Above: Mytoi Gardens in Chappaquiddick—a location I would love to use!
I’ve been talking for some months about an indie comedy–drama I would like to make on Martha’s Vineyard. Here is the pitch video:
I was lucky in that Dan Tritle from WCAI—the local NPR station for the Cape and Islands—reached out to me to do a short piece on the project. Here it is!
Always respect the power of media! The morning it aired (on Friday) my parents heard it and called me, so excited. And I’ve heard from other people, too—it’s been very helpful.
I had to explain to my folks that the piece made it sound like the film was a done deal—when in reality, we have a long way to go. They were like, “Wow, when did that happen?” And I was like, “Well, this is it—this is it happening!”
It’s the nature (and nurture) of the beast that you are always nudging it along—trying to make the financing and talent and production pieces come together.
You can’t be afraid to plant your flag, pick a date, say, “We’re doing this,” and see what the universe gives you.
I tried to explain that they didn’t even know if Bill Murray would show up for Lost in Translation until they were already there, in Tokyo, ready to shoot. (I hope we don’t cut it that close!)
When we did my sci-fi short film, Sky Fighter, we cast Jess Gabor at the last second (after somebody else dropped out). She was doing Shameless on Friday, came to do our thing Saturday and Sunday, and we sent her back to Shameless on Monday. She’s great!
I will always remember her coming in the door to the soundstage: “Hey, I’m Jess, thanks for having me!” And I was like, “Thank YOU!”
Part of making these things happen involve promoting them so that people get interested, and it gets in the air (and on the air) that this is happening and it’s cool and people reach out—which has happened. So thanks, CAI!
At the same time, you don’t want to misrepresent yourself. In the interview I did with Dan, we talked about all of this, but it understandably got abbreviated for the final, minute-long radio segment—which I was grateful to have.
So here is me saying, as of now, we’re shooting this in June.
It’ll be great, we’ll all have a good time—and it will make money, too!
If you’d like to read the script, email me: Lukas@filmscoremonthly.com. Thanks!