Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: STORMCHASER
Genre: Dramedy, Social Satire, Action
Date: My team and I completed post-production on STORMCHASER in the summer of 2019
Director: Gretl Claggett
Executive Producers: Gretl Claggett, Pamela Cederquist, Simon Taufique
Producers: Gretl Claggett, Sarah Donnelly, Etan Harwayne-Gidansky
Writer: Gretl Claggett
Cinematographer: Jeff Berlin, Ari Rothschild
Runtime: 27:12
Actors: Mary Birdsong, Stephen Plunkett, and Dominic Rains
Production Company: Culture Catalyst — founded and owned by Gretl Claggett — was the main production company, and the project was produced in association with Palikari Pictures.
Budget: numerals
Language: English
Financing: A grant and private fundraising. Right before the shoot — when a large chunk of funding (that had been promised) fell through — I cashed in my one-and-only life insurance policy so that we could forge ahead with filming plus post-production without major delays.
Shooting Format: Sony VENICE CineAlta 6K & Sigma Cine Lenses
Aspect Ratio: 4K with a 2.39:1 Anamorphic Mask
Screening Format: DCP
Sound: 5.1 Surround
Website
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Gretl Claggett (GC): “A what…?” I thought I’d misheard what her new boyfriend did for a living. “He lost his job. Now, he sells storm doors, door-to-door.”
Our exchange conjured black-and-white images from the Maysles’ documentary, Salesman, about door-to-door bible peddlers in the ‘60s. Surely, this daily grind was a thing of the past. But as I did some digging, I discovered it still exists, and that many contractors targeting weather torn areas this way are called “storm chasers” — instead of “ambulance chasers”— because of their predatory practices.
This triggered a deep compulsion in me to express my own sardonic commentary on what I’ve experienced growing up in small-town Tornado Alley, plus selling incentives as the lone woman in an old-boys’ club: America’s culture of greed, its celebration of bad behavior, and the rise of “Disaster Capitalism” which preys upon the most vulnerable suffering from man-made and natural catastrophes.
All that gave birth to Bonnie Blue, a down-on-her-luck storm chaser turned naive, door-to-door huckster of roofing, siding, and storm doors.
We shot STORMCHASER in a visually epic style with Sony CineAlta VENICE Cameras and Sigma Cine Lenses — the first truly indie team to use this killer combination. Company 3 color-graded the 4K film and will sponsor a High Dynamic Range (HDR) version. HDR will give us a wider palette to further emphasize the grimy, makeshift, claustrophobic office interiors versus the expansive, weathered, brooding-sky exteriors — merging the story’s real and metaphoric storms.
The official trailer for Stormchaser written and directed by Gretl Claggett starring Mary Birdsong, Dominic Rains, and Stephen Plunkett in Stormchaser (2019)
Magical Realism is sparingly interspersed throughout the film/pilot to physicalize the characters’ internal landscapes. There are scenes in which characters, themselves, become “the storm.” These moments — that break free from the more realistic narrative — hopefully, engender intimacy with the characters’ psychologies, compress and accelerate action, as well as heighten dilemmas so they can be felt personally, politically, and universally.
“Tell all the Truth but tell it slant,” wrote Emily Dickinson. To me, that means we can more easily face the world’s toughest problems when storytelling and performances are not on the nose. Acting was my first passion, and I loved collaborating with this cast. Each of them authentically embodies their characters, skillfully playing that razor’s edge between nuanced farce and heartfelt, gritty naturalism.
My intention is for audiences to experience STORMCHASER as entertainment, but process it as a darkly funny dramedy, a satire, and allegory of our socio-political system, in which the main characters represent different facets of that system — from the Old ‘Merica and culture of entitlement to the changing face and values of a New America struggling to find its way.
One only has to follow the news — Global Warming, Disaster Capitalism, Trump, Bullying, #MeToo, Ageism, Sexism, Racism, a Country Divided, Shrinking Middle Class, Recession Clouds Looming — to see the consequences of a predatory society. STORMCHASER aims to explore these inflammatory issues by looking at both the noble ambitions and dog-eat-dog urges that make people so damn complicated, asking: How do we stop the storm of violence in our culture where we’re all complicit — even when we’re oppressed by forces that seem so much larger than ourselves?
Tell us about the festival run, marketing, and sales?
Gretl Claggett (GC): STORMCHASER launched its festival run in the summer of 2019. My team and I are grateful that the film/pilot has been so well received, with 45 official selections to date and a number of awards across multiple categories, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Film, Best Pilot, Best Cinematography, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Original Score/Soundtrack, and Best VFX.
Recently, STORMCHASER screened at Stareable Fest: a fantastic festival that features the best work by independent web and television series creators from around the world. AMC Networks joined Stareable Fest as a Sponsor in 2020 and established a new award for Best Female Creator, which I was deeply honored to receive on behalf of STORMCHASER.
Tell us about the festival run, marketing, and sales?
GC: STORMCHASER launched its festival run in the summer of 2019. My team and I are grateful that the film/pilot has been so well received, with 45 official selections to date and a number of awards across multiple categories, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Film, Best Pilot, Best Cinematography, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Original Score/Soundtrack, and Best VFX.
Recently, STORMCHASER screened at Stareable Fest: a fantastic festival that features the best work by independent web and television series creators from around the world. AMC Networks joined Stareable Fest as a Sponsor in 2020 and established a new award for Best Female Creator, which I was deeply honored to receive on behalf of STORMCHASER.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Logline: All Bonnie Blue ever wanted was to chase tornadoes with her Dad. But dreams die with time. Now, she’s become a different kind of storm chaser, hawking storm doors “door-to-door” for her charismatic boss, Flip Smyth: a cultish father figure who preaches Disaster Capitalism to Bonnie and his tribe of sales guys. As she realizes that Flip’s mantra of “Flip the Switch!” is just a way to exploit customers, a different kind of switch flips inside Bonnie — unleashing an inner and outer storm of violence.
Synopsis: Bonnie Blue grew up chasing tornados with her dad; it made her feel connected to Mother Nature. But, years later, we meet her in midlife: disconnected, up against a recession and struggling to make ends meet. Now, she’s a different kind of “storm chaser” — hawking shoddy storm supplies, door-to-door, for her charismatic boss, Flip Smyth: a cultish, bullying, father figure, who — similar to a few leaders on our world stage today — denies the recession and preaches Disaster Capitalism to Bonnie and his tribe of sales guys. After Bonnie makes her first sale, and Flip reneges on paying her the full commission, she realizes that his doctrine of “Flip the Switch!” is just a way to exploit her and her customers. A literal storm sweeps in as a metaphorical storm unleashes inside Bonnie, forcing her to face a moral decision: Will she take the money…or take a stand for what’s right?
Production?
GC: We shot STORMCHASER in remote Vermont, which had no production infrastructure and limited to often zero cell phone and Wi-Fi coverage, so that presented a few challenges, as you can imagine. In shooting many exterior scenes, we battled ticks, mosquitos and snakes, torrential thunderstorms, mudslides plus an actual small tornado, which caused us to lose almost a full day of our shoot on Day 2. We couldn’t afford to extend a day on the back end, so we made up for the loss by pulling and paying overtime, plus cutting setups throughout the rest of the shoot. While I may not sign up again anytime soon to shoot in a remote location, I definitely learned a lot from the experience, and Vermont did provide us with breath-taking backdrops.
Now that it’s in the rearview mirror, I’ll always fondly remember the many road trips from New York to Vermont that I made with my friend and fellow Executive Producer, Pamela Cederquist, and the many days we spent driving around the vast state of Vermont scouting locations — and how she frequently feared that I’d get shot knocking on the random door of a lone trailer home in a field or pulling myself up to peer inside the window of an abandoned diner during a rainstorm…but both of those crazy acts paid off with securing singular locations, which, in my mind, are also characters in this Americana story.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
GC: In terms of our festival run for STORMCHASER, it started as a slow burn. Because the film/pilot has a 27+ minute running time, I understood that it would be challenging to program in many short blocks, as the sweet spot for live action short form seems to be between 8-15 minutes. But I’d already made a 14-minute film, and I wanted to show that I have the chops to write and direct longform — be it a feature or a series — and also demonstrate that the material has legs for expansion. So, more than a festival strategy, I had a strategy to create a film/pilot that could be a calling card for future writing and directing projects of my own, as well as for-hire writing and directing projects.
The Release?
GC: STORMCHASER will be playing the festival circuit through sometime next year: virtual and, God willing, in person on a big screen at some point in 2021!
Advice from the Filmmaker?
GC: Make sure the story works on the page — I’m a firm believer that it all starts with a fully-developed and fine-tuned script. Then, prep, prep, prep in pre-pro with shot lists, storyboards, etc., so that when things go awry during the shoot, you can more easily pivot and recover, get the coverage you need, and make your days. Solve problems as they arise. Don’t buy into the mantra: “we can fix it in post.” Cast creatively and against type. Hire talented and like-minded people in front of and behind the camera — knowing that it takes time to truly find your team and tribe (unless you’re very lucky). Hold your Vision but be flexible when a fantastic idea or opportunity comes your way that enhances or expands your Vision, without taking you off course. Be tenacious. Be respectful. Be kind. And, most of all, trust yourself and your Vision.
Tell us what you think of STORMCHASER. What do you think of it? Genre? More genre? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook or Instagram! Or join me on Twitter.
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