Writer & Director Lynne Alana Delaney on-making, The Remake

Lynne Alana Delaney Behind the Scene on “The Remake”

Lynne Alana Delaney was born and raised in Southern California. She began her acting career with a dramatic portrayal of the princess in a stage production of ‘The Proud Princess’ at a small local theater. Lynne ended up attending UCLA before continuing on to study Law. However long it took or wherever life’s path diverted her, she has come full circle and returned to her first passion, acting. Today Lynne is also a screenwriter, producer, and filmmaker, she talks to us about her filmmaking process on the production of “The Remake“. The Remake is currently on VOD.

indieactivity: Give a background of your personal experience with the story, writing, production and marketing?
Lynne: I would have to admit that my original intent was not to have quite such a hands-on approach to filmmaking in absolutely every aspect of the process when we came up with the idea of producing The Remake. The nature of independent filmmaking, however, (and budget, of course) quickly changed my mindset. Being the type of person who feels compelled to finish what I start, left me little option but to see this film through to completion. If that meant taking it from soup to nuts, or more literally from script to social media marketing to get people to watch it…that’s what I would do!

indieactivity: Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Lynne: Coming back to acting mid-life can be challenging, to say the least. My husband and co-star in the film, Ruben Roberto Gomez, and I, who had both started in the theatre in our teens and then gone on to other careers, knew we were at a distinct disadvantage by not having the same 20+ years of work and connections in the industry to showcase our talent as our contemporaries had. With the advent of digital independent filmmaking and my love of writing, we felt we could produce something not only worth watching,, but that would give us the exposure we needed to help our acting careers. So, I definitely had us in mind while writing the two lead characters.

Lynne Alana Delaney Shooting a scene in The Remake with Sally Kellerman and Patrika Darbo

indieactivity: How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a process?)
Lynne: I wish I could say that I had a clear-cut writing process and/or a schedule that I followed to be more consistent in my writing. As I was a working actor at the same time and booked on a variety of other projects during the process, I was only able to work intermittently from September through March when we started shooting. As an ultra-low budget indie, we were also all tasked with a variety of duties during pre-production from January through our start up in March.

indieactivity: When did you form your production company – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
Lynne: Our production company, Associated Artists Productions, formed by myself, my husband and my cinematographer brother, Timothy Delaney, was specifically set up for this, our first feature film

indieactivity: What was the first project out of the gate?
Lynne: When we started discussing doing our own productions, we had originally thought of producing a few shorts. As the ideas for shorts grew in direct proportion to our ambition to do something noteworthy, we decided to dive right in and go for a full-length feature.

indieactivity: During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Lynne: From a production standpoint, the Church scene finale was probably the most complicated and ambitious for us as new filmmakers. Our extremely tight budget didn’t help either as we were spread pretty thin by that point. We were on location and had our largest cast and crew ever, with a lot of ground to cover in only one day. Even the logistics of moving everyone around, keeping them fed and happy while being able to complete our shot lists for the day, seemed like an incredible challenge.

Lynne Alana Delaney Shooting a scene in The Remake with Sally Kellerman and Patrika Darbo

indieactivity: What works better in this latest production that mightn’t have worked in the last one you did?
Lynne: Although I have written a couple of screenplays since that I hope to get optioned, I am working on a new one that we are planning to produce ourselves. I find myself taking into account the lessons learned and many of the production issues we came up against in our first film while trying to incorporate ways to avoid them in the next. Like many independent filmmakers, many of our hurdles during production came about due to a lack of sufficient funding, especially to cover additional and necessary crew.

All three of us, as producers, were forced to take on additional responsibilities that would have normally been delegated to others. I particularly in the press, was bashed for taking on too much, although we really had no choice to get it completed.

indieactivity: You produced and directed the film, what measure of input did it take to don these hats?
Lynne: I believe most screenplay writers have such a strong vision of their films during their creative process, they feel they would have a good handle on how to direct it. Having said that, however, I do feel I took on more than I anticipated, especially when you add in acting, producing and self-directing.

We had originally planned to hire another director, with a better technical skill set than I, but could not come up with anyone within our budget range that seemed to grasp what we were trying to do with this film. The producing was truly a team effort, and I relied heavily on others for technical advice to formulate the scenes the way I visualized them when writing.

indieactivity: Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
Lynne: Yes, most definitely. I think all independent filmmakers will forever struggle to find a happy balance between their creative vision and the business side of movie making. Passion is what seems to drive a filmmaker to create something they feel others will want to watch. The business side of getting your film to market, finding the right distributor, and making a living at your craft, can be daunting to say the least. We all struggle to find our “happy place” where passion meets profit.

Lynne Alana Delaney on the set of The Remake with Sheila Korsi & Ruben Roberto Gomez

indieactivity: Where do you think your strengths line as a filmmaker?
Lynne: My first love is bringing a writer’s words to life on a stage or screen as an actor, hopefully rounding out and developing whatever the writer visualized for that character on screen. But as for the filmmaking process, I would like to think that both my writing and directing can work hand in hand. The written words on the page can be very powerful for both the actor portraying the character and the audience.

Without the proper direction, however, the words can become hollow and distracting. Now that I was able to direct my own screenplay, I have gained a confidence in both my writing, as I now know better how to frame the dialogue for ease in filming, and in my acting, having worked on both sides of the camera.

indieactivity: Let’s talk finance, How did you finance the film?
Lynne: As relative unknowns in the industry, we knew it would be a struggle to find financing without already having proved ourselves. We were anxious to get started and didn’t want to spend the enormous amount of time and energy it would take to secure funding for a larger project with a gofundme page or through the financial market. The script was written with that thought in mind and kept a character driven, limited locations, no special effects type of film on purpose.

We wanted it to be a union project, but knew we needed to keep it an ultra-low budget to keep the cost of our cast down if we wanted their blessings. We were lucky in the sense that through friends and acquaintances we found two benefactors that funded the bulk of the film. The three of us as producers ended up supplying what was basically Completion Financing, when we realized the additional expenditures we would have for post and marketing.

indieactivity: How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make any dent without it these days?
Lynne: Extremely important…and, unfortunately, no. Marketing is a necessary evil for all filmmakers at all levels whether it be on the festival circuit, in theatres, or on-line through social media and other avenues for VOD & DVD. With the tremendous competition in independent films it has become even more important to get eyes on your film any way you can. Creative marketing, targeting your core or niche market has become, unfortunately, almost as important as the quality of your filmmaking.

Lynne Alana Delaney and Ruben Roberto Gomez

indieactivity: Can you tell us about your marketing activities on the project – and how it’s gone for you?
Lynne: Although a Romantic-Comedy is not the usual fodder for film festivals, we did do a series of festivals both in the U.S. and Europe and the film won a number of awards giving us impetus to seek distribution. We four-walled the film for one week in Los Angeles, but found it difficult to reach our target audience of mature women and baby-boomers through social media.

As an ultra-low cast indie, we were lucky to be reviewed in both the Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times plus a variety of online sites. Unfortunately, the reviewers seem to gloss over the nostalgic throwback feel of the film choosing to focus on the fact that we all had to wear a variety of hats in order to be able to keep our costs down and complete this film under budget. We also found surprising little support from cast and crew who had all moved on to other projects by the time we had completed post.

Luckily, after getting distribution with Vision Films for VOD & DVD this past January 30th, we picked up momentum and both coverage and social media seem to be boosting rentals and sales.

indieactivity: What do you hope audiences get from your film?
Lynne: My hope is that general audiences will walk away from this film with a smile on their faces and a sense that they were entertained. It’s meant to give them a little, good-feeling break from these uncertain times and maybe even inspire them with a sense that it’s never too late to chase their dreams. There is always a second chance.

Hopefully, other independent filmmakers, even if Rom-Com’s aren’t their genre, will come away with a renewed belief that if three producers with limited experience can take a project from start to finish this late in our careers, that their own projects have endless potential.

indieactivity: What else have you got in the works?
Lynne: WMy screenplay, Losing Face, based on a true story, is currently in talks to be optioned as a co-production with China. Here is a little mood reel I created as part of my pitch. My newest screenplay, and one which I am really excited about, Partners, I am hoping we will be able to produce ourselves at Associated Artists.

It is both a tragic and poignant tale of an aging singer in the sunset of his career and his coming of age granddaughter caught up in the undeniable passion of the lyrics and music of the Tango. Their dilemmas, juxtaposed against the colourful background of Argentina and the Tango itself transports the audience in story, music and dance to another time and place. If you enjoyed La-La Land, you will be transfixed by the beauty of Partners.