Creating a Short Film with NO MONEY

There was nothing easy about making this film. It was certainly a pleasure to work on and a joy meeting so many new and wonderful people, but we were faced with a daunting obstacle every step of the way. From securing a crew to casting to principle photography to editing, nothing was effortless. Obviously, that’s to be expected when making any film and I honestly believe that the struggles we encountered helped us tell a better story.

Let’s start at the beginning.

WRITING

The story emerged from a Snapchat story created by my friend and long time collaborator, Matt McCurdy, where he was being chased through the city of Pittsburgh by a group of individuals while continually seeing triangles everywhere he went. I decided to run with the idea, but felt like it was too obvious to make it just another Illuminati conspiracy story.

So, in late September I began writing the first draft of my spiritual sequel toYUKNAR (a short film I created during my time at UNCSA). My goals were to tell a simple story with no more than 3 speaking characters, in one location, in under 5 pages. Oh, and I wanted it to be funny.
After another 5 drafts and more changes than I can list, most of those goals were accomplished (perhaps with the exception of it being funny), but the main thing I wanted to accomplish was to make friends and connections in a brand new city.

CAST AND CREW

Like I said, brand new city (Pittsburgh, PA), no connections, hell, no friends. I had nothing to go by to make this film a reality. My first thought was to get on as many independent sets as possible and network my ass off. I worked as a camera assistant on a web series, I was a grip on a short film, I worked with local businesses, anything I could get my hands on. All of this paid off, because I met two of the coolest people in the Pittsburgh film scene, Trey Duplain and Nikki Manteris. Both of them had just completed the filmmaking intensive course atPittsburgh Filmmakers and were doing everything they could to make films, watch films, and work on films. Luckily for me, they were more than willing to help me make my film.

I recruited Trey as my Director of Photography after seeing the strength of his vision and skill in a short film he and Nikki directed together at Filmmakers. Trey has aspirations of becoming a writer and director, but there’s no denying his talent in molding light and capturing beautiful images in the camera. He and Nikki can do it all on a set. With the exception of our wonderful sound mixer, Adam Raviart, these two did everything. I was relying on the two of them to do the work of five crew members and they exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Casting was a whole new monster to deal with. I can’t even remember the places we put up casting calls and flyers. I was asking coworkers and friends from high school if they knew anyone in the area that was interested in acting. It’s not like my dialogue is tricky or the story is deep, I would have settled for anyone! But I certainly didn’t have to. Within a few months I had the most amazing cast anyone could ask for. And I didn’t even have a budget!
Katie C’etta was the first to be cast. I knew right away at the “audition” at Panera Bread that she had the part. She was funny, understood the script, and told me that The Lord of the Rings was her favorite movie. That’s really all it takes.
Katie is an actress, model, and producer of independent films. She studied filmmaking at Penn State and moved back to Pittsburgh after graduation to immerse herself in the film industry and start her career. I kept asking why she was willing to work on such a small production with little chance of boosting her name and furthering her career, but all she would tell me is that this is what she loves to do. She doesn’t care about making a lot of money or having fancy premieres, she simply wants to act and create things. It became very apparent to me during our time together, that Katie simply loves movies. She has an incredible passion for every aspect of the creative process. And she’s a damn good actress too!
CARTER was an even more difficult character to cast. After all, he’s the star. I was looking for someone who could convincingly play a paranoid stoner through subtle movements. Someone who could convey everything the audience needed to know with a simple look or twitch. Umar Faraz ended up being the exact guy I was looking for.

Umar is currently enrolled at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where he studies Game Art and Design. The dude is an incredible artist and only started taking acting seriously during his second year of school. Since then, he’s acted in short films, commercials, and feature films. He attributes his interest in film to his parents who introduced him to both Hollywood and Bollywood films at a very young age.
The funny and surprising thing about Umar is that he’s never touched marijuana in his life. He has no idea what it’s like to be high, let alone being so stoned that you think the coffee mug stain on the table is a death mark, but he managed to portray the character so well, it’s difficult to believe that he wasn’t actually smoking throughout production. That being said, we made the poor guy practice with an entire pack of non-tobacco cigarettes before we showed up on set the first day.
SIDE NOTE: Katie C’etta actually took lessons to learn how to pack a bowl. No one asked her to do that… Dedication.

And then there’s Erick Rigby who played the formidable AGENT 63. Erick found my casting call online and sent me the most professional headshot I had seen in months. Turns out, he’s a lawyer so he already had a nice suit! That was a big thing for me considering our lack of a budget. So we met over coffee and… he didn’t really like the script. Ouch. Maybe he read it with the preconceived idea that it wasn’t a comedy, maybe I sent him the wrong draft, or most likely he just realized I’m not a very good writer. Regardless, I was set on casting him. He had the look, he had the charisma, he had the suit. I’ll be damned if he’s not in my movie!
Over the next few weeks, I sent him updates on the cast, crew, script changes, anything that I thought would sway his opinion. I can’t remember what finally worked, but something changed his mind and we rounded out the cast with someone who could help us win that lawsuit we were battling! Erick was a blast to work with and I’m super bummed that I didn’t have a bigger role for him (though I’m sure he’s glad he didn’t have to be in my tiny apartment for longer than was necessary).

PRODUCTION

DAY ONE
Trey and Nikki showed up before anyone else (excluding me and crafty) to start setting up for our first shot. Unfortunately, our producer *me* didn’t schedule enough time for this so we were immediately behind. We spent the rest of that night scrambling. I can’t remember how many shots we were supposed to get, but it was far too many and we didn’t even get half of them.
I can’t recall much else from day one, because it was actually a nightmare. Everyone did their best to keep me calm, but the fear of failure was pretty strong.

DAY TWO
AKA, the day we got shit done.
Put quite poignantly by Trey Duplain —

“…Moved incredibly fast, especially considering our small crew. [It was] maybe the highest completed shots per hour I’ve ever seen. Everyone was positive, supportive, and hard working which always makes the process enjoyable and the movie better. It’s important that everyone feels free to play with ideas and experiment.”

It was like everyone came to set with a whole new attitude. We knew what we had to do and we did it. Trey, Nikki, and Adam were on top of everything. Umar, Katie, and Erick had their shit locked tight. I stopped being a nervous wreck. And crafty was still just okay. 3/4ths of the film was photographed that day and a lot of it was dialogue. We had some pretty complex shots and intricate setups, but everything went rather smoothly. And I can’t speak for the rest of the team, but I had a ton of fun. I don’t think we wrapped until 1:30 am, which was only a little over schedule, but everyone remained pleasant and seemed to just enjoy the whole process. And while we were all ready to go home, I think we were also anxious to work together again.

POST PRODUCTION

Come on, no one cares about any of this stuff. Here’s the editing timeline:

Edited over one month
5 different cuts
Minor issues with sound (some of which are still present, ugh)
Minimal pickups required
Currently not accepted to any festivals (ugh)
What else do you wanna know?

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

Now that we’re finally done and I’ve spent half a year on this project, I’m looking forward to moving on and working on new things. I’m incredibly proud of the way CIRCLES came together and while it’s not the exact film I had in my head (it never is), I succeeded in creating a film that I can enjoy and one that I want to share. I met many amazing people who have become good friends and who I will continue to work with in the future.

Thank you to my amazing crew. Trey, you did a spectacular job putting my vision onto the screen. Nikki, you were a hero when we were behind. I’ve never seen someone do so much quality work so quickly. Adam, you really stepped up to the plate and performed a difficult task (that he had almost no experience in) expertly. And Michaela, you did alright taking photos and giving people food.
Thank you to my wonderful cast. I’m so thankful that all of you were willing to work with me on a project that required so much work with little in return. Umar, you absolutely crushed it. I know we had a lot of hurdles to get past, but you stuck with me and gave an awesome performance. Katie, thanks for being a trooper when things were rough and for being so chill about me dressing you up like an idiot. And Erick, thanks for changing your mind! You have a ton of talent and I can’t wait to see how your acting career develops.

And to the audience, thanks you for watching and supporting us at Kaino Entertainment. And if you read this far you deserve a treat.