Or, the Indie world of Short Films
As I mentioned in my blog entry on the Indepdendent Film Week, one piece of advice given to indie filmmakersis to make your films short, shoot and distribute them digitally, and build up your audiences through data-mining.
Jessica Burstein is doing just that with her short, Abbie Cancelled.
Jessica is a real all-around filmmaker: she makes her living writing and directing for MTV, which led naturally to her “side project,” Turbotronics, in which she forms half of an “electro powerpop project with filmmaker Robbie Norris. Turbotronics’ first album debut album, Love Slave, is currently available on itunes. The music for their award winning song, Corporate Lady, is featured on the credits of Abbie Cancelled.
Abbie Cancelled is a 15:30 minute video, shot on HD cam 16:9 letterbox with Lettus adapter and a film lens. From start to finish including genesis of idea thru script revisions, final output, mix and color correct it took eight months to complete it. She and her team paid for it themselves and relied heavily on in-kind favors; there was no application to a fiscal sponsor and no fundraising or applying for grants. Here is the plot synopsis:
The dinner was supposed to be for six, but when their mutual friends cancel at the last second Amanda and Amir are forced to play dinner party with reluctant hosts Karen and Grayson, who are clearly undergoing relationship issues. A hidden agenda of job groveling reveals itself as the night becomes anything but small talk. Inappropriate behavior amongst these true to life characters creates both laughable and emotional moments that lead to an unexpected ending.
Abbie Cancelled
(left to right)
Yuval Boim, Stacie Theon, Craig Glantz and Monica Knight in Abbie Cancelled
Since completing the film, Jessica has spent nearly six thousand dollars getting the publicity materials produced and taking the film to festivals such as Sundance. Now the film is part of New York Women and Film’s program at the East Hampton Film Festival To The Point: Women Telling Stories Through Media, a program of short films and videos recommended by members of Women In Film chapters around the world. The program will be screened Sunday, October 11th, at 1 pm. So if you want to see this excellent film and ruminate over it’s combination of realistic reflection on the modern job-hunting scene and its flavorful dash of absurd comedy, get yourself to East Hampton!
I first met Jessica when she was co-president of CinewomenNY, an organization that supported independent women filmmakers. CWNY did all sorts of things for its members (not all of whom were women). We had a writing group, producer’s and filmmaker’s groups, a test screening series called Show and Grow, and a screening series. We supported member filmmakers every step of the way through the production process. Unfortunately with the financial crisis we found that the minimal donations that enabled our all-volunteer organization to run had dried up, and we joined forces with New York Women in Film which now continues our best programs. NYWIFT has been screening a program of selected member’s shorts at the East Hampton Film Festival since 2003.
Jessica found the support she got from Cinewomen NY very helpful and also used her CWNY contacts to find her movie’s crew. The importance of such organizations for independent women filmmakers cannot be underrated!