Movies You Made: “Here Comes the Night”
March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers.
Today: Here Comes the Night.
Production notes from writer-director Pete Shanel:
My name is Pete Shanel and I’m the co-writer/director of the film Here Comes The Night. I just want to say from the outset that i’ve been a long time reader, and have found GITS immensely helpful. It might be a cliche to say, but since writing can be such a solitary process, it’s such a relief to connect to other writers and their experiences through your site. So before anything more about me and my project, thank you.
I’m a filmmaker originally from New York, now living in Los Angeles for the last decade. I graduated from AFI’s directing program in 2007, and have been working steadily through the industry in many different capacities. It’s all been in support of my crazy pursuit to direct films.
Finally in 2011 I had my chance through the great fortune and collaboration of several close friends and partners.
The script of Here Comes The Night came about in a rather unique way. My co-director, Peter Kline, and our two writer/actors Ben Duhl and Kurt Haas wanted to make a film that felt lived in and naturalistic. We didn’t just want to come away with an outline, but a finely tuned script. What began as informal story sessions evolved into full blown rehearsals that gradually expanded to other actors. Pete and I would film these rehearsals and then transcribe the relevant material.
After a year we had a script, and then proceeded to repeat the process two more times. When we got to the set, there was a dialed in shooting script with fully prepared actors. By the seat of our pants we shot a feature in 18 days (mostly nights) with a shoestring budget and a great crew. We almost got arrested (twice) but managed to hold on to our sanity through it all. Looking back, it was the process that gave us the confidence to push forward, knowing we had really worked the material. In a nutshell, was a huge, humbling education.
We locked the film at the end of 2012 and had our World Premiere at the 2013 Woodstock Film Festival. We played a few more fests after that, and just made a deal with Filmbuff for distribution. We are planning our release, and hope to get the film out on multiple platforms in the coming months.
DIRECTOR
Pete Kline & Pete Shanel
WRITER
Ben Duhl, Kurt Haas, Peter Kline & Pete Shanel
PRODUCER
Liz Destro & Jordan Kessler
PRODUCER
Chris Uettwiller
PRODUCER
Ben Duhl, Kurt Haas, Peter Kline & Pete Shanel
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Justin Bartha Giancarlo Canvesio Sol Tryon
Kim Leadford Charles Bohan
Greg Alexander Martin Desmond Roe CINEMATOGRAPHY Scott Miller
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Michael Grasley
COSTUME DESIGNER
Negar Ali
EDITOR
Aaron Morris
COMPOSER
Andrew Deadman
LINE PRODUCER
Eric Binns
STARRING
Ben Duhl
Kurt Haas
Georgie Guinane Ashley Johnson
Tara Summers Malaya Rivera Drew Mike O’ Connell
Will McCormick
Here is the trailer for Here Comes the Night:
I asked each of the filmmakers in this month’s series to answer this question: What inspired you about this particular story to make it a movie? Here is Peter’s answer:
I have to say the first point of inspiration was moving from a place of waiting for permission to make a film, to giving ourselves the agency to make one. And I say that hopefully without an aura of arrogence because I think that applies to writers writing specs, or actors creating their own material — it all comes down to learning how to be self-generating. Also it helped being in a group of fellow filmmakers, as we supported each other through the process.
So once we gave ourselves permission, it was down to ok, what kind of film would we want to make? At the time we were thinking about “Men In Crisis” films like “Humpday”, “Sideways”, “Husbands”. Also there’s a great french film called “Going Places” that is like the apotheosis of men-behaving-badly cinema.
We started to mine our own lives, experiences and friendships…and slowly a story began to evolve about two estranged friends who meet up after years of separation, now in their early thirties coping with the changing tides of life. I think we also wanted to make this kind of darkly funny movie about a road trip that goes nowhere. Scorsese’s “After Hours” was an early inspiration. Setting the film in nocturnal Los Angeles seemed like the perfect place to do it.
I think those were the first building blocks — and of course it changed as we went along…
The movie’s website here
Pete Shanel’s website here.
Drop by Comments to give some feedback on Here Comes the Night.
Tomorrow: Another Movie You Made.
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