This was a winner of Kevin Spacey's 3rd Triggerstreet.com On-Line Short Film Festival and enjoyed a Special Screening at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
Filmmakers Craig Macnaughton and Chris McCawley were nominated for the 2004 Budweiser Filmmaker Discovery Award for this short film and profiled in Vanity Fair (March 2004) where they said "Sweet, clever and utterly unique, Dog Given Rights is a grand achievement for these two talented professionals..."
This short was produced from script to screen in only two weeks for NYC Midnight Movie Making Madness 2003 which the assigned genre "musical" and theme "animal rights".
The big dance number was choreographed by Jennifer Helland, and performed by "The Dogville Dancers" - Deborah Axelrod, Erica Bletsoe, Lara Ebata, Jennifer Fell, Natalie Fullerton, Alison Hood, Bruno Miguel, Jonathan Pinksen, Regina Radisic, Emma Romerein, Joel S. Silver, Laura Swan, Marlee Cargill, Cathy Gordon, Christina Jol and Lindsay Milakovic.
The songs were written by Joel S. Silver and Chris McCawley with help from "The Dogville Singers" - Chris McCawley, Joel S. Silver, Chris Clattenburg, Jeanie Calija, Christina Jol, T. Dean Baldwin, Greg Fisher, Jennifer Helland and Derek Treffry.