Play Date
A couple grapples with the right way to socialize their toddler after the world ends.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Lindsay Harbert
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I was seven months pregnant with my first child when the first Covid lockdown happened. When my son turned six months old and started to be aware of the world around him, I worried that we'd always be locked away in pandemic mode and worried he'd never have any friends. This got my wheels turning about being a parent during life's most challenging times, and the risks we're willing to take in order for our children to have rich, fulfilling lives.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you're ready to have a chuckle about what it is to be alive and navigate life even when it feels like the world has ended.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Themes of family and what we're all willing to do for the ones we love to have enriched lives.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
It started as the seed of an idea for a feature-length script. After I sold my first feature in 2020, I wanted to invest in myself as a director and make a short film. As a proof of concept, I cut Play Date down and made it a short!
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Mostly positive! So many people relate to the underlying message and find it an interesting lens to look back at our collective time of isolation.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Not particularly. If anything, it's made me realize how universal it is regardless of whether the viewer is a parent or not.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I've written the feature version of this and will be going out with it after the WGA strike is over. With that in mind, I would love producers to come on board. Also, film festival directors to get our little movie in front of more eyeballs is always helpful!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
That the ability to see humor in our most challenging times is a huge benefit.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I have feature scripts currently in development with Netflix, Village Roadshow and Ian Bryce Productions - obviously all on hold until the WGA strike is over. Additionally, Amy Shaughnessy (Darcy) and I just produced and wrapped our second short film together entitled Talia. We'll be making a festival push with it starting this fall!
Interview: August 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
Play Date
A couple grapples with the right way to socialize their toddler after the world ends.
Length: 7:56
Director: Lindsay Harbert
Producer: Lindsay Harbert
Writer: Lindsay Harbert
About the writer, director and producer:
LINDSAY HARBERT is a midwestern-born and bred writer and comedian who moved to Los Angeles as a 21-year-old college dropout to pursue a career as an improviser. After performing on several house teams for tens of fans at the since defunct iO West, she came to realize a career needs to consist of more than improv, and turned her focus to writing. Since changing gears, she’s worked in TV on comedies ranging from multi-cam and sketch shows you’ve never heard of to beloved single-cams and hour-longs with cult followings. Included among them are Stevie TV (VH1), Playing House (USA) and Heathers (Paramount Network). In features, her spec Sugar Mama has been optioned by Netflix with Halle Berry attached to star and produce. Her feature script Mysterymoon has been purchased by Village Roadshow with Jonah Feingold (Dating & New York, attached to direct, and Original Film (The Fast & The Furious Franchise) producing. She is currently adapting the Stephen King short story Drunken Fireworks into a feature with Darryl Scott of Evergreen Valley attached to produce. She is attached to develop a French graphic novel for the big screen with Brad Peyton (Sweet Girl, Rampage) attached to direct and Ian Bryce producing. Her directorial debut the short film Play Date has won best short in the Santa Barbara Film Awards, was selected by the HollyShorts film festival to screen at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in the fall of 2022, and is an official selection of the 2023 Academy Award qualifying Cinequest Film Festival. Her second short film in the director's chair Talia is currently in post, and will be hitting the festival circuit in 2024. She is repped by CAA (Darian Lanzetta/Faith France) The Gotham Group (Charlie Scully & Brooke Lindley) and splits her time between Los Angeles and New Jersey with her husband, toddler and bulldog Meatloaf.
Key cast: Amy Shaughnessy (Darcy), Corey Walls (Ziek), Lincoln Silberman (Lincoln), Lennon Parham (Woman)
Instagram: @lindsayharbertsilberman
Hashtags used: #family #apocalypse #toddler #comedy #scifi #endoftheworld #bunker #fallout #comedy #familycomedy
Other: Vimeo
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Cinequest Film Festival/Mountain View, CA - Sunday August 27, 4:40PM, Wednesday August 30, 4:40PM