Finally making a COMEDY! - "Eating for Beginners" Pre-production

Hi there friends. After completing "Clean" (my most recent short) I felt a newfound neediness to make a comedy. Clean is quite dark... I mean, hey, that's natural considering it is in fact a horror. So anyhow, my AC/Gaffer/actor Wayne Culpepper (one of the most funny, kind-hearted, and hard working guys I know) wanted to collaborate on another project, but this time he was gonna be one of the leads. At first I decided that Wayne, Dave (my best friend and also the lead in many of my films) and I were gonna go on a trip to Indianapolis and have a three person team and compete in their 48 Hour Film Competition- but logistically that idea kinda fell apart. But, however, this was for the better! Because of that, I sat down and made plans for a more legitimate next project, and then "Eating for Beginners" was born!

I sat down in my favorite magical book store "The Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne-Wine Bar" (I buy coffee there, ha) and began brainstorming. What is one of my biggest passions? Food. What is one of my biggest internal struggles? Maintaining passion. Bam. I had two elements that really stuck in my gut. Four drafts later (with the feedback from my amazing film friends Airin, Miles, Nick, and Elena) I had finished a 10 page comedy short.

Synopsis: Gerard is an over emotional foodie and chef. Zep is an adrenaline junky who has just used up his lifetime supply of adrenaline. In an effort to reinstall Zep's lost sense of passion and adrenaline, Gerard presents and serves Zep five delicious culinary dishes.  Will the power of scrumptious food help save Zep from his ill-fated state of apathy?

David Dietrich (playing Gerard), Kira Bursky (me, the director!), and Wayne Culpepper (playing Zep!)

Zep alongside his young self, played by Reuben Hauser, and Gerard alongside his young self, played by Jaxson Mitchell~ The only other cast member is Lily, played by Thatcher Johnson-Welden.

My DP is Andy Crespo. Andy and I have worked on 2 shorts together, but this is the first time we will be working together as a Director and DP team! We sat down last week (at the magical Battery Park Book Exchange... of course) and made a complete shot list that I am very happy with. It was fun working together because we were both enthusiastically laughing at our own ideas... I hope that's a good sign. Ha. Actually, this past Saturday we shot a short 10 second montage sequence of Zep doing stunts for the film. I edited it together that same night and am quite happy with the results! What you should know is that Wayne was on American Ninja Warrior (the show) and is naturally an adrenaline junky it seems... so his character, Zep, is very fitting of him!

Andy Crespo, the DP, and I!

The rest of the shoot resumes this coming weekend. Today Brenna Golden, my AD, and I will be sitting down (at the Battery Park Book Exchange... naturally) and making the schedule. I actually just secured and visited our main shooting location which is called "Cloud Hidden." It is honestly spectacular and breathtaking- I visited it yesterday. It is the world's largest monolithic dome home and at one point it was featured on HGTV. I get to shoot there under the condition that at some point I make a short documentary for the local Humane Society. I love animals, so this trade off was a no brainer! I'm actually really excited to work on that documentary.

The next biggest thing I have to figure out is... where I am gonna get the food?! Hopefully today and tomorrow I will have that all figured out, but there are 5 dishes I need to "secure." Ha. Wish me luck with that. I'm also gonna be briefly shooting at a local Creperie (The Crêperie & Cafe Of Weaverville). It's adorable and has lovely food. Check it out!

Anyways, I'm gonna get back to "food scouting." Best job ever? I think yes. Stay tuned! Hopefully the whole film will be completed by the end of this month. I like to work with tight schedules... but we'll see. If you wanna see some more behind the scenes pictures you should like my facebook page "All Around Artsy." I post all updates + pics + links to trailers/films there.

Bye for now and thanks for reading!
Stay full (of good food!).