube.com/user/bosekproductions.