An Industry Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: Talentless
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama
Length of film: 15:45
Date: Completed May 2020
Director: Jeff Perreca
Producer: Jeff Perreca, Anissa Williams
Executive Producer: NA
Writer: Jeff Perreca
Cinematographer: Russell Kawaguchi
Editor: Jeff Perreca
Composer: Sandro Morales-Santoro
Production Company: NA
Budget: 15K
Financing: Self Financed
Shooting Format: Digital (BlackMagic Pocket 4k, BRAW)
Screening Format: NA
World Premiere: Dances With Films (August 2021)
Awards: A winner of Stage32’s Short Film Contest
Website: https://www.instagram.com/talentless_themovie
The Official Trailer for Talentless
Watch The Trailer for Talentless directed by Jeff Perreca
A Short Biography of Jeff Perreca
Jeff has been a part of countless productions for Chevy, Honda, U.S. Navy and XM Radio. In 2019, Jeff made his directorial debut with “Talentless”. It was named a winner of Stage32’s Short film contest, and debuted at Dances with Films. It played in Oscar-qualifying festivals like HollyShorts and Raindance. Jeff was also a directing fellow for BlackMagic Collective’s First Frame Initiative. He is currently developing multiple projects with the intent of making a feature film debut.
The Jeff Perreca Interview
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Jeff Perreca (JP): Talentless is about a procedure in the near future that can take one person’s talent and implant it into someone else. The story’s centered around a struggling singer who must choose between following her dreams or selling her talent to the highest bidder. It’s very much Black Mirror meets a Star is Born.
The idea came from my own personal life and finding myself at a crossroads every creative eventually faces. I had spent years trying to break in as a screenwriter and while I have had some success, it was never enough to quit my day job in Advertising. After making films constantly as a child and teenager, I had grown tired of waiting for someone in Hollywood to make one of my movies. Plus, my day job in Advertising was increasingly draining and not the type of creativity I found very fulfilling. I was beginning to feel like a sell out.
With those words rattling around in my brain, I had thought what if you literally could sell out. How long would you try to keep “making it” if you knew you could always just simply sell your talent to the highest bidder? Furthermore, if you’re poor or responsible for taking care of a family, is there even a choice? Do only the rich get to pursue their dreams?
All these questions were baked into the script from day one and really gave me a clear theme to write towards.
Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Jeff Perreca (JP): Our festival run has been great and is just beginning. We premiered at Dances with Films in Hollywood in August 2021. We were fortunate to be named a winner of Stage 32’s Short Film Contest, which will screen our film at HollyShorts and Raindance in London. We’re also screening at the Newport Beach Film Festival in October as well as a few others.
In the film, our lead actress Shanica Knowles, sings a song she wrote and produced herself. “Bought Me Out.” It has been one of the tools we’ve used in marketing as the song is incredibly powerful and her performance singing it in the film is really a stand out moment of the piece.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Jeff Perreca (JP): In Talentless, Lucy Larkin finds herself at a crossroads. She’s pregnant and her boyfriend has recently passed away. All her life, she’s dreamed of singing, but we find her busking on the streets for an audience of no one. After being denied by a music producer, Lucy must ask herself if her dreams are more important than her child’s. When she decides to list her talent on the Evans Institute’s website, she heads up to a house in the hills to meet a potential buyer. The movie is centered around Lucy’s choice. Will she sell her talent? Is a life simply as a mother enough? Who in our society gets to truly follow their dreams?
Development & Financing?
Jeff Perreca (JP): I self financed this movie myself. I essentially worked several freelance jobs on top of my full-time advertising gig for about four to five months. It was pretty grueling, but I had written a script that required a lot of locations, live music and some touches of sci-fi tech. This was also going to be my directorial debut, so I was very much learning on the fly. In retrospect, should I have maybe gone with a more contained, simple script for my first movie. My wife would’ve voted yes. I’m glad I didn’t. I had this perfect mix of ignorance and ambition, which pushed me to put as much scope as possible in front of the camera.
Production?
Jeff Perreca (JP): I’m fortunate with my background in Advertising that I have extensive production experience. So I knew all the steps to take. I knew how to prepare for the shoot itself, but there was still a lot I had to learn. So, I never had to deal with SAG myself. I never had to get a permit from FilmLA. Insurance? Learned all about that as well. I wore as many hats as possible, so I could put all my money in front of the camera. That meant, I did everything from craft services, location scouting, shot listing, schedule breakdowns, editing, coloring and all the promotional work for the film.
That said, I still had a fantastic team around me to help bring this idea to life. I met my D.P., Russell, at an event for Film Independent. Once he was on board it felt like this thing was actually going to happen. We had extensive meetings where I shared photos and clips and we talked about EVERYTHING. Lighting, camera movement, lens choices and the schedule down to the minute.
Next up was casting. I utilized my Advertising connections to work with Anissa Williams. She is one of the best casting directors in LA, especially when it comes to diverse talent. I saw a wide range of actors, especially for the role of Lucy. I needed to find someone who could not only act, but also had an incredible voice. Anissa absolutely delivered and I was fortunate to have hundreds of amazingly talented actresses audition. However, after callbacks I still wasn’t sure if we found the right one. That’s when Shanica Knowles self tape came in. Shanica was the perfect combination of someone who was vulnerable, tough and incredibly charismatic. Most importantly, she could sing! After we got on the phone, I knew I found my Lucy.
This is how it was for the other roles as well. Raquel Gardner who plays Brenda, the woman buying Lucy’s talent, was simply perfect in the audition. Same with Reign Morton who plays Russell. As a director, I’m also looking for truth in my actors. Does it feel like I’m watching a person WHO IS the character or is it an actor reading lines. When you find that it makes directing on set much easier.
After the cast was in place, we locked locations, broke down our days and shot the film in August 2019. For three days, we shot in the sweltering heat of the Valley. We managed to squeeze in six locations over those three days.
When you wear a ton of hats on productions like this, the shoot’s are grueling. You have to be the one to constantly keep the train on the tracks. Plus, the way it worked out with our Payroll service, I had to come home and submit the time sheets after being on set for 12-14 hours. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much during that time.
Fortunately, I was given some of the best advice of my life from a fellow director who told me, whatever energy I bring onto the set, my cast and crew will feel. So I made sure no matter how exhausted or worn out I felt, that I brought it every single day. I can honestly say the cast and crew brought it as well.
Once we wrapped, I took my time editing the film as it was the first time I had ever edited anything of this scope. I leaned on a lot of friends and mentors to watch various cuts. I think my first cut was closer to 20 minutes. Throughout the process, I ended up slicing it down to 15 mins, cutting out several scenes entirely.
Sound was the one area I didn’t want to touch myself as I knew how important it was. We had a great sound guy on set named Blake Christian. Plus, I hired one of my favorite sound mixers I worked with in advertising, Sam Casas, to do the final mix. I thought we were on our way, but there was one missing ingredient.
Film Independent struck again as I met my composer, Sandro Morales-Santoro, at a different event. After showing him the cut, he immediately said I needed a custom score. At the time, I was just using the guitar track of the song that Shanica wrote and it worked… mostly. However, on set Shanica’s ear wig stopped working randomly. (Set life!) Her pacing was a bit off as she had to sing without hearing the music. Sandro was able to come in and create a custom score that fit the pacing, but also heightened the emotion of the climatic scene.
One of the best moments on the project was seeing his score against the picture. I had literal goosebumps. To this day, I’ve had countless people come up and tell me that they cry during that scene.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
JP: By the time we finished mixing and color, the world had shut down. I really didn’t want to submit it to online-only festivals, so I decided to hold it off until 2021. That allowed us to submit to more festivals as the entry fees were lower, since we got those early rates.
I also created a custom IG page to house all the content from the film. I also cut a trailer, which helped garner some early interest. Most of all, I knew the idea behind Talentless would resonate with creative people. So I always made sure to lead with our concept to help hook programmers.
The Release?
JP: We premiered at Dances with Films in August 2021. Seeing it on the big screen was absolutely magical. Our festival run will wrap up in the next few months and I’m already looking for an online partner to showcase the film.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
JP: My biggest advice for filmmakers is something I’ve only learned recently. It’s simply this…
“Making it is making it.”
These are the words I live by now. What do they mean? For so many years, I fell into the trap that a lot of people in LA fall into. We come from all over the world to the land of dreams, all so we can “make it.” But that definition of making it usually means working in Hollywood on films with big budgets and big stars. The irony is I know a lot of people who have “made it” and are miserable. Even worse, I know so many people that will say, “once I get X, then my life can truly begin.” Or, “I will be happy once I sell my script, make my film, book this role… etc.” Truth is so many things outside of your control have to go right for that to happen. They say luck is 97% preparation, I think it’s a lot closer to 50/50 in Hollywood.
So for a long time, I wasn’t very happy. All those things I listed above, I said to myself. Once I get a manager or agent or sell a show, then I’ll be happy.
That is not a recipe for a healthy life. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s just how fragile our world truly is. So don’t connect happiness with a result you can’t control.
What you can control is what you create. Embrace that part of the process. Yes, making films is stressful. Yes, writing scripts can be frustrating. But when you have a breakthrough on the page, revel in it. When you see an actor give an incredible performance on set, allow yourself to celebrate the moment.
Redefine what making it means for you. For me, just creating and making films brings me so much joy. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to keep making stuff. Maybe I’ll get to even make some stuff for Hollywood one day.
Either way, as long as I’m telling the stories I want to tell, I’ll be as happy as can be.
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