Entrainment
Trapped in a fractured quantum realm, a broken nightclub owner fights to regain his memory in order to save himself, and the love of his life.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer/Editor Bill Prokopow
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I'm very interested in the mysteries of consciousness and time, and how they're interrelated.
Entrainment started by asking some simple questions: What if your consciousness wasn’t confined to your body? What if your future could change your past? Studies in quantum physics, meditation, and near-death experiences have and continue to challenge our long-held assumptions about the linearity of time and the nature of our mind.
So if life/death, consciousness, and time are not what we thought they were, how might we experience our world differently? How does a future promise impact your past self? In Entrainment, which is a proof of concept for a feature-length film, I explore the implications of these questions for love, commitment, devotion, and sacrifice in the context of an intimate relationship.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I love when I watch a movie and I'm both entertained and informed - where I can learn about something new in the world while experiencing a piece of art. This was my goal with Entrainment, to create a sci-fi thriller that feels like Minority Report meets Limitless, directed by Christopher Nolan.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Well, my approach as a writer/director is shaped by my background as a musician. All my life I’ve trained in the practice of manipulating sound, studying the tension and release of an energy you cannot see, taste or touch. And consciousness shares many of the traits of music - they are mysterious things you can feel and know but are often difficult to pin down. They are so undefined, yet give so much definition to our lives. I’m very interested in the transformation of consciousness happening on the planet as science shows us that our brain and our world are very different than we once thought.
Entrainment is the synchronization of two or more disparate frequencies, and as the writer, director, editor, and composer of this film, I seek to entrain, so to speak, my audience. By creating a captivating and immersive vibrational experience, my goal is to help viewers feel and understand these seemingly wild and foreign concepts, and ultimately, to transcend our limiting beliefs about existence itself.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
What a great question, ha! I started writing the script in May of 2020 after I showed my co-producer, Luca Malacrino, the film Primer by Shane Carruth. We talked for a while after watching that, and I was very excited by the idea that if you had a strong enough concept, you could make a great low-budget sci-fi movie – one where you didn't need crazy special effects to tell the story. That same night I started typing the opening scene to what we now know as Entrainment, and that scene was the basis for the concept of the film. It took about 2 years to finish writing the script (the biggest thing was the ending – how do you make it all work?). Then we did loads of pre-production, shooting almost all the scenes and editing and scoring them before we brought in a real crew. The production and post-production took another 8 months, and all through that we were refining and clarifying the film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We've been fortunate to be received at a number of great festivals. We premiered at FilmQuest, where the film was awarded Best Editing and was nominated for Best Sci-Fi Short. We also screened at Vortex Film Festival, part of Flicker's Rhode Island Film Festival, where we received the Grand Prize for Best Original Score. We also have showings coming up with Dances with Films in NYC and the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in LA.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
So here's a fun story about feedback and edits to the film. The first cut I made, based on an 18-page script, was an 18-minute film. We submitted to a number of festivals, and the feedback we kept hearing was that this is a fantastic film and concept, but that it's too long for most festivals to easily program. So after a talk with Luca Malacrino, my fellow producer, I slashed the film nearly in half, cutting it down from 18 minutes to under 10 minutes, completely reorganizing the narrative structure and rescoring the film. So now we have a Festival Cut and a Director's Cut, and I love them both!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
As Entrainment is a proof-of-concept, we are looking to get like-minded people on board who would like to help tell the feature-length story. The feature version is a sexy sci-fi thriller, and it doesn't need a massive budget to pull off. We are looking for 2 names, and then it's off to the races!
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
At this point, we're looking for film festival directors who like the film and would like to program it, as well as producers who are interested in joining us for the feature.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The goal of this film is to change people's perspectives about the nature of reality itself - consciousness, time, life and death. I believe that so many of the problems our world is facing right now were created and then perpetuated by old methods of thinking. When we see new perspectives of who we are and what our place is in the cosmos, new solutions automatically arise. So, by raising the consciousness of the individual, the consciousness of the earth rises as well, and we are able to step into new realities and find new solutions that benefit all.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What if your consciousness wasn’t confined to your body? What if your future could change your past?
Would you like to add anything else?
Thank you so much for your time and this interview!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
One of our lead producers, Luca Malacrino, is currently in post-production with a hi-concept drama starring Sean Astin, and is in pre-production for two other features that will shoot in 2024 - a self-contained hi-concept sci-fi story and an indie family drama that will shoot in Wales. As for me, I'm hard at work on the script for the feature of Entrainment!
Interview: December 2023
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
Entrainment
Trapped in a fractured quantum realm, a broken nightclub owner fights to regain his memory in order to save himself, and the love of his life.
Length: 9:57
Director: Bill Prokopow
Producer: Bill Prokopow and Luca Malacrino
Writer: Bill Prokopow
About the writer, director and producer:
BILL PROKOPOW is a writer, director, and composer. Recently he scored the feature film Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose starring Simon Pegg, Minnie Driver, and Christopher Lloyd, and he wrote and produced songs for the Disney+ show The Muppets Mayhem. His instrumental music has been heard prominently in feature films, trailers, shorts, national prime-time television shows, concert halls, and rock venues all across the US. He’s amassed more than 22 million streaming plays for his solo project Will Post, and his song Wonderlust shot to the #1 spot on the Shazam Discovery and US Charts for nearly two weeks in 2020 after it was featured in the popular Netflix movie The Kissing Booth 2. Bill started writing music as soon as he sat down at a piano at age 5, and hasn't stopped since then. His early years were filled with composing and shooting movies in his backyard with his friends, and he continues this trend today. But he feels most at home when combining his classical sensibilities with the ethos of the current moment, creating work that serves the now and launches itself into the future, toward eternity.
After beginning his training as a performer at 19, LUCA MALACRINO ventured to Los Angeles to hone his craft. Since then, he has starred in several hit TV shows, such as Criminal Minds Beyond Borders, Grey's Anatomy, Coronation Street and I'm Dying Up Here. He has also worked with renowned filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola in Distant Vision. Luca is a proud member of the BAFTA Newcomers Academy, an esteemed group of talented artists. In addition to acting, Luca has built a diverse portfolio as a film producer and content creator. He co-owns The Chameleon Effect, a production company, with writer Alex Hanno. Together, they have produced the award-winning pilot Served, the feature film Elephants, and are currently working on A Social Contract, starring Sean Astin. Additionally, they are developing their next two feature films, A Sanctuary for Water Voles and Dominus.
Key cast: Christina Higa, Luca Malacrino
Looking for: film festival directors, producers
Facebook: Bill Prokopow
Twitter: @prokopow
Instagram: @prokopow, @entrainmentfilm
Hashtags used: #entrainmentfilm
Other: IMDb
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Dances with Films: NYC Nov 30th - Regal Union Square - 3:45pm
Sherman Oaks Film Festival: Dec 2nd - LOOK Dine In Cinema, Glendale - 10pm