The Hustle of a Rom-Com
Short Film #9
Dear Reader,
Yes, yes, I know. I missed sending out the update last Saturday. I could feel all of you scowling at me, tapping your feet in anticipation. I know you set your watches, indeed your orientation to the Judeo-Christian calendar, by the timely release of this newsletter…
Don’t worry, working in Hollywood hasn’t quite lifted me to that level of narcissism just yet, though I do appreciate your faithful readership of my newsletter, joining me on this adventure.
I confess, I was on vacation. A celebratory trip for everything accomplished this past year, long overdue and well deserved. For those of you keeping up with this crazy gal, my goal in 2024 was to write, direct, and produce 14 short films. Well, I made it to nine, not fourteen. HOWEVER, recent information reveals the “9 to 14 score” is an incomplete accounting of events.
Filing your taxes demands a level of life reflection more effective than any paid by-the-hour therapy. On reviewing all of my financial comings and goings over the course of 2024, I discovered I had indeed worked on fourteen individual projects; hired as a PA on two, worked as a script supervisor on one, as a 1st AD on another, hired as a producer on a feature film, plus the nine I directed (most of them also written, produced, and financed by yours truly), brings us to a grand total of (drum roll please), FOURTEEN!
Assessing this, it turns out 2024 was most definitely a “Director Bootcamp Year.” From the ground up, it was an up-close and personal experience of every level of the film production process. This leads me to encourage you, my dear readership: do not hesitate to set those big goals! There is a chance you will not reach them, but the threat of the deadline will get you a lot further than you would have without it. And you never know, maybe you need to reframe your lens, your definition of success, to account for all the work and learning you've actually achieved.
Without further adieu,
Short Film #9
I was advised early on that it was precisely because of how little I knew about filmmaking that I would go very far. Why? Because when you don’t know that something isn’t possible, you go ahead and make it happen. This is true. God bless the ignorant. They often get further than they have a right to. (I am a case and point).
Unfortunately, by short film #9, I was wise to what was really going on. The script was sixteen pages, so immediately I knew it needed minimum two days. The setting was a house party, so I needed a ton of set dressing. There were two leads, with five key supporting speaking parts, and since it was a house party, I needed a lot of background talent to make the rooms look full.
Since I had mostly functioned as my own production design department and wardrobe department, pulling in a friend to do makeup every once in a while (God bless her), I stared at the mountain of work ahead of me and blanched. I confess it: I wilted. I crumbled. I just couldn’t do it again. Not again! Every bone in my body ached pre-emptively at what was about to happen, since I had barely survived the other one-day productions.
Being a woman who hates to back down on her word, and since the lead actors had already said yes and were eagerly awaiting rehearsals, and even the location was guaranteed, I knew I was pretty much locked into the gun chamber. I swallowed and promised myself; When it’s time to kick it into gear, you’ll be ready.
This philosophy consistently works for me. Since I know I am not a lazy person, if I just CANNOT face it, whatever ‘it’ is, it’s because it’s not time yet. My subconscious and my body are quietly collecting strength to support me through whatever hair-brained endeavor my mouth wrote the check for.
Lo and behold, a month before production, I gained a new friend: the queen of costuming and production design aficionado, Kate English. If you are looking for a head of wardrobe department or production design, I highly recommend you hire her. She will get you to the finish line, and do it with good cheer and fortitude.
This is why investing in your community is so important! If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an army to make a film. Try to be a one-woman production team at your peril. Find your creative collaborators. Shortly after that, seeing the steam I was collecting on yet another short film, Charthouse Films signed on to help produce, once again. I guess they’re not sick of me just yet.
With these key players locked in, I looked down the barrel of the production pipeline and thought, with some level of shock; Ok, now I think I can do this.
Short film #9 is “Blind Spot,” a romantic comedy. In my view, romantic comedy is a beast to do well. There is a high risk that it will come off as cliché or cheesy. Thus, I am so shy of attempting this genre because to make something worth watching again and again, you have to have something worth saying. For romance, it has to be something said in a fresh, original, and unique way that hasn’t already been done a million times before. I wanted to explore one particular phenomenon that everyone experiences, but no one acknowledges.
Have you ever been at a party and unable to focus because of someone in the room? You ignored them, right? Yeah... This is that story.
I released the prose version of this short story in my June newsletter. Read it here:
Naturally, filming on set with a bunch of singles in their 20s and 30s reached a meta level of storytelling. More than one person let me know the script was hitting a little too close to home. But that’s art, right? Saying the thing all of us are thinking, but no one is willing to face. I hope, with this story, we all feel a little less alone in the course of our romantic journeys.
Directing this production was different from the other eight. I had my work system down, my order of operations. I knew who to talk with, when, and how quickly to keep us moving through a scene. The camera angles were plotted, 180 lines established, and diagrams printed. The set was decorated, rehearsals run, and after a few weeks (just in time), I had a whopping fifteen background actors.
Most importantly, and most surprisingly, I had no fear. I was completely confident we would make our day. Throughout production, I knew when to take advantage of the lulls and rest, and when to kick it into high gear, grab the reins of the production, and drive it home. Even in that, I was not stressed, just focused. I noticed the tension I normally carried in my neck and shoulders was not there. I was loose. A close friend who had been on five different sets of mine confirmed this when he said, “I’ve never seen you that relaxed on set before.” He was right. I was completely relaxed because I knew, even at the top of day one, that we would be fine. That’s what experience buys you: a deep knowledge of the work to come, and an inner confidence that you can do what needs to be done.
All told, background, cast, and crew, we had thirty people on set both days. The tone on set was light, joyful, and it was clear every person was happy to be there, doing what we were doing. I am incredibly grateful to every single one of these people for giving me one or two days out of their lives to make a film together. It was a joy to work with each of them, and I couldn’t have pulled the project off without them.
“Blind Spot” lives in the same universe as “Shivved” and “Roommate Generation,” and certain characters make cameo appearances. I hope, one day, to turn these projects into a feature-length story. It’s time for bigger projects! But first, the long and winding journey of post-production. There is an adage in the film world: The story is first written on the page, rewritten on set, and then rewritten again into its final form in the editing chamber.
It’s time for the final rewrite on these projects.
Adventure Awaits,
~S. C. Durbois
S. C. Durbois Newsletter
1st Saturday every month: a new original short story or poem.
3rd Saturday every month: a writerly check-in with updates.
4th Saturday every month: a new creative work. Subscriber access only.
Well done Shayla!