Did you ever stop to think what movie you would make if you were given all of the resources to make one. I’m not even talking about financial backers, I’m talking more about concepts and subject matter. I’m also talking about set resources.
Would you take a snippet from your real life, and write a script about it? If so, how real would it be, or would you have to embellish to make it more interesting to an audience?
Once you had the script down on paper, where would you go for resources? What if I were to tell you that you had no budget to make the film. That’s what a film crew in Buffalo had to come to grips with when they set out to make a movie based on an EMT driver who comes face to face with a domestic violence scenario that puts him in a conflicting bind. “The film was shot in Buffalo all summer of 2013 with no budget at all,” said director and writer Brandyn Williams (BeWILdered Media Productions). “It was inspired by true events, but fictional. It’s the first project I did that I was serious and passionate about. It’s something I have seen a lot of and heard a lot about from people close to me.
“This film is about a newly hired EMT who decides to risk his career and life to take a stand against a hometown hero who is abusing his wife. It’s not just to raise awareness about domestic violence, but to inspire action against it. What inspired me directly to make this film is how often this happens but how many people are willing to put it aside for people they love. I was told by a domestic violence case manager who watched the trailer that it was the most realistic portrayal of domestic violence she’s ever seen in a movie. National domestic violence groups are now interested in knowing about this film. It’s not that typical cliché guy that is incredibly easy to hate from the get go, it’s a guy who is loved by everyone but is a different man behind closed doors. No one wants to concern themselves with it except one man, Derek (the EMT), who grew up with a history of violence in his family and was willing to risk everything to stop it from happening to one of his patients.”
Now that you’ve got the storyline, have you thought about the rest of the details that you would have to bring to the table to pull a film of this sort off? Everyone has access to homes and certain businesses… places where you need to shoot the footage, right? But what about props? With no budget, where do you find the tools necessary to make the movie? “I was an EMT while making this film so that’s how I figured I’d create the character since he was very loosely based on me,” said Brandyn. “The hardest part about making this film was getting an ambulance. I actually had to buy a junk one and fix it up myself. This crew did not have a whole lot of help. Many of us mixed and matched roles. Some of our actors became crew at some points. Matt Nardone, (also Director of Photography for FFD) was the co-DP with Joe Blodgett (Director of FFD) in ‘Scope of Practice’. It was directed and written by myself and produced by Arlynn Knauff, Bobby Gott and myself.” Check out the trailer:
It’s inspirational to hear how some people who have a dream and are focused, can come up with everything that they need to pull off a project through pure determination. Hopefully the finished film will make a couple of bucks, and Brandyn and his team will be off to another cinematic adventure. The premiere of Scope of Practice is still TBA, but will be in Buffalo. The film will be playing at LAFF, Chicago Film Fest and Buffalo Dreams this year and will hopefully be at TriBeCa and SXSW next year.
In the meantime, here is a link to some cast/crew interviews:
www.facebook.com/bewilderedmedia
Premieres in Buffalo in the Spring of 2014
BeWILdered Media Productions © 2013
For more details visit IMDB