Dances With Films 2018 - After Oil
Their town crushed by a global oil crisis, Briar and her girlfriend Sarah fight to survive. When Josie Gannon tells Briar that her son has gone missing, Briar attempts to retrace his steps. Together, they find that Earl never completed his delivery route. As night sets in, they are close to giving up when they discover something far more sinister behind his disappearance.
Interview with Co-Director/Co-Creator Jessica Naftaly and Writer/Co-Director/Co-Creator Shailyn Cotten
Watch After Oil here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! The pilot episode was actually our thesis project at the School of Visual Arts. During our third year at school, we started talking about what we wanted to do for our big final projects, and with one of us being a screenwriting major (Shai) and one a directing major (Jess), we came to the realization that we should collaborate. Not only did it give us a chance to experience a development and production process closer to those frequented in the industry, but we were able to dive headfirst into the difficult process as a team.
Shai came in with the idea of a world devastated by an oil crisis and how bicycles would become a commodity. Growing up in the small town of Catskill, NY, she was also fascinated by how a town on the edge of society, often overlooked or forgotten, would be even further devastated by this disaster. Knowing we wanted to work on something that had legs beyond whatever we produced for thesis, we took to this idea and started developing the series that would become AFTER OIL.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
We always talk about how AFTER OIL has so many touchstones. Whether it be the "whodunnit" mystery aspect of it, the environmental thematic core, or the important representation that we as creators feel is so important, there’s something for everyone. For us, as bisexual filmmakers, specifically seeing a complex character like Briar Dunlap heading the series is one of the things that makes us the most excited to share this with others. As two queer women wanting to see themselves not just in media, but in the genre media that we consume, Briar represents what we craved to see growing up.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
As Briar digs deeper into her friend's murder, she becomes obsessed with exposing Val Simpkins, the big oil rep in town who wants to bring a fracking operation to Pahokee. She makes it her purpose to save her town from this oil company, even when Pahokee does not want to be saved. We start to learn that what Briar truly fears, more than Pahokee’s ruin, is her community no longer needing her.
The story sits at the heart of the dichotomy between Middle America and liberal America, and aims to not only understand the people in these places who are so often their own ruin, but to shine a light on all the incredible people striving to make their communities better for the next generation - even if their communities don't want them to do so. At its bare bones though, After Oil is truly a coming-of-age story for the real millennials: a generation terrified for the fate of their country, yet determined to do everything in their power to create change.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The script and pilot changed a lot over the course of development, and are somewhat still changing. It’s one of the most rewarding parts of collaboration, watching this kernel of an idea evolve as so many people knead it into something greater. The pilot script itself isn’t hugely different than the first draft in its basic skeleton, but rather the details and character trajectories. There were many smaller tweaks that ended up not only strengthening the pilot itself but the plan for the first season. For example, we initially had Earl’s cousin come to Briar looking for help about Earl’s disappearance instead of his mother Josie, where in hindsight featuring Josie as a stronger tertiary character strengthened the pilot's arc.
The film itself was ever evolving over the process of post-production, thanks to our incredible editor, Quintin Harris. This was a micro-budget production shot in just five days, and in the heat of the moment, things had to be cut on location. What happened in the editing room was essential in ensuring the story still came across despite not being able to shoot everything we had intended from the script. The hardest of these challenges to overcome for us was the "swamp scene", where Briar and Sarah discover Earl’s body. The setting of the swamp itself and the lack of water/sludge when we actually shot completely changed the action/structure of how that scene functioned but with some on the spot thinking and incredible improv by our actresses, we were able to rework what had initially been very precisely blocked out.
The nature of the shoot was almost documentary in style, and so there was a lot to work through in editing. With some really creative suggestions and re-ordering of key moments, Quintin was able to help us get to the emotional journey/arc of the scene that we had always wanted, despite shooting in what was essentially a completely different location. Overall, it’s what we’re the most proud of despite how much it changed, from every aspect of development/production.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We’ve received some really amazing feedback so far, with a lot of well-deserved compliments for our brilliant actresses (Melina Brown and Kayleigh Shuler) and incredible crew. We’ve been so happy to hear that people want to see more after viewing the first episode. That’s all we can really ask for. Watching it with audiences at film festivals like New York Television Festival and Dances With Films has been incredible, as well as having the experience of releasing it online and getting such a wide variety of feedback. People have really been invested in the characters and that’s always something that we tried to push to the front of the series. Seeing as how we’re so attached to the characters ourselves, we’re so happy to see others feel the same.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We’ve been lucky enough to not really receive a lot of negative feedback, but the experience of watching it through audiences eyes has been really helpful for us as we try to see the story with fresh eyes every time. For us, these screenings have really highlighted the tightening that still needs doing within the overall mystery. Though it might not follow a traditional structure, After Oil is in a lot of ways a police procedural for its first season, focusing entirely on Briar's investigations into the town police and their links to both the mysterious oil company and the suspicious death of her friend Earl.
Of course, with every viewing, it also becomes more apparent how much clearer we would have been able to paint the picture of this rural, dystopian post oil-crisis America, had we the budget to do so.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We're looking to build a community around After Oil, and the only way that happens is by spreading the word. We could not have made the pilot without the support of friends and family and the generosity of enthusiastic strangers. We crowdfunded a large portion of our pilot, and while we are still interested in attracting investors, producers, or development executives looking to pick up a show like After Oil for a First Look, far more important to us is letting people know that the show exists.
We know we can't be the only ones who want a rural dystopian drama with two queer ladies at the helm, and with the people's support, we might just be able to produce the first season independently.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Essentially all of it! As we self-produced the pilot while at school and had access to a lot of resources, we are looking to figure out how to produce the rest of the series, and feasibly, we would need a great deal of backers to help us out. From experienced series producers to agents, buyers, and distributors, we need it all to help get the rest of AFTER OIL off the page and onto the screen. Beyond that, journalists and other publicity avenues are key to get the word out and grow our audience to make it possible to self-produce.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Our biggest hope is that it rectifies that need for people to see themselves on screen in the way that we’ve always wanted to. We just want to tell stories for the screen which feature members of the LGBTQ community and other minorities that show them as vibrant, genuine characters that can exist outside of their "identity".
We’d love for it to start a conversation about the state of our environment, specifically how hydro-fracking is impacting these small rural towns. We're seeing a movement within our generation, standing up for change and what's right. Briar and the kids of Pahokee, Pennsylvania are representative of what we’re seeing happen in our world right now.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What is the real impact of hydro-fracking? Hydro-fracking is a complex issues that many impoverished American towns are facing today, and it deserves to be viewed with an intricate and thoughtful lens.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
While trying to get the rest of the season produced, we are also working on a mockumentary horror web series. It will involve far less guns and explosions.
Interview: July 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
After Oil
Their town crushed by a global oil crisis, Briar and her girlfriend Sarah fight to survive. When Josie Gannon tells Briar that her son has gone missing, Briar attempts to retrace his steps. Together, they find that Earl never completed his delivery route. As night sets in, they are close to giving up when they discover something far more sinister behind his disappearance.
Length: 00:23:48
Director: Jessica Naftaly and Shailyn Cotten
Producer: Jessica Naftaly, Shailyn Cotten, Juana Hodari
Writer: Shailyn Cotten
About the writer, director and producer:
SHAILYN COTTEN is a screenwriter and novelist who can also be found writing television reviews for The Fandomentals and producing commercials for the YMCA
JESSICA NAFTALY is a film graduate and can be found writing reviews and pop-culture retrospectives on platforms such as broadwayworld.com or TheFandomentals.
Key cast:
Melina Brown as Briar Dunlap
Kayleigh Shuler as Sarah Hammond
Rosemary Howard as Josie Gannon
Nadia Gibbs as Sally Dunlap
Jon Spoto as Alan Donahue
Looking for: producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists
Facebook: www.facebook.com/afteroilwebseries/
Twitter: @afteroilseries
Instagram: @afteroiltheseries
Official Website: www.afteroilseries.com
Funders: Indiegogo + GoFundMe backers
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? The pilot episode is on Youtube.