Filmmaker Q&A
1. Please explain your inspiration and point of view when you first started developing and collaborating on June, Adrift and why you made this film. How or what prompted the idea for your film and how did it evolve?
Amanda: When I was in college a professor advised me to skip film grad school and invest that money into a feature because I'd learn and network the same amount and might come out of the experience with a product that could help launch a career. I had worked with both Cassie and Christine on smaller self produced projects before and was struck by their talent, intelligence, and tenacity. When my parents and grandmother agreed to house cast and crew and donate their cottages to the cause for three weeks over the summer, I immediately took the idea to the two most talented women I knew. All of us were struggling with the ups and downs of the entertainment industry, working often miserable day jobs in order to survive while dedicating as much time and as many resources as possible to pursuing careers in the entertainment industry. As many artistic folks can attest, this process can involve a sometimes daily re-assessment of whether or not it is worth continuing if this is as close to your dreams as you will ever come. All of us had also struggled with guilt from disappointing older generations and with the (possibly undeserved) frustration of having followed the rules and gotten to the front of the line with a college degree in hand and realizing that that wasn't enough to provide for or satisfy. We wanted to tackle all of these widespread generational themes with characters who embodied the at times petulant and unsatisfied but ultimately brave and hardworking millennial generation.
Cassie: The previous year I had written and begun the pre-production process on another feature and the month before filming was to begin, the project fell through. I was still really motivated and excited to make a film of this scope but knew I'd need close collaborators if we were to see it through. When I met up with Amanda and Christine and they shared similar goals and ideas, I knew we had found the perfect team and everything else is history!
Christine: When we first conceived of “June, Adrift” we thought we would shoot an unscripted improv comedy with a three person run and gun crew (a director/camera operator, a sound person, and an additional everyman). As more and more people became involved, the project grew way beyond our expectations!
Adrienne: After meeting the writers and reading the script, I was inspired by their passion and enthusiasm for making the film and telling this story. We could all relate to one another about going through this specific period in our lives that the story illustrates. Besides it being my first feature, I was also looking forward to the opportunity to work with a script that I hadn't written, which was a first. I knew it would challenge me in ways I've never been challenged before.
2. What inspired you to become a filmmaker? Please explain your history in filmmaking.
Amanda: I was always the family videographer and entertainer. When movers stole boxes full of cherished treasures during my childhood, I was most crushed to lose my doubtless awful short films. Throughout school, every time I could substitute a film in for any other type of assignment I did so happily. I majored in Film and Asian Studies at Cornell University and moved to LA two days after graduation. (Would have made it one, but I had to get my wisdom teeth out.) After working for nearly three years in odd jobs, producing small projects and as a part time writer's assistant, I considered my skill set honed enough to tackle a feature and immediately sought to involve my two favorite colleagues.
Christine: My background was initially in acting, but I love how accessible it has become for people to produce their own content and I have seen how important it is to find your team in this industry, to use your creativity to make your own material and get it out there, rather than waiting for the right opportunity to find you. I have always been a great organizer and a central pin in many talented friend groups, so I kept trying to spearhead projects. I'd get everybody together, we would all brainstorm, we'd all leave excited – but then I'd never hear about any progress from the writers and the project would fall through. So I decided it was about time I figure out how to take a project from the ground up, and I took a sketch writing class at UCB. I started writing and producing sketches and shorts. I met Amanda doing a parody video in which I rap and she sings while crying in the shower. We were very impressed with how we each had a never-say-die attitude and would stay up all night problem-solving when other people crumbled at obstacles. I didn't foresee making a feature so soon, but when Amanda asked, I didn't hesitate!
Cassie: As soon as Youtube was created I began making short videos and posting them online. After moving to Los Angeles I made a few comedic shorts under the moniker "Epigoni Films" and one of them caught the eye of "The Colbert Report." I was contacted to develop "Citizens In Action", a new segment for the show. After completing work on the "The Colbert Report," I was fueled further in creating and writing my own projects as an actor and not waiting to get hired by someone else. The year prior to "June, Adrift," I created my first budgeted project, "Bunclaw Cloverdriver," a 7 minute one-take film on a Red Camera, hired my first professional crew and cast, and shot the film that inspired me to tackle a feature for my next project. Together with Amanda and Christine, we created the perfect partnership for this dream project.
3. What would you like the audience to "take away" after they have seen the film?
We hope they get a window into a generation that doesn't settle for “good enough” and instead strives, albeit clumsily at times, for more. We want to present a viewpoint of our sometimes unlikeable, sometimes even pitiful, but ultimately (we hope) respectable generation. This is how we see the world.
4. What was your biggest challenge in developing or producing this project?
Amanda: The record high monsoon rainfall in Maryland that perfectly coincided with our shoot dates and required a lot of last minute scheduling changes and outside-to-inside rewrites.
Christine: Time and budget were always limitations that forced us to work hard and get creative. When things don't work out as planned, that's when true creativity comes alive. Ironically sometimes the worst problems will be the best part of your film! Upon arrival to Maryland our DP Ellie Ann Fenton realized we would not be able to light the dock at night, so we had to rewrite the nighttime skinny dipping scene to happen during broad daylight. Takes more bravery and adds a light heartedness to the scene that I love. Due to our tight schedule, the Fourth of July was not a holiday for us. We filmed by the bay with boats driving by the entire time! We could probably make a blooper reel of all the times Nick Ronzio had to call hold for sound. Poor Nick! But he did an excellent job and the boat noises did not cause us to need ADR for any of those scenes.
Cassie: As first time feature filmmakers we were learning new things around every corner. From scheduling a large crew, to working around record breaking rain, to the logistics of traveling across country to shoot on both coasts. We took most of these challenges in stride and I feel like after this experience, we are ready for anything!
5. What is the most important message in this film to you?
It's never too late to hit reset and try to find happiness. Failures are inevitable, but rebounds are possible.
6. How did you find the subjects of the film?
Amanda: I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay and loved the history and beauty of the local towns. I worked a summer on an educational Oyster Skiff and was saddened to hear of big corporations over farming the bay and ruining the resource for everyone. All of the other subjects were a hodgepodge of everyone's experiences and imaginations.
Christine: One example of our experiences making it into the movie is that Barkley’s car sex scene where the alarm goes off and her parents and grandmother come out into the driveway to turn off the alarm is based on my real life! Some small details are changed: my grandmother wasn’t there, and I wasn’t having sex with a Lumber aisle employee. But for the most part, it is my story. At the time, I was living with my parents just after college and my boyfriend from Vassar came to live with us for a short time when he first moved to Los Angeles. Since we were living under my parents’ roof, one night when we got home, we decided to have sex in the car instead. It was late and we knew my parents would not come outside. My boyfriend started to get very hot. He tried to crack a window, but the car was off and the key was not in the ignition. Instead, he cracked the door open to get some air inside, which triggered my car alarm! We started scrambling to find the keys and couldn’t. They were likely in his pants pocket, but we had our clothes spread about the car. Suddenly the alarm stopped. We looked up and my mother and father were standing in the driveway with their pajamas on, my mother holding the spare key she had for my car. Luckily, my parents are not strict Polish parents who completely disapproved of the situation. My mother is French and my father is liberal and both of my parents have a sense of humor. My boyfriend was so terrified that he remained outside. I walked in, and I found my parents calmly playing Rummikub at the kitchen table. They just both looked up and grinned at me. Although I chose to write this scene for Barkley rather than Rachel, so I don’t get to play the role on screen, I still feel very attached to the scene!
7. What made this project come together and be successful?
Reena: One of the most amazing things about filming in a non-saturated (film) market is the tremendous amount of support that you garner from the community. I remember calling the film office in Maryland, and Jack (head of the film commission) immediately put me in touch with another person in the county who offered to help location scout for us. We needed a building that could be seen from the street, and she went out and took multiple pictures for us to find the right one. Even put us in touch with business owners in hopes they could help us more. The best moment was when we were looking for police uniforms and the police department not only found older uniforms in their basements that they gave to us for wardrobe, but they also asked if we ever needed to block any streets, to simply give them a call. What a tremendous difference from shooting in my current city. It felt like the community still remembered the power of story telling, that it wasn't just a business, it also brings communities together, and seeing to what extent Chesapeake City and Elkton helped us was a fond reminder of why I'm a producer today.
Amanda: The jaw dropping support we received from people in our professional and personal networks and people we had never met before who got behind the film and helped in any capacity they could, from sailor Dave Gentry who came to set during pre production, lived out of a tent and designed and built our prop boats, to Jack Gerbes of Maryland Film Commission, who made a set visit and whose office helped secure locations and contractors. Add in the amazing team we were lucky enough to secure, from seasoned pros like Director of Photography Ellie Ann Fenton and 1st AD Andrew Turner, to our Director Adrienne Subia who brought her stunning aesthetic, to Maryland Caterer Colleen Kirkwood, the eighteen year old who flawlessly catered two meals a day for thirty people by herself... We were just incredibly lucky to be surrounded by hard-working, talented team players.
Christine: We had a lot of loving friends and family members behind us. While we were running our Kickstarter campaign, we won IndieReign’s Project of the Week. It was a tight race and it became clear that our main competitor was using a program to get automatic votes (confirmed by IndieReign). We won against the computer generated votes with help from my mom campaigning in malls and coffee shops and making phone calls to France at all hours. She didn’t sleep for days and printed little slips of paper with the URL for the voting contest and approached strangers in malls and cafes and parking lots (anyone she saw holding a smart phone) and asked them to cast a vote on the spot. She also called all of our old and not-computer-savvy relatives in France all night long and taught them how to use the internet in order to vote for our project.
Cassie: While we were writing our script and running the Kickstarter, we found a website called the Wooden Boat Forum. We created an account and wrote a post explaining that we were three girls writing a movie about building a boat, and we asked for tips about what kind of sailboat the girls should make in the movie based on our budget, time constraints, and lack of experience. The men of the Wooden Boat Forum immediately sprung into action and started debating the merits of certain types of boats for our movie. Eventually, a few of them sent us private messages offering to help more. A few of them offered to proofread our script to make sure we wrote accurate scenes about boat building. One very generous man, Dave Gentry, realized he would not be far from where we were shooting, and he offered to come help in preproduction and the first week of production. He cut custom pieces for our two boats. He helped make certain parts of the main sailboat with screws rather than epoxy so we could take the boat back and forth through certain states of build for continuity. When we ran out of crew housing, he offered to bring his own tent and sleep in Amanda’s grandmother’s front yard! Some of the men from the Wooden Boat Forum contributed to our Kickstarter campaign, and they all rallied for us when we were in any contests that required online voting.
8. What was your most memorable experience about shooting June, Adrift?
Cassie: Big productions with boats might have scuba divers or tracks under water to help reset the boat between shots, or perhaps they have multiple boats so they can use a different one each take. We just had our one beloved “June” sailboat, and three girls with a little bit of sailing experience. Resetting in a timely manner in order to not lose the beautiful sunset would have been nigh impossible, but four of our crew members decided to turn into our mermen saviors! John Benedetto (DIT), Nick Ronzio (sound mixer), Sam Barth (boom operator), and Justin Lloyd (2nd AD) all stripped down and jumped into the water to swim out to the sailboat and help guide it back to shore every time Adrienne yelled cut. It was such an amazing moment of indie movie magic, with all hands on deck. We had great laughs and felt a lot of love and appreciation.
1. Please explain your inspiration and point of view when you first started developing and collaborating on June, Adrift and why you made this film. How or what prompted the idea for your film and how did it evolve?
Amanda: When I was in college a professor advised me to skip film grad school and invest that money into a feature because I'd learn and network the same amount and might come out of the experience with a product that could help launch a career. I had worked with both Cassie and Christine on smaller self produced projects before and was struck by their talent, intelligence, and tenacity. When my parents and grandmother agreed to house cast and crew and donate their cottages to the cause for three weeks over the summer, I immediately took the idea to the two most talented women I knew. All of us were struggling with the ups and downs of the entertainment industry, working often miserable day jobs in order to survive while dedicating as much time and as many resources as possible to pursuing careers in the entertainment industry. As many artistic folks can attest, this process can involve a sometimes daily re-assessment of whether or not it is worth continuing if this is as close to your dreams as you will ever come. All of us had also struggled with guilt from disappointing older generations and with the (possibly undeserved) frustration of having followed the rules and gotten to the front of the line with a college degree in hand and realizing that that wasn't enough to provide for or satisfy. We wanted to tackle all of these widespread generational themes with characters who embodied the at times petulant and unsatisfied but ultimately brave and hardworking millennial generation.
Cassie: The previous year I had written and begun the pre-production process on another feature and the month before filming was to begin, the project fell through. I was still really motivated and excited to make a film of this scope but knew I'd need close collaborators if we were to see it through. When I met up with Amanda and Christine and they shared similar goals and ideas, I knew we had found the perfect team and everything else is history!
Christine: When we first conceived of “June, Adrift” we thought we would shoot an unscripted improv comedy with a three person run and gun crew (a director/camera operator, a sound person, and an additional everyman). As more and more people became involved, the project grew way beyond our expectations!
Adrienne: After meeting the writers and reading the script, I was inspired by their passion and enthusiasm for making the film and telling this story. We could all relate to one another about going through this specific period in our lives that the story illustrates. Besides it being my first feature, I was also looking forward to the opportunity to work with a script that I hadn't written, which was a first. I knew it would challenge me in ways I've never been challenged before.
2. What inspired you to become a filmmaker? Please explain your history in filmmaking.
Amanda: I was always the family videographer and entertainer. When movers stole boxes full of cherished treasures during my childhood, I was most crushed to lose my doubtless awful short films. Throughout school, every time I could substitute a film in for any other type of assignment I did so happily. I majored in Film and Asian Studies at Cornell University and moved to LA two days after graduation. (Would have made it one, but I had to get my wisdom teeth out.) After working for nearly three years in odd jobs, producing small projects and as a part time writer's assistant, I considered my skill set honed enough to tackle a feature and immediately sought to involve my two favorite colleagues.
Christine: My background was initially in acting, but I love how accessible it has become for people to produce their own content and I have seen how important it is to find your team in this industry, to use your creativity to make your own material and get it out there, rather than waiting for the right opportunity to find you. I have always been a great organizer and a central pin in many talented friend groups, so I kept trying to spearhead projects. I'd get everybody together, we would all brainstorm, we'd all leave excited – but then I'd never hear about any progress from the writers and the project would fall through. So I decided it was about time I figure out how to take a project from the ground up, and I took a sketch writing class at UCB. I started writing and producing sketches and shorts. I met Amanda doing a parody video in which I rap and she sings while crying in the shower. We were very impressed with how we each had a never-say-die attitude and would stay up all night problem-solving when other people crumbled at obstacles. I didn't foresee making a feature so soon, but when Amanda asked, I didn't hesitate!
Cassie: As soon as Youtube was created I began making short videos and posting them online. After moving to Los Angeles I made a few comedic shorts under the moniker "Epigoni Films" and one of them caught the eye of "The Colbert Report." I was contacted to develop "Citizens In Action", a new segment for the show. After completing work on the "The Colbert Report," I was fueled further in creating and writing my own projects as an actor and not waiting to get hired by someone else. The year prior to "June, Adrift," I created my first budgeted project, "Bunclaw Cloverdriver," a 7 minute one-take film on a Red Camera, hired my first professional crew and cast, and shot the film that inspired me to tackle a feature for my next project. Together with Amanda and Christine, we created the perfect partnership for this dream project.
3. What would you like the audience to "take away" after they have seen the film?
We hope they get a window into a generation that doesn't settle for “good enough” and instead strives, albeit clumsily at times, for more. We want to present a viewpoint of our sometimes unlikeable, sometimes even pitiful, but ultimately (we hope) respectable generation. This is how we see the world.
4. What was your biggest challenge in developing or producing this project?
Amanda: The record high monsoon rainfall in Maryland that perfectly coincided with our shoot dates and required a lot of last minute scheduling changes and outside-to-inside rewrites.
Christine: Time and budget were always limitations that forced us to work hard and get creative. When things don't work out as planned, that's when true creativity comes alive. Ironically sometimes the worst problems will be the best part of your film! Upon arrival to Maryland our DP Ellie Ann Fenton realized we would not be able to light the dock at night, so we had to rewrite the nighttime skinny dipping scene to happen during broad daylight. Takes more bravery and adds a light heartedness to the scene that I love. Due to our tight schedule, the Fourth of July was not a holiday for us. We filmed by the bay with boats driving by the entire time! We could probably make a blooper reel of all the times Nick Ronzio had to call hold for sound. Poor Nick! But he did an excellent job and the boat noises did not cause us to need ADR for any of those scenes.
Cassie: As first time feature filmmakers we were learning new things around every corner. From scheduling a large crew, to working around record breaking rain, to the logistics of traveling across country to shoot on both coasts. We took most of these challenges in stride and I feel like after this experience, we are ready for anything!
5. What is the most important message in this film to you?
It's never too late to hit reset and try to find happiness. Failures are inevitable, but rebounds are possible.
6. How did you find the subjects of the film?
Amanda: I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay and loved the history and beauty of the local towns. I worked a summer on an educational Oyster Skiff and was saddened to hear of big corporations over farming the bay and ruining the resource for everyone. All of the other subjects were a hodgepodge of everyone's experiences and imaginations.
Christine: One example of our experiences making it into the movie is that Barkley’s car sex scene where the alarm goes off and her parents and grandmother come out into the driveway to turn off the alarm is based on my real life! Some small details are changed: my grandmother wasn’t there, and I wasn’t having sex with a Lumber aisle employee. But for the most part, it is my story. At the time, I was living with my parents just after college and my boyfriend from Vassar came to live with us for a short time when he first moved to Los Angeles. Since we were living under my parents’ roof, one night when we got home, we decided to have sex in the car instead. It was late and we knew my parents would not come outside. My boyfriend started to get very hot. He tried to crack a window, but the car was off and the key was not in the ignition. Instead, he cracked the door open to get some air inside, which triggered my car alarm! We started scrambling to find the keys and couldn’t. They were likely in his pants pocket, but we had our clothes spread about the car. Suddenly the alarm stopped. We looked up and my mother and father were standing in the driveway with their pajamas on, my mother holding the spare key she had for my car. Luckily, my parents are not strict Polish parents who completely disapproved of the situation. My mother is French and my father is liberal and both of my parents have a sense of humor. My boyfriend was so terrified that he remained outside. I walked in, and I found my parents calmly playing Rummikub at the kitchen table. They just both looked up and grinned at me. Although I chose to write this scene for Barkley rather than Rachel, so I don’t get to play the role on screen, I still feel very attached to the scene!
7. What made this project come together and be successful?
Reena: One of the most amazing things about filming in a non-saturated (film) market is the tremendous amount of support that you garner from the community. I remember calling the film office in Maryland, and Jack (head of the film commission) immediately put me in touch with another person in the county who offered to help location scout for us. We needed a building that could be seen from the street, and she went out and took multiple pictures for us to find the right one. Even put us in touch with business owners in hopes they could help us more. The best moment was when we were looking for police uniforms and the police department not only found older uniforms in their basements that they gave to us for wardrobe, but they also asked if we ever needed to block any streets, to simply give them a call. What a tremendous difference from shooting in my current city. It felt like the community still remembered the power of story telling, that it wasn't just a business, it also brings communities together, and seeing to what extent Chesapeake City and Elkton helped us was a fond reminder of why I'm a producer today.
Amanda: The jaw dropping support we received from people in our professional and personal networks and people we had never met before who got behind the film and helped in any capacity they could, from sailor Dave Gentry who came to set during pre production, lived out of a tent and designed and built our prop boats, to Jack Gerbes of Maryland Film Commission, who made a set visit and whose office helped secure locations and contractors. Add in the amazing team we were lucky enough to secure, from seasoned pros like Director of Photography Ellie Ann Fenton and 1st AD Andrew Turner, to our Director Adrienne Subia who brought her stunning aesthetic, to Maryland Caterer Colleen Kirkwood, the eighteen year old who flawlessly catered two meals a day for thirty people by herself... We were just incredibly lucky to be surrounded by hard-working, talented team players.
Christine: We had a lot of loving friends and family members behind us. While we were running our Kickstarter campaign, we won IndieReign’s Project of the Week. It was a tight race and it became clear that our main competitor was using a program to get automatic votes (confirmed by IndieReign). We won against the computer generated votes with help from my mom campaigning in malls and coffee shops and making phone calls to France at all hours. She didn’t sleep for days and printed little slips of paper with the URL for the voting contest and approached strangers in malls and cafes and parking lots (anyone she saw holding a smart phone) and asked them to cast a vote on the spot. She also called all of our old and not-computer-savvy relatives in France all night long and taught them how to use the internet in order to vote for our project.
Cassie: While we were writing our script and running the Kickstarter, we found a website called the Wooden Boat Forum. We created an account and wrote a post explaining that we were three girls writing a movie about building a boat, and we asked for tips about what kind of sailboat the girls should make in the movie based on our budget, time constraints, and lack of experience. The men of the Wooden Boat Forum immediately sprung into action and started debating the merits of certain types of boats for our movie. Eventually, a few of them sent us private messages offering to help more. A few of them offered to proofread our script to make sure we wrote accurate scenes about boat building. One very generous man, Dave Gentry, realized he would not be far from where we were shooting, and he offered to come help in preproduction and the first week of production. He cut custom pieces for our two boats. He helped make certain parts of the main sailboat with screws rather than epoxy so we could take the boat back and forth through certain states of build for continuity. When we ran out of crew housing, he offered to bring his own tent and sleep in Amanda’s grandmother’s front yard! Some of the men from the Wooden Boat Forum contributed to our Kickstarter campaign, and they all rallied for us when we were in any contests that required online voting.
8. What was your most memorable experience about shooting June, Adrift?
Cassie: Big productions with boats might have scuba divers or tracks under water to help reset the boat between shots, or perhaps they have multiple boats so they can use a different one each take. We just had our one beloved “June” sailboat, and three girls with a little bit of sailing experience. Resetting in a timely manner in order to not lose the beautiful sunset would have been nigh impossible, but four of our crew members decided to turn into our mermen saviors! John Benedetto (DIT), Nick Ronzio (sound mixer), Sam Barth (boom operator), and Justin Lloyd (2nd AD) all stripped down and jumped into the water to swim out to the sailboat and help guide it back to shore every time Adrienne yelled cut. It was such an amazing moment of indie movie magic, with all hands on deck. We had great laughs and felt a lot of love and appreciation.
Amanda: Numerous cast and crew had been living with my grandmother for a few weeks during pre production and filming but by the last day of shooting she had yet to see the set. She drove over to take a look, but when she got there the second AD wouldn't let her in because it was a closed set. He was willing to ask permission, but when she asked what they were filming and he told her Amanda's bare butt (for a skinny dipping scene) my 83 year old grandma laughed, hopped back in her car and told him she'd seen that plenty over the last 26 years and would wait until the movie came out.
Christine: Amanda was very concerned about scheduling the skinny dipping scene because she knew that jumping off the dock during low tide would be unsafe. We were all a little worried, but once we filmed it, it was the most fun I had shooting any scene in the movie. We had a lot of good laughs and a lot of fun swimming in the bay. We had an elaborate system for me to get my cue to come up gasping for air as Rachel at exactly the right moment. I would dive under water and clinging to Amanda’s leg until she would give me a signal that it was time for me to come up for air in character. After the edit, we realized it was totally unnecessary for me to actually stay under water the entire time! Could totally have broken that scene up, but, it’s filmed accurately! I held my breath for as long as Rachel holds her breath for every single take.
Adrienne: My best memories from the set are ones spent with my Cinematographer, Ellie Ann Fenton. She is not only very talented but also an amazing person to collaborate with and work along side. Having worked together before, there was a natural flow about the way we communicated and solved issues. With the constraints of our production I can recall many nights, standing along side her talking through every shot, foreseeable problem, and resolutions on how to make this the best film possible.
9. Please address the music in the film. How did these choices come about?
Christine: As we drove from Maryland to Los Angeles during the third week of production, shooting 2 hours a day and driving 10 hours a day, one of our theme songs of our drive was “Summer Sun” by Jukebox the Ghost. I had been a fan of the group since college, when I met some of the band's friends. I came to really associate the song both with the subject matter of “June, Adrift” as well as with the making of the movie. I crossed my fingers that we could get the song on our soundtrack, and I was so thrilled when Tommy from Jukebox the Ghost agreed! We were very lucky to get our music supervisor, Amanda Krieg Thomas, on board. I knew her through mutual friends and I had always admired her taste in music because of the end-of-year best-of mixes she would email to her mailing list. As I realized the world of song licensing was incredibly complicated, I wrote to Amanda to ask her for advice. Next thing I knew, Amanda was asking to meet with me over coffee and she said she loved our film, especially the strong female characters and the mostly female team behind the movie. She asked to work as our music supervisor. I was elated! Her experience was invaluable, since music licensing was completely new to us. Through Amanda came Josh Doyle and 3 Theory Music. We had listened to dozens of composers and we had not found one single good match. And anyone who came close to the vibe we wanted would promptly reject us as soon as we mentioned our budget. When Amanda first sent us 3 Theory's music, we were blown away. What a perfect fit! We crossed our fingers that Josh would be willing to work with us, and he was!
10. How do you think June, Adrift fits into your personal growth as a filmmaker? How will it affect your future projects?
We definitely cut our teeth on June, Adrift. We learned a tremendous amount about every single stage of a project from conception to fund raising to production to all of the various things you really do need to save money for in post (that was a painful lesson). Most importantly, this project drove home the absolute necessity of arming your movie with talented, diligent professionals. When every single person on set and in pre and post production brings something to the table, you can't go wrong.
11. Share something unique about the film. It can be related to the subject, the title, the making of the film, the vision behind the film, casting, location, script, etc.
Christine: You can’t really tell in the final cut, but all of the outfits worn by Barkley were actually in the box of clothes from Emma’s family’s hall closet. All of her outfits were unaltered on the first day of production and many can be seen being pulled out of the box or hanging in the background of the sewing room. Then our wardrobe designer Mary Claire “Frankie” DePriest altered each outfit at night to be ready for Barkley to wear the next day. The dress that Barkley gives Rachel to wear to Woody’s Crab House was originally a large long-sleeve loose-fitting shirt that belonged to my mother before she lost a lot of weight.
Cassie: On the drive across country we really wanted to get a shot in at the Grand Canyon. The day we were heading through that area, it was raining the hardest rain we had seen yet. We pulled into the park's entry, and at that exact moment the sun broke through the clouds for the first time that day. We hightailed it to the lookout point and shot a quick scene and right as we were packing up, light raindrops started before quickly turning into another downpour. If we hadn't timed the day out exactly as we managed to do, we would have never made the shot!
Amanda: Every single person who read the script thought we were total weirdos for involving sock puppets in any way. But we were adamant that they were to be kept in. Although the three of us and Adrienne all had small disagreements about other more major plot points, character voices, etc. we unanimously agreed that the thirty second sock puppet scene was important and very us.
12. What are some of your favorite films and what are your other creative influences?
Amanda: The Red Violin, Moonrise Kingdom, The Lion King.
Christine: (500) Days of Summer, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Benny & Joon, Waiting for Guffman, Amelie.
Cassie: Wrong, Holy Motors, Wet Hot American Summer, and Henry Fool.
13. What's next for you? Explain...
Christine: I am currently producing Wedlocked, a short film about the quiet fight going on behind the scenes of the current struggle for marriage equality – gay divorce. Same-sex couples who live in one of the 31 states which do not recognize gay marriage do not have the ability to get a divorce. At least one person within each partnership would have to relocate for six months to a year to one of the 19 states that do. Moving is no easy feat in general, but for those individuals tethered to a job or child, the challenge is even greater. Gay divorce has become a big civil rights issue, but it is not receiving proportionate media attention and has been swept under the Marriage Equality rug as the black sheep topic. Wedlocked, inspired by a true story, will follow Sydney as she is forced to make the decision to either leave her job and be away from her son, or lose her fiancé, Cameron, because the state of Texas will not grant her a divorce from her wife, Lisa. We have partnered with FireRock Bay Pictures and are planning to shoot in 2015.
Amanda: I just directed the short “Unrelated”, starring Gabriela Lopez and Taylor Kalupa. I am gearing up to shoot a slew of sketch comedy videos I wrote with writing partner Lucas Brown Eyes and with my two woman sketch group Pretend Party. I have been honing a feature script with my Tuesday night Writers' Group and hope to begin production on my next feature in 2015.
Cassie: Currently I am performing at "The Nerdist" and developing a stage sketch show of my own. Recently I have been shooting comedic shorts with "Dinosaur Ghost" and "Pretend Party" and working on a new animated pilot as a writer and voice actor. I'm currently finalizing a treatment for a comedic horror feature film with "Dinosaur Ghost," we hope to begin filming in the upcoming year.
Christine: Amanda was very concerned about scheduling the skinny dipping scene because she knew that jumping off the dock during low tide would be unsafe. We were all a little worried, but once we filmed it, it was the most fun I had shooting any scene in the movie. We had a lot of good laughs and a lot of fun swimming in the bay. We had an elaborate system for me to get my cue to come up gasping for air as Rachel at exactly the right moment. I would dive under water and clinging to Amanda’s leg until she would give me a signal that it was time for me to come up for air in character. After the edit, we realized it was totally unnecessary for me to actually stay under water the entire time! Could totally have broken that scene up, but, it’s filmed accurately! I held my breath for as long as Rachel holds her breath for every single take.
Adrienne: My best memories from the set are ones spent with my Cinematographer, Ellie Ann Fenton. She is not only very talented but also an amazing person to collaborate with and work along side. Having worked together before, there was a natural flow about the way we communicated and solved issues. With the constraints of our production I can recall many nights, standing along side her talking through every shot, foreseeable problem, and resolutions on how to make this the best film possible.
9. Please address the music in the film. How did these choices come about?
Christine: As we drove from Maryland to Los Angeles during the third week of production, shooting 2 hours a day and driving 10 hours a day, one of our theme songs of our drive was “Summer Sun” by Jukebox the Ghost. I had been a fan of the group since college, when I met some of the band's friends. I came to really associate the song both with the subject matter of “June, Adrift” as well as with the making of the movie. I crossed my fingers that we could get the song on our soundtrack, and I was so thrilled when Tommy from Jukebox the Ghost agreed! We were very lucky to get our music supervisor, Amanda Krieg Thomas, on board. I knew her through mutual friends and I had always admired her taste in music because of the end-of-year best-of mixes she would email to her mailing list. As I realized the world of song licensing was incredibly complicated, I wrote to Amanda to ask her for advice. Next thing I knew, Amanda was asking to meet with me over coffee and she said she loved our film, especially the strong female characters and the mostly female team behind the movie. She asked to work as our music supervisor. I was elated! Her experience was invaluable, since music licensing was completely new to us. Through Amanda came Josh Doyle and 3 Theory Music. We had listened to dozens of composers and we had not found one single good match. And anyone who came close to the vibe we wanted would promptly reject us as soon as we mentioned our budget. When Amanda first sent us 3 Theory's music, we were blown away. What a perfect fit! We crossed our fingers that Josh would be willing to work with us, and he was!
10. How do you think June, Adrift fits into your personal growth as a filmmaker? How will it affect your future projects?
We definitely cut our teeth on June, Adrift. We learned a tremendous amount about every single stage of a project from conception to fund raising to production to all of the various things you really do need to save money for in post (that was a painful lesson). Most importantly, this project drove home the absolute necessity of arming your movie with talented, diligent professionals. When every single person on set and in pre and post production brings something to the table, you can't go wrong.
11. Share something unique about the film. It can be related to the subject, the title, the making of the film, the vision behind the film, casting, location, script, etc.
Christine: You can’t really tell in the final cut, but all of the outfits worn by Barkley were actually in the box of clothes from Emma’s family’s hall closet. All of her outfits were unaltered on the first day of production and many can be seen being pulled out of the box or hanging in the background of the sewing room. Then our wardrobe designer Mary Claire “Frankie” DePriest altered each outfit at night to be ready for Barkley to wear the next day. The dress that Barkley gives Rachel to wear to Woody’s Crab House was originally a large long-sleeve loose-fitting shirt that belonged to my mother before she lost a lot of weight.
Cassie: On the drive across country we really wanted to get a shot in at the Grand Canyon. The day we were heading through that area, it was raining the hardest rain we had seen yet. We pulled into the park's entry, and at that exact moment the sun broke through the clouds for the first time that day. We hightailed it to the lookout point and shot a quick scene and right as we were packing up, light raindrops started before quickly turning into another downpour. If we hadn't timed the day out exactly as we managed to do, we would have never made the shot!
Amanda: Every single person who read the script thought we were total weirdos for involving sock puppets in any way. But we were adamant that they were to be kept in. Although the three of us and Adrienne all had small disagreements about other more major plot points, character voices, etc. we unanimously agreed that the thirty second sock puppet scene was important and very us.
12. What are some of your favorite films and what are your other creative influences?
Amanda: The Red Violin, Moonrise Kingdom, The Lion King.
Christine: (500) Days of Summer, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Benny & Joon, Waiting for Guffman, Amelie.
Cassie: Wrong, Holy Motors, Wet Hot American Summer, and Henry Fool.
13. What's next for you? Explain...
Christine: I am currently producing Wedlocked, a short film about the quiet fight going on behind the scenes of the current struggle for marriage equality – gay divorce. Same-sex couples who live in one of the 31 states which do not recognize gay marriage do not have the ability to get a divorce. At least one person within each partnership would have to relocate for six months to a year to one of the 19 states that do. Moving is no easy feat in general, but for those individuals tethered to a job or child, the challenge is even greater. Gay divorce has become a big civil rights issue, but it is not receiving proportionate media attention and has been swept under the Marriage Equality rug as the black sheep topic. Wedlocked, inspired by a true story, will follow Sydney as she is forced to make the decision to either leave her job and be away from her son, or lose her fiancé, Cameron, because the state of Texas will not grant her a divorce from her wife, Lisa. We have partnered with FireRock Bay Pictures and are planning to shoot in 2015.
Amanda: I just directed the short “Unrelated”, starring Gabriela Lopez and Taylor Kalupa. I am gearing up to shoot a slew of sketch comedy videos I wrote with writing partner Lucas Brown Eyes and with my two woman sketch group Pretend Party. I have been honing a feature script with my Tuesday night Writers' Group and hope to begin production on my next feature in 2015.
Cassie: Currently I am performing at "The Nerdist" and developing a stage sketch show of my own. Recently I have been shooting comedic shorts with "Dinosaur Ghost" and "Pretend Party" and working on a new animated pilot as a writer and voice actor. I'm currently finalizing a treatment for a comedic horror feature film with "Dinosaur Ghost," we hope to begin filming in the upcoming year.
