Out of State-A Gothic Romance

Director's Statement

"Out of State-A Gothic Romance" explores themes of first love, filial devotion, the need for independence set against a quirky dysfunctional family. The tag of the film says it all "They're Shut-In 'Til Elsa Shows Up." We shot 100 scenes of "Out of State-A Gothic Romance" in 21 days pre-COVID. When I told people we were making a film that focuses on a dysfunctional family of shut-ins, they said no one would get it. Then the world was shut-down during the pandemic and now everyone gets how strange you become when isolated from the real world. Possibly this is why the music driven film is resonating around the globe. It's a a compelling story brought to life by our talented cast who embody their characters, cinematography that captures the rich colors of the set and costumes, editing that mixes artfully crafted scenes juxtapose with montages and a sensational score and songs by talented singer songwriters. Due to the pandemic we edited the film remotely since Kim Miille, the editor, and I were not able to sit together. Chromavision color graded remotely. For the soundtrack, Joe Deihl lived on the West Coast and I was on the East Coast giving him input on finishing music, sound design and audio mix. Fortunately I had worked closely with Kim, Joe and Chromavision so we could speak in short-hand. But doing everything remote is tough on the psyche. Hopefully my next film, adapting my original play "The Gas Station Project," will be more hands on. But glad that technology allows us to connect no matter what. Backstory Physical spaces and places have always been the sparks that ignited my creative work. I've created stories and audience immersive performances in a furniture store window, an auto body shop, a laundromat and an urban parking lot. So when my parents said I could make a film in their historic home in Pennsylvania I created a fictional family to live there. My distant cousin Charles Bugbee had made his first feature "Just Off The Coast" that debuted at San Sebastián Film Festival.. I had just completed a commission from Creative Time to write, direct and produce "A Surreal Soap Opera:Toxic Waste Meets Beach Resort" at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Creatively, we were on fire and joined together to write a feature. Working within a micro-budget, Charlie and I created The Family Garth who are shut-ins, a mother and her two twenty-something sons who never leave the house. The feature film is a gothic tale set in the 1990's in a small town in The Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. It's "The Royal Tenenbaums" meet "My Cousin Rachel," dark with a sly sense of humor. Elsa is the Garth's distant step-relative. She is a spirited girl on the cusp of turning 18 who is sent far away to live with them. Hence the title "Out of State," Unfortunately Charlie became deathly ill when he went to Los Angeles to look for financing. He rallied and was back on Broadway as one of the top sound mixers for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals when they discovered that he had inoperable brain cancer. I promised him that I would make our film and his brother George Bugbee gave his permission. Thank You George. Years later, with the support of my husband George A Warren III, I was able to wrap my head around producing "Out of State." Since another film, made long after we wrote our screenplay, about Samoan Warriors bears the same title, I added a subtitle - A Gothic Romance - to delineate our film. With an ultra- micro budget to make the film and no money for a location, I decided to shoot the film in my old Victorian home in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Production I was joined by Cherie Fortis, Co-Producer, Ilya Shnitser, Director of Photography, Kim Druce Sava additional Costume Design and many sound people. Besides directing I wore many hats including Producer, Production and Costume Design. Shooting in my house saved money but my husband George said it was like living in The Grand Hotel since some of the actors lived with us during the shoot. I cooked breakfast and dinner for my own family and my film family. Thank God for take-out lunches and Indiegogo Supporters who contributed to our food bill. Our three dogs were on set throughout the shoot and sat quietly under the kitchen table waiting for handouts. The fact that they never barked was a miracle. Cinematography I wanted the house to become another character. Ilya Shnitser the cinematographer and I were trained as visual artists and we talked in color palettes and textures. We got lucky with a dry sunny summer and relied on natural light and practical using lamps on one or two scenes. We also spent two and a half days shooting B-Roll of the house, the decor and the garden. By using these images as segues between scenes the viewer is totally immersed in The World of The Garth Family and the house becomes a main character. Ilya chose a Canon 300 Cinematic Camera with Zeiss lenses because of the very warm tones that were engineered into the camera. A few additional scenes were lensed on other digital camera. Cast Our fantastic ensemble include Sarah Moliski, Caroline Winterson, James Nester and A. Ryder Turner. They were joined by a supporting cast featuring Lynne Goldberg, Tess Warren, Matthew Brueckner, Dave Scheffler, Peter H. Bugbee and a few extras. All the major cast members lived across the country and had other jobs. So sometimes my planned production schedule was trashed and I had to write 15 new scenes for the actors who were able to be on set. When things were not working out, I'd ask Charlie for help and he always came through. He was our angel and this film is "For Charlie." Post Production Our post production team saved the day and made sense out of chaos. Editor K.A.Miille was working on projects for Ken Burns and American Experience (Muhammid Ali - Part 1 and Marion Anderson) therefore she had to work on Out of State on her days off. She was joined by Matthew Brueckner, Assistant Editor and Post-Production Supervisor. They edited in AVID. Chromavision NY's Nick Luna color graded the feature. Music Joe Deihl of Real Deihl Sound & Music composed an incredible score, created sound design and handled the audio mix. We arrived at a music palette or sonic palette heavy on that leans towards a European folk mixed with classical elements. Balalaika, strings, chorals arrangements with themes for each character create a cohesive mood. Joe also played all the classical piano music that Tab plays as well as all the instruments. Four time Grammy nominated Emily King, Kim Kalesti, Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters, John Mason, Carter McNeil and Bachtopus, an accordion ensemble, are songwriters and performers who graciously licensed their music. Amie Becker Karscig sings the title song written by V Bugbee and Joe Deihl. Thanks to all who believed in my vision and Charlie's dream to make our screenplay a reality. Kudos to our many supporters on Indiegogo.