A message from Directors Mike Lewis and Chris Robinson

The KeskarelAMovie project has evolved. The frozen chicken, sadly, has gone the way of the Dodo. The evolutionary process that began the first time one of the characters changed the storyline in the middle of an improv session, continued when the Storyboard was complete and AD Chris began writing the script, with Mike as dramaturge, and sylvia, as she promised Mike + Chris, hands-off in her new role as only-the-producer. Mike  summarizes status:

The two of us, Mike and Chris, have decided to reduce the scope of the project to a short film derived from one piece of the Keskarel screen play.  Our plan is to focus on the Therapist and two of his clients/patients as they attempt to work through a marital dispute (Note: This scene has not been published in the blog in order to preserve Chris' copyright. As scriptwriter, Chris opted to replace Hamlet + Ophelia as the noisy neighbors.).  The climax of their therapy is interrupted by the intervention of their disgruntled neighbors, Keskarel and the videographer.  This preserves much of our original planned ending for the feature length film, and does not exclude the possibility of eventually filming more from the feature length storyboard of Keskarel.  However Mike and Chris are not interested in working on that story at this time.

This change in plans was agreed upon by Mike and Chris for several reasons.  One reason being the amount of work and finances needed to produce a feature length story.  On top of these practical hurdles, Mike and Chris are still not happy with the current version of the Keskarel screen play.  It is really more of a character study than a story with a plot.  And without an interesting plot, we feel there is not a compelling drama.

Mike and Chris both believe that the story arc for the Keskarel character could be developed.  And we have specific ideas how to do this.  However, neither Mike nor Chris are very interested in working on that kind of story.  We prefer to work on the part of the story that we find the most interesting, which is the Therapist sub-plot.

One strategy we are currently discussing is to build up the "Keskarel" project as a group of short stories which are interwoven or loosely connected.  Each short story can be approached as it's own short film project.  These shorts can either be edited together into a feature length film or presented separately as stand-alone short films.

In addition to the Therapist story, we want to film another short segment involving a character from a short story by Chris.  This segment is surrealistic and may or may not connect well to the other story by the time we complete it.  However, the point of this is to make short films that are complete and finished rather than to continue making storyboards.

sylvia is busy with solo projects and likely will only be producer and crew on the Keskarel Project in its new incarnation, but, we hope the rest of our cast - Diana, Nidal, Nima, Sapna & Steve - will like the new scripts for shorts.

Keskarel - update this weekend: Big story development

                                                                                                                                                                                      Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 7:54 AM

From: sylviatoyindustries

To: Christopher Robinson

Cc: diana slampyak

unfortunately, you will have to rethink everything, because i had an enlightening moment: "the thing that made K run away was that she got lost her temper and hit her husband so hard, she knocked him down. her own violence scared her so much she ran out of the house with practically nothing. for all she knows, she killed him. very important: she never ever hit or even yelled at anyone before this happened." so, 1.      they have to go outside to go to try to spy more closely on the neighbors. 2.      once they're friends, V takes K home to face her husband. that's the real end of the story. i'm sorry to make you rewrite this, but now we need the flashback scene. so, please write it with this scene interwoven with it. pasting it in so Dr D/blog audience can see it. Shot List : Act One—Beat #2 1. K is lying on the floor with a bottle of vodka by her side.             a. Aerial medium shot of K as she twitches around like a flounder and sips on vodka.             b. Close up of her face as she says “I wish we were drinking together.”             c. Aerial medium shot of K as she staggers to her feet with her eyes closed.             d. Close up of her as she opens them up. e. Pan out, medium bust shot as K as she walks to her mirror. f. Over the shoulder shot of K as she looks into the mirror, she tugs at her hair and says. “I have no where to go!” g. Mid body shot of K as she sighs and climbs over the tubs walls and stares out of her window.             g. A left hand mid level shot of K as she lifts up the blinds then the window.             h. Extreme close up exterior shot of K as she looks at two people practicing a play, all she can see is their shadows.             i. Long shot of shadows as they act out play.             j. Close up of K’s face as she watches.             k. Back to the shadows. l. Medium long shot of K as she ducts down. She puts her hands over her knees, rocks back and forth.  “I miss you.” m. Close up of her face as she says, “please find the strength to forgive me someday I can’t stand this place.” b. Medium long shot of K rising from the bathtub. c. We follow K with the camera (medium bust shot) as she walks out of her bathroom, her house, down the hall and arrives at V’s front door.             e. Long shot of K from behind as she knocks on V’s door.             f. Long shot as V as she opens her door, the camera slowly closes up on a medium over the shoulder shot as V asks, “What are you doing here?” g. Close up of K’s face as she says, “Can I come in? You’re my only friend and I saw something…” h. Over the shoulder as V interrupts with, “Oh no, no no. I would never, never; I don’t get involved with other people. I just wa…No no and I’m not your friend. What ever you saw is probably fine.” i. Close up of K as she says, “Please just let me in?” j. Over the shoulder of V as she says, “every time I see you your drunk its four n the afternoon.” k. Close up of K as she smiles and says, “this is because I always think about him and if he were here than we would be drunk together so it is okay.” l. Over the shoulder of V as she stares at K and says, “that doesn’t make any sense.” m. Close up of K, “it would if you knew.” n.” Over the shoulder as V says, “I don’t want to know I don’t care.” o. Extreme close up of K’s lips as she says, “please! I will sit by the wall; you can pretend that I am not here. p. Over the shoulder, “You can do that better at your own house.” q. Long shot from down the hall as K says, “I can’t stand it in my house.” r. Pan in to an over the shoulder shot as K says, “I can’t help you. I don’t have time for this.” She slams the door in K’s face. s. Long shot of K as she walks back towards the camera. t. We follow K into her apartment (medium bust shot) u. She opens her bathroom door and the camera follows her as she steps into the tub (faint shadows are still practicing the play) v. Long floor shot of her as she crouches down into the tub. t. Ariel medium shot of K as she lies down in her tub; we pan in on her face as she hums— End Beat 2