The Big Pivot Makes the Rounds

My first short film had a good amount of beginner’s luck. It was adapted from a Second City sketch titled “Forum (a.k.a. Careers)” from “Take Me Out to the Balkans” by Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Steve Carell, David Razowsky, Ruth Rudnick, Fran Adams, and Amy Sedaris. It was my first big assignment at Second City Film School.

My wonderful actors, Lisa Barnes, Jeanne Lauren Smith, Heather Carlson, and Jimmy Pope, did their performances remotely. In fact, most of this was recorded over Zoom. I think it is a good time capsule of where we were as we broke out of our isolation as the Covid-19 pandemic receded.

Pedro & Chris

One nice thing that came out of the pandemic for me was getting to work with people in other parts of the country and around the world on the web. In November, Pedro Abrantes and I started doing long-form duo improv show via StreamYard to YouTube. I met Pedro, who is based in Toronto, in improv classes last year that were taught by Lisa Merchant and Ian Keeling. The show is called Pedro & Chris. We perform a new show each Monday.

We do about 25 or so minutes of improv and then chat for another 10 minutes. We’ve done several shows so far. Each one is a little different. We might play the same characters the whole time or switch characters. Sometimes it’s funny. Other times, it is not. Like life. Our plan is to invite guests in the spring after we have a number of shows under our belt.

Box Cutter

Max Clark asked me to do his short film “Box Cutter.” It’s on 16mm and shot in black and white. It also has no dialogue. (All my 90s indie film dreams come true!) Max and I met to develop the piece out near the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The story went through several iterations before it became what you see here. The ending changed in the editing room. To me, it is a dark poem to working people living in late capitalism.

We shot this at a storage facility near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Max is the one with the glasses looking at the viewfinder in the picture below. I spent most of the day kneeling and sitting on my feet. I also gashed the top of my head walking out of the storage unit as my eyes had not quite adjusted to the light. It’s not art if you don’t suffer at least a little. This was another very efficient shoot. We got through everything in one day because a big storm with gale-force winds was forecast for the next day. After the flooding back in July this year, we did not want to take any chances.

Last Rites

Back in March, I was asked by the writer and director Yohana Desta to play a role in her touching and funny short film “Last Rites.” She rented a very nice brownstone up by Strivers’ Row for the shoot. There was a Covid officer during the shoot. I spent most of my time in bed while wearing a pajama top and shorts to stay cool. The crew was very kind, full of humor, and efficient. Ronald Emile was also generous and supportive as a scene partner. What you always hope to experience.

It was a little surreal to die over and over again during this time. It was also strange to stop takes of our shoot because the TV series “FBI” was shooting an action sequence in the street below the windows behind me. They say dying is easy but comedy is hard. I guess this was somewhere in between.