Over the weekend, we shot my new short, "Game Brunch.”
Logline: More than eating is in store when a couple invites friends over for a Sunday brunch.
It’s in the tonal world of Clue, one of my favorite movies from childhood. And like that movie, I’m not sure if it’d be considered a genre film. For a while I was referring to it as a horror farce, but that isn’t quite accurate because it’s not exactly a horror film, and that combo label doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Some other fun descriptors we played with are fantastical farce, spooky spoof, and paranormal parody , though all don’t quite fit either. I’d say at the end of the day, Dani Thomas, one of the actors in the film, nailed it by calling it a comedy-of-errors. Maybe I’ll start referring to it as a comedy of errors with a genre layer. In any case, I kind of love that it’s so uniquely hard to put in a box, though that does make my festival strategy a bit hard to plan (a challenge for another day).
“Game Brunch,” like most of our recent projects, came out of our weekly writing group, where Kelsey, Ryan and I (and sometimes other CongestedCat collaborators) encourage each other to come in with new pages or pitches every time we meet up. After working on some darker projects, I wanted to jump into something light-hearted with actors I've loved working with in the past or have wanted to work with for a while. I sat down one evening and tried to come up with an idea that could be shot in my apartment (but in a way it hadn’t been used before) and could work as a short ensemble piece. I made a list of actors I like and started thinking about how I could pair them up. I recalled a game night I hosted years ago and found myself chuckling at the notion of revolving an entire film around one specific word (which I can’t reveal — you’ll have to watch the film when it’s done). I just started writing and an hour later I had an absurd 15-page script. When I sent it out to Kelsey, Ryan and some other trusted writers to read, I said that it’s a super silly Mel Brooks meets Edgar Wright kinda thing and asked them to let me know if it’s not too ridiculous to keep working on. Everyone got a kick out of it and really encouraged me to revise the script & direct it. A couple even said “please make it!” It was exciting to see such a positive response to it, especially from the actors I had in mind, once I eventually shared it with them. They all eagerly accepted the roles. I think they, like me, needed a break from the overwhelming amount of things to be outraged about in the world and loved the idea of just focusing on making something fun. And what fun it was to make!
Since Ryan had also written a new horror short that we were talking about making (check out his BTS post of “Shadows”), I pitched the idea of getting the most out of a weekend equipment rental rate by shooting both films back to back, Friday through Sunday. And so, we spent Friday and Saturday shooting “Game Brunch.” There isn’t too much to say about the days other than that they were truly a blast. The cast brought the characters to life wonderfully and everything went smoothly on set thanks to our phenomenal crew. I’ll shout everyone out at the bottom of this post. But first, see behind the scenes:
And check out a few stills from our footage:
Thank you to:
Justin, Addie & Vic, my husband and cats, for putting up with yet another film production in our apartment.
My amazing mom, Marlene, for catering & driving to pick up & drop off gear.
Peter Westervelt, for being the best cinematographer & collaborator. Seriously, we had limited daylight both days, and day 2 alone had 34 shots to get through, nearly all of which were full run-throughs of nearly 10 pages. And we pulled it all off in 2 10-hour days without needing to cut any shots largely thanks to Peter’s ingenuity.
Matt Gershowitz, our always dependable AD & excellent Editor who sets the jovial tone on set.
Kelsey, for advising on the script early on and wearing multiple hats as script supervisor, bts photographer and set dresser when needed.
Ryan, for advising on the script early on, including pushing me to really up the absurd during the climax, and for taking thoughtful notes as script supervisor on day 2.
Vivian Pullan for doing an awesome job with lighting to keep us moving quickly through the day.
Henry Hodges & Christina Remley for pulling focus like champs through non-stop handheld set-ups.
Irina Chernikina for recording sound so thoughtfully, especially with so many actors and new set-ups to be on top of.
Photographer Amanda Blount, who donated one of her beautiful photographs for set dressing.
Filmmaker Sean Mannion for loaning his follow focus.
Nathan DeCoux of Gotham Armory for doing beautiful & speedy work on my last minute order of a custom prop chef’s knife. (And filmmaker Cary Patrick Martin for the recommendation.)
And, of course, our absolutely fantastic cast: Ricardo Manigat, Ricki Lynée, Dani Thomas (who also offered early script feedback), Alexander Alvarez, Miranda LeeAnn, and Jen Bendick.
Couldn’t have done it without any of them. Now on to post! Stay tuned for updates.