So, you've got a great idea for a film. It is so great you want to create it. We followed one film from its first appearance in the dusty recesses of the mind to its grand appearance on the silver screen. Now, every film will have a unique journey, but still, much can be learned from a prior traveller.

Alan McKenna is the writer/creator of the film "A SILENT AFFAIR". With this diary, he has shared many of the elements on the way to the finished feature. Thanks Al, for sharing your experiences with the TSA.

I went to the movie theatre to see Wonder Boys. And, when Michael Douglas' character (Grady) finds out that his married mistress (Frances McDormand = "Sarah") is pregnant, I was thinking, "Hmmmmm."

Then, I thought (half asleep), "What if..... both of them were married to other people, and they had to cover it up? And then.... the guy could care less b/c well... he's a guy and doesn't have to carry the damn thing (baby) and doesn't want to get that involved b/c he won't leave his wife for her. So.... the wife will have to pretend it's the baby of her husbands! Yeah. That'll work. But wait.... I need more conflict that will lead to comedic effects (being I knew I wanted to write a short comedy) ...... so......... being that I'll write this with the married couple being in their 40's or the very least 35+, let's say they haven't had sex in a llloooonnngggg time.... maybe 10 months? Yeah. That should work even better!"

From there most of my premise sheet was set up already:

From there most of my premise sheet was set up already:


Story Premise Sheet

 

Genre: Comedy

Protagonist 35+ (or 40ish) Woman/Wife; vibrant and cunning, etc.

What Protag wants and how (via actions) will she go about getting it: To entice her husband into having sex with her by all means necessary: Strip tease show, arouse him watching porno, hire hooker for 3-Way, spike his meal with Viagra, etc.

Why the Protag wants the goal: She'll be "busted" that she's having an affair, and quite possibly a husband unwilling to be a new father.

Antagonist: 35+ (or 40ish) Man/Husband; Mid-management corporate type; set in his ways; loves his dog and a good meal.

What goal Antag wants and how (via actions) will he go about getting it: To resist his wife's advances by always pushing her away/off, walking away from the situation, etc.

Why the Antag wants the goal: He's just not sexually attracted to her anymore; it's "old hat." And, finds her advances on the border of being repulsive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there, I knew I wanted to do something creative (or at least try) to make this short different from the others. The more I looked at my idea/premise sheet, the more I thought that I could make it a silent movie. At the time, I was the president of the TSA and one of our biggest mantras (if not THE mantra) is to, "Show. Not tell."

So.... I had a feeling that if I could keep it as short as possible, then I could pull it off; not to mention the other benefits: Didn't have to worry about sound, and I could direct actors while they acted out their scenes. I mean, why not make it as easy on yourself the first time out?! : ) It was all making sense and I was getting excited about it. I approached a few people about it (some TSA members, others not) to get their feedback. All was pretty positive, but one TSA member had an interesting question: "Why make it a silent movie?" I told him what I said above: "To be creative, to show not tell, didn't have to worry about sound, etc." He said: "Sure. That all makes sense, but there's a reason why we don't see silent movies anymore. As an audience, we don't have to. So... IMO, there's got to be a bigger reason to make/show a silent movie... no matter the length."

I mulled it over and finally realized what he was basically meaning: To have a point. To have a reason.

So.... being I wanted to write a comedy, I came up with one: "Well, I/we're making a silent movie b/c like most filmmakers who are bank-rolling their own project, I don't have a lot of money. So I/We simply can't afford a sound man... except for one small shot. I will set this joke up by first saying that I/We are making a silent to honor Hollywood but that's just a bunch of Horse Sh*t; and everyone (especially film festival attendees) knows it. Then, I tell everyone that I'm really doing it b/c we're basically broke. Hence... scratch the sound man. And this way, I can also play with the style itself by actually introducing a line of dialogue as the big joke to wait for." And BAM. There it was. Thanks to this member's logical question, it made me think outside the box a little more and even make my film even better (or I would hope)!

So.... from there, I came up with the outline below:

Wife and Younger dude have sex. LATER she finds out she's pregnant with his baby. She has no idea what to do, but the dude does; tells her to claim it's her husband's. She says can't b/c they haven't had sex in 10 months. Too bad... dude is gone.

Wife is stuck. No choice but to have sex w/husband.

She dresses sexy and awaits for his arrival home from work. He arrives. She pounces on him. He's annoyed. Pushes her off to see his dog. He and dog skip off. She's frustrated.

Wife slips issues of Playboy in various places that she knows her husband will see and see fast: In the bathroom, in his briefcase, etc. Sure enough, husband finds them, is a little confused, but what the heck.... I'll flip through them.

Husband comes home from the work the next day to see Wife dressed as a Playboy Bunny doing a strip-tease for him. He's amused a little, but it does nothing for him. He walks off.

Wife is starting to feel the heat a little. Getting depressed. Surfing the TV she spots monkeys having sex on the Animal Planet or something. This piques her interest.

Wife is at video store. She's a little apprehensive about entering the Porn room. She feels a little safe b/c the video store is empty except for the store's clerk. But, when she steps into the Porn room, many sleazy men turn to look at her. She freaks, quickly grabs a tape and runs out.

AT THE VIDEO COUNTER: Wife finds out that there are late charges on their account. She can't believe it. Clerk starts to rattle off the titles of the late movies in front of a mother and her two children: "Forrest Hump, Mr. Holland's Anus, etc." She freaks again and throws her money on the counter.

BACK IN THE BEDROOM: Wife gleefully comes in w/the tape and hits the play button. She jumps in bed w/Husband and gets ready for action. However, the husband's jaw drops as he sees, "Gay porn?!"

DOWNTOWN: Wife hits the streets and hires a hooker.

IN HUSBAND'S OFFICE: Wife brings home hooker for husband to join them. He looks confused, then irritated. As Wife explains about what is about to go down, the Hooker does something to piss the husband off even more. He leaves... disgusted. Wife still has to pay up.

BACK AT HOME: She orders Viagra and spikes her husband's steak. LATER AT THE DINNER TABLE: Husband is about to eat the steak but as she tries to give him more wine, he declines. But she insists. He doesn't want it. They fight. He leaves the table without taking a bite. She follows him. Dog takes steak.

LATER: Dog roams the house until he gets to the glass door where he sees: A female dog. He takes off after her.

AT A CAFE': Wife is totally depressed. Has hit a wall. Doesn't know what else to do. But, when she casually sees a woman slowly "go down" on her banana, it gives her a hint. She thinks it over, and decides will do anything but "that."

But when she turns away, she sees another lady "going down" on her popsicle! And she's really going at it. Wife stares on in almost disbelief, but the clues are too much to ignore as she exclaims, "I must. It's my only chance!"

IN THE BEDROOM: Wife jumps on Husband. Kissing, licking him all the way down under the covers. At first, husband is annoyed until she hits the sweet spot. As any man, he's enjoying it immensely; seems to go on for days. Almost at the point of total elation, she grabs him and rolls him over on top of her. It doesn't take long. The deed is done. She smiles.

WEEKS LATER: Wife taps the husband's nose with a pregnancy test strip; waking him up. She smiles and says, "Good morning, father." He replies, "Father?" Eventually she finds out that he got a vasectomy last year and she will hear from his attorney.

He leaves the room. She's depressed, angry. He comes back the door. She has a look of hope. But he says, "Oh, and by the way... thanks for the blow job." He closes the door. END

CREDITS ROLL: Husband's dog chases pack of dogs back and forth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there I decided to wait on making the shot list b/c I didn't know how difficult it would be to find the locations.

Being that I was going for a unique look (for today's standards), I really wanted a solid, proven DP, that not only knew how to shoot a good scene but could light the scenes as they did for Charlie Chaplin. By asking some local filmmakers and making some calls, I received a handful of candidates. After pitching the idea over the phone to a few of them, I was able to mail them the script. The good news is that all of them were interested, but because of their own work and schedules, only one could find time to shoot mine: Mark Schlicher.

My next biggest concern was to find someone talented enough to pull off both roles of the Wife and Husband. I already knew about Jeff Day from other movies, and thought he'd be perfect for the Husband. He agreed to take the part. However, I knew of no one personally that could pull off the Wife and to have the look I was searching for as well.

I booked a small conference room at a local mall, placed an ad in the paper, and with the help of a local casting director, Candy Robins (who became my producer because she simply kicks ass), we were able to find Re' Mattei. I knew she was perfect the minute she began.

From there, I picked out other women and men from the auditions to fill the remaining roles. Candy and I then hit the road and made the necessary phone calls to lock up locations. You'd be surprised on what you can get by just asking. I actually found a couple (via work) in Franklin that was willing to let us use their nice home for shooting... with a dog nonetheless! Obviously, when I was searching for homes, I tried to find owners who let their dog(s) roam free in doors.

With locations set..... I set a date to shoot and wrote the shooting script (Which you now have)

OUR FIRST REAL SNAG:

Two weeks before shooting, the couple with the house bailed out. Cold feet, I guess, but they were gone. We were stuck. I scrambled by making calls, asking around, and even put an ad on the Watkins bulletin board: "Wanna make a movie at your house?! Must be able to accept a dog inside!" or something like that. Because of previous commitments from some of the cast and crew, time was running out. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I received a call from a woman who took some night classes at Watkins, lived in Kingston Springs, and had the perfect house for us. And, she was right.

After meeting with her, her husband and two dogs, I found out that the couple was extremely supportive and excited to be a part of our film: Heaven.... sent.

From there, I made out the shooting schedule/script

After various meetings w/cast & crew, renting equipment, etc. we shot from Friday night to Sunday night. Basically, all went well. Thanks to some key players, I was able to get my hands on two identical DV cameras, thus, when time became an issue, I was able to shoot two scenes at once.

Various Notes

* I was warned not to work with animals and children, especially being my first film. I agreed, but felt daring enough to give it a try for story sense. Turns out, the dogs and kids were just as easy to work with as the adults. The husband's dog in the movie is actually Jeff's dog in real for the past 10 years or something. Jeff had him trained so good, he was like a robot... or dogbot.

* The bigger problem I thought I would have was the "pack of dogs" I needed for the final shot. I knew what I wanted them to do, but had no idea how to get a pack to do what was needed at the same time without running away or causing a ruckus. Then I read the Living section of the Tennessean and noticed a new business in N'ville called Pup Scouts. It never hurts to ask, so after a brief description of who I was (or wasn't) and what I was trying to do, they said they (2 owners) had 3 dogs of their own that was well trained and could help me out. Everything was falling in place. It was getting too easy. Something had to be wrong. By the time we shot that scene, they even brought a couple of trusted friends w/dogs that could pull off the same "stunt." And they did. Perfect every time.

* Some of the shots I thought would be difficult to shoot, turned out easier that I thought: As mentioned above, all the shots involving the dogs; even Jeff's dog that had to remove the steak without slinging it or the plate around making a mess on the nice table, seat cushion and floor. Just remarkable. The hooker scene: The street never became busy, I had a friend that was an undercover cop on the scene, and neighbors even let us plug in when we needed to move the lights. The shot took a long time to shoot when you consider the time to move in, shoot, and move out, but I thought the location itself had the potential to cause much more problems. "BJ scenes": When's the last time you asked 3 women to simulate oral stimulation for no money? Exactly. But they were troopers and I'm forever indebted.

* But .... some shots were more difficult to shoot that I first imagined: Any scene involving an amorous couple and sheets: Considering the genre and the fact that the actors were not totally nude, we had to make sure the sheets covered the couple. That's harder than it sounds when you consider that the couples are rolling around; especially the opening scene with Wife & Boyfriend in the hotel. We had to virtually "wrap" them in the sheets like a damn burrito or something, and most of the time, it still didn't work. They really couldn't hold onto the sheet (b/c they were holding each other!), nor show a lot of their body... because Keith (Boyfriend) had shorts on; as an example. A lot of times, the sheet would barely expose he was wearing shorts and just wasn't going to cut it. Not to mention, we didn't have a lot of room in the hotel room to move the camera around. Difficult stuff. Porn room w/sleazy guys: This was the only video store I could really get, but the porn room was SMMAALLL.... I mean, all the porn rooms I've ever been in had th...... ummmm...... let's move on. Anyway, I wanted a lot of guys in the room to leave Wife with an unfavorable impression. But, it was so cramped in there that we could barely see all the guys. There was absolutely no more room for anymore guys or the camera. I still wish I had a bigger room, but what ya gonna do?

From here, I did the "pre-edit" list you now have. I did the whole thing. Went through all the tapes, wrote down the time codes, then went back (over and over) and determined... roughly.... how I wanted it laid out. However, by doing this, I noticed two big errors: 1) Jeff was wearing the wrong shirt/tie in one scene and 2) I totally forgot the scene were Wife hears about the Viagra commercial. UGH! I still haven't replaced that remote. Thanks to the tremendous attitudes and dedication of Bill & Jeannette (home owners), Jeff, Re' and Bob (camera, lights, etc.) I was able to get the shots I needed.

I finally got the pre-shot list for my editor. Since I trusted his creative talent, and just knowing he was a funny guy, I felt comfortable giving him the tapes and the list ("here. go at it.") After a few meetings with Chris (editor) we finally had a master copy, and I gave it to my composer. He took it home, played it and would watch the video while playing something on his keyboard. I was never there, of course, but I can't imagine how difficult that is. The music had to be laid down perfectly to the action. Blu (composer) found this as a great challenge and he more than delivered. As in any silent movie, the music becomes another character on to itself, and Blu did an outstanding job. Forever impressed.

The Memphis Independent Film Festival accepted to show it about a month after the project was completed. I didn't know too much about the festival, but knew one of the guys that worked there and he gave me enough confidence to know the attendance and atmosphere is second to none in the southeast. And, he was right. Being that it was only a 3 1/2 hour drive, a handful of cast & crew were able to make the trip. It was quite an experience. They showed films in two theatres right on Beale Street. And, let me tell me you, there's nothing like being able to walk into a theatre that's about to show a movie you've sweated over, hand-in-hand with your.... beer. Good times.

Then there's funny feeling that came over me about 30 seconds before the movie started: "Did I just waste my time? Did I just waste everybody's time? Should I have cut more? Shot more? Is it too racy? Is it even funny?! Are they going to laugh?.... where they're supposed to?!" But the audience was great. I could even tell that a couple of people behind me saw some of the jokes coming, and still laughed! Out loud! Can you believe that?! What a relief and a wonderful feeling. It was a short drive home.

You can access a positive review here!

It's also been shown at the South Carolina Independent Film Festival that I wasn't able to attend.

Joe Speer from "Speer Presents" heard about the flick and asked to show it followed by a subsequent interview with me. It's public access for Davidson County. Joe was extremely nice and had his hand in the entire Nashville landscape of the arts.

In March of 2002 Nashville held it's annual Starvy Award contest, and "Silent Affair" was picked as "Best Film." Rah. The event was held at the Belcourt theatre and it was much bigger than I first expected. The place was filled to capacity and the entire show was professionally produced; as a Nashville "Grammy/Oscar" Awards show: Local celebrities, bands, etc.

Months later at the Belcourt, it was shown again at the Renegade Independent Film Festival with some other locally produced shorts. Again, I thought it was received very well. Much like the "Starvy's," the entire night was Class-A stuff.