Press Kit for The Empty Playground

The Empty Playground

4:30 minutes/ Super 16mm/color/NTSC/ HD CAM

SYNOPSIS

A man struggling with inner demons entertains a young girl on a playground.

CAST AND CREW

Marty Lodge- JACK

Skyla Schreter- AMANDA

June Rose- LYDIA

Phil Giordano- Writer/Director

Adam Mcdaid- Cinematographer

Flavio Alves- Producer

Jodi Gibson- Editor

Robb Williamson- Composer

Director’s Statement

Children scare me. I always feel like danger looms over them-that at any moment something bad could happen and they're defenseless. Anytime I see a little kid, they’re always about to run into the street or fall down. To me, it’s not that they’re helpless, it’s that they’re not equipped to battle the world yet.

I wanted to tell a story about a young girl that is slightly past that age, she is 12, and has the budding mental complexity of an adult, but the vulnerability and fragility of a child.

Like the fierceness of the world, Jack is the looming danger. Literally, he looms over Amanda and tries to lure her in, like a little kid running after a bouncing ball that heads towards traffic. It’s scary, but this scenario happens every single day. The question I wanted to pose is: What are you going to do about it? What can you do about it?

Production Notes

THE EMPTY PLAYGROUND was shot over two days at J Hood Wright Park on the upper west side of Manhattan. Featuring chilling performances from Marty Lodge and newcomer Skyla Schreter, the film marks the first collaboration between writer/director Phil Giordano and cinematographer Adam Mcdaid. Dan Clifton and Flavio Alves produced this effort as Jodi Gibson (editor) and Robb Williamson (composer) filled out the team.

About the Filmmakers

Director - Phil Giordano

In 2008, Phil co-wrote the script Wednesday's Farewell which won the 'Best Of' screenwriting competition on Francis Ford Coppola's website zoetrope.com.

Most recently, Phil directed The Empty Playground which was awarded The Golden Palm at the Mexico International Film Festival. 

Cinematographer - Adam Mcdaid

Adam Mcdaid completed his training at the American Film Institute with an MFA in Cinematography in 2006 and recently had the opportunity to hone is craft under Janusz Kaminski as his camera intern on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

He shot Una y Otra Vez, which was accepted into the Slamdance film festival in 2009 and won Best Narrative Short at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Producer – Dan Clifton

Graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2008, Clifton wrote, directed and produced the short film For All Mankind, a dedication to the action-adventure films he loved growing up. A Wasserman Award nominee for Best Picture at the NYU First Run Film Festival in 2009, For All Mankind was later screened at the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles.

Composer – Robb Williamson

In 2005 Robb composed the score for Joshua Leonard’s Sundance accepted film The Youth in Us starring Lukas Haas (Brick, Inception) and Kelli Gardner (Lars and the Real Girl).

After working on several successful short films, Robb stepped up to score his first feature film: GAMER starring Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Gerard Butler, and Ludacris. 

Editor – Jodi Gibson

Jodi Gibson is a graduate of the New York University Film School, MFA program. She has edited two short films that have screened and won awards at Sundance. The first was Michael Burke’s Fishbelly White, which won the special jury prize and the next year she directed and edited Friday, which won the Short Filmmaking Award-Honorable Mention.

About the Actors

Marty Lodge

Jack

Marty first garnered attention for his role as Banisky on HBO’s THE WIRE playing a newspaper reporter who uncovers Major Colvin’s “Amsterdam” operation and threatens to expose it all. Marty continued his television work with appearances on Gilmore Girls, Cold Case, and Boston Legal; but his most reputable role comes from his performance on Grey’s Anatomy. Regarded as the quintessential episode of Season 2, which showed after the Super Bowl to over 50 million viewers, Marty as Dr. Milton, explains to Christina Ricci’s character Hannah, what happens when a bomb explodes inside a human being.

Skyla Schreter

Amanda

Skyla Schreter comes to "The Empty Playground" from a lengthy career as a young ballerina. A student at the School of American Ballet since age 10, she has appeared with the NYCB at Lincoln Center in over two hundred productions choreographed by such luminaries as George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon and Susan Stroman. Other venues include Jacobs Pillow, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Works and Process series, Good Morning America, Lincoln Center Live, the dvd series Prima Princessa, and the TLC series My Life as a Child. The Empty Playground marks her debut performance as a dramatic actress.

Contact and Sales Information

Philip Jude Giordano

philipjgiordano@aol.com


BUY THE FILM: http://www.indiegogo.com/Goodnight

Goodnight: A film by Phil Giordano

Please read below to learn more about our film: Goodnight. We need your help to bring this film to life! 


Goodnight is a film about a teenager's addiction to prescription pills and his attempt to accept that suffering is healthy and part of who we are. 

Director’s Statement:  

In the early morning of January 10, 2006 I received a phone call  that Mariana Edkins my ex-girlfriend and best female friend of 6  years had been killed by a drunk driver. I sat in shock that the  person I loved so dearly was gone forever. Over the next four  years I buried five friends at the hands of intoxicated drivers  (either from popping pills, being drunk, or being hit). 


This film is my post card to everyone I have lost and anyone that has lost someone to an intoxicated driver.  

Key Crew 

Director - Phil Giordano 

Phil Giordano knew from a young age that his mind thought in 

movies. As an only child, instead of playing with toys, he 

would use his imagination to add onto tv shows or 

movies he had seen. He would put himself in the narrative, change character arc's, and add new characters into the story. 


Phil didn't realize until his junior year of college that it was possible to make movies on his own. Over the next four years he directed 11 short films, and worked on countless shorts, feature films, commercials, and music videos in all facets of production. 

In 2008, Phil co-wrote the script Wednesday's Farewell which won the 'Best Of' screenwriting competition on Francis Ford Coppola's website zoetrope.com. 

Most recently, Phil directed The Empty Playground which was 

awarded The Golden Palm at the Mexico International Film 

Festival.  

Cinematographer - Adam Mcdaid 

Adam is a cinematographer based in New York and Los Angeles. Ever since he was a little kid, he has been getting in trouble for spending too much time looking out windows and daydreaming. 


It makes sense that he fell in love with cinematography – an art that requires unique vision and a talent to see the minute details that reveal elements of story, character and emotion via composition and light. 

Having completed his training at the American Film Institute with an MFA in Cinematography in 2006, Adam has been busy shooting narratives, commercials, music videos and docs in all formats - 35mm, Super16 and HD. Recently, Adam had the opportunity to hone is craft under Janusz Kaminski as his camera intern on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 

He shot Una y Otra Vez, which was accepted into the Slamdance film festival in 2009 and won Best Narrative Short at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Adam is a visual storyteller who looks for projects that are 

challenging, collaborative and push the medium forward. Adam 

still hasn’t stopped daydreaming. 

Writer - Loren Marsh 

Loren Marsh wrote, produced and directed the acclaimed short film "Virginity" starring Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards, Saving Silverman, Jack and Jill) that played at the Berlin Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, the Los Angeles 

Independent Film Festival and the Hamptons Film Festival among  many others around the world. 

While "Virginity" was traveling the festival circuit, Loren 

accepted a graduate fellowship from Stanford University. After receiving his master's degree in Latin and Ancient Greek, Loren wrote, produced and directed Mission, a CinemaScope feature set in the Mission District of San Francisco starring Joshua Leonard and recently released by Vanguard. 

Loren also wrote the Sundance 2005 short film "The Youth in Us" directed by Joshua Leonard. Invitation to a Suicide, his second feature as writer, producer and director, had its world premiere at the AFI Los Angeles Film Festival in November 2004. 

Producer - Dan Clifton 

Director Dan Clifton has always been involved in the world of arts and entertainment. Born in London, England to two creative parents (an actor and a painter) Dan took an interest in film and television at an early age. 

Graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Clifton began to direct high-concept commercials and music videos in New York. In 2008 Clifton wrote, directed and produced the short film For All Mankind, a dedication to the action-adventure films he loved growing up. A Wasserman Award nominee for Best Picture at the NYU First Run Film Festival in 2009,  For All Mankind was later screened at the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles. 

Partnering with fellow NYU grad David Brooks, Clifton formed 

Onset Films in 2008 and signed a first-look development deal with Gold Circle Films. Moving their office to Santa Monica, Clifton and Brooks will produce their first feature ATM with Gold Circle in 2010. 

Directing Actors

Before reading this post, I want to acknowledge Judith Weston for her book Directing Actors , Sidney Lumet on his book Making Movies, and Constantin Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares, as well as numerous Charlie Rose interviews, The Actor's Studio, and my personal experience on set for informing me about the actor's process and effective ways to communicate with an actor.

BE SAD!! NO, BE MORE ANGRY!!!

The first thing that comes to mind is telling an actor to BE something. That is BAD. You can't tell someone to be, or to feel an emotion (you can talk about an emotional beat of a scene, but we'll get to that later). One example I use a lot is, if your mother dies, you cannot tell yourself to be happy. If you try to be happy, it'll look like acting, like you are trying to look happy (we call this acting with a capital A). Instead, if you give yourself an action to do, focusing your attention on another person, like to 'cheer up' your younger brother, you are doing something active and the performance will be much better than passively trying to be happy. By trying to cheer up your younger brother you will focus your attention on them, and find ways to make him happy, which will make you happier.

If you are an actor, and a director gives you a result direction like 'be happy' try to translate his passive direction into an action.

BE=passive
DOING=active

To 'cheer up' is an action verb. To intimidate, to threaten, to seduce, to entertain, to accuse. These are all action verbs. And in a conversation between Sidney Lumet and Ethan Hawke, Lumet said, all an actor needs is a simple, active direction. Some directors will talk for 5 minutes about what they want from the actor or what they see in their head, but when you are on set, shooting, a simple active direction is the best thing.

My 2 other favorite tools are giving a physical task or an objective. If an actor is having trouble with a scene or something is just not working, it is sometimes helpful to give the actor something to focus on, or take their attention off their performance or the moment. *Quick rule of tumb, if an actor is trying really hard and placing a lot of importance on something, that will most likely show as acting with a capital A. Film is about subtlety, and even if an actor is giving 110%, it can't show in their performance.

An example of using a physical task is: if the scene takes place in a kitchen, between two people talking, but one actor seems to be over-acting, you might suggest the actor make a cup of coffee in the scene, or get something from the fridge. That is a physical task. Give them something to do in a scene.

I personally don't always like physical taks, because in fact they can enable an actor to hide from an emotion. You have to be careful when to use them. Paul Thomas Anderson, when directing Gwenith Paltrow in his 1st feature film, Sydney, (when he was 24!!) spotted Paltrow was using a prop to hide behind. Paltrow, in a diner, talks with Philip Baker Hall, and instead of using her face to express her emotions, or her body posture, she was playing with a coffee cup. PTA called her out on it and she immediately responded. She knew she was doing it, and she respected him for reading her tell.

One excellent use of a physical task is found in the opening scene of The Godfather. Director Francis Ford Coppola, gave Marlon Brando a physical task: to play with a cat. I believe (lol haven't asked him personally, but this is my rationale) he gave Brando the cat, because it is a heavy filled dialogue scene where another character speaks uninterupted. Brando, then speaks uninterupted for some time as well. It's boring to see the godfather simply sitting there looking at the man, as well as Brando simply speaking. It was a balance between giving the actor something else to focus on, and the audience something else to focus on. It was a good balance, because it wasn't extremely distracting, like a poster saying something you want to read, or a man commiting a murder, but it was something active (and unpredictable).

Unpredictable is important also, because acting is about being in the moment, listening to the other person, and reacting to them. Sometimes, if Morgan Freeman thinks an actor he's working with is not paying attention, he'll say "what?" right in the middle of the scene. If the actor is just reciting their lines, they won't know what to do, or they'll fumble, but if the actor is in the moment, and listening, they'll react.

The other useful tool is an objective. An objective is something you give to an actor that you want them to achieve during the scene. So everything they do in that scene is to get them to achieve the objective. One objective I like to give in a romantic scene is: "your objective is to make ______ kiss you." If I was to give an action verb for that scene it would be "try to seduce ____."

To be honest, I don't really give tasks or objectives that much, nor do I give action verbs that often. Action verbs can get of hand, because if you give an action verb, and the adjustment they make is not what you want, it becomes this manipulating situation where you spit out verbs til you find what works best. I don't like that as much anymore. It is imperative you have the knowledge of using it, and the repertoire of verbs at your disposal though.

To me, 90% of the work is done in casting. Then, the most important thing to do on the day (of shooting) is talk to the actor about the emotional beats of the scene. Or if the actor is nailing it, only talk about something if it feels wrong in the rehearsal.

So, if you are just talking before shooting, the actor will probably have a cup of coffee or something and you can talk about the scene, and the emotions. I personally never like to tell the actor what I want them to feel. We go over the script and I address the questions they ask, but I never want to dictate, I want it to be a collaboration where we both agree and understand our decisions. For me, it's about the actor understanding what I want from the story, and organically playing the scene with the other actor.

Below is an email exchanged with a filmmaker I was discussing acting with:

On my 1st film we rehearsed rehearsed rehearsed. Now, I barely rehearse, to me it's about talking in the morning, on the day, about the emotional beats of the scene. About creating an emotional map and answering any questions the actor has. With Marty in The Empty Playground, I told him as a director how I wanted to tell the story. That was very important to me, because he had to know as a story teller how I was using his performance. It's the same to me as an actor being aware of the frame size, it gives them permission to play.

Getting a Producer (3 of 3)

With Loren by my side I knew we would have a tremendous script. Now I just needed a producer.

I immediately thought of 4 people. Nily Refai (see part 1), Clay Reed (see part 2),  Gabrielle Nadig (just coming off being the production manager of my last short The Empty Playground and producing an NYU film that was official selection SXSW and Tribeca), and Dan Clifton (whom we will discuss later). Clay, who is a remarkable person was completely unreachable because he was traveling extensively. Nily was still working on her Thesis as well as a few commercials. Gabby had just accepted a 6 month commitment on a job. And Dan Clifton is currently Executive Producer on Gold Circle Films new opus ATM starring Josh Peck (The Wackness) and Brian Geharghty (The Hurt Locker).

Dan is a friend and someone I really enjoy working with (worked on Dan's Zipcar commercial) so I didn't give up.

I persisted and when an ATM article was published in The Daily Reporter I congratulated him and sent an offer. I won't say it was an offer he couldn't refuse, but it was a nice offer and Dan accepted. Timing is really important and I was lucky enough to find him when he was available, and before anyone else snatched him up.

The last producer to sign on was Roberta Munroe, author of How Not to Make a Short Film, which is probably in my top 10 favorite books on filmmaking (behind Judith Weston's Directing Actors, and Frost's Cinematography for Directors). I respect Roberta very much and as someone who was a Sundance programmer for many years and a filmmaker herself, I am confident in her ability to cut the fat and identify what has been done a million times and what is fresh.

Roberta came on as Supervising Producer and meets with me once a week.

One thing that I am happy about is that Roberta has agreed to help with Distribution as long as the final project is something distribution worthy. And looking at the story and the team I think it will be.

So that is the story of how Loren Marsh, Dan Clifton, and Roberta Munroe came on board of my next film. Please read more about the progress we make!! And I hope you can be part of it!

Finding a Writer (2 of 3)

I needed a writer who:

1) Had written a short/feature accepted to a major film festival ala Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, or Toronto.

2) I've seen their work and can write something gut-wrenching, that will leave an audience crying or pissed off in under 15 minutes.

It was a very short list and I had never spoken to any of these writers.

Here is the list:

1) Loren Marsh     The Youth in Us- Sundance

2) Thomas Nowell     Sick Sex, Acting for the Camera- Sundance, Sundance

3) David Michod      Spider, Netherland Dwarf- Sundance, Aspen Shortsfest

4) Jeffrey Blitz        Rocket Science- Sundance

5) Rian Johnson      Brick-Sundance

I had recently been working with a director, helping him find funding for his 3-D epic, as well as helping him contact agents for possible cast. I called Pamela Anderson's agent, Domonic Monohan, even Dicaprio's agent for fun. When I called I represented Bohemia Film, and doors opened. I thought I'd use my newfound knowledge in trying to find a writer for myself.

I had spent months developing a film treatment with Clay (Another AFI Producing fellow and graduate) and I was very confident in what I had.

The logline read (which is registered with the WGA, so don't think about using it lol): Struggling to write a eulogy for his recently deceased fiance, Henry tries a drug that is suppose to enhance the memories of his lost love. If the drug in fact works.

So I called up CAA to speak with Jeffrey Blitz's agent.

I called the front desk.

Operator: CAA

Me: Can I have _______ ________.

Operator: (no response) ::connects me::

CAA Agent's Desk: _________ _________'s office.

Me: Hi, this is Philip Giordano from Leeds Street Productions I'm interested in sending a film treatment to Jeffrey Blitz to see if he'd be interested in developing the script.

CAA: Where are you from?

Me: I'm Phil Giordano from Leeds Street Productions, I was hoping I could get an assistant's email and I could send the treatment over.

CAA: Jeffrey Blitz doesn't read unsolicited material.

[HANGS UP]

I needed help.

I emailed the director of The Youth in Us, a friend, and an AMAZING actor, director, and writer. I was familiar with Joshua because I loved his film and when I was in post on my last short, The Empty Playground, a short where I needed an excellent composer for, he helped me out. 

So I called on Joshua again, this time to hook me up with Loren, famed writer of The Youth in Us and Vriginity (starring Amanda Peet). And Joshua, for a director who is in post on his 1st feature and a regular on HUNG, he was incredibly gracious and quick.

I spoke with Loren, who I ultimately have learned has written and directed 2 features, the latest, Invitation to a Suicide has gotten distribution from Warner Brothers, and we setup a writing schedule.

Please check out my next post titled: Getting a Producer!

How Goodnight Came to Be (Part 1 of 3)

I was in LA, sitting on the floor of a cargo van, wedged between the drivers seat, a Palestinian fabric rug, and the passengers seat. Nily (AFI graduate student a few days shy of receiving her M.F.A. in Producing) drove. I spoke about a film I wanted her to produce.

Carnevale, a tale of a father haunted by the death of his son. Demons dressed in bright red Venetian masks, resembling that of Eyes Wide Shut, chase our hero through the woods as he dodges visions of his pale white son haunting him.

I had a whole look book: storyboards, visual references, the locations I wanted to use, even the type of trees I wanted in the background (birch trees) and a preliminary budget of $10,000 which I had funding for.

Nily stopped me. She asked "have you ever lost a son?" I said "no." She said "I know this story is very visual and you are passionate, but why do you want to tell this story?"

I paused for a moment. I told her how I was raised Roman Catholic and how CARNE + VALE broken down in Latin translates to "farewell to meat" that this film was about saying goodbye to something you love and a father coming to grips with the death of his son.

Nily persisted. Have you ever lost someone? "Yea" I responded.

"Who?"

"Mariana, my best friend and ex-girlfriend" Everyone in the van grew silent-we were doing returns for Nily's Thesis film and our 2nd AD/Co-Producer sat shotgun).

Nily responded: "You have to find a story that you HAVE to tell, something that there is NO WAY you will give up on. If the money runs out, if everything goes wrong, something you will die trying to make. Azad is a true story about a family member of mine in Iran and it expresses how I felt when I was trapped there for months unable to return to America."

HOLY SHIT I thought. My eyes were opened. No more films about two guys talking on their couch about getting laid, or rip-off thrillers about a serial killer on the loose. It was time to elevate my game.

I decided to make a film about over-medicated America, about those who fall victim to pills and drunk drivers because 5 of my friends including Mariana, have been slain in the last 6 years to intoxicated drivers.

But I learned something from my last film: I needed a writer and a great producer!

See my next post: Finding a Writer!

Welcome to the Blog for Goodnight

Goodnight is a short film about American society's inability to accept that suffering might be healthy and instead believe medication is the solution for anything that may be wrong.

MEET THE TEAM:

Phil Giordano (Director)            

The Empty Playground
Winner- Golden Palm at Mexico International Film Festival

Loren Marsh  (Writer)                

Virginity
Official Selection- Berlin Film Festival

The Youth in Us
Official Selection- Sundance Film Festival

Adam Mcdaid (Cinematographer)

Una Otra Vez
Winner- Best Short Film at Los Angeles Film Festival

Jodi Gibson  (Editor)              

Fishbelly White
Winner-Special Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival

Friday
Winner-Honorable Mention at Sundance Film Festival