Never let it be said that Andrew Mudge does everything by the book. Who else in the New England film world could sign a one million dollar picture deal with a major motion picture studio without a completed script? Andrew's winning smile, good looks, and sunny personality certainly doesn't hurt matters. He's a rising star and we're about to lose him to Los Angeles to produce his first feature length film, beginning production possibly this fall. An east coaster by nature, he'll be back he assured us.
Others in the local Film Industry are not surprised at this turn of events. David Kleiler,
Local Sightings Director, has been a big fan of Andrew's for many years. "He's one of the two most
emerging talents I've seen in New England. His talent, determination, and sense of humor will carry him far,"
Kleiler said. He expects to watch Andrew's acceptance speech on one of those slick Hollywood awards
shows in the near future.
Karl Renwanz of Video Transfer Inc. also has glowing praise for Andrew, not only for how he translates his vision to film but also what a "joy" he is to be around and work with. As winner of Video Transfers' 2002 "580 Film Fest" with THE PERFECT GOOSEYS, Andrew's prize was a free DVD altering job. Renwanz said, "He's an imaginative, creative guy. A wonder to work with. He's one of the brightest stars in film locally in a long time. It was great news when I heard he won the Chrysler Competition. He truly will be a national player sometime in the future."
In 2002, while on the festival circuit, Andrew was contacted by Hypnotic Films reps to enter The Chrysler Million Dollar Film Competition. After finding it wasn't a Project Green Light wannabe, he entered. Naturally his film was in the top 25 semi-finalists, so off to Sundance 2003 he went to be welcomed, and meet and greet sponsors and organizers.
After a primer on "branded entertainment" (how to stick a product into a movie shot) Andrew said, "the introduction was straightforward. They told us we were making a short film, not a commercial. Storytelling first. Use one car in the script in some way. I left Sundance to write a short film script between 3 and 7 minutes long. I was confident I would be in the top 10. I lived in NYC at the time. I hit the nail on the head with the concept: I made a hero of the car."
This is where Andrew's ability to create flexibility in the rules comes into play. At first he was going to make a "wonder bread" story with no ethnic theme, but a drive through Spanish Harlem convinced him "an element would be greatly added to the story." Set in the gritty 80s using "magic realism", GABRIELY GATO, hinges around an 11 year old boy who loses his beloved handmade radio-controlled toy car Gato in the city after getting dumped by his young girlfriend. Years later, he's an unhappy waiter in SOHO, unceremoniously thrown out by his now girlfriend. He finds a box labeled "toys" and discovers his radio controller. Overcome by nostalgia he returns to the park where he lost the toy car. Suddenly a gorgeous Latina pulls up to him in a Chrysler Coupe to ask for directions, he gets in and as they drive away. The license plate reads "GATO."
In what he calls a "return to guerilla filmmaking days" there were 10 days to cast, shoot, and edit. Working within a well-funded budget, teams could not use their own money. After a month of pre-production, with his five person crew they were off and running. He convinced Hypnotic to agree to a 10 minute length. Using a Sony 24P DVCam, with a film rate of 24 frames per second, was a look, which impressed Andrew, who prefers film stock. Andrew said the end of the shoot was the most harrowing. He went for four days straight with only one-hour sleep per night. Sponsor AVID supplied editing equipment in their hotel suite, and Red Bull cans lined the windows like bowling balls. When finished the project was 18 and one half minutes long, over twice the maximum time allowed.
In May 2003 a panel of judges at the Director's Guild of America decided the five finalists. One hour before the screening Andrew and his edit team were finishing sound edits, trimming to 16 minutes. Hypnotic was not happy. Andrew wondered if the length would burn him. Happily he made the cut. Hypnotic asked him to trim to under 10 minutes per the rules. Andrew said he balked after trimming the story to 11 1/2 minutes. "This is as far as I can take this. I am not making this any shorter. I believe different stories are different lengths. Each has its perfect length. I couldn't bear to see one more frame taken out," he said. Spoken like a true Hollywood Director!
In June, finalists were put up in Los Angeles with the next Herculean task: present a feature length movie idea AND shoot a scene from it at a Universal Studios backlot. Other competitors had scripts prepared beforehand. Andrew hunkered down, writing the scene in the middle of the night to avoid interruptions, sleeping until mid-afternoon, then meeting with his Producer, Stephen Fromkin.
Another plus of the competition was industry mentoring. Andrew was paired up with Daniel Pipski, Senior VP for Development at Working Title Company, known for Coen Brothers and Hugh Grant movies. "I had the best time there. We hashed out ideas twice a week. They gave me help on casting, career advice, introduced me to actors and agents," Andrew said.
A comedy/drama with the working title P.T. JOHANSEN FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN MONSTERS, it concerns a son's attempt to restore his father's faith, who just happens to be a failed Big Foot investigator. Andrew took full advantage, building interior and exterior sets, even employing a rainmaking tower. He auditioned 35 kids. New challenges for Andrew in the big leagues? Dealing with union and SAG rules. Child actors can only work 10 hours a day. Scenes had to be shot without the actors playing off each other. "I should have hired a body double," he said.
Shot on an HD Panasonic camera, it was put together in ten days. Professional sound mixing and Foley was completed at Universal Studios. Andrew said he was in heaven. Next, off to the design studio to have full color movie posters made for the presentation. At the end of August the finalists met at Universal Studios with Director David Lymon, Dave Bartis, Hypnotic and Universal Execs in attendance, scenes in hand on Beta tape, and pitched their ideas.
"I talked about what about this project represented me as a filmmaker. What it meant, how I directed, how I cast, and my vision for the film. I was truthful. I said I see this as an independent, want to retain the quirkiness to the story. It's a trademark passion of mine. I admit I was nervous but I had a good feeling from the get go. I felt the story had great commercial appeal," Andrew said.
In September 2003 at the Toronto Film Festival, the finalists arrived with no idea who had won. Andrew explains with the air of someone who believes in predestination: "They announced it was me." After celebrating, Andrew said he has his work cut out for him. He has a movie contract with Hypnotic and Universal to write and direct a one million dollar feature film. The feature length script is still being finalized. He hopes to begin production in the fall. Andrew said he will work to raise even more capital because his script, to be shot in California, is a bigger film than currently budgeted.
"I am not interested to be known as the guy who won a contest. I am building a career. This is a tool in the next step. I'm in no rush. It takes however long it takes to get it right. I am moving to Los Angeles in February. I decided to make a large short film that would not make any money. It was the best decision I could have made. I can go out with a solid reel. Make people pay attention. I invested time, money, sweat into THE PREFECT GOOSEYS. It's like an adventure. You never know what's going to happen. I've been training hard. I want this feature to live up to my expectations," Andrew said.