Driverless
The first road movie with no drivers.
Interview with Charles Pelletier, Stephen Foster
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
CHARLES: I always enjoyed old road movies when they would come up on television, like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "Gumball Rally," and with the invention of driverless cars, I had the inspiration to invent a screwball comedy that poked fun at corporate greed and the madcap caper of a road movie. It has a lot of elements of screwball comedies, but some technical differences, so I invented a new term, which I like, screwbyte comedy. My little term for when computers come into the picture and cause the upside down world of a screwball comedy.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
STEPHEN: If you have ever worked for a greedy boss or had a horrible job, this film will make you laugh. The characters are kinda crazy, the dialogue is snappy and it tells a funny "us vs. them" story. We have a excellent hand-picked cast who do an extraordinary job at creating the world
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
CHARLES: The theme of the rich vs. the poor, the crazy slide of technology and mean management at corporate jobs are all themes that I enjoy exploring. I have a big issue with the uber-rich and American Oligarchs and wanted to bring a little Molière/Jonathan Swift style satire to that subject. I enjoy writing comedy scripts that unveil the obvious: there are too many ridiculously rich people, and the rest of us must scrape by. American real income has gone up by 15% since 1970, whereas in other countries, France for example, it’s gone up by 150%. It’s just not fair, frankly. I enjoy telling stories and blowing the whistle on issues like income inequality, but with humor.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
STEPHEN: Charles came up the script and characters and wrote many drafts to get the characters, the dialouge and the circumstances perfect. It was important to us to concoct a world gone wild where the driverless cars are run by insane bosses who don't care about anything except the dollar.
As we went into filming, we had to modify some of the scenes due to locations and the time we had in the location without losing any of the humor. We ultimately got everything on screen that was important in the script.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
CHARLES: People are really enjoying the mad-cap comedy and the characters. They really enjoy the mean bosses syndrome we explore, and the insanity of the office workers. Many have commented how much they relate to Glen and Raj who work in the office. They also seem to enjoy the Quaker character, Woodrow, and the bubble-headed management workers. And they like the shape of the story, who wins and who gets their cumuppance.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
STEPHEN: It's always rewarding when an audience tells you they see themselves in the work you present. We aimed at creating a satire of society without being offensive which can be hard to do in these very challenging times. To reveal the inequality of a workspace can be like ripping the band aide off a wound. We are happy to challenge with humor.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
CHARLES: We hope to expose more people to the fim and make them laugh at little. Humor always makes the medicine go down. These are screwed up times, to tell you the truth, and we have to voice our concerns and issues.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
STEPHEN: We would love more film festival directors, sales agents and journalists to help us amplify the message. We shot the film on a shoe-string budget and would love to see it expand. The film could be a proof of concept for a feature length film. We also have many projects in the files ready to shoot.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
CHARLES: We want to make people laugh and make them think. If you can get people laughing at difficult issues sometimes, that opens the topic of conversation as opposed to preaching or yelling at them. We want people to care for each other and have compassion.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
STEPHEN: "Should the rich give back to the poor?"
Would you like to add anything else?
CHARLES: We hope everyone enjoys this film and the funny messages. Laughter heals.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
STEPHEN: We have many scripts, we are trying to get funded. We have a project "The Little Johnny Dumplin' Show" which could be funded easily as it requires a self-contained shoot. The film would be a hybrid of "Waiting for Guffman" meets "HeeHaw."
Interview: September 2022
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
Driverless
Length:
28:20
Writer/Director
CHARLES PELLETIER is the writer and director of the comedy short “That’s Opportunity Knocking,” which won 24 awards at film festivals. A composer as well as a writer, he wrote the music and lyrics to the award-winning Off-Broadway musical “The Green Room.” His song “It’s All About Me” from “The Green Room” won the Songwriter’s Guild of America Award for Best Musical Theatre Song.
Chuck has written three produced musicals, hundreds of songs, and has sold screenplays and licensed theatre pieces around the world. As a solo artist, he wrote and released the album “Flight Times.” He wrote the music and lyrics to a children’s musical “The Boy Who Stood Still,” which premiered at the University of New Hampshire, and the music to the musical “Sour Grapes,” which premiered at the Copake Theatre. His screenplays have won numerous screenplay competitions. His original songs have been heard on radio stations and placed in several independent movies including Valentine Man, Eyes of Innocence, Piling Up Vera, Chasing Indigo and Zyzzyx Road.
Charles has acted professionally in plays and musicals and has done film and commercial work in Chicago and Los Angeles. He is currently the vocal music director for Princess Cruise Lines. Charles has a bachelor of arts in music from the University of Illinois, has studied with William Warfield (singing) and Roque Cordero (music composition), and has done additional study in literature and music at Oxford University in England.
Producer
STEPHEN FOSTER is an award-winning actor/writer originally from Ft. Worth, Texas. He won 5 best supporting actor awards for the comedy short “That’s Opportunity Knocking.”
His screenplay “My Missing Year” won the Jury Award at Nova Film Festival, won Best unproduced script at Fusion International Film Festivals. Was semi-finalist in Table Read My Screenplay contest. Nominated for best Drama at Big Bear Film Summit. The screenplay was optioned by Yarn Spinner Entertainment.
His co-written (with Chuck Pelletier) screenplay “Clubbed!” was a quarter-finalist in the Page Screenplay contest and nominated for Best Unproduced script in FIFF.
He co-wrote “The Little Johnny Dumpling Show.”
He’s featured in the indie movies “Off Hollywood,” “David Whiting Story,” “Hidden Hills,” and “Expect Delays.” He is featured in the webseries “Studio Lot,” “Eternity Hills,” “C.P.R.,” “Finding Olivia,” “What’s My Intention,” and “Ground Floor.” He directed the music video “Dream Vacation.” His comedy “Legends and Bridge” (Joan Crawford, Bette Davis & Judy Garland) won critical praise and award nominations. Stephen co-wrote the book to the hit Off-Broadway musical “The Green Room.” He starred as Icarus in the Hollywood Fringe hit show “Seven Dreams of Falling.”
He is author of the best-selling book “Awakening the Actor Within”.
Key cast:
Stephen Foster (Glen, Randy, Woodrow), Navnoor Kahlon (Raj), Renee Laramore (Joanne), Will Roberts (Miles), Donald Burns (John), Daniel Luna (Gordon),Steven Morana (Darren), Ashley Tsai (Sylvia)
Looking for:
producers, sales agents, journalists, film festival directors
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/driverlessmovie
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/driverlessthemovie
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/driverlessthemovie/
Hashtags used:
#driverlessmovie #driverlesscars #officecomedy #filmfestival #comedyshort #oligarchy #film
More info:
https://driverlessthemovie.com
Glendale International Film Festival, Sept 30th, 5:25pm, Block 5