Matt Kazman, screenwriter for short film “Father Figurine, ” waves hello.
When we launched the Shift Creative Fund, we didn’t know what would come through the transom, like a film featuring a stuffed corpse. Which is what we got with Matt Kazman’s Father Figurine. The odd, hilarious, and touching script drew the judges in, and now here we are, reading about the making of the film, one of three selected among hundreds of applicants.
Screenwriter Matt Kazman sent us a dispatch on the pre-production process, and we’re sharing it here to give aspiring filmmakers a sense of what’s involved in moving from concept to screen. Matt provides wise insight that all moviemakers — all creators, really — would be smart to heed. See what we mean below.
Being in pre-production is a reminder of all the things I love and don’t love about filmmaking. I love having creative conversations with everyone about how to bring this crazy idea to life, because they bring their own ideas, and a lot of them are really great, and suddenly, this vision you had develops into something much more cohesive, detailed, funny, and resonant.
I might be reaching with that last one, but the point is: A movie becomes much better when you start working with others than it ever was when you were, like, writing alone in your “home office” (read: a desk in your living room). Collaboration is something I really love, but . . . I don’t love dealing with logistics, and pre-production involves a lot of dealing with logistics.
Let me take a step back. I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten a Shift Creative Fund grant. Having the opportunity to make any creative project is a privilege, and getting the resources to do it right is rare. My short film Father Figurine is about a wealthy family forced to lived with the stuffed corpse of their absent father. It takes place at an extravagant mansion. They all wear fancy clothes. One of them rides around on a hover board. And yes, there’s a stuffed corpse.
There are a lot of expensive details, and I never would have been able to make it if I hadn’t gotten the grant. But not every short takes place at a mansion with a stuffed corpse. Some shorts involve tons of VFX or animation. Some involve long, complicated steadicam shots. Some involve just one shot. A lot of really good ones are just one scene. And a lot don’t cost $30,000. But regardless of budget or scope, pre-production is always an exciting and stressful process where you learn a million things (same with production), and prepping the shoot brought up some interesting thoughts.
Working with friends is way more fun. But you need to thank them profusely.
My producer on Father Figurine is Ben Altarescu, who I’ve known for more than ten years, but we became close about four years ago when I asked him if he would produce my short film “Killer.” I don’t know why he said yes, but we spent the next few months prepping and shooting and even more months finishing post. He did all of this for free, and he’s doing it again for this short. Same thing with my cinematographer, Ryan Nethery. That is objectively crazy-town.
Sometimes I don’t know why these people are so generous, but I know that over the course of becoming friends and working with them the past few years, there’s been the feeling of a collective forming, and I know that whenever they have something that they want to make, I’m going to be there for them. And I think that feeling of building a team is really important. Directing is a really selfish thing to do. You’re basically asking other people to make your dreams come true, and even if they’re your friends (or especially if they’re your friends), you need to appreciate everything they’re doing, because you can’t do this alone. It’s way more fun to do it with friends, anyway.
Expanding your creative circle is tough, but it’s necessary and, ultimately, rewarding.
Bringing new people on board a creative project is tough, especially on a short, because you’re asking a lot of people on a small budget. Also, you’re literally emailing strangers. This creates a feeling of desperation that may or may not emanate from your emails. There’s just no way around that feeling, no matter how many times you use the words “passion project.”
This time around, I’ve tried to lean into transparency as much as possible when it comes to talking about what the project involves, and I’ve learned to be more patient when it comes to finding the right person. You just need to trust that you’ve done this before, and if you keep looking, you’ll find your people. As of now, we’ve got an incredible group on board, and the ones that I’ve never worked with are bringing a whole new wave of energy that’s really exciting.
Prepping a shoot remotely has its pros and cons.
We’re shooting this short in the New York area, but I currently live in Los Angeles, so aside from a location scout, I’ve been doing pre-production on the opposite coast. This is the first time I’ve ever done that for a project of this sort, and it definitely has its pros and cons.
The pros are that it’s made me really think about why I wanted to shoot in New York — a combination of creative reasons, as well as the resources we have out there. And thankfully, with this grant, the travel aspect becomes less of an issue.
Also, prepping remotely doesn’t change the work itself that much. There are just more phone calls than in-person meetings, which is actually easier because those are easier to schedule. However, it’s made me feel slightly disconnected from the pre-production process as a whole. I know that might sound nice in theory, but I think it’s way better to be physically there for as much pre-production as possible.
Making a movie is all-consuming, but when you’re not physically there for a major part of it, it doesn’t feel totally real. In a way, I feel like I’m missing out. But, in a few days, I’ll be flying to New York to dive into the final days of pre-production before the shoot, and I’m really looking forward to it.
You have nothing to lose by reaching out to people you think are out of your league.
Between all the projects I’ve worked on, I’ve probably gotten a million rejections — from actors, department heads, locations, film festivals, you name it. Rejection is an unavoidable part of the process, and in a way it’s freeing, because it teaches you that the worst thing that can happen when you reach out to someone is that they’ll say no.
On this project alone, we’ve already gotten plenty of those, but we got one very important yes. As soon as we knew we were making this, we had a specific actress in mind for the lead role, someone who we thought was incredibly talented and would bring a lot to the role, and someone we thought would probably say no.
But we decided to ask (with the help of our casting director, Karlee Fomalont), and to our total and utter surprise, she was interested and is on board! If there’s another nice thing about rejection, it’s that once you get used to it, it makes the moments when people say “yes” that much better.
Remember to have fun.
Admittedly, this is something that I have trouble doing. Sometimes I alternate between thinking that this is the most important thing in the world and telling myself, “It’s just a dumb short.” But I’m still able to remember that this is a creative project, that I’ve been given the opportunity to make something cool with my friends, and that everyone on board is working really hard to make sure that it’s good. I also think that a lot of the stress that comes with pre-production is theoretical, because once you’re actually shooting, everything changes. But I’ll get into that next time.
Oh, also . . . making a stuffed corpse is a fascinating process. I’ll get into that next time, too.
Actress and producer Paige Klone, who received a Shift Creative Fund grant earlier this year
Not only does 2018 mark the year we established Shift, it’s also when we christened the Creative Fund, our grant program for short narrative films. You can learn more about it here, but suffice to say, it’s just one way we support creators. We’re deeply invested in the success of our community, and we like to learn what makes the magic of the screen so enticing.
That’s why we asked each of our Creative Fund recipients to draft a little something about their process. From pre-production to being on-set and wrapping it all up in post, we wanted in on the sausage-making — and thought you would too, you aspiring (and inspiring) filmmakers, screenwriters, directors, editors, and producers.
So meet Paige Klone, the creator, actress, and producer behind Bad Assistant, one of three short films awarded our first-ever Shift Creative Fund grants. Below she explains the inspiration behind the script, written by Rachel Forman, and the very real stakes that underpin the storyline because everyone in Hollywood has to start somewhere.
Here, then, is Paige’s story of beginnings and growing stronger.
I moved to Los Angeles in 2011 with a dream: to become a personal assistant. Just kidding. I relocated to become a comedian and writer and, after only a few days, was lucky enough to land an internship at a development company owned by a comedian I looked up to. A few months later, I found out I was verrrry good at getting his coffee and became his personal assistant. Six years and three celebrities later, I’ve learned that being a personal assistant is really just being a stay-at-home mom to a 45-year-old man, which can be fulfilling but can also lead to an identity crisis. I’ve been blessed to work for some really great people, like actors David Koechner and Jason Schwartzman, who stars in Bad Assistant, but I’ve also had situations where I was in toxic environments and had to quit.
Those experiences influenced Bad Assistant, which is about a personal assistant named Emilee whose washed-up celebrity boss, Parker St. Garrett, tasks her with moving a dead body for him. A lot of people ask: “Is it based on a real story?!”
No. It’s not. I have never moved a dead body in my life for anyone. Ever.
That said, sometimes it felt like I moved a dead body. After becoming a personal assistant, I carried this notion of writing a short film about the complicated relationship between a personal assistant and his or her boss — that feeling of “I can’t disagree. I have to say yes to every task. I have to be pleasant and easy to deal with.” Values can get easily compromised when you think that way. As a personal assistant, you’re essentially an extra limb for your boss. You represent him or her wherever you go; you often speak for them — you have to, in a sense, become them. So being defiant is not an option. You just have to go with the flow and do your best in the process.
Bad Assistant isn’t based on anyone I worked for. It’s more of an accumulation of my story and friends’ stories of what it’s like to work at the bottom of the barrel in Hollywood. It’s really important for me to share this perspective because the people who hold these types of jobs — personal assistants, nannies, PAs on set — don’t normally have a voice that’s heard or valued. Whether they’ve signed an NDA or simply internalized the culture of hush-hush bad behavior, they’re the silent enablers.
When the #MeToo movement came out, I realized that, yes, there is sexual harassment in this industry, but there’s also a more general abuse of power — verbal, emotional, and sometimes physical — suffered by women and men who hold entry-level jobs in Hollywood. I’ve been bothered by it since moving to Los Angeles — not just that this manipulation exists, but that it’s so commonplace that everyone accepts it as normal. You can get sucked into a job for three years where you’re being emotionally abused and you tell yourself that’s just how Hollywood is . . . because that is how Hollywood is. Working a job that’s considered the bottom of the barrel always comes with consequences. To work your way up to having a voice, you don’t just need talent; you also need strength.
Similar But Different are, left to right, Charlotte Fassler and Dani Girdwood.
Before officially launching the Shift Creative Fund in the spring, we awarded Pioneers, an all-female, production-ready indie short with a small seed grant. Ever curious and excited about the creative process, we asked the team behind the film to send us dispatches during its development.
The first installment came from SLMBR PRTY, the company producing Pioneers; this one finds Similar But Different, the New York-based director duo of Charlotte Fassler and Dani Girdwood, sharing their experience of shaping the film, complete with the challenges of location and the rewards of a well-acted scene. Let’s listen in.
Back in New York
We’ve been back in New York for a few weeks and feel so lucky to look back on this whirlwind of a production — an adventure every step of the way. We flew to Los Angeles three days before our shoot and dove head first into prep. The entire week was a nonstop marathon for everyone involved; it was very hard to find time to catch our breath.
But now, looking back from the comfort of our edit bay, we finally have a minute. There are so many feelings swirling: relief, pride, appreciation, shock and awe. We’re so blown away by how everyone believed in this thing — and feel so humbled to have made this all together.
The shoot
We knew going in how special this team was — SLMBR PRTY and Allison Anderson and our brilliant actresses and everyone else on board — truly the dream team (as cheesy as that sounds). But there’s something to be said for that special moment on set, when there’s a lull in the chaos, and you look around and realize how lucky you are to be working with such superhuman talent. The most tour de force assembly of young guns — that blows your mind no matter what.
We also had no way to anticipate how challenging the heat would be. In the week leading up to our shoot, we found out that Borrego Springs — usually a comfortable 85°F during the springtime — would be in the middle of a maddening heat wave during our shoot. On both days, temperatures hovered around 108°F in the middle of the desert with very little reprieve. There was no way to anticipate how that would feel — how it would affect our ability to think, problem solve, and be creative. We panicked and picked up the proper survival gear at REI ahead of time. The two of us donned matching extreme weather gear ensembles and worshipped our cooling towels, brilliant little shamwow bandanas that help lower your body temperature — a saving grace.
It’s so hard to pick a favorite moment from this shoot but, for us and the SLMBR PRTY team, was a scene we shot in the dried lake basin. It was the middle of the day — sun high in the sky and beating down, the hottest it was the entire shoot — and we dove into this emotional duel between these two women. At lunch, just before traveling out to the location on the ATUV (all-terrain-utility-vehicle or a super gator), we’d had a pretty thoughtful and emotional talk with our actresses about what the moment means for their characters and how to push that moment to the breaking point, a rock bottom of despair. In that talk, we explored some new corners of the story and beats to try — all new elements that had us giddy (but also anxious) about how this scene might play out.
There were so many places it could go to. It would be a matter of trusting emotional instinct in the moment (a 108°F moment, which is a lot to undertake). The first shot we fired off was from the top of the ridge looking down at Cora’s character discovering the lack of water for the first time. The jaw-dropping expanse, partnered with Bianca’s hysterical performance, is one of the most gut-wrenching images we’ve ever witnessed on set. It sucked the air out of your lungs to watch. It left members of our crew in tears. And that was just the tip of the iceberg as we dove in to discover that heartbreaking scene.
In the edit
In playing with the sound design and constructing the pacing of these scenes with our incredible editor, Stephania Dulowski, our hopes from this film have become so clear: We want it to be a gut punch. Something textured and swelling in the way you hear it, see it, and feel it. We want these characters to seep into your consciousnessand yet still sneak up on you with a sharp, whiplash twist. Right now we’re focusing on building that tension and executing the trigger moment to be as effective as possible.
SLMBR PRTY, left to right: Sarah Donnenberg, Leah Donneberg, and Kristin VanSkiver
This spring, before the official launch of the Shift Creative Fund, we awarded a small seed grant to Pioneers, an all-female, production-ready independent film. The project explores themes of perseverance, hope, and grit from a female perspective, bringing a new kind of story to the screen that we’re excited to support.
The women behind the film will be sending dispatches throughout the fall as they move through the creative process, taking us from the beginnings of the production company through pre-production and post. It’s a thrilling look behind the scenes, and we know you’ll enjoy tracking their progress with us. Find out in this first installment how SLMBR PRTY got its start and how the company’s inaugural effort is developing.
The story behind SLMBR PRTY
We began SLMBR PRTY a little over a year ago after shooting a short documentary in Washington DC for the Women’s March. We were so inspired to support other women and, specifically, female creatives in our industry. SLMBR PRTY started as a simple idea that was brainstormed in a bar with a couple of friends. We thought if we could put our female friends from various disciplines — writers, producers, directors, actors, editors, SFX, sound — in one room, we could collaborate, support, and learn from each other.
That night while brainstorming, cinematographer Allison Anderson joked with us that, whenever she works with a lot of women on set, she jokingly chants, “Slumber party! Slumber party!” So we dropped the vowels and the name stuck.
Our original intent was to host a few events a year, but the collaborative nature of our group really took off and soon members were sending projects to each other for feedback. When scripts started coming through our inbox, we began to figure out ways we could develop and fund these projects, which led us to create SLMBR PRTY Films, our production company. With SLMBR PRTY Films, we get the chance to support filmmakers and the stories we feel passionate about telling.
Finding the script
We were so excited when Dani Girdwood and Charlotte Fassler, the directing duo behind Similar But Different, joined us at an event. We had been long time admirers of their work, so we were thrilled when they shared the Pioneers script with us and introduced us to writers and actresses Bianca Rusu and Diana Irvine.
Pioneers stuck out to us as a very special script. We were immediately drawn to the bold storytelling and unflinching portrayal of female characters in the early days of the American West’s expansion. Bianca and Diana had written a powerful story of survival as seen through unique characters who defy expectation. Even more so, we were excited for the story to be set at a beautiful and captivating location like the desert with these two women as the sole focus of the film. Dani and Charlotte shared images of their inspiration that every producer would be excited (and admittedly, a bit terrified) to undertake. However, we absolutely loved the challenge!
Crewing up female
When we produce projects, we don’t set out to produce women-only crews. Contrary to what one might expect, there’s no “us” versus “them” mentality to our approach. We want each team member to be selected based on talent and who’s right for the job rather than being chosen because they’re a woman. We ask, “Who is going to serve the story the best?”
Simply put, the SLMBR PRTY community has allowed us to build amazing relationships with super talented women. As a result, Pioneers, and any script we take on as producers, will most likely be a women-led film and crew because we draw from relationships in our community, which is natural for any filmmaker (and is exactly why we started this initiative).
We introduced Dani and Charlotte to Allison, and they immediately connected with Allison’s style and felt it was right for their vision. We are so excited to work with her again on this piece.
While we have confidence in ourselves and collaborators outside of our gender, we would be lying if we said it doesn’t feel a little badass to take on the Western genre and help tell the story of these amazing women pioneers with an equally amazing group of women creatives. The girl gang we’re forming feels quite powerful, and it creates a cool and unique energy.
Our greatest hope is that this energy and our collective perspective translates to the film, and you as the audience can feel it as well.
