"WANDERLUST" – a film by SABI

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Zak Forsman

Zak Forsman

Major Contributor
WANDERLUST
a film by SABI

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http://www.sabipictures.com/wanderlust

This feature-length project, currently operating under the working title “WANDERLUST”, is intended to be a sad and beautiful exploration of a non-sexual, non-romantic relationship between a woman and a man on both a physical and emotional journey.

The filmmakers will collaborate to develop the characters through improvised rehearsals. From there, a screenplay will be shaped and written and ultimately used as a guide for a wholly improvised production. Sabi has established a method of creating a framework for guided improvisation that allows for deep exploration and spontaneity.

We invite you to watch how the characters and story develop through the development and pre-production stages via podcasts and our live webcam. Our goal is to make the creation of this DIY motion picture as transparent as possible.
 
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CAST / CREW BIOS (for those who don't already know us) :)

MARION KERR, actor
Marion Kerr has distinguished herself as an extraordinarily charming and intelligent artist. Her appeal has been noted by Film Threat and Cinema Crazed for her “…surpising charm…” and “…great dynamic…”. She is unyielding in her dedication to her character’s emotional continuity and above all, endlessly fascinating to watch. Marion has appeared in numerous plays and most recently wrapped the indie feature “Heart of Now” from Sabi Pictures, a lead role she originated a year before in the companion film, “White Knuckles”. Marion is also an accomplished writer/director and recently made her feature debut with the thriller “Golden Earrings”.

JOHN T. WOODS, actor
Felix Vasquez of Cinema Crazed has praised his performance as “…superb…” and “…hilarious…”. Blessed with a razor-sharp wit and charming demeanor, John T. Woods is an intrepid actor who is as enthusiastic as he is fearless. This native of Oregon moved to Los Angeles to fulfill his dream of living in an over-priced spider-hole that the LA Times Rental section calls “a studio”. He was also getting tired of paying so little for car insurance. Lead roles have included the indie thriller “Golden Earrings” and Sci-Fi Channel’s “Mega Snake”. He has had guest spots on CSI Miami and supporting roles in the indie features “Heart of Now” and “Zombie Strippers”, as well as a number of critically acclaimed short films that have run the major festival circuit and were featured on The Sundance Channel.

ZAK FORSMAN, writer/director
Zak Forsman is an American independent filmmaker whose emotionally-charged work is known for highly authentic performances and beautiful compositions. Ain’t It Cool News recently praised his work as “…brilliant…” and “…absolutely gorgeous…”. His stories often depict compelling human threads in a poetic and minimalist style. They reflect deep sympathy for the brokenness of people, and a profound humanism. In 2005, he collaborated on the indie feature, “Blue in Green”, as part of the Unica Collaborative. More recently he wrote and directed the feature motion picture, “Heart of Now” (currently in post) and the short film, “I poo pooing Hate You”. He is currently developing two new features for production in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

JAMIE COBB, editor
Jamie Cobb is a feature editor whose work Ain’t it Cool News uniquely praised for its “…sense of rythm…”. The family-like and homegrown nature of Sabi Pictures is personified in Jamie’s amiable and nurturing spirit. Her tireless contributions and sacrifices for this production have been invaluable. She is currently cutting the indie feature “Heart of Now” for which she was also co-producer.
 
The genesis of this project began with the following email exchange between myself and actors, John T. Woods and Marion Kerr.

On Sun, 8/17/08, Zak Forsman wrote:

hey there jw,

i’d very much like to look at Old Joy as a template for our next feature… you, me, marion and jamie. i just found out canon is releasing a new small camera OCT 1ST that records to an INTERNAL 120 gb hard drive. HD slightly better looking than the camera we shot IFHY on and at the highest quality setting, it will hold 11 hours of footage. that means we can shoot for two days before offloading to a laptop if we want to. pretty cool. i’ll get my 35mm adapters fixed so we have a back up and we are good to go! seivers will be a good resource for sound gear again. we’d need a charted course, a rented SUV for gear, food and luggage and then the “prop car” which will likely be one of our own — maybe jamie’s neon.

i like to draw inspiration from immediate influences because i believe (bare with me) a certain synchronicity exists in life so if we’re looking at Old joy and that damn trapeze swinger song by iron and wine for inspiration, i’d be very happy. and i don’t mean taking specific elements, just letting their melancholy vibe be the soil our new film takes root in. your myspace page says something about liking sad bastard music. well, let’s make a sad bastard motion picture. sad and beautiful, but still hopeful… even if its just a glimmer.

zak
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On Aug 17, 2008, at 2:06 AM, John T. Woods wrote:

making the feature with the spirit of old joy and trapeze swinger swimming in our minds, i’m definitely on board, from beginning to end, in all it’s minimalist glory.
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On Sun, 8/17/08, Zak Forsman wrote:

awesome. seeing as how this project will likely involve “travel” (seeking and searching in the subtext) and “love” in the (john cassavetes sense of the word). i’m appropriating the title from another story of mine and putting it on this. at least as a working title for now.

“WANDERLUST”

i would like to instill the “mike leigh” approach on this, meaning you marion and I meet regularly to talk character thru conversation and trying some improv to get them on their feet. then i’ll take everything we’ve learned about them and write the screenplay. although i suspect it will not be a conventional screenplay, but a document unique to our needs. we could videotape those improv meetings and make podcasts to build an audience even before we shoot it.

just thinking out loud. would like to do some night time guerrilla shoots.

zak
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On Aug 17, 2008, at 11:28 AM, John T. Woods wrote:

sounds like a plan. let’s keep it moving. visual of the poster is great inspiration.

i feel like it would be cool if the relationship of the two characters is be undefined, at least in that we don’t say it out right (ie “look… you’re my wife/girlfriend… and i love you). i feel like it’s expected to be that. a couple going through a rough time. maybe it can be something different. maybe the drama can come from a less conventional place when we are playing thru the story. don’t know, but it’s exciting to think about.
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On Sun, 8/17/08, Zak Forsman wrote:

yeah, you know i was thinking just before i fell asleep last night that maybe (we as the filmmakers know the backstory) but the audience is simply presented two characters, almost like blank slates with the most minimal understanding of who they are. and its their interaction thru the story events that define who they are. and still, not by revealing backstory, but by defining them as characters by their emotional, intellectual and spiritual choices. funny how much we’re thinking alike. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!

zak
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On Aug 17, 2008, at 12:31 PM, John T. Woods wrote:

yes, we both agree, we both are in the same mindset, good. awesome.

i guess i like the idea of the audience being presented with these two characters, and half the audience immediately assuming they are romantically linked, but then maybe thinking outside the norms as the film progresses. i mean really, can’t a guy and a girl travel together and not be tied together romantically? i’ve never really seen a relationship like that portrayed authentically on screen, i mean authentically, not when harry met sally, or some action movie where a girl is “part of a badass squad”. just a guy and a girl, whatever their backstory, whatever their relationship. i think the idea of it would cause people to, force people to actually, think outside of social mores and look a little deeper.

sounds good about tonight, lets chat later, i’m headed out.
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On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 at 1:04 PM Zak Forsman wrote:

i’ve cc:’d jamie and marion on this. i’m going to open a web site for this, where we can document the making and development of this. do you mind if i re-print excerpts from these emails in an article about the genesis of the project?

see you later.

zak
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On Aug 17, 2008, at 2:07 PM, Marion Kerr wrote:

You guys have been busy! And I likes it! I think John’s idea about a male/female relationship that’s not romantic is really interesting. I grew up having a lot of male friends, sometimes more than female friends and I would sometimes get a lot of crap for it. Like, “oh they just like you, so that’s why you guys hang out” and it always used to piss me off that I had to defend a guy and a girl who perhaps are both single as just being friends because…they actually like each other as friends. People have a tough time with that sometimes. Anyway, that’s my two cents.

-Marion
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hey tom, we are still very early in the conception of this project. We have a direction we want to go in and some ideas about what kind of story we want to tell. but at this point we are just starting with the two characters and concentrating on defining their own particular brokenness. that being said the goal is to shoot it before the end of the year. if we do more casting you'll definitely hear about it.
 
smashedburrito said:
Is this going to slow down Heart of Now at all?
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excellent question. No, it will not slow down Heart of Now. :)

Jamie, the editor, will be cutting away while myself, marion and john develop this new project no more than 20ft away. so i will be able to bounce back and forth easily.
 
This feature-length project, currently operating under the working title “WANDERLUST”, is intended to be a sad and beautiful exploration of a non-sexual, non-romantic relationship between a woman and a man on both a physical and emotional journey.
Click to expand...

So the girl is fat and ugly ?
 
Heh heh.

Harry Burns: You realize of course that we could never be friends.
Sally Albright: Why not?
Harry Burns: What I'm saying is - and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form - is that men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.
Sally Albright: That's not true. I have a number of men friends and there is no sex involved.
Harry Burns: No you don't.
Sally Albright: Yes I do.
Harry Burns: No you don't.
Sally Albright: Yes I do.
Harry Burns: You only think you do.
Sally Albright: You say I'm having sex with these men without my knowledge?
Harry Burns: No, what I'm saying is they all WANT to have sex with you.
Sally Albright: They do not.
Harry Burns: Do too.
Sally Albright: They do not.
Harry Burns: Do too.
Sally Albright: How do you know?
Harry Burns: Because no man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.
Sally Albright: So, you're saying that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive?
Harry Burns: No. You pretty much want to nail 'em too.
Sally Albright: What if THEY don't want to have sex with YOU?
Harry Burns: Doesn't matter because the sex thing is already out there so the friendship is ultimately doomed and that is the end of the story.
Sally Albright: Well, I guess we're not going to be friends then.
Harry Burns: I guess not.
Sally Albright: That's too bad. You were the only person I knew in New York.
 
f*ck harry and f*ck sally. we're making something real. not cute and contrived for entertainment value. John addressed this in an email.


On Aug 17, 2008, at 12:31 PM, John T. Woods wrote:

yes, we both agree, we both are in the same mindset, good. awesome.

i guess i like the idea of the audience being presented with these two characters, and half the audience immediately assuming they are romantically linked, but then maybe thinking outside the norms as the film progresses. i mean really, can’t a guy and a girl travel together and not be tied together romantically? i’ve never really seen a relationship like that portrayed authentically on screen, i mean authentically, not when harry met sally, or some action movie where a girl is “part of a badass squad”. just a guy and a girl, whatever their backstory, whatever their relationship. i think the idea of it would cause people to, force people to actually, think outside of social mores and look a little deeper.

sounds good about tonight, lets chat later, i’m headed out.
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all of us involved with this film have been shellshocked by rampant misogyny in the last two weeks. it began when IFHY was mis-programmed in sacramento with a block of films about how hilarious rape is, and women really want to be treated like dirt and branded like cattle. you'll see. we're putting a doc up about it soon. then recently, some asshole online sees Jamie cutting Heart of Now on the live web cam and asks "Why would you let a woman edit your movie?".

so understand that my tolerance for this sh*t is pretty low. and making this film is in many ways a response to this experience.
 
They actually had a block of films about how hilarious rape is?? Wow. I'm not all that easily offended but thats pretty messed up. Too bad IFHY got lumped in there.

Glad to see you guys are making another "real" film. I was just think about IFHY the other day and why I liked it so much. Just instantly being able to connect with the characters and the stories made it for me. Even though it was only a few minutes long I felt like I've known them for life. Almost eerie in a way. Anyways I'll be looking forward to more updates on this one. Really cool how well you, Jaime, John, and Marion connect and move as one.
 
it was programmed with a block of "midnight movies". and there was this unusual common thread thru most of them.
Jeff Anderson said:
They actually had a block of films about how hilarious rape is?? Wow. I'm not all that easily offended but thats pretty messed up. Too bad IFHY got lumped in there.

Glad to see you guys are making another "real" film. I was just think about IFHY the other day and why I liked it so much. Just instantly being able to connect with the characters and the stories made it for me. Even though it was only a few minutes long I felt like I've known them for life. Almost eerie in a way. Anyways I'll be looking forward to more updates on this one. Really cool how well you, Jaime, John, and Marion connect and move as one.
Click to expand...
 
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