I was failing in finding backing for a comedy project of my own, and while complaining about that process to my friend, Jeff Knoll (Film.ca), he asked if I could make a comedy about working in a movie theatre, that seemed to capture the madness, yet ‘delightful essence’ of what life at a small movie theatre was like for him. Jeff owns an indie theatre, so I started research there with his staff, and I couldn’t believe half the stories I was told. I asked to become a manager, just so I could get first-hand experience.
indieactivity: Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Marc Reyer Grant (MRG): I didn’t because I think that can be limiting. Instead, I have an idea of the character as a live human, their responses and backstory, then wait for the right actor. Without exception, everyone hired for this project walked in, had some instinct for my mental sketch of the character, and were able to use their own tools to make them better-rounded.
How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?)
Marc Reyer Grant (MRG): Once I had a general sense of what I needed to accomplish with the half hour pilot, it took about a week. You understand the moments you want to create, establish a story to bind them together, look for opportunities to weave jokes and word play to tie back into the moments, then make sure that the opening joke and closing scene both relate to the story in some manner and – whenever possible – tie the opening sting to the last joke.
Also important to the process: ‘Space Pops’, multi-flavored popsicles shaped like rocket ships. When I get deep into writing, I consume mass quantities of them. My daughter once looked into my office and suggested it was a successful night of writing because I had a small fort of popsicle sticks built up on the corner of my desk.
When did you form your production company – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
Marc Reyer Grant (MRG): Jeff is the producer, best to ask him this.
What was the first project out of the gate?
Marc Reyer Grant (MRG): Again, that’s a Jeff question.
During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Marc Reyer Grant (MRG): Everyone will say ‘the goose scene’, but I had no doubt the team could capture and edit a proper goose attack, even with an untrained animal. To my way of thinking, the pieces we had to shoot at 4 – 5:00 AM were the hardest, because we were close to wrapping an overnight shoot.
After a full day (behind or in front of the camera) and crossed circadian rhythms messing with the mind, everyone was either blowing a line, dropping the boom into the shot or missing some detail. I’ve written some additional scripts, for a buffer once we get picked up for a series, and I’ve included some daytime exteriors so we get some daytime hours in our system.
