When a blue-collar man is forcibly implanted with his alien boss’s parasitic offspring, he asks his wife to help him remove the parasite – a dangerous and forbidden act that puts their marriage – and their lives – at risk.

Interview with Writer Kenda Greenwood-Moran and Director Justin Daering

Watch Progeny here:

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

JUSTIN: I first had the idea for the story during the summer of 2017. It was a time when a lot of legislation was being put forward in a number of states to try to restrict women's right/bodily autonomy. Much of that legislation was being proposed by men, who could never be put in the same situations they were comfortable crafting laws to regulate women for. I thought it would be interesting to see a man be put in a similar situation. And I love a good body horror movie.

KENDA: Justin first came to me with the idea almost a year before I started writing the first draft, and the allegorical elements immediately appealed to me. I was interested in telling a story about something commonplace in our world – being robbed of autonomy, both bodily and mentally. And setting the story in an alien world allowed us to shift the perspective, show the experience in a fresh way, and turn an otherwise-depressing tale into something fun, gory, and action-packed. From the beginning, making the film fun and entertaining was always a priority.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

JUSTIN: Because you like The Fly, Alien, The Thing, etc

KENDA: We designed the film to be a fun ride, full of unexpected twists, horrific elements, and human triumph. Ideally, you will also leave the theater thinking about some of the larger themes, but at the very least you’ll have a heart-pounding experience.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

JUSTIN: I feel like the themes of class oppression are very universal. The feeling of wanting to get ahead in this world by being a good persona, and doing your job well, and having that simple goodness exploited by the ruling/wealthy class who will use your hard labor for their own enrichment, feels very universal and relevant to today's world.

KENDA: Our film is about the insidious ways societal pressure can exert control in order to keep people compliant, so the powerful can retain their grip on power. In the film, this pressure externalized with a violent physical attack, but we hoped to show that the subtle manipulation and denial following the attack is just as horrific. As a woman, these themes are personal to me because my bodily autonomy has been violated, sometimes physically and sometimes by laws that restrict my abilities to make my own choices.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

JUSTIN: The original version of the film was very simplistic. Tanner was a very unlikeable character, and we were supposed to take some pleasure in seeing this horrible thing happen to such a nasty person. That quickly faded away, as the story grew, and the character becomes more complex. It also started as more of a suspense action thriller, and it just felt kind of flat, so we brought in a little more of the character drama. I think in a longer version we would have time to service both parts of the story, the drama and the suspense/thriller part.

KENDA: The original idea was simpler, but not as fun. It was focused on the attack and our character’s reaction. We wanted to expand the story to show it’s not just about one bad alien and one violent act. It’s about the larger societal forces that create a culture where this behavior can go unchecked. And we wanted to make it fun by allowing our characters to fight back. The script got longer – at one point it was almost forty pages! – so we trimmed our ambitions and saved certain storylines for the feature and TV series versions.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

JUSTIN: Very positive. The reception has been overwhelmingly supportive.

KENDA: People seem to love the film! Some are engaged by the themes, and some just enjoy the ride. My favorite thing is sitting in the theater and hearing an audience squirm, gasp, scream, and cheer. That’s when I know we did our jobs.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

JUSTIN: Not really. Mostly it has just encouraged me and Kenda Greenwood-Moran, my co-writer, to stay on it and get our drafts for the TV series version and the feature film version completed.

KENDA: Only how positive it has been. We have won awards now at seven of the nine festivals we have screened in. It has really affirmed our intentions it making this movie.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

JUSTIN: We would love to get agents, managers, producers, and financiers interested in a longer-form version of this project.

KENDA: Our goal is to secure financing for the feature or pilot version of this story, so connecting with talent or financing through the site would be wonderful.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

JUSTIN: Yeah, agents, managers, producers and financiers would be our goal at this point.

KENDA: I think the biggest asset at this point would be an agent or manager that could get us in the room at the various streaming TV networks. We have a strong pitch, we just need an opportunity to give it to the right people.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

JUSTIN: Mostly we want people to be entertained. If they learn or grow, if they have their beliefs challenged or reaffirmed, that would be wonderful also, but above all else, it must be entertaining, or people won't watch it.

KENDA: Mostly, we want to entertain. We want people to leave the theater energized, and somewhere in the back of their heads, wondering how our world is similar to the world of the film.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

JUSTIN: What is the real difference between the story world of this movie and what happens to Tanner, and our world, and real people who are put in similar situations?

KENDA: Have you ever felt the way Tanner feels in the film? If so, what brought it about? And if not, why do you think that is?

Would you like to add anything else?

KENDA: Nope! :)

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

JUSTIN: We are working on both a TV series and Feature Film version of Progeny, and I have an untitled LA teen drama script I am currently rewriting that I am slated to shoot this coming summer.

KENDA: I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the pilot and feature scripts that continue the story and dive deeper into the mysteries of the world introduced in Progeny. I’m also shopping a teen supernatural thriller pilot, a historical drama pilot, and a YA sci-fi feature script.

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

Progeny

Length: 29:30

Director: Justin Daering

Producer: Greg Schroeder

Writer: Kenda Greenwood Moran

About the writer, director and producer:

JUSTIN DAERING is a passionate science fiction writer & director. He believes that science fiction stories can reach and change us because they encourage us to be curious and wonder. Justin's previous short film Macbeth: A Fury won the grand prize at the Shakespeare Film Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Justin received his MFA in directing from the American Film Institute, and his BA in Film Studies from the University of Wisconsin.

KENDA GREENWOOD MORAN has a background in unscripted television and experience as a development executive, producer, director and showrunner on docu-series including MTV’s Teen Mom. She left the unscripted world to pursue an MFA in screenwriting from the AFI Conservatory and now writes primarily genre content with a focus on women and girls discovering their power, supernatural and otherwise. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two dogs.

Gregory Schroeder is a graduate of Villanova University, with a BA in Communication and minors in Business and English. Since April 2016, he has produced independent short films with his company, First Light Productions LLC. The first of these short films, titled A Little Bit of Time, received Official Selection at North Hollywood Cinefest and won the Audience Award at Zero Film Festival – NY.

Key cast: Chasen Bauer (Tanner), Wyni Landry (Emily), Hans Christopher (Walton), Christian Dunlop (Darryl), Clayton Hoff (Clint)

Looking for: sales agents, distributors, journalists, film festival directors, producers, buyers

Facebook: Progeny

Other: IMDb

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? AFI Fest/Los Angeles - Sunday 11/17 @ 2pm; Sherman Oaks Film Festival - Saturday 11/23 @ 8pm; NYCTV Festival - Saturday 11/23 @ 7pm; Another Hole in the Head SF - Saturday 12/14 - 3pm.