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Cards included in
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Locations are not merely important in pre-production; they are critical after a film is sold. The venue where your film will premiere and have its run can determine whether it finds its audience and results in box office success. Here's the story of one group, Midburb Productions, who are brave and innovative enough to think "outside the box."
Like every Greek ever born, Cambridge filmmaker Zack Stratis found inspiration in his mother's kitchen, which just happens to be where most of his hit movie Could Be Worse! takes place. Stratis has a unique comedic style that is a departure from conventional movies. Zack's loving portrait of his family, Could Be Worse! defies categorization: It is part MGM musical, part mockumentary although "mock" is not really accurate, as Stratis celebrates his subjects rather than makes fun of them. I join MIDBURB PRODUCTIONS, Zack's company with collaborator Vilma Gregoropoulos, to devise a plan for exhibition that is true to the spirit of the film, playing to its strengths and it's uniqueness.
Based in Allston, my company, BRIGHTON AVENUE, is creating a niche for itself as a small distributor. I like Zack and decide this is a great opportunity and a challenge to think differently. So over the river and through the woods to Zack Stratis's house I go. Inside the duplex near Central Square, is Zack's workspace, a wonderfully long railroad apartment that can and does, most days, accommodate a house full of people. We settle in the kitchen. Stratis's dream studio would have a huge kitchen where he prepares food for everyone. For now, he works out of his apartment where he joyfully cooks for all who show up, from investors to production assistants.
Beginning with Sundance in January 2000, Could Be Worse! inspired audiences at film festivals around the country to cheer - especially during the finale, an extravagant song and dance led by the Stratis family. Industry reviewers like to predict how a film will fare in the marketplace. After the Sundance screening, Variety senior critic Emanuel Levy wrote: "Amid the glut of cinematic portraits of dysfunctional families, Stratis' warm chronicle of his parents and siblings represents a breath of fresh air. Pic shows how one family survives internal conflicts through its genuine love and firm belief in old-fashioned family values...a small distributor may consider limited theatrical display in major urban centers."
We start talking about distribution. It's clear that everyone at Midburb Productions has that "Hey, kids – Let's put on a show!" spirit. Virtually everyone connected with Stratis has been recruited to help promote the movie, from graphic designer, Karen Tozzi, who metamorphoses into a cigarette girl for screenings, to web site designer Steve Burdick, who turns into a 40's style newspaper reporter in order to nab digital images of audiences at festivals. "How about we make it like the sing-along with The Sound of Music ?" I ask Zack, feeling like an old fashioned distributor with a big stogie sticking out of my mouth. "It's one of the hottest tickets in New York this season."
"Oh, wow," agrees Zack, with somewhat of a Mad-Hatter expression as he puts the teapot on the table. "Can I be the next Julie Andrews?" Could Be Worse! deals with Zack coaxing his family to accept him as a very "out" gay man. I push the envelope. "Why don't we create something interactive, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show?"
"Oh, no," Zack vetos, "My family would KILL me!"
We hammer out ideas and bring in Kevin Fennessy, Cambridge casting director for some very funny movies (Me, Myself & Irene, What's the Worst That Could Happen). We wondered if mixing a cinematic experience with a theatrical one might set the film apart in the marketplace. Surely we can create some kind of communal experience for Bostonians. The Hub may be more provincial than Manhattan in taste, but the people are no less hungry for a good comedic catharsis. This one is extremely Greek. I'm sure Aristophanes would have loved Could Be Worse!
Our co-executive producer Nick Paleologos, currently enjoying a huge success with his stage production of the musical I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, presents the idea of opening Could Be Worse! at the new STUART STREET PLAYHOUSE with a pre-show, Q & A, and reception for his partners. They agree to run the "movie and more" on Monday nights when the theater is usually dark. The film's Boston premiere is scheduled for February 12th.
Santa Ferari, whose company STAGE ONE PRODUCTIONS, produces events such as "Lunch With Lily" (to benefit Rosie's Place) and The Greater Boston Radio Group's Exceptional Woman's yearly brunch, met Stratis at the Provincetown Film Festival. Inspired by his talent and generosity of spirit, she offered to orchestrate the Boston premiere of Could Be Worse! Ferari is producing a gala event to be attended by a bevy of Boston's politicos and glitterati...
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Variety Critic Emanuel
Levy
with Zack Stratis at Sundance 2000. |
The duel was on. Zack moved back home to begin a re-education program. "How can I ever have a healthy relationship if my parents won't accept me as I am?" he wondered. "I want to be a part of their lives. Feeling like a teenager again, Zack would come back from a date and discuss the young man with his mother. Mother and son shared the wisdom in their lives and became closer.
Could Be Worse! began to materialize in his head. Zack's thesis film at Rhode Island School of Design was its genesis. Widely celebrated by the RISD community, the film starred his family in a song and dance fest.
Cinematographer/writer/producer Vilma Gregoropoulos was Zack's collaborator on MIDBURB, his hilarious homage to home town Everett (not a city, not a suburb). Vilma again teamed up with him to bang out the script for Could Be Worse! "We're very demanding of each other," she concedes. "We're on a special level of understanding. We butt heads but we know where we're going. We have so much of the same sensibility that it makes the process exciting."
After talking through the basic spine of the story, Gregoropoulos explains, "We didn't analyze it, we just started writing. You resist, you fight. We are both really tenacious. We inspire each other that way." They wrote the script in four days in June 1997.
Although Could Be Worse! was scripted, there are plenty of moments of improvisation and pure cinema verite. These poignant moments mixed with the digital video format have the hypnotic effect of a soap opera. Stratis knew some of his family's best moments might happen between takes, so he instructed the crew to roll at will. In one such moment, when Zack implores his mother to tint her triangular tyropites pink, she brandishes a large knife at him complaining, "I've never said 'gay' so many times in my life!" This outburst leads into her bluesy song, "You Think It's Hard Being Gay, Try Growin' Up A Woman."
Cambridge animator Mary Kocol added, in post production, the delightful bells and whistles that make the film sparkle. The film was posted at producer Mary Chiochios' Boston facility. Sound design was handled by Dexter Media.
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Shirley MacLaine who directed |
And somehow I find myself working in Zack's magical kitchen, doubling as crafts services making dinner for everyone; and wrapping gooey honey-covered pastries in wax paper while we hold a production meeting. If the movie doesn't work out, we can always open a bakery.
From an idea spawned in his mother Ollie's kitchen to Sundance, Miami, Newport, Provincetown, NewYork, Connecticut, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco Could Be Worse! wrapped up the year with two pre-sold out performances at the Denver International Film Festival in November. Ahead in 2001, the film has been accepted at the London and Australia's Mardi Gras Film Festivals.
Midburb Productions premieres "Could Be Worse! a Movie and More" February 12th at the Stuart Street Playhouse. Look for me – knowing these guys, I'll be the third chorus girl on the left.
Laura Bernieri is a Boston-based writer/producer/distributor. She serves as the co-executive producer of Could Be Worse!
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