This script is based on a short story that I wrote for my college freshman creative writing class ("Story" with Lynda Schor). Every week she would give us a prompt to inspire our writing for the week. "The thigh problem" was a phrase she saw in a magazine and thought was funny, and so that was one of our prompts -- I remember another student's story included cooked chicken thighs dancing on a table. But this video was my story, more or less; for 35 years I had thought of it now and then, and its thematic issues are pretty much the same now as back in 1986 (sigh).

I had directed Amanda Fuller while in my MFA program in New York (she was in my Dogme film!), and had been hoping to work with her again, but she had moved home to Minnesota. Alessandra Bongiardina was recommended to me by my nephew Calvin, who had studied and worked with her in the UMN Theater B.F.A. program (which, coincidentally, Amanda had also done), and she was also in Minnesota. Convenient! Except that I was in Philadelphia. So I devised a way for the story to take place over a "Zoom" (tm) call rather than in person as the original story had.

Using the video chat, then, we rehearsed, decorated their respective "sets," worked out lighting and audio, and chose costumes. It worked remarkably well! I love the moments when Meg/Alessandra leaves the screen! I've always been a fan of off-screen space, and the Zoom frame gave a special weight to it, as the viewers' vision is trapped in one place, emphasizing the limited perspective that a frame always has.

I am proud of what we accomplished here! I can't say, however, that I don't still wonder if I should try shooting another version of this with the sisters in the same room together like in the original short story. Or maybe I should try writing the story now for the vantage point of my 50s.

Hmmmm ...

(12 mins, 2025)

Commotion

The Thigh Problem

I wrote this piece during the pandemic (the last year of Trump's first term), and completed initial production in 2023. I'd worked with Sondra in 2017 during my MFA program, and we were both itching to work together again, and to do something relevant to our lives as "women of a certain age." Originally, I'd conceived this piece as a play, but realized after a staged reading of it by Reading Theater Project (on their public access show "Reading Reading") that it should be the next collaboration with Sondra.

A woman tries to dictate an upsetting letter.

Sondra Ward as Kyrie

Having already shot "The Thigh Problem" (below), I was all the more intrigued with the view of the small screen that had become such a common perspective for so many of us through video-conferencing apps. Since Sondra was in NYC and I was in Philadelphia, and there had been a recent surge in Covid-19 that made working in tight spaces undesirable, I decided to try a variation on the "Thigh Problem" set-up by using Filmic Pro in an iPhone SE and a Zoom H1n for audio (no relation to the Zoom used in TP - totally different company), but Sondra would have to do some of the technical work! I took a train up to NY a couple of times (or was it one long meeting?) to rehearse in person and to give Sondra some props, set dressing, and instruction on the equipment.

Similar to the pre-prod for "The Thigh Problem," Sondra and I had a meeting via video call in which I looked at the production space and directed her in some issues like lighting (curtains or no curtains, lamp on or off, etc.), and mise-en-scene, and we worked out blocking. Particular to "Commotion," though, there was another, somewhat awkward, component: I would use the Filmic Pro on my own phone at home to test various settings, and then describe to her how to get those settings into her own phone. Then she would do a test video and post it online, where I would watch it back to see if it actually worked in the location. Sondra was incredibly patient and game, which made it all pretty fun! Here are three stills from that process (all changes are in-camera only):

Below are two shorts for which I was the sole non-acting person. I've written a little about how each one came to be, as they were not created in the traditional way (SEE: "sole non-acting person"). My love of the "long take" (a.k.a. "oner") was tested in each, but until I find an editor who wants to work on my stuff with me, I will probably continue to explore this area of enthusiasm. I. Am. Not. A. Fan. of. Editing. on Computers. (Someone. Please. Rescue. Me.)

I put poor Sondra through 12 twelve-minute takes over two days (actually, a couple of those didn't make it to twelve minutes), but she hung in there valiantly and attentively the entire time. I think I ended up going with Take 11. Or maybe 9? In any case, I learned the benefits and drawbacks of shooting such a long take, especially in the context of it being one woman with no other actor to play off. I watched from an off-screen computer via video call, and she looked into her phone lens as her "computer screen." I'm not sure I'd recommend the process, but it was interesting!

Once the shooting was done, and I had chosen the take, I then had to struggle my way through figuring out how to fix a weird visual disturbance that made waves on all the walls. It was sort of like a moire effect, but none of the fixes for that did any good. Maybe I'll write a blog post about it one day -- after exhausting all the advice I could get and all the YouTube tutorials I could find on vaguely related problems, I had to come up with my own work-around that required me to manually adjust a mask every few FRAMES. It took a long time (!!!!!), and I didn't actually call the movie finished and start submitting it to festivals (so far, no takers!) for almost two years! In the end, I'm proud of my solution and relieved that I didn't give up so I can show what Sondra and I created. I'm so glad to have connected with an actor of such depth!

Some Recent Videos

Two sisters try to communicate about family, art, and money.

Alessandra Bongiardina as Meg
and
Amanda Fuller as Annie

(14 mins, 2020)

And maybe a quote about writing and/or directing here.