An Industry Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: A Perfect Circle
Genre: Black Comedy
Length of film: in word(s) / number(s)
Date: 2020
Director: Marc Furmie
Producer: Rezistor films
Writer: Tatiana Ikasovic
Cinematographer: Rezistor films
Editor: name(s)
Composer: name(s)
Production Company: Rezistor films
Budget: $20,000
Financing: Private
Shooting Format: Alexa 2k
Screening Format: DCP
World Premiere: NA
Awards: Audience award
Website: https://www.instagram.com/perfectcirclefilm
The Official Trailer for A Perfect Circle
Watch The Trailer for A Perfect Circle directed by Marc Furmie
A Short Biography of Marc Furmie
Marc began his writing and directing career in Sydney. He has directed commercials for McDonalds, Telstra, Sony, Volkswagen and Amnesty. His shorts Death’s Requiem and Dark Horse have played at 50+ international film festivals winning awards at Flickerfest, Shriekfest, MethodFest, St. Kilda and Byron Bay Film Festivals. A Perfect Circle won audience award for Best Short at 2020 Method Fest. His SyFy web-series Airlock picked up awards at Sicily and Melbourne Webfests.
In 2015, Marc co-wrote and directed Terminus, a sci-fi feature released by Vertical Entertainment. He co-wrote In Like Flynn, directed by Russell Mulcahy released in 2019, and thriller Sweet River, a Netflix Australia Original. Marc’s screenplay for Harlem 58 was a Top 3 finalist in the 2020 Final Draft Big Break. He sold his first TV pitch The Coves to Chris Hemsworth’s Thematic Entertainment. As the co-founder and executive producer of Rezistor Films in LA, Marc is overseeing a slate of films with international writers and directors.
The Marc Furmie Interview
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Marc Furmie (MF): A Perfect Circle is about a cynical millennial who reluctantly seeks enlightenment at a trendy therapeutic retreat in Los Angeles. Following a hallucinogenic trip, she encounters her idealized self. The story originated as a proof of concept for a tv show about a girl that unknowingly enters a cult. We distilled the idea down into a short and gave it a psychedelic, comedic spin on the story. The writer drew from personal experiences of wellness retreats and acting classes as her inspiration for the short.
Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Marc Furmie (MF): We’ve had a great festival run so far, starting at MethodFest in LA where it won the Audience award for best short. It will be screening at the award winning genre festival Filmquest next year, and has played at the prestigious Byron Bay film festival along with a few others coming up next year. As this is a proof of concept for a tv show, we have been approached already by several producers and streaming services as they think it would work well as a broader story with several seasons
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Marc Furmie (MF): Rose, a cynical millennial with a chip on her shoulder, attends a four day New Age thera- peutic retreat in LA run by an enigmatic shaman. As she journeys down the rabbit hole of self actualization with a gathering of lost souls, she discovers an idealized version of herself. When this new and improved, enlightened doppelganger threatens to destroy Rose’s world, she has no choice but to take action.
Development & Financing?
Marc Furmie (MF): The screenplay is an original concept written by Tatiana Ikasovic, after she was developing a tv show of a similar nature. We worked together to create a distilled snapshot of this retreat and make it a contained story. Development moved along quite quickly as she had already been working on this idea for a couple of years. In terms of financing, Rezistor films co-financed the film and we had a few independent producers put money into the project. some of it was self financed. It was a labor of love and we had an amazing cast and crew and producer that helped everything run smoothly despite the relatively small budget for the size of the project.
Production?
Marc Furmie (MF): Production took place in Los Angeles, where we recruited our amazing producer Martina Silcock to organize everything and finalize the budget. We really pooled a lot of our resources and favors and tried to work to a tight schedule to ensure we got all the coverage we needed while not going into the dreaded overtime and maxing out our budget. The team filmed over two days in Highland park in an incredible house owned by one of the actresses in the film. We worked closely with our DP Andrew to create a dreamlike, ethereal setting and lighting that would aid the story. We pulled references from Charlie Kaufman and Robert Altman movies.
The editing process was complicated, and definitely one of the harder parts of the production. We had to shoot a few pickups after sifting through the footage and noticing some gaps. We had a few different editors work on the film as we couldn’t afford our main editors day rates so it was a little stressful, however we managed to make it work in the end.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
MF: Our strategy was to start with key Oscar qualifying festivals and then go wider, and we’ve had great success and feedback from screenings so far. Filmquest definitely gave our short film the edge, as genre festivals always attract big audiences.
The Release?
MF: We have not released the film yet, hoping to do so by mid next year.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
MF: Create personal stories and be relentless with budgeting. Allow yourself enough time and don’t rush into decisions. Create the best version of the story you can, don’t worry about festivals and the end product, Just focus on the quality and everything else will fall into place. And most importantly, find a great producer!
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