Pickled
A pickleball player returns to competition to discover that her league now rejects her because she is over 35 years old.
Interview with Writer/Director/Actor Megan Brotherton
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The folks at Roku Brand Studio invited me to write and direct a comedy for them under a few suggested categories. I was drawn to the "Sports" category because I was a college athlete, and I love bringing female athletic characters to the screen. I was also fascinated by pickleball and its growing popularity. I'm from Seattle and my cousins, aunts, and uncles of all ages get really into playing pickleball every 4th of July when we're together and I noticed that the sport was growing around the country and beyond. I was also coming off of having my first baby and dealing with feelings about aging and a loss of my pre-baby sense of self, so I added those themes to the story. Ultimately, I made the film to entertain and make people laugh, but I couldn't help but add a message and heart to the film.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It will make you laugh, and hopefully, it will make you reflect on what "winning" really means to you.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The personal theme of embracing getting older and aging gracefully is quite universal. It was something I was feeling really strongly postpartum but now that I've shared the film, I realize pretty much everyone can relate to those themes.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The team at Roku was great at encouraging me to flesh out the characters and backstory throughout development. Originally, I had a comedian buddy of mine in mind to play my co-star and it would have been more of a buddy comedy, but he was unavailable for the shoot so I steered in a different direction and wrote that character as my character's husband, which was better for exploring more of the post-baby themes of the story. Pickleball really started trending late in the development process so I also took a deeper dive into the sport, its history, and the evolving culture around it while I was doing rewrites, so that informed my character's history as a pickleball champ and the funny characters surrounding her. The entire intro, which is a homage to Succession, was in response to a note that I needed to tell more about Molly's life before having a baby, so that was another fun discovery in development.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People really like it! It definitely gets laughs and is timely in terms of pickleball being in the zeitgeist, but above all, I've been surprised by how people identify and are moved by it thematically. They relate to the struggles of the lead character regardless of age, sex, or other life circumstances.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It's made me realize how universal the themes in this film are. Everybody deals with life changes and growing older, especially as we are all coming out of the pandemic and reflecting on how our lives before and after the last few years.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I'd love for people to attend the Seattle International Film Festival Screening on May 18 at 6:15 pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown. And hopefully, there will be more screenings at festivals later this year!
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Film Festival Directors for the rest of the film's festival run and producers for a feature version!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I really want it to make people laugh and give them a break from all the heavy things happening in the world. I also hope it reminds people to be compassionate with themselves as they go through big life changes, and shine a light on some of the challenges women face when they have children and want to hang onto their ambitions.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
To dink or bang?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I have a dark comedy feature I am writing about hospice and a feature-length pickleball comedy, as well as a comedic series about filmmaking and another comedy series about motherhood/parenting.
Interview: May 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
Pickled
A pickleball player returns to competition to discover that her league now rejects her because she is over 35 years old.
Length: 13:20
Director: Megan Brotherton
Producer: Roku Brand Studio
Writer: Megan Brotherton
About the writer, director and producer:
MEGAN BROTHERTON is a writer-director known for telling funny stories with real heart. Her short films Everybody Does It and Buttercup screened internationally, earning several awards. Megan has directed for Funny Or Die—with over 20 million views and the most viewed video to date. The Roku Channel produced her new short, Pickled, as part of an anthology of shorts by “the next generation of comedy directors.” She also directed a new indie short called Hangman currently in festivals. Megan directs commercials and PSA's, which earned her a Bronze Telly award and Platinum Best of Show Aurora Award.
Key cast: Megan Brotherton (Molly), Danny Jolles (Danny), Brian Thompson (Randy), Andrew Grace (Wes), Nichole Yannetty (Kayla), Alberto Isaac (Riley), Pat McNeely (Nancy)
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors and producers
Facebook: Pickled - a short comedy
Twitter: @MeganBrotherton
Instagram: @megbrother
Hashtags used: #pickled #pickleball
Website: www.meganbrotherton.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Roku Brand Studio and GEICO
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Next festival TBD! You can also find it on The Roku Channel on the series The Shortlist: Sports