An Industry Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: After Life Vacation
Genre: Romantic-comedy, syfy.
Length of film: in word(s) / number(s)
Date: June 2020
Director: Alberto Belli
Producer: Maria Brasero, Alberto Belli
Writer: Maria Brasero
Cinematographer: XIng-Deng Mai
Editor: name(s)
Composer: name(s)
Production Company: name
Budget: numerals
Financing: Self-funded
Shooting Format: Red
Screening Format: Digital
World Premiere: New Filmmakers LA
Awards: Best Short at Lady Filmmakers 2020, Indie Short Fest
Website: http://www.albertobelli.com/AfterLifeVacation.html
The Official Trailer for After Life Vacation
Watch The Trailer for After Life Vacation directed by Alberto Belli
A Short Biography of Alberto Belli
Alberto Belli was born in Mexico and currently lives in LA. His Latest projects include: directing a feature film for WARNER MEDIA, directing two episodes for the NETFLIX international hit series The House of Flowers and appeared as a judge on CBS’ The World’s Best hosted by James Corden — he was the sole filmmaker expert in the panel. He has two TV shows in development, one at Sony and IMDb TV with Norman Lear producing, and the other with Teri Weinberg.
He got his MFA from USC where he was awarded the John Huston Directing merit scholarship. Belli’s work has been recognized twice by the EMMYs foundation for the best comedic short film. He won the Young Director Award at CANNES LIONS. He is an alumnus of the Sony TV Directors Program, and he is currently part of the competitive DGA Directors Initiative Program where Jeffrey Blitz is his mentor.
The Alberto Belli Interview
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Alberto Belli (AB): After Life Vacation follows a newly wed couple in a not so far future, as they enter a travel agency to book their most important journey ever; the one that begins when you die. While deciding which type of vacation they want to book, the couple will have to address important issues whose consequences will be eternal.
The origin of the story was to play with the idea of what happens when you die; it is a fun and gentle way of questioning our commitment to our chosen loved ones and whether we would balk when faced with a century of wandering the stars with that one person or would you rather have fate set you up with maybe someone better?
Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Alberto Belli (AB): It has been featured on New Filmmakers LA in partnership with the Academy, HollyShorts, it won Best Short at Lady Filmmakers and it has been the official selection of many other international festivals; Sydney Lift-Off, Buenos Aires Film Festival, California Women’s Film Festival, Prague International Film Festival, ARFF Barcelona, Portobello Film Festival.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Alberto Belli (AB): Set in the not so far future, a newly wed couple enters a travel agency to book their most important journey ever; the one that begins when you die. While deciding which type of vacation they want to book, the couple will have to address important issues whose consequences will be eternal.
Development & Financing?
Alberto Belli (AB): My wife wrote the script when I was in Mexico shooting the Netflix show “House of Flowers”. When I read it, I felt it was very fresh and a unique way to look at death and commitment. So when I returned to L.A we started pre-production. My wife was pregnant so we didn’t want to wait too long to shoot it nor we wanted to spend much money (having a baby is expensive!), so we literally pulled as many favours as we could. The budget was around $5,000 which was very ambitious since we wanted to shoot it in RED and in very cinematic locations.
Production?
Alberto Belli (AB): We shot it all in one day to cut expenses and since we didn’t have the budget to pay the cast, we shot it with actor friends (the 5 actors are all good friends, the extras too) who loved the script and wanted to be part of it. Mai, the DP, helped us enormously getting a really good deal with the camera because we knew it had to look spotless, so we had just $5,000 that was for the below the line crew, locations and equipment and colour correction. Principal of Photography was June 21st 2019 and we shot it in two locations in DTLA, very close to each other. The editing, music…was what took us longer. We were in post production for almost a year since I edited myself too.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
AB: We handpicked a number of festivals on FilmFreeway and FestHome and we submitted it ourselves. HollyShorts and New Filmmakers LA were the two festivals we were very excited to get in, especially since that edition of NFMLA was presented by The Academy and HollyShorts was Oscar Qualifying.
The Release?
AB: In these COVID-19 times, the World Premiere was online at NFMLA.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
AB: Don’t wait for the perfect moment to tell your story. If you have a good project in your hands or a story you are dying to tell, work with what you have and things will move along. If you believe in it with all your heart, your enthusiasm will be contagious and more people will come on board. Remember, making a movie is a product of teamwork. You can’t do it alone. But nowadays you certainly can do it for almost no money. Before camera equipment was reserved for the few ones who could afford it.
Film was (still is) very expensive and required a team of experts around; from the cinematography to the editing. Now, you can even shoot a short with your phone. Storytelling has become as widely available as it can be. Take advantage of it. I’m not saying compromise quality, but don’t wait for the perfect storm to come in because it might never happen. And you might actually attract a financier if the short you filmed for $1,000 is brilliant. That’s your proof of concept. You can say “If I did this for just 1,000, imagine what I do with $100,000”.
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