Sherman Oaks Film Festival / LA Comedy Festival 2019 – Blow Out
A comedy-horror about a woman who finds a balloon outside her front door. She brings it inside. Things get weird.
Interview with Writer/Producer/Actor Michelle Alexander
Watch Blow Out here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Blow Out was born from a case of writer's block and one persistent old birthday balloon that refused to “die”.
Last year I was writing remotely for this TV show, which meant I was spending all day every day writing in my studio apartment until I basically fell asleep on my laptop. Long story short things can get weird when you spend too much time alone in one room. I started talking out loud to myself pretty regularly and even started talking to random inanimate objects in the room - including this incredibly resilient helium balloon, leftover from my boyfriend’s birthday party. It just would NOT lose its helium, it floated around the roof of my apartment for months.
Anyway, one day when I had some serious writers block on these TV show scripts, I started writing a short about the strange things that can happen to one girl alone in her apartment. I didn’t have a plan for it, it was just fun to write.
Well one script led to another, and by the time I was done my contract on that TV show, I also had a collection of six very strange horror-comedy shorts all revolving around one girl and her weird apartment encounters:
In one short she has an affair with a houseplant that goes horribly wrong, in another, her gym shoes “haunt” her when doesn’t want to workout… Blow Out was inspired by that damn helium birthday balloon that refused to “die”.
I gave them to Daniel (the director of Blow Out) on a whim and he immediately said, ‘we have to make these.’
I think sometimes the best things we create are born out of play and a need only to please/amuse ourselves.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
When you’re an adult the world can become predictable AF. We know what coffee we’ll order in the morning, what route we’ll take to work, and what we’ll do with the majority of our day, every. single. day. Personally, nothing snaps me out of that ‘predictable adulting life’ faster than truly being surprised or amazed by something. Blow Out is a little dose of surrealism that hopefully wakes people back up to their imaginations and that sense of ‘anything is possible’ that they had when they were a kid. Oh, and of course it’s a comedy, and I think EVERYBODY needs a good laugh, on a regular basis.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Personally, I’m a fan of not dictating what themes people should or shouldn't get from our film - if I did, I’d be taking part of the fun away, part of their unique experience with it. Like all film, it can represent different things to different people.
I will say we’ve had a wide range of reactions from viewers. To some people Blow Out represents toxic dating culture, to others, it represents the vulnerability of being alone, or how joy can be closely connected to fear… Daniel and I don't need you to take away one specific thing from it, there’s no right way to view it; there’s not even a responsibility to take away some deep underlying message either - it’s a comedy horror that stars a balloon, you're more than "allowed" to engage with it as just a super fun and weird 7.25 minutes!
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Daniel likes to say ‘every project is made up of 3 different films’: the film that exists on paper, the film that exists on the day you’re shooting it, and the film that exists after you’ve edited it.
Each will have different feels, different textures, but throughout it all, you’re trying to keep the same heart.
But if you're talking about 'challenges' we DEFINITELY ran into a lot of unexpected challenges over the evolution of this film:
For example, when we looked at this story on the page we didn’t realize that music was going to be one of, if not the biggest hurdle in bringing this film to life.
The space we actually shot in was another huge hurdle. We filmed it in a small studio apartment with a decent sized crew, in ONE day. The whole thing felt like when you're playing Tetris and the pieces start falling too fast: we had to make it all fit in little to no time.
Sometimes our shots had to change because we literally didn’t have enough room to move the camera, or the balloon wouldn’t “behave” and we had to adapt the plan. But, all to say, regardless of all the challenges and changes we definitely feel like we kept the HEART of the original script.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Our favorite kind of feedback though is when people think it’s weird; or tell me (Michelle), ‘wow your brain is messed up’ - that’s exactly the reaction we want. If you watch it and think it’s weird, but still liked it, perfect! Maybe that means it pushed your brain into new territory, or maybe it made you see something in a different way, or at the very least it entertained you in an unexpectedly weird and wonderful way.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Honestly, no. I mean, when we were done making it there was definitely that moment of nervousness around anyone actually understanding the story - it’s a silent comedy-horror that stars a helium balloon, that’s pretty out there - so I think it's understandable that we had a moment of doubt that anyone would ‘get it’. But we’ve screened it at over ten festivals so far and every audience has laughed at every joke, been audibly surprised, and super engaged in the story. We’ve also won/been nominated for a few awards which I think is always a good sign you’re telling your story effectively.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
As I said above, Blow Out is actually one short in a series of six comedy-horror shorts (all about five minutes in length), that all revolve around one woman’s strange encounters alone in her apartment.
They’re all weird, all funny, and are all totally relatable (especially in a world that feels increasingly disconnected; most millennials I now spend more time alone in their apartments with their ‘things’ than with their friends and family).
I would love to find someone who really loves my brand of surreal comedy to come on board and help make this series of shorts a reality.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I'm looking for a producer and/or distributor to make this collection of shorts with me. I know I’m obviously biased, but I think the viability of them is a no brainer - they’re short, funny, surprising, and all have a unique but widely relatable message about our human nature. I think the world I've created (whether its the whole series or Blow Out as a stand-alone) would be a great addition to any comedy and/or horror platform that features short-form content. ESPECIALLY one that features/promotes the work of creative women!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
A positive one. :)
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Being spontaneous: a great way to get outside of your comfort zone? Or a great way to end up in a potentially dire situation?
Would you like to add anything else?
We plan to release Blow Out online in the new year, check our Instagram for updates: @blowoutfilm
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Michelle Alexander is currently writing another comedy-horror short about one woman’s disturbing confession at an anniversary party.
She’s also currently shopping a half-hour comedy series that focuses on the rise of social anxiety, and the search for connection in our very disconnected modern world (it features a talking Keurig coffee machine and a singing tampon. Just sayin’).
Daniel David Stewart: as an actor, Daniel is currently filming The Fugitive for Quibi; as a writer/director he’s developing a feature film about the strange world of Church Camp.
Interview: November 2019
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
Blow Out
A comedy-horror about a woman who finds a balloon outside her front door. She brings it inside. Things get weird.
Length: 7:25
Director: Daniel David Stewart
Producer: Michelle Alexander and Daniel David Stewart
Writer: Michelle Alexander
About the writer, director and producer:
DANIEL DAVID STEWART, a native of Southern California, is best known for the role of Milo Minderbinder in George Clooney’s Catch-22 on Hulu. He’s also a fixture in the theatre community having done the recent Tony Nominated/Winning productions of Spring Awakening and The Band’s Visit on Broadway. He's currently filming The Fugitive for Quibi. Blow Out marks his first time behind the camera as a director.
MICHELLE ALEXANDER is an actor/writer originally from Vancouver Island, Canada. As an actor, Michelle has been featured in many network shows, feature and short film, including Recurring roles on The Expanse (Amazon) and Designated Survivor (ABC), as well as a Series Regular in Vincenzo Natali’s horror series, Darknet (Netflix US, CAN, UK). As a writer, Michelle worked on the last season of Haunted Case Files; in 2017 her comedy-horror series Fatal Murder was a finalist in the international Beyond the Box Competition at the Just for Laughs Festival; in 2016, she won Smokebomb Entertainment's AMP Accelerator Competition at the Banff World Media Festival alongside Sophia Fabiilli. Michelle splits her time between Los Angeles and Vancouver.
Key cast: Michelle Alexander
Looking for: distributors, buyers
Facebook: Blow Out
Instagram: @blowoutfilm
Hashtags used: #blowoutfilm #bewaretheballoon
Website: www.blowoutfilm.com
Made in association with:
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? LA Comedy Festival/Los Angeles - Nov 17; Sherman Oaks FF/Sherman Oaks - Nov 22; London Short Film Festival/London, UK - 10th—19th January 2020; online release early 2020, details TBA *check our Instagram for updates!