Other Worlds Austin - Defective
Set in the near future where Rhett Murphy and his estranged sister Jean are forced to flee from a militant police state after witnessing the dark secrets of a nefarious corporation.
Interview with writer, director Reese Eveneshen
Watch Defective on Vudu and Prime Video
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Defective, like many film projects, was born largely out of frustration. My producing partner and I had been trying to get another film off the ground, and it was not happening. We scrapped it and things were looking dire. Out of that, I just sat down and started writing another script… and that script happened to be Defective. Next thing I knew, it became our little passion project, and things started happening much faster on it then the last project. Obviously the film was made because I had a story I wanted too tell. I also was yearning for something more gritty and visceral. I miss the hard edged films of the 70’s & 80’s, I like dark and violent science fiction that doesn’t try to pull any punches. But it was also made because we couldn’t face the idea of busting our butt on another project that wasn’t going to get made. In some way I think it was therapy for the both of us (my producer and I), almost 6 years of nothing happening and finally we were able to shoot another film.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I would hope as an audience member that you had some interest in seeing this film. Ultimately you cannot appeal to everyone's tastes and desires when it comes to movies. However, in the scenario where you stumbled into the cinema and had to watch it: I would tell you that it should help alleviate the pressures of today by entertaining you and spinning a yarn for 100 minutes. I would hope it gets you asking some questions about society, what is control? What rights do we have in a police state? When do we take a stand? When do we not take a stand? Most of all though, at the end of the day, I just want you to be entertained and walk away feeling something.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
On a universal level, I think we’re all living in fear of our future, of what the political landscape is going to look like over the next few years, over the course of our life. We have parts of our world that are being run by a dictatorship, we have parts of the world that are damn close to being police states. This movie will definitely tie into that, granted it’s done in a much more over the top fashion. From a personal stand point, I think that connects right in with the universal themes, everybody has such vast political and personal opinions that are constantly being challenged. But on a more human level, this is a story about family, about two people finding each other again and having to reconnect amidst the craziness of this violent oppressive world. And in the end, I think the overall theme of the movie is hope. At least it is in my opinion.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The script was much more cerebral and small in its first few drafts. It just wasn’t connecting with my business partners, and it wasn’t working for me either. When I started to crack open the egg a little bit and look inside, the world grew. The more fantastical and sci-fi elements came into play and the story got bigger. When the film was finished and first cut together, I was looking at a 150 minute monster of a movie that was lacking in focus. I ended up cutting an hour out of the movie, and re-shooting sections of the first act. Sometimes things work much better on paper than they do when they are shot.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
It’s a little to early to gauge the feedback just yet. Just last month we had its world premiere and we’re slowly rolling out with a couple screenings and a release in the new year. At this point, the feedback is pretty good in my mind. It’s right down the line. I haven’t seen any “bad” reviews yet, I have seen some mixed ones, I have seen plenty of good ones too. It’s always silly to assume what kind of response you’re going to get to your projects. Obviously you want people to like it, I don’t know any artist who doesn’t. Usually if you can separate yourself from your flick and be honest with yourself, you can get a pretty good idea that people are going to love or hate it. But in this specific case, with this film, I didn’t have the slightest idea what people were going to make of it. It’s been fun to sort of discover peoples thoughts and opinions on it.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
What feedback I’ve seen so far is surprising in the fact that some people have really put a lot of focus on the supposed social commentary in the film. I think that’s just a sign of the times, and it’s unavoidable given the current political landscape, you have to lean into it and embrace it. I won’t deny that there are certainly my own certain views and opinions, but I didn’t set out to write and make a talk piece. I wanted this to be a fun and entertaining science fiction action film that happens to have a personal story at its core. And very few people seem to focus on that part!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Always helps to have eyes on the movie. We don’t make movies to keep within a little bubble where only we watch them. It’s a form of art, and most artists I know (and myself of course) want their work to be seen! Any site, or venue that wants to support that and get the film out there is beneficial. It was a tough film to make, it was a very small budget, and I had some extraordinary people working with me to make this happen. I want their hard work to be seen and enjoyed by as many people as possible.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
As mentioned above, it wouldn’t hurt to have some more eyes on the movie. Would be great to have a few more festival directors and journalists take notice and give us a chance or venue to show/talk about the movie. That’s always the tough part when you’re starting out, it’s getting into that inner circle and world, that goes with festivals and journalism. Everybody is out there working hard and making great work, but getting it noticed is becoming a skill set on its own.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I’d like anybody to come in with an open mind and form your own opinion. I’ve spoken a lot about the shade of social commentary I’ve seen others throw at the movie. Try not to let that cloud the movie, come in, sit down and let us entertain you for a couple hours. I do want people to enjoy themselves, and I hope they pass that onto others. You have to venture out to find movies that aren’t based on existing works or a television series, I just want people to take a chance on the movie.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What would you do if you woke up to find that one wrong action on your behalf could lead to your public execution?
Would you like to add anything else?
It’s always fun to reflect a little on the making of the movie. We never had our full budget in place while in production. Thus we had to break the shooting schedule down into chunks. We did a full nine days of filming, ran out of money. Took a five month break, raised more money using the footage we had shot to entice other investors. Then we came back for a final 19 days spread out over two months and shot what we could. But even then we didn’t have the bare minimum budget that we were going for. After the film was wrapped, any reshoot days were done for free by both the cast and crew. Even after editing we didn’t have enough money for post production. I took versions of the rough edit (with no temp music or effects) and showed it cold to investors to raise the rest of the money…. and it worked! Never stop trying, push forward and do everything you can to get the film completed.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
My producing partner and myself are actively in development on a few other feature films right now. We’ll more than likely be in production on our next feature by next summer. I’m not sure which of the projects it’ll be yet, but we’re definitely in a better position than we were before we started Defective.
Interview: December 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Defective
Set in the near future where Rhett Murphy and his estranged sister Jean are forced to flee from a militant police state after witnessing the dark secrets of a nefarious corporation.
Length: 101 Mins.
Director: Reese Eveneshen
Producer: Peter Szabo
Writer: Reese Eveneshen
About the writer, director and producer:
Reese Eveneshen (Writer/Director): Ordinary people in extraordinary situations - Award winning Screenwriter & Director Reese Eveneshen has strived to make this his hook when it comes to his projects. With no formal training or post secondary education, Reese has committed his time and formidable talent to writing and directing film, creating dozens of film projects including feature films, short films, web shorts, and music videos. In 2009, Reese wrote, directed and shot the low budget feature zombie film, Dead Genesis, currently distributed world wide and represented by Raven Banner Entertainment. Eveneshen also scripted the action/schlock B-movie, Bounty Hunters, starring acclaimed WWE wrestler and actress Trish Stratus, currently available world wide. 2017’s Defective, also written and directed by Reese, is hoped to be the start of a new chapter in his filmmaking career.
Peter Szabo (Producer): Peter Szabo is a writer by trade but caught the filmmaking bug working as an actor extra on Toronto movie and television sets. A dedicated filmmaker since 2006, Szabo has written, directed, produced, and edited four short films, including most recently Love Never Dies (2012), based on the short story Nona by best-selling author Stephen King.
Peter also served as producer for the documentary, Change Now for the Future: Perspective from Guelph’s Street Youth (2006), the short film GumShoes, a music video Don’t Forget Me – broadcast on the MuchMusic video channel--, and the feature film, Dead Genesis. In 2013, Szabo expanded his producer skills into one of the newest forms of visual storytelling as a producer on the web series, The Secret Diary of a Call Center Girl. He also directed four of the series' 10 episodes.
Key cast:
Colin Paradine, Raven Cousens, Ashley Armstrong, Dennis Andres, Jamie Elizabeth Sampson
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Film Festival Directors, Journalists
Social media handles:
Facebook: facebook.com/defectivefuture
Twitter: twitter.com/reeseeveneshen
Instagram: instagram/reveneshen
Made in association with:
Mommaerts Digital & High Octane Pictures
Where will the film screen in the next month?
December 9th (Other Worlds Austin - Austin, Texas)
January 27th (Canadian Independent Film Festival - Montreal, Canada)