Movies You Made: “Miss Dial”
March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers.
Today: Miss Dial.
Production notes from writer-director David Steinberg:
Miss Dial was written as an experiment gone awry. Originally, it was producer Eric Hayes’s idea to make a film where no two actors would ever be in the same room at the same time so that we could ask the actors to upload their performances. In this way, we’d skip production altogether and just cut together the footage sent in to us. As a technical matter, however, the idea didn’t work. Not because of video quality or hair or make-up, but because of sound. In order to ensure sound quality that would be deliverable, we had to scrap the idea and film the movie traditionally. Still, we were able to shoot in ten days on a shoestring budget with two cameras. But the original genesis of the idea was an attempt to make a movie with a theme about isolation where none of the actors ever appeared together.
The film stars Robinne Lee (“Being Mary Jane”) as a consumer affairs rep who deals with irate customers calling about everything from the availability period of the “limited edition” cheddar cheese to whether it’s safe for dogs to drink the blue toilet water. One day she decides to play hooky from work by calling random strangers in order to reconnect with the world outside her apartment. And that’s how she meets Kyle, played by Sam Jaeger (“Parenthood”). The film also stars Sara Rue, Gabrielle Union, Jon Huertas, Amanda Crew, and Dule Hill. We won the audience award at the Macon Film Festival.
Cast & Crew
Starring
Robinne Lee
Sam Jaeger
Jon Huertas
Sara Rue
Amanda Crew
Jack Briggs
David H. Lawrence XVII
Beth Grant
Gabrielle Union
Dule Hill
Hill Harper
Samm Levine
Written and Directed by
David H. Steinberg
Produced by
Keetgi Kogan
M. Elizabeth Hughes
Robinne Lee
Eric Hayes
DP
Benjamin Kantor
Edited by
Nate Atcheson
Music
Christopher A. Lee
Here is the trailer for Miss Dial:
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? David’s answer:
Miss Dial is a story about isolation in our modern society where technology has supposedly made us more connected. I’ve always been fascinated by the fear most people have of interacting with other people. How did we lose this most basic ability to communicate and connect with other people? Plus, I’m a guy who calls consumer affairs reps to complain about a subpar bag of potato chips.
Miss Dial Facebook page here.
Links to rent, own or stream Miss Dial here.
Tomorrow: Another Movie You Made.
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