Origin and Explanation

Thank you for your interest and questions about this next movie. I will try to get to some of them here. Who’s in it? What’s it about? Is it a horror film? A drama? Why are you shooting so slowly? Where are you shooting? Can I work on the production? Can I audition? When do you start?

ORIGIN AND WRITING PROCESS

Originally, this movie was aiming to be an anthology of short films set on the Oregon coast — basically six 15-20 minute short films collected together as a feature called PELICAN. All six stories had some common threads, like the ocean and certain landmarks — with varying time periods and character connections. It was very cathartic to write during the pandemic, even while I wondered if it ever would get made. It was just great to build this world and write with a kind of detachment from the results. This first incarnation was so creatively satisfying.

One of my inspirations was the The Ballad of Buster Scruggs anthology on Netflix. It felt possible to collect short films if they had a common denominator and felt greater together than the sum of its parts. Scruggs accomplished that for me as a fan — the Coen brother vision of life and death on the frontier.

But as I let these six stories and scripts percolate, I stayed open to them evolving and changing. With time, certain characters and three particular stories emerged from the pack. So I listened to what I was feeling and gave up the idea of an anthology. I kept the three stories and tried them out together — almost like superimposing three images on top of each other to make a new image. When I saw this, I saw this next movie in my mind.

This story is now set here in Southern Oregon — mostly away from the beach — and there is no pelican anymore. But what remained is where the pelican flew: ABOVE THE TREES — which, I think, is best described as a true-crime, dramatic feature with art house aspirations. The title represents those elusive places we can’t go to, the questions we’ll never have answers for.

The story follows a murder and criminal trial and how it impacts the lives of several interconnected people. And it explores how love and fate conspire together to make a grim situation better. One touch-stone quote I’ve kept with me through the writing is from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French philosopher and Jesuit priest:

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

CASTING

I am excited that many of these characters were written for some ex and current OSF actors and friends that I know and love.

The pandemic impacted the release of our last movie and it also disrupted the theater and movie theaters. It made us all reevaluate how we see our careers and future creative work.

So, as I wrote and dreamed up this film, it was kind of exhilarating to imagine working on a film with these wonderful people.

There are still quite a few parts we’re casting, so I won’t announce anyone yet. But stay tuned, as we’ll be announcing the primary cast in June. And, you can still send a monologue or video to us at casting@jomafilms.com We are casting as we go and won’t wrap until October.

INSPIRATION AND PRODUCTION APPROACH

Kieslowski’s THREE COLORS is probably my favorite trilogy, and I often say RED’s my favorite of the three — a dazzling, stylized love story that incorporates time, meaning and fate in a realistic way. I just love how BLUE, WHITE and RED exist as a trilogy, yet still feel like stand-alone features.

DEKALOG is another masterful Kieslowski collection, except with TEN stories — each following unique characters facing ethical dilemmas. All connected by a Polish apartment building in the 80’s.

Perhaps the most mind blowing thing about DEKALOG was the entire ten film production budget was $100K in 1988. Factoring in inflation, this is roughly $180K today. Is this the best micro budget filmmaking ever? I say yes because that means each one hour film cost about $18K today.

In the throes of the pandemic, this is what I wrote down in 2021 as I thought of a new kind of mission statement for a future film: — to work with actors I admire and love. Actors who live here and know this town as intimately as I do. Then work slowly with a tiny crew and footprint, to craft something cinematic together on a micro budget level.

I think of Pete Ohs work a lot, who has another micro budget feature at festivals now. What he chose to prioritize really excites me. I very much relate to his unique perspective in his beautiful TALKHOUSE piece.

And I’m still in awe of David Gordon Green who made GEORGE WASHINGTON for $42K — working carefully with a tiny crew shooting 35mm with non-professional actors. I can relate to why he did it and what he says here:

”I didn’t approach it naively, because I knew pretty well the independent scene; I worked in LA awhile and knew how the business went down. But in a way, I didn’t care. I said, let’s make this movie and make it by our rules, while we have the means to do it and when we can make the choices we want to make and aren’t answering to anybody but ourselves. And get a team of people we trust creatively and just try to have a great time over the summer.” David Gordon Green

BUDGET AND SCOPE

I guess I’ve always known in my heart that I craved to make a film this way. Keeping costs down has always been a reality, but the need to operate like a bigger film always crept into the process. Then, a kind of fear would creep in along with it. We wanted our investors to have a return — so in order to mitigate that financial risk — more money was needed to bring in brilliant, known actors. A more commercial story also became a necessity. All great things for a filmmaker, because it can improve the film’s value and make it more attractive to buyers.

More crew and technology was inevitably needed as well — to ensure solid production value — all the way through post. And with these rising costs? The need to move faster became unavoidable to stay under what was still a limited budget. All of this created a shorter, faster production schedule that would breed more stress and compromises. More chaos and less creative fun.

In the end, our movies still struggled to make enough money back. So after being proud of what we managed to accomplish, the entire experience became clouded by an inability to thank and pay back our investors and easily transition into the next production.

So this new phase we’re approaching now took some real soul searching during the pandemic to even imagine. Working in a brand new way began to feel possible. I’ve invested in my own camera package and a beautiful set of vintage lenses. And I am ready and willing to wear more hats. We’ll have (at least) 40 shoot days — twice as many as our other films — and it will easily be our lowest budget yet. And our plan is to never go over 8 hours in one day.

If you want to be on the crew and work with us, please send us an email at info@jomafilms.com There are days where we will need help and have some paid crew positions available. There are no PA’s or INTERNS on this one, because our goal is a small footprint when we’re out and about.

We will have limitations doing things this new way. I will so miss having a larger crew and department heads and smart collaborators around me making the film better. The film will no doubt suffer without them.

But perhaps this approach will make the film better in other ways? Perhaps it will feel less chaotic. Perhaps we’ll feel more successful and more satisfied creatively when we’re finished?

I just want to go all in on creative filmmaking, like a songwriter/musician tinkering in the studio, after hours. If I want to put a shot of a butterfly in this movie, I will go scout them, find them myself and cut a beautiful shot of one into the film. There won’t be a meeting about it and it won’t cost anything except my own time.

ABOVE THE TREES is simply a story I wrote and want to see. A movie I want to make with a few good friends and some actors I love and respect. I want to make it on our own terms in the time I want it to take. And even if it’s less commercial in the end? Profitability, sustainability and creative satisfaction still feel in reach. 🎬